8:15 pm: Country Music

With this week’s Academy of Country Music Awards anchoring the action, it’s L.A.-goes-Nashville week. Teenage phenom LeAnn Rimes, waiting until the ripe age of 15 to make her local headlining debut, is paired with Bryan White at the Universal Amphitheatre in a display of country’s youth movement.

* LeAnn Rimes and Bryan White at the Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. $49-$25. (818) 622-4440. Also Saturday.

8 pm: Reading & Music

Two renowned artists--actress Claire Bloom and flutist Eugenia Zukerman--team to perform “Words & Music,” an interweaving of Bloom’s interpretations of text from Shakespeare, Ovid, Wallace Stevens, Pierre Louys and Chinese and Japanese verse translated by Ezra Pound and Kenneth Rexroth; and Zukerman’s performance of related musical works by Debussy, Messiaen, Mendelssohn, Satie, Henry Mancini and Chinese and Japanese composers.

* “Words & Music,” Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. $42.50-$50. (800) 233-3123.

10 am: Photography

Movie lovers will enjoy lingering over the more than 200 photographs included in the retrospective exhibition “Bob Willoughby’s Persistence of Vision” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Working for the publicity departments of the major Hollywood studios as an outside photographer, Willoughby captured Hollywood’s elite by developing the first sound blimp for a still camera, introducing radio-controlled cameras and mounting his Nikon on top of Panavision cameras. Films featured in the exhibition include “The Graduate,” “My Fair Lady,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” and “Rosemary’s Baby.”

* “Bob Willoughby’s Persistence of Vision,” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Ends June 28. Viewing hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, noon-6 p.m. Free admission. (310) 247-3600.

7 pm: Racing

Why not hoof it over to Hollywood Park’s 60th Anniversary Season Opening Night? In addition to two stakes races run at one mile on the turf, 3-year-old fillies will be showcased in the $100,000-added Senorita, while older Cal-breds challenge the $70,000-added Blaze O’Brien. As part of a continuing Friday dollar night promotion, beers, sodas, hot dogs and admission for patrons 30 and under are offered for $1 each. The night also includes free T-shirts and live entertainment at the Longshots sports bar. The park’s 13-week season continues through July 20.

* Hollywood Park’s 60th Anniversary Season Opening Night, 7 p.m. post time. Gates open at 5 p.m. 1050 S. Prairie Ave., Inglewood. Admission: $6 general; $9.50 Clubhouse; $25 Turf Club; $2.50 reserved grandstand seats; $4 clubhouse box seats. (310) 419-1500.

All day: Festival

A kaleidoscope of colorful hot air balloons will take to the skies for the 1998 Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, which features a Friday evening balloon glow, tethered balloon rides, gourmet food and wine, arts and crafts tents, a kids’ fair, music and more.

* 1998 Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, Friday-Sunday. Lake Skinner Campgrounds. Take Winchester Road exit off I-15. Go east on Winchester Road, turn right on east Benton, right on Washington and follow to campgrounds entrance. Friday night balloon glow, 4-9 p.m. $10 per carload. Saturday festival hours, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. $15 for adults Saturday; $13 for adults Sunday; children ages 7 to 12, $5 per day; children 6 and under free. (909) 676-6713 for festival information; (800) 965-2122 for hot air balloon ride reservations; (213) 480-3232 for advance ticket purchases.xx

8 pm: Cabaret

Holly Cole is a not-so-demure singer who can takes songs as diverse as “Get Out of Town” and “The Tennessee Waltz” and turn them into hip, lounge-wise anthems. Her new album, “Dark Dear Heart,” finds her putting the slow, sexy approach to tunes from Joni Mitchell, Lennon-McCartney and others. Singer songwriter Chris Stills, son of rock icon Stephen Stills, opens both shows.

* Holly Cole, El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., $18.50. (213) 488-3232. Also Sunday at the Coach House, 33157 El Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, 8 p.m. $13.50. (714) 496-8927.

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FREEBIE: Bassist Marcus Shelby’s trio at L.A. County Museum of Art, 5:30 p.m. (213) 857-6000.