BEST BETS Sunday 1/14

11:30am

Gospel Brunch

A performance by the SeDay Gospel Group--an all-star choir of top members from 32 area churches--will accompany the third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day Gospel Brunch, which supports the I Have a Dream Foundation. The foundation “adopts” first-graders and provides tutoring, counseling and after-school programs. When those children graduate from high school, they’re given scholarships to attend college or vocational school. At the brunch, current and former “dreamers” will give presentations.

* Third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day Gospel Brunch, Ebell Club of Los Angeles, 4400 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. $60; $35 for children. (323) 934-4441.

7:30 pm

Pop Music

What’s new out in the independent-rock hinterlands? Here’s a chance to check out a full bill of contenders, topped by Cave In, a Massachusetts band that’s been described as Radiohead with Led Zeppelin’s rhythm section. “Jupiter” is the group’s new album.

* Cave In, with Blue Bird, the Icarus Line, Downer, at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 7:30 p.m. $8. (310) 276-6168.

8pm

Pop Music

Ry Cooder’s son Joachim plays drums behind singing sisters Juliette and Carla Commagere in Radio Bemba, a band that’s been planting some seeds of a Latin-flavored future with its shows at L.A.’s rock clubs. A Times review of a recent performance suggested the group could follow in the footsteps of Los Lobos and Ozomatli.

* Radio Bemba, with Superstring, at the Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $8. (323) 463-0204.

all day

Art

“Superflat,” a new exhibition featuring a variety of young Japanese artists influenced by computer graphics and animation, will inaugurate MOCA’s new space at the Pacific Design Center. Organized by artist Takashi Murakami, the exhibition will survey the tendency in Japanese art, animation and graphic design toward two-dimensionality. The exhibition will include painting, photography, works on paper, video, computer animation, graphic design, cartoons and sculpture.

* “Superflat,” MOCA Gallery at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Admission at Pacific Design Center only, $3; admission to include all three museums: adults, $6; students and seniors, $4; children under 12, free. (213) 626-6222.

2pm

Photography & Jazz

From Detroit in the 1940s to Los Angeles in the 1990s, Bob Douglas has been documenting America’s greatest jazz performers. “Jazz Legends,” a show of 50 of his black-and-white photographs, includes images of Billie Holiday, Thelonius Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Charlie Parker and more. Curated by Leon Clark, the exhibit opens Sunday at the Watts Towers Arts Center, accompanied by the Phil Ranelin Sextet.

* “Jazz Legends” opening, 2 to 5 p.m., Watts Towers Arts Center, 1727 E. 107th St., L.A. Free. Exhibits ends Feb. 25. (213) 847-4646.

4pm

Jazz

Pianist-composer Horace Tapscott was a legendary Los Angeles figure, an imaginative musician who moved easily from cutting-edge adventurousness to hard-swinging mainstream playing. He also was a powerful inspiration to a large group of musicians who gathered around him eager to experience his far-reaching ideas on jazz, culture and society in general. The 3rd Annual Horace Tapscott tribute will include many of those players, unconfirmed as yet, in a celebratory expression of the life of a great artist and teacher.

* 3rd Annual Horace Tapscott Tribute, Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Blvd., Culver City. 4 p.m. $22. (310) 271-9039.

5pm

Theater

Alan Ayckbourn’s marital romp, “How the Other Half Loves,” is about interwoven romantic secrets involving two separate households--one elegant, one shabby. The fast-paced comic action takes place simultaneously on two different sets.

* “How the Other Half Loves,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, 5 p.m. Regular schedule: Tuesday-Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 5 and 9 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 18. $13.50-$42.50. (626) 356-PLAY.

8pm

Art

“LAMEC 2001 at the New Ivar,” a 28-day, 44-event festival of the performing arts, presented by the Los Angeles Media & Education Center, kicks off with an evening of scenes from American theater performed by the cast of ABC’s “General Hospital.” Other events include documentary screenings, comedy improv, rock music, the premiere of a new symphony, new plays, and seminars with filmmakers, novelists, poets and journalists.

* “LAMEC 2001 at the New Ivar,” New Ivar Theatre, 1605 N. Ivar Ave., Hollywood, Opening night: Sunday, 8 p.m. $100-$175. For tickets and information or the full schedule, call (310) 785-9312.

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FREEBIES

Pianist Marta Felcman plays as part of the Sundays Live chamber music series at 6 p.m. at Leo S. Bing Theater, L.A. County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. (213) 485-6873.