FRIDAYJAZZSmooth surf in NewportSmooth jazz and R&B;...

FRIDAY

JAZZ

Smooth surf in Newport

Smooth jazz and R&B; sounds will be in the air this weekend when the Lexus Jazz Festival takes over the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach Golf Course for three days of alfresco music by more than 25 acts. Saxophonist Euge Groove kicks things off Friday with a solo concert. Keyboardist and trombonist Brian Culbertson, saxophonist Eric Darius and Summer Storm (featuring guitarist Norman Brown, singer Peabo Bryson, saxophonist Paul Taylor and pianist Alex Bugnon) head Saturday’s lineup. Sunday’s show will be anchored by trumpeter Rick Braun, singer Bobby Caldwell, the Rendezvous All Stars (featuring guitarist-singer Jonathan Butler, bassist Wayman Tisdale and pianist Brian Simpson) and Guitars and Saxes (featuring saxmen Gerald Albright and Richard Elliot and guitarists Jeff Golub and Peter White).

Lexus Jazz Festival, Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. 7:30 p.m. Friday. $45 to $185. (949) 729-6400.

* Also 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

MOVIES

It’s time to come ‘Clean’

It’s taken several years for the film to reach

theaters, but fans of Maggie Cheung will be pleased that “Clean” has finally come

to town. Directed by Olivier Assayas, it’s the story of

a rock star’s widow (Cheung) who must kick her addictions and sanitize her lifestyle if she ever wants to see her son again. Nick Nolte costars as her father-in-law, who has custody of the boy.

“Clean,” rated R for drug content, language and brief nudity, opens Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500; and Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500.

WORDS

Feasts for thought

Some of the most sensual descriptions ever written are dedicated not to love, sex, travel or any other of our more mundane passions, but to food and drink, gastronomical satisfaction. Fiction sings best when read by actors who curate its every inflection and tone, and maybe that’s particularly true for epicurean fiction. Not that all the stories on the menu at Selected Shorts 2006: Food Fictions offer comfort or satisfaction -- in Roald Dahl’s “Taste,” a daughter is wagered over a vintage bottle of wine, a particularly tasteless conceit that should get an extra boost of bombast when read by John Lithgow. Other entries in the three-program show include M.F.K. Fisher read by Christina Pickles and Shohreh Aghdashloo performing a story by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Selected Shorts 2006: Food Fictions, Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive. 8 p.m. Friday. $15 to $30. (310) 440-7300.

* Also 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m. Sunday.

EVENTS

Music camp for families

The fourth annual Joshua Tree Music Festival bills itself as a “three-day high desert camping experience.” With a broad array of offerings, organizers are aiming to make everybody a happy camper. An eclectic bill of music includes the Soul of John Black, Tim Easton and Kinky on Friday, Tom Freund, the Breakestra and Particle on Saturday and Anders Osborne and New Monsoon on Sunday, but tunes are only part of festival. The tented Kidsville offers performances and activities (and even music lessons) for youngsters; food vendors will serve up fare as varied as vegan and barbecue; and campers will simply soak up the desert vibe.

Joshua Tree Music Festival, Joshua Tree Lake Campground, 2601 Sunfair Road, eight miles outside Joshua Tree. Gates open 9 a.m. Friday. Tickets, camping not included: $90 (three-day pass); $40 (Saturday only); $35 (Friday/

Sunday only); free for children 10 and younger. Camping: $18 per adult (three nights); $13 (two nights); $7 (one night). (877) 327-6265. Music schedule, info: www.joshuatreemusicfestival.com.

MUSIC

Time spent with Lou

Composer Lou Harrison, who died in 2003, brought an exuberant sense of openness to world music long before there was any such term. The Pacific Symphony dedicates its sixth American Composers Festival to Harrison, who early on made his name by pummeling the piano with his fists and forearms and ended his career writing a gentle suite for choreographer Mark Morris and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (“Rhymes With Silver”). In between, there was a staggering range of exploration. The festival opens Friday with chamber works at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, continues Sunday with other small-scale pieces in Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and ends next week with the Pacific playing orchestral compositions in Segerstrom Hall at OCPAC. Film clips from Eva Soltes’ documentary on the composer will be screened at each event.

