BEST BETS / Sunday 1/28

7:30pm

Performance Art

Funky bassist-singer Ritt Henn is just off-kilter enough to fit into this evening of performance art and avant-garde music.

* “Experimental Mediums,” Knitting Factory Alterknit Lounge, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 7:30 p.m. $10. (323) 463-0204.

8pm

Pop Music

The installation of a new administration figures to do little to quiet rock’s agitating impulses. Just a week into the Bush II Era comes “Artspeaks!,” a pair of concerts supporting Stolen Lives, a national registry of police brutality victims compiled by the National Lawyers Guild and other organizations. “Conscious hip-hop” group Blackalicious is joined by Freestyle Fellowship, the Dwight Trible Ensemble and others on the Sunday bill, while Ozomatli and Ras Kass are among Monday’s attractions.

* “Artspeaks!,” Sunday and Monday at the El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $15. (310) 854-4681.

2pm

Music

Like its predecessor, the famed Hollywood String Quartet, which won renown from 1947-61, the New Hollywood String Quartet consists of four Hollywood studio players. The new ensemble made its debut earlier this month. For their second program, violinists Clayton Haslop and Rafael Rishik, violist David Walther and cellist Paul Cohen will play Haydn’s Quartet in D, Opus 76, No. 5; Tania Gabrielle French’s Quartet No. 2 (“Communications”); and Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Quartet.

* New Hollywood String Quartet, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 Second St., Santa Monica, 2 p.m. $20; students and seniors, $10. (310) 396-4242.

4pm

Music

Winner of the Pro Musicis Foundation Award, pianist Helene Wickett will play the second recital in the foundation’s series at the Colburn School for Performing Arts. Her program will include Schubert’s “Six Moments Musicaux,” Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme by Paganini,” Book One of Debussy’s “Images” and Henri Dutilleux’s Sonate. The foundation was founded 36 years ago in Paris by a Franciscan-Capuchin friar to present young artists to the public and to send them to perform in schools, hospitals and prisons where people may not have been previously exposed to classical music.

* Helene Wickett, Zipper Concert Hall, Colburn School for Performing Arts, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 4 p.m. $20; students and seniors, $15. (323) 467-6537.

all day

Art

A melding of labor-intensive crafts such as painting, silk-screening, stitchery and needlework creates modern samplers that chronicle the global and personal issues of today in “Resolutions: A Stitch in Time,” opening Sunday at the Skirball Cultural Center. The exhibition will present 20 major pieces featuring 19 stitched artworks and a single sculpture that are the result of a six-year collaboration between Judy Chicago--who is best-known for her large-scale feminist piece “The Dinner Party”--and 17 expert needleworkers. The works will focus on themes of family, responsibility, conservation, tolerance, human rights, hope and change.

* “Resolutions: A Stitch in Time,” Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Ends April 29. Adults, $8; seniors and students, $6. (310) 440-4500.

3pm

Music/Family

Rocky Squirrel as Peter, Dudley Doo-Right’s gal Nell Fenwick as the Bird, femme fatale spy Natasha as the Cat? The West Coast Symphony’s performance of Prokofiev’s classic, “Peter and the Wolf,” conducted by Christopher Story VI, is given a cartoonish twist as voice-over artist June Foray, familiar to the ear as Bullwinkle’s pal Rocky and countless other Saturday-morning characters, narrates the tale.

* “Peter and the Wolf,” Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St, Santa Barbara, 3 p.m. $10 (ages 3 to 12) to $20. (805) 963-0761.

7:30pm

Family

Craig Taubman, children’s music star (Craig ‘n Co.) and Jewish music singer-composer, will perform “A Magical Musical Evening” concert, presented by Kol Tikva.

* “A Magical Musical Evening With Craig Taubman,” the Temple, 20400 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, 7:30 p.m. Adults, $35; children 14 and younger, $13. (818) 348-0670.

FREEBIES

Artist Peggy Hasegawa teaches a class in origami for children as part of the “Sunday Open Sunday” series of workshops. 2-4 p.m. at the Watts Towers Arts Center, 1727 E. 107th St., Watts. (213) 847-4646.

Brazil-born singer Katia Moraes leads her ensemble, Sambaguru, in a concert at 3:30 p.m. in the Harold M. Williams Auditorium, 1200 Getty Center Drive. Also Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Reservations recommended. (310) 440-7300.