WEEKEND FORECAST

TODAY

POP MUSIC

Roving tour with Arthur as guide

When L.A.’s Arthur magazine puts on a music festival -- such as ArthurFest in September 2005 and ArthurBall in Echo Park earlier this year -- fans know they’re in for a challenging and unpredictable ride through a maze of genres that rarely coexist. The range of the four-day Arthur Nights is typically atypical, embracing the free jazz of the Sun Ra Arkestra and the British folk of guitarist Bert Jansch, the edge-walking rock of Comets on Fire and the urban poetry of the Watts Prophets.

Arthur Nights, Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway, L.A., 6 tonight. $24. www.arthurmag.com/news/index

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* Also 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $24; $88 for a four-night pass.

ART

Women’s studies

Many of Portuguese

artist Juliao Sarmento’s past works are preoccupied with anonymous and headless figures -- an examination of voyeurism and the female form. His latest paintings and drawings in “Film Noir” explore similar issues, but this series is devoted to representations of golden era actresses such as Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak in their roles as femmes fatales.

“Juliao Sarmento: Film Noir,” Christopher Grimes Gallery, 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica. Opens today. (310) 857-3373.

* Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Ends Nov. 18.

FRIDAY

MOVIES

Her place of retreat

Typically weird characters and situations populate Terry Gilliam’s grim “Tideland,” in which a young girl (Jodelle Ferland) retreats from the horrors of her life into a surreally macabre imaginary world. It’s based on the novel by Mitch Cullen, with Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Tilly as her junkie parents, and Janet McTeer and Brendan Fletcher as creepy neighbors.

“Tideland” (rated R) opens Friday, exclusively at Landmark’s Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A. (310) 281-8223.

DANCE

‘Lake’ with Kirov swans

Russia’s incomparable Kirov Ballet ends the historic Mariinsky Festival at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with four performances of the complete “Swan Lake.” This version is a 1950 revision by Konstantin Sergeyev with a number of needless Soviet-era additions (a dancing jester and a happy ending, for starters) but an overall emphasis on pristine classical style. Different company principals are featured in each cast. (See Page 6 for a review of the Kirov “Romeo and Juliet.”)

“Swan Lake,” Kirov Ballet, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, 7:30 p.m. Friday. $25 to $110. (714) 556-2787. www.ocpac.org.

* Also 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

SATURDAY

POP MUSIC

USC courts a different crowd

UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion has seen its share of notable concerts over the years, by Van Morrison, Donovan and the Mothers of Invention with the L.A. Philharmonic, to name a few. Now its cross-town rival has some competition to offer. USC’s new basketball arena, Galen Center, gets its feet wet as a concert venue with the incomparable Al Green bestowing his musical blessings on the building.

Al Green, USC Galen Center, corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street, 8 p.m. Saturday. $50 to $75, (213) 740-4672.

THEATER

Site set on ‘Othello’

Poland’s award-winning Teatr Modjeska of Legnica, known for the physicality and spectacle of productions tailored to unexpected urban sites, performs its production of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello.” Presented by Southern California-based Arden2, a nonprofit dedicated to cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaborations.

“Othello,” Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., L.A., 8 p.m. Saturday. $35. (949) 548-8570. www.arden2.org

* Also 7 p.m. Sunday.

MUSEUMS

What hangs on the walls

A number of Rembrandts, Monets, Kahlos and O’Keeffes reside in the San Diego region, but they are mostly within the homes of private collectors. “Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego” at the San Diego Museum of Art brings many of these pieces together in a public setting. Eclectic examples from a range of cultures and periods are on display, including European modern paintings, Southeast Asian Buddhist sculpture and pre-Columbian ornamental objects. Some of the artworks are making their public premieres, including the first U.S. viewing of Paul Serusier’s Postimpressionist painting “Un Dimanche, Breton.”

“Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego,” San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Opens Saturday. $4 to $10; 5 and younger, free. (619) 232-7931.

* Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, except 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays. Ends Jan. 7.

MUSIC

Nights on the water

Martin Haselbock opens his second season as music director of the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra with a “Water Music”-themed program. In addition to Handel’s famous suite of that name, Haselbock will conduct Vivaldi’s concerto “La Tempesta del Mare” (Storm at Sea), Biber’s “Battaglia” (Battle), and two works by Telemann, the Concerto for Flute and Recorder in E minor and “Hamburg Ebb’ und Fluth” (“The Hamburg Water Music”). The soloists will be Marion Verbruggen, recorder, and Stephen Schultz, baroque flute.

Musica Angelica, Zipper Concert Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., L.A., 8 p.m. Saturday. $20 to $45. (310) 458-4504. www.musicaangelica.org.

* Also, Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Westwood. 4 p.m. Sunday.

SUNDAY

MUSIC

Encounter with Haydn

Conductor Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale open their new season with Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Creation Mass,” the first installment in a three-year Homage to Haydn project. The work, composed in 1801, got its nickname from Haydn’s quoting of a melody from his “Creation” oratorio. The program also includes Philip Glass’ “Itaipu.” A $500 gala ticket includes a post-concert dinner. The money benefits the chorale’s artistic and educational programs.

Los Angeles Master Chorale, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 7 p.m. Sunday. $19 to $114. A $500 gala ticket includes a post-concert dinner. (800) 787-5262. www.lamc.org.

MONDAY

JAZZ

Catalina’s no island

Who could have known 20 years ago, when Romanian immigrant Catalina Popescu opened a restaurant bearing her name, that it would evolve into Los Angeles’ premier jazz nightclub? But here we are, two decades later, with the anniversary celebration of what has become a virtual jazz institution -- a place (two, actually, since the club’s 2003 move from Cahuenga to Sunset) that has echoed with the sounds of jazz greats reaching from Dizzy Gillespie and Carmen McRae to Chick Corea and Diana Krall. Featured performers for what may well become a spirited jam session include George Duke, Kenny Burrell, Linda Hopkins, Justo Almario, Barbara Morrison, Bobby Rodriguez and numerous others.

Catalina Bar & Grill 20th anniversary celebration, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, 9:30 p.m. Monday. No cover charge. Two-drink minimum. (323) 466-2210.

WEDNESDAY

CULTURE

Away from Walden

Since the late ‘60s when it premiered in the Yale University newspaper, Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” cartoon -- anchored by pointy-nosed, slack-eyed Trudeau alter ego Michael Doonesbury -- has been satirizing American culture and politics, referencing, to name just a few, Watergate, Oliver North, Tiananmen Square, AIDS and the dot-com boom. Trudeau, the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, keeps a famously low profile, but he’ll speak out at UCLA.

“An Evening With Garry Trudeau,” Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood, 8 p.m. Wednesday. $15 to $48. (310) 825-2101.