8pm Music

An almost-sneak preview is what the brand-new ensemble, the New Hollywood String Quartet, gives Saturday night in Santa Barbara. With the same program it will offer at its official debut appearance (Tuesday in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles), the new quartet--violinists Clayton Haslop and Rafael Rishik, violist David Walther and cellist Paul Cohen--plays Haydn’s Quartet in D, Opus 76, No. 5, the first performance of Tania Gabrielle French’s Quartet No. 2, and Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Quartet.

* The New Hollywood String Quartet, Lehmann Hall at the Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara, 8 p.m. $25. (805) 961-0570. Also Tuesday at Zipper Hall, Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 8 p.m. $25. (310) 581-2552.

all day

Auto Show

Just in case you don’t see enough cars in Los Angeles, here’s a chance to look at some more. OK, these are new, fancy-schmancy cars, some of which are making their first public appearance at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. BMW’s 2002 Roadster is on the lineup, as are the 2001 Ford Mustang Bullitt and the 2001 Honda S2000 hardtop. There will also be a Jaguar roadster retrospective. But if such everyday cars are too prosaic, check out the concept vehicles--always a hit at the show--to get an idea of what car makers think our freeways will be clogged with in the future.

* Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., downtown Los Angeles, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Continues weekdays 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ends Jan 14. $8; children 12 and younger, free. (213) 741-1151, Ext. 1.

6pm

Art

David Henry Baldwin’s latest paintings capture the schizophrenic nature of Los Angeles. Titled “Deyo and Night: A California Dream,” the show is split between visions of the region as a sunny paradise and a fantastic noir landscape. Baldwin also offers concrete paintings, representing fossilized artifacts of L.A. culture.

* David Henry Baldwin’s “Deyo and Night: A California Dream,” Soapbox, 701 Venice Blvd., Venice. Opening, 6-10 p.m. Regular hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Ends Feb. 10. Free. (310) 305-9145.

7:30pm

Theater

In “The Price,” Arthur Miller’s 1968 classic, two brothers have an uneasy reunion after many years of estrangement, meeting to dispose of their parents’ property and clashing over why they took their respective paths in life.

* “The Price,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Regular schedule: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., except Feb. 4, 2 p.m. only. Ends Feb. 4. $34 to $43. (949) 497-2787.

8pm

Pop Music

In his Wiltern Theatre shows a year ago, Van Morrison was more engaging and forthcoming than usual, maybe because he was accompanied by an old crony, skiffle musician Lonnie Donegan. On this tour, Morrison is touring with his latest album partner, Linda Gail Lewis, so we’ll see what Jerry Lee’s sister brings out of the temperamental artiste. Interview with Lewis on Page XX.

* Van Morrison, Saturday and Sunday at the Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. Sold out. (213) 380-5005.

8:30pm

Jazz

“Blow, Gabriel Blow” is a celebration of jazz and klezmer via a tribute to trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Ziggy Elman and Mannie Klein. Veteran singer Herb Jeffries emcees a show that features his vocals with an all-star lineup of trumpeters Al Aarons, Hershey Bell and Zeke Zarchey with clarinetist Abe Most, flutist Sam Most and the rhythm section of pianists Gerald Wiggins and Phil Friedman, bassist Richard Simon, guitarist Al Viola and drummer Allen Weiss. Russian clarinetist Leo Chelyapov joins in on the klezmer numbers.

* “Blow, Gabriel Blow,” Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, L.A., 8:30 p.m. Also Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 8 p.m. Preferred seating. $30; regular seating, $25. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 203.

Freebies

Two principal clarinetists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Michele Zukovsky (the current principal) and Kalman Bloch (retired), join saxophonist Bunk Gardner for chamber music at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood, at 4 p.m. Bloch and Zukovsky are father and daughter. (323) 660-1175.

A light French program from an orchestra with a long name, the agenda for the Culver City-Marina del Rey-Westchester Symphony tonight at 8 encompasses Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” Suite, the Flute Concerto by Ibert and Georges Bizet’s famous Symphony in C. Frank Fetta conducts; soloist is flutist Jennifer Olson. In Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 4117 Overland Ave., Culver City. (310) 837-5757.