Fat Chances

Carnival! Mardi Gras! Fat Tuesday!

What’s in a name? Whether in Rio, New Orleans, Havana or Los Angeles, it’s a week of celebration and fun, of music and dance. For some, it is a last opportunity to completely indulge the senses before the 40 abstinent days of Lent; for others, it is an easy excuse to party on down.

Los Angeles, which has not had a particularly significant Carnival tradition, is finally starting to get its share of pre-Lenten pleasures. Starting tonight, Southern California will experience a wide range of colorful Carnival-related events. If they do not quite match the brilliant parades of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras or the irrepressible four-day celebration of music and dance in Rio de Janeiro, they nonetheless afford opportunities to get into the spirit and the excitement of Carnival.

L.A.’s Brazilian community will turn out virtually en masse for many of these events, but the programs also attract other groups--Latinos, Middle Easterners and Asians, in particular, as well as a substantial number of whites. Carnival in Los Angeles, in fact, is one of the city’s most energetic, but peaceful, ethnic get-togethers.

Heightening the excitement this year is the increasing American receptivity to international rhythms and songs. A particularly colorful aspect of the Carnival events will be the presentation of Brazil’s newest dance craze--the bum-bum (pronounced boom-boom) dance--by L.A.’s most appealing Brazilian dance ensemble, Christiane Callil and the Girls From Ipanema. A kind of combination of the sexiness of the lambada and the fun of the macarena, the bum-bum gets hips moving and feet tapping.

Carnival in Rio--and most parts of Brazil, for that matter--is one of the entertainment wonders of the world. Samba “schools” fill the streets with thousands of drummers and dancers, all garbed in brilliantly colored regalia and costuming that may have taken as long as an entire year to prepare.

“In Brazil, Carnival is a time when the poor people of the country become the most important people, by putting on costumes and singing and dancing,” says Sao Paulo-born dancer-singer Callil, whose Carmen Miranda impression will be one of the highlights of her performances with the Girls From Ipanema. “On the Saturday and Sunday before Lent, everybody watches the samba school contests, with their incredible costumes and the music and samba rhythms, which never stop.”

Some of the flavor of Rio Carnival will be present in Callil’s performances at the House of Blues tonight and the Century Club Friday. Each performance will feature samba dances and songs, rhythmic percussion and elaborate costume contests, with vacations to Rio among the grand prizes. Callil says some participants are expected to turn up in outfits that would be competitive even in the multihued costume caldrons of Rio.

On Saturday night at the Palladium, Carnaval ’97 kicks off its 16th year with a program that includes costume contests and appearances by Bahia’s Samba Reggae and L.A.’s Samba School organizations.

Los Angeles may not compete with Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but anyone who’s looking will find blackened snapper, turtle soup and zydeco music.

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Carnival and Mardi Gras: From AfroBrasil to Zydecats

Here’s a selective list of Carnival and Mardi Gras events:

House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 9 tonight: Brazilian Carnaval, an evening of Brazilian acts with costume contests, etc., featuring Christiane Callil and the Girls From Ipanema, singer Eliane Estavao and Zelao & Lois. (213) 650-1451.

Century Club, 10131 Constellation Blvd., Century City, 8 p.m. Friday and Feb. 21: An evening of Brazilian Carnival, also featuring Christiane Callil and the Girls From Ipanema. (310) 553-6000.

Moonlight Tango, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 7:30 p.m. Friday: Zydeco music by Lisa Haley and the Zydecats and a Mardi Gras menu. (818) 788-2000.

Rancho Santa Susana Park, Simi Valley, 6 p.m. Friday: The Krewe of Bon Temps La Louisianne offers its annual Mardi Gras bash: costume awards, party favors, live music and dancing. (805) 581-0619.

Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, 8 p.m. Saturday: Brazil Carnaval ’97. A large, crowded event with costume contests, dancing and Samba Reggae, the Samba Schools of L.A. and Lula & AfroBrasil. (213) 653-8848.

Ash Grove, 250 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, 8 p.m. Saturday: Boozoo Chavis, king of the single-note zydeco accordion, pumps out his bayou rhythms. (310) 656-8500.

Farmer’s Market, 6333 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, Saturday and Sunday: The Gumbo Pot Restaurant will have two all-day celebrations of Mardi Gras, with a live band and New Orleans food. (213) 933-0358.

Billboard Live, 9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. Tuesday: Boozoo Chavis is part of a special Mardi Gras performance. (310) 786-1712.

Annual Ojai Mardi Gras, Ojai Women’s Club, 411 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai, 8 p.m. Feb. 15: “Saints & Sinners.” With throwing of the beads, costume contests and coronation of Mardi Gras king and queen. (805) 646-7230.

“Carnival in Los Angeles,” Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 8 p.m. Feb. 17 and 24: With Christiane Callil and the Girls From Ipanema. (213) 466-7000.

Cerritos Performing Arts Center, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18-19: A Mardi Gras celebration will feature New Orleans music by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and a New Orleans menu. (310) 916-8500.