7 pm: Pop Music
The future didn’t look too bright for Blues Traveler at the end of the last decade. Singer and harmonicat John Popper was suffering through severe health problems, and bassist Bobby Sheehan died in 1999. Now Popper and company are back with “Bridge,” their first album since 1997, and a new bassist, Tad Kinchla, brother of guitarist Chad Kinchla.
* Blues Traveler, with Pete Yorn, John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, L.A. 7 p.m. Also Saturday at the Doheny Blues Festival, Doheny State Beach, Dana Point, 10:30 a.m. $30. (949) 262-2662.
All day: Art
New York’s Forum Gallery opens a new space in Los Angeles with a show of modern and contemporary works by Odd Nerdrum, Christian Vincent, William Beckman and Robert Cottingham, among others. Known as a leading representational art gallery, Forum L.A. also will feature works by 20th century artists such as Max Weber, Chaim Gross, Raphael Soyer and Gregory Gillespie.
* Forum Gallery, 8069 Beverly Blvd., L.A. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Ends June 20. Free. (323) 655-1550.
All day: Movies
Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (“William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet”) mixes period design, circa 1900 Paris, with modern pop tunes for his latest, “Moulin Rouge,” starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Kidman plays Paris’ most famous courtesan caught between the love of a young writer and another man’s obsession. John Leguizamo co-stars as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
* “Moulin Rouge,” rated PG-13 for sexual content, opens Friday exclusively at the Avco, Westwood.
8 pm: Music
Veteran pianist Vitaly Margulis, who left the Soviet Union in 1975 and today is on the faculty at UCLA, will play major works of Schumamnn, plus 15 etudes by Scriabin, on the Master Classes International Series at the Colburn School. Margulis will play Schumann’s “Arabeske,” Opus 18, “Kreisleriana,” Opus 16, and a brace of studies by Scriabin.
* Vitaly Margulis plays in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., at 8 p.m. $15 to $30. (213) 383-3524.
8:15 pm: Pop Music
English singer-songwriter David Gray has done enough U.S. road work over the years to come down with his own version of white-line fever, but it’s “White Ladder” that’s proved to be his breakthrough. The album has propelled Gray from minor cult figure to popular hero, and from clubs and small theaters to plush (and large) rooms.
* David Gray, with Nelly Furtado, Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 8:15 p.m. $25 and $35. (818) 622-4440.
all day: Movies
Jennifer Lopez has proven she can open a film with the success of “The Cell” and “The Wedding Planner.” Now the question is can she make it three in a row with Friday’s release of “Angel Eyes”? Lopez plays a Chicago cop who is rescued from an ambush by mysterious stranger Jim Caviezel. As the two fall in love, truths and secrets from their pasts are revealed. Sonia Braga and Terrence Howard co-star; Luis Mandoki directed.
* “Angel Eyes,” rated R for language, violence and a scene of sexuality, opens Friday in general release.
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FREEBIE
The Group at Strasberg presents a workshop production of “Canada Lee,” Mona Z. Smith’s tribute to the black actor and pioneering civil rights activist, who was a victim of McCarthy-era blacklisting. At the Marilyn Monroe Theatre, Lee Strasberg Creative Center, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 p.m. Reservations required. (323) 650-7777.
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“Co-Motion,” the UCLA senior project in dance, is presented by the Department of World Arts and Cultures at 8 p.m. in Glorya Kaufman Hall, Theater 200, on the campus of UCLA. (310) 825-3951.