American Composers Festival, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. 8 p.m. Friday. $15 and $25. (714) 755-5799. www.pacificsymphony.org

* Also 7:30 p.m. Sunday Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $30.

* Also 8 p.m. Wednesday and next Thursday, Segerstrom Hall, OCPAC. $20 to $78.

SATURDAY

DANCE

They tap, you tap

Snap your fingers, tap your toes and dog-yelp every time mere applause just isn’t enough: Here comes the 10th anniversary program by Jazz Dance L.A., featuring choreography by pioneering dance-makers and hot emerging artists. The theme is “Straight From the Heart,” and ready to make you feel that beat will be pieces by Pat Taylor, Kenji Yamaguchi, Bob Borros, Claude Thompson and Keny Long, Otis Sallid, Jaime Rogers, and Donald McKayle.

Jazz Dance L.A., Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., downtown L.A. 8 p.m. Saturday. $25 to $40. (213) 680-3700.

* Also 2 p.m. Sunday.

POP MUSIC

Blondie on a Cars ride

The Doors reunited despite the fact that Jim Morrison died in 1971, INXS has been resurrected minus departed lead singer Michael Hutchence, and Alice in Chains is back despite the death four years ago of singer Layne Staley. So why not put the Cars back on the road (as the New Cars) minus the still-breathing singer, lead guitarist and chief songwriter Ric Ocasek? The oldies circuit is a lucrative one, and a lot of pop fans who came of age singing “I want my MTV” are now heavy into ‘80s nostalgia. Hence the spring-summer Road Rage Tour 2006 pairing the reconfigured Boston band with one of its new wave contemporaries, Blondie, which includes original lead singer Deborah Harry.

The New Cars and Blondie, Gibson Amphitheatre, 100 Universal CityWalk, Universal City. 8:15 p.m. Saturday. $39 to $78.50. (818) 777-3931.

EVENTS

Time is ripe for festival

Take a minute to contemplate the strawberry: rich in vitamin C and fiber with no fat or cholesterol, it’s the perfect little food, inspiring songs, cartoon characters and an annual festival in Oxnard near the aptly named Strawberry Coast. The fruit will be celebrated at the California Strawberry Festival in numerous ways: In addition to music from Brasil Brazil, Savor (a Santana tribute band) and others, the two-day tribute offers contests such as the strawberry tart toss and shortcake eating contest (no forks allowed), magic and puppet shows, the strawberry whirl ride, and strawberry recipes and foods galore -- try to wrap your mind around strawberry pizza, for instance. Festival proceeds benefit nonprofit organizations and scholarships.

California Strawberry Festival, Strawberry Meadows of College Park, 3250 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday $5 to $12. (888) 288-9242 or www.strawberry-fest.org.

* Also 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday

ART

Framing techniques

David Reed has explored a variety of painterly techniques, including landscape, multi-panel paintings and abstraction, while maintaining a continuous thread with his meditation on color and the isolated brushstroke. When recently playing with film and photography, he used a scene from the 1958 film “Vertigo,” transforming the bedroom scene into an extension of his own canvas by inserting one of his colorful, vertical paintings above the bed. “Leave Yourself Behind (Paintings 1967-2005)” is a look at the evolution of his career.

David Reed: “Leave Yourself Behind (Paintings 1967-2005),” Luckman Gallery, Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, L.A. (323) 343-6604. Opens Saturday.

* Hours: noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays. Ends July 15.

SUNDAY

EVENTS

There’s a river here?

The pace of life in L.A. is already too fast; Angelenos don’t need another race. This weekend, the sixth Los Angeles River Ride will give cyclists a choice of 70-, 45-, 15- and one-mile routes -- all starting at Griffith Park and going along the river path -- in this go-at-your-own-pace excursion. Sponsored