Three-day forecast

EVENT

115 years of floral floats in Pasadena

How many current Californians had their first glimpse of the Golden State watching the Rose Parade on television somewhere east and north of here? They saw Pasadena, a magical land with fresh flowers and sunshine in an otherwise frozen January. Wow! The theme for the 115th Rose Parade is “Music Music Music,” and as is its tradition, it will be highlighted by marching bands, equestrian units and, most prominently, those vibrant floral floats. Later, the 90th Rose Bowl game, the “granddaddy of all bowl games,” will feature a matchup between USC and the University of Michigan.

2004 Tournament of Roses, Pasadena. Rose Parade, Today, 8 a.m. Colorado Boulevard. Grandstand viewing is $40-$85, depending on location. Curbside viewing is free on a first-come, first-served basis. Rose Bowl game, 2 p.m.; sold out. (626) 449-ROSE.

POP MUSIC

A club date for Gray

Macy Gray made it three in a row with another striking album, “The Trouble With Being Myself,” released last summer. Its best songs, Natalie Nichols wrote for The Times, exhibit “both confidence and a subtle self-doubt, expressed with that slight defensiveness that gives her work such an endearing feeling of truth.” David Bowie has tapped her to open shows on his new U.S. tour, and there’s even talk that they may record together. That means her stop Friday at the House of Blues in Anaheim could be the last opportunity to see her in a club for some time.

Macy Gray, House of Blues, 1530 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim. Friday, 9 p.m. $32.50. (714) 778-2583.

EVENT

Really new car smell

More than 1,000 vehicles will be on display at the Greater L.A. Auto Show, which opens Friday at the Convention Center. The first auto show of the year will debut a number of entirely new vehicles plus feature the latest models from major manufacturers from around the world, including hybrids, high performance, SUVs, luxury, trucks and others. There will be something for everybody. Prices range from $643,000 for a Ferrari to less than $10,000 for a Kia Rio.

Greater L.A. Auto Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., L.A. Fridays, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; ends Jan. 11. $7-$10, 12 and younger free when accompanied by paid adult. (213) 741-1151, Ext. 1.

ART

Fellowships of the artists

UCLA Hammer Museum curator Claudine Ise brings together the works of Jim Isermann, Michael McMillen, Mark Licari, Lynn Aldrich, Monica Majoli and others in an exhibition titled Contemporaries. All of the artists have received fellowships from the California Community Foundation Visual Arts Initiative. All are Los Angeles-based artists whose works -- like the troubling video imagery and narrative of Vietnamese-born Tran, T. Kim-Trang and paintings by Sandow Birk that subvert mythology-- the J. Paul Getty-funded arts initiative seeks to foster and support.

Contemporaries, REDCAT Gallery at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. Opens next Thursday. Also, Tuesdays though Sundays, noon to 6 p.m. Ends, Jan. 18. Free. (213) 237-2800.

JAZZ

Latin jazz bandleader salutes soul

Grammy-winning Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader Poncho Sanchez performs

Saturday at the Jazz

Bakery. When he was a teenager in Norwalk in the 1960s, Sanchez was as greatly influenced by the R&B; and soul music by James Brown and others as he was by Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria. The conguero’s latest CD, “Out of Sight,” his tribute to 1960s soul that includes guest performances by Ray Charles, Billy Preston, Sam Moore and others, was released in September.

Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Saturday, 8 and 9:30 p.m. $25. (310) 271-9039.

DANCE

Blues ballet on tap

Adapted from a 1946 Broadway musical that introduced such ballads as “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,” the blues ballet “St. Louis Woman” brings Dance Theatre of Harlem to the Music Center for an evening of what the New York Times called “gorgeous entertainment.”

Choreographed by Michael Smuin, with words and music by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, the work offers displays of tap, jazz dance and tango, besides the classical dancing you’d expect from Arthur Mitchell’s company. However, anyone who craves more conventional balletic fare won’t be disappointed: George Balanchine’s poetic “Serenade” is also on the program.

Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A. Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. $25 to $75. (213) 365-3500.

MOVIES

Collette takes lead

Australian actress Toni Collette, whose breakout performance in the 1994 ABBA-fueled romantic comedy “Muriel’s Wedding” led her to Hollywood, where she has garnered critical praise for diverse supporting roles in such films as “About a Boy” and “Far From Heaven,” is a leading lady again in the drama “Japanese Story.” Collette plays a strong-willed Perth geologist who clashes with a visiting Japanese businessman (Gotaro Tsunashima) during an adventurous excursion to Western Australia’s Pilbara desert.

“Japanese Story,” R for some sexuality and language, opened Wednesday at selected theaters.

MUSIC

The sounds of history

The musicians of the Jacques Thibaud String Trio don’t mind spoofing themselves. Check out the humorous biographies on their website: www.jtt.info. Philip Douvier, for instance, “the only one with a French name in the group,” started playing violin “when he realized his older brother didn’t like it.” But don’t be fooled. Not only will the musicians play works by Bach, as arranged by Mozart; Beethoven and Francaix as part of the Music in Historic Sites series, they’ll play it all by memory.

Jacques Thibaud String Trio, Poloynis-Engen residence (private home), Altadena. Sunday, 2 and 3:30 p.m. $59 to $83. (213) 477-2929.

EVENT

Society is seeing red

The Planetary Society will host “Wild About Mars” to coincide with NASA’s Spirit rover’s planned touchdown on the Martian surface at 8:35 p.m. PST Saturday. The program will feature speakers and such special guests as Ray Bradbury, Buzz Aldrin and Bill Nye plus, if all goes as planned, images from Mars (via the Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Images from another NASA spacecraft, Stardust, and its encounter with Comet Wild 2 will also be featured. See https://planetary.org for more details.

“Wild About Mars,” Pasadena Conference & Exhibition Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Saturday, 6-11 p.m.; Sunday, 3-6:30 p.m. $12.50-$38.75, 5 and younger free. 877-PLA-NETS.

WORDS

Nuances of ‘Wake’

Members of the Marshall McLuhan-”Finnegan’s Wake” Reading Club are convinced that the insights of media critic Marshall McLuhan lead to a more nuanced understanding of the James Joyce novel “Finnegan’s Wake.” So, on Monday, media ecologist Gerry Fialka leads the literary group in a discussion of McLuhan. And, as with every first Monday of the month, all read the Irish novelist aloud.

Gerry Fialka and the Marshall McLuhan-Finnegan’s Wake Reading Club, Venice Abbot Kinney Branch Library, 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice. Monday, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. (310) 821-1769.