THREE-DAY FORECAST

WORDS

The poetry, the power

The author of “Smoking Lovely,” “Where a Nickel Costs a Dime” and “Postcards of El Barrio,” Nuyorican poet Willie Perdomo offers a blend of Caribbean influences, topped with American -- specifically New York -- attitudes. Perdomo’s reading, co-sponsored by Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration and Poets & Writers Inc., is something to behold. Perdomo has performed in PBS documentaries “Words in Your Face” and the “United States of Poetry,” as well as HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.”

Willie Perdomo, Tropico de Nopal Gallery and Art Space, 1665 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. Saturday, 8 p.m. $7. (213) 481-8112.

JAZZ

Horn of plenty

Kenny Garrett may be the most influential jazz alto sax player since Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Although he first came to prominence in the 1980s as a member of one of Miles Davis’ ensembles, this multi-Grammy nominee can be heard on recordings by artists ranging from Dizzy Gillespie and Davis to Sting and Bruce Springsteen plus about a dozen CDs of his own. His latest, “Standard of Language,” was released last March.

Kenny Garrett Quartet, Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Today to Saturday, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. $18 to $30. (323) 466-2210.

THEATER

Think big, laugh big

In “Afterbirth: Kathy and Mo’s Greatest Hits,” stage and screen veterans Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney team up again to reprise their comic feminist takes on such weighty subjects as the creation of the world, dating and plastic surgery, in selections from their hit off-Broadway show and two HBO specials, “Parallel Lives” and “The Dark Side.” The show will be the last fully staged production at the long-running Canon Theatre, which is slated for demolition.

“Afterbirth: Kathy and Mo’s Greatest Hits,” Canon Theatre, 205 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills. Opens Friday. Runs Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.; ends March 21. $50 to $55. (310) 859-2830. (213) 365-3500.

MUSIC

Glimpses of Tibet

Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastic University in south India will team up with CalArts music faculty and alumni and guests for “Call and Response,” a concert to benefit the monastic university. Drepung Monastery originally was founded in 1416 near Lhasa, Tibet, and reestablished in India after the 14th Dalai Lama fled the country in 1959, 10 years after its takeover by the People’s Republic of China.

“Call and Response,” REDCAT, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2nd and Hope streets. Friday, 8:30 p.m. (213) 237-2800.

POP MUSIC

A bit emo, a bit rap

Sage Francis is one of the front-line forces of the burgeoning rap wing that’s drawing its fans from the emo-leaning branch of the indie rock audience. The Troubadour gives a taste of both his solo side (he has an album coming soon from Epitaph Records) and the Non Prophets -- his collaboration with Joe Beats (their new album is “Hope”).

Sage Francis, with the Non Prophets, Grand Buffet and Mac Lethal, at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Friday, 9 p.m. $15. (310) 276-6168.

MOVIES

Say it isn’t so, son

Alex’s mother, a committed East German socialist with a weak heart, falls into a coma just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. When she awakens eight months later, it’s up to Alex to devise a way to protect her from the shocking truth. What begins as a small lie evolves into an elaborate subterfuge to keep her from having to say “Good Bye, Lenin!” in director Wolfgang Becker’s touching comedy of reunification. Daniel Bruhl and Katrin Stass star.

“Good Bye, Lenin!,” rated R for brief language and sexuality, opens Friday in selected theaters.

ART

Life in a dugout

In “Terry Allen: Dugout II,” the artist has created a work that is part installation and part performance production, so broad in scope that it needs three venues to contain it. But it all begins with an exhibition of his Texas roots and his fictionalized childhood memories, suspended from the museum floor, with multimedia interior tableaux. Allen calls it: “Dugout II (Hold On to the house).”

“Terry Allen: Dugout II,” Santa Monica Museum of Art, Bergamont Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building G1, Santa Monica. Opens Saturday. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. $3. (310) 586-6488.

ART

Eventful years

Fifteen of the Christopher Grimes Gallery’s 25 years have been spent in Los Angeles. A celebration begins with “25th Anniversary: The L.A. Years, Part I.” The exhibition, which opens Saturday, features works by John Baldessari, Marco Brambilla, Pia Fries, Herbert Hamak, Ernesto Neto, Roxy Paine, Marcelo Pombo, Allan Sekula, Tunga, Benjamin Weissman, Lisa Yukavage and others.

“25th Anniversary: The L.A. Years, Part I,” Christopher Grimes Gallery, 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica. Opens Saturday, with a reception at 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ends April 3, with Part II opening April 10. (310) 587-3373.

EVENTS

Hollywood’s

Brazilian Carnival

Carnival in Brazil is already over this year, but it has not even started here in Los Angeles. The 20th annual Brazilian Carnaval party happens Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium. Direct from Brazil, the music group Harmonia do Samba heads an entertainment lineup that also includes Capoeira Brazil, an Afro-Brazilian acrobatic dance troupe, the Southern Californian band Badaue and several former Miss Brazils. Plus there will be dancing, music, costumes, food and prizes.

The 20th annual Brazilian Carnaval, Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Saturday, 9 p.m. $30 to $45. (213) 480-3232. www.brazilexplore.com

DANCE

Morris and his ‘V’ are back

When Mark Morris

created his large-scale “V” three years ago to music by Schumann, the reactions of U.S. dance critics ranged from “a gift of light in these days of darkness” to “extraordinarily clever but fundamentally soulless.” Now the Mark

Morris Dance Group

returns with “V” and other music visualizations spanning more than a decade: “Going Away Party” from 1990 (the only piece to be danced to recorded music), “A Spell” from 1993 (music by John Wilson) and “All Fours” from last year, danced to Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4.

Mark Morris Dance Group, Royce Hall, UCLA campus, Westwood. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $25 to $55. (310) 825-2101.