Best Bets: Sunday 2/7

4 pm: Books

Pasadena novelist Octavia Butler, an African American science-fiction writer and author of 10 novels, will speak about African American spiritualism, mysticism and mythology in her books at the Pasadena Historical Museum in honor of Black History Month. Butler is the winner of science fiction’s highest awards and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant for creative excellence.

* Octavia Butler at the Pasadena Historical Museum, 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena. 4 p.m. Free. (626) 577-1660.

10 am: Cars

Trying to hold its own against Ferrari and Corvette in the late ‘60s, Ford wanted a high-performance sports car. It turned to Italian manufacturer DeTomaso Automobili and the result, in 1971, was the Pantera. Only imported for four years, the car continued to be built in Europe by DeTomaso, and by the 1980s the Pantera had evolved into a rare commodity. A club of South Bay enthusiasts will bring out its finest to the Museum of Flying for a Pantera Car Show.

* Pantera Car Show, Museum of Flying, 2772 Donald Douglas Loop North, Santa Monica. $7; $5, seniors; $3, age 16 and under. (310) 392-8822.

7 pm: Music

The Munich Chamber Orchestra will make its only appearance in Southern California at Cal State Long Beach. Under the direction of Christoph Poppen, the 19-member group will perform Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings in E Major and Bartok’s Divertimento for Strings. Poppen’s wife, soprano Juliane Banse, will join the ensemble for Britten’s Les Illuminations and Schubert’s Salve Regina.

* Munich Chamber Orchestra at 7 p.m. at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherson St., on the northeast corner of the Cal State Long Beach campus. $21-$27. (562) 985-7000.

7 pm: Theater

Jenna Elfman of “Dharma & Greg” and Miguel Ferrer of “Lateline” headline the premiere of Milton Katselas’ “Visions and Lovers: Variations on a Theme,” two one-act plays about couples in turbulent relationships. Suzzanne Douglas (“The Parent ‘Hood”) and Richard Lawson (“How Stella Got Her Groove Back”) also star.

* “Visions and Lovers: Variations on a Theme,” Skylight Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz, Sunday, 7 p.m. Regular schedule: Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. through April 11. $20. (Note: Due to the actors’ taping conflicts, alternate cast members will sometimes perform; call the box office to confirm.) (310) 659-4169.

10 am: Photography

“Once there was women and men loving each other and breaking up, that’s the blues.” -- John Lee Hooker.

“State of the Blues: The Living Legacy of the Delta,” opening Friday at the California African-American Museum, captures the heart and soul of the Delta blues through intimate photographs by Jeff Dunas and the words of the blues legends themselves. Composed of 125 photographs, the exhibition features images of B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musslewhite and others as landmarks on the “Blues Highway,” transporting the viewer from New Orleans through the Mississippi Delta to Memphis and Chicago.

* “State of the Blues: The Living Legacy of the Delta,” California African-American Museum, 600 State Drive, Exposition Park. Ends March 28. Museum hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission free. (213) 744-7432.

All day: Art

“Radical P.A.S.T.: Contemporary Art in Pasadena, 1960-1974,” a three-part exhibition celebrating Pasadena’s art scene during the 1960s and early ‘70s, recalls the city as a launching pad for radical modernism. The Norton Simon Museum will present “Highlights From the Collection and Archives of the Pasadena Art Museum,” featuring works by Ed Kienholz, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp--whose first retrospective took place at the old Pasadena Art Museum. The Armory Center for the Arts will host “Southern California Art, 1969-74,” a survey of the local scene. And the Art Center College of Design will present “Influences: Selections From the Contemporary Collection of the Norton Simon Museum,” featuring art from New York and Europe collected by the Pasadena Art Museum, before it merged with the Norton Simon in 1974. In addition, the Pasadena Gallery, a new commercial gallery, will present “Pasadena Scene,” a show of historical photographs of the Pasadena Art Museum and artists living in the area.

* “Radical P.A.S.T: Contemporary Art in Pasadena, 1960-1974,” Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., (626) 449-6840. Thursday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. $4, adults; $2, seniors and students; children under 12, free. Ends May 9. The Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., (626) 792-5101. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Free. Ends April 11. Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida St., (626) 396-2397. Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Free. Ends April 11. Pasadena Gallery, Miller Alley at One Colorado Blvd., (626) 564-1066. Daily, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission free. Ends April 11.

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Freebie

The third annual “I, Too, Am America” Youth Arts Festival features art workshops, poetry readings, jazz music and salsa dancing. Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., (213) 485-4474.

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The Caltech Quartet will perform a program of Beethoven, Kodaly and Ravel, Dabney Lounge, center of CalTech campus, 3:30 p.m. Parking available off Michigan Avenue just south of Del Mar Boulevard, Pasadena. (626) 395-4652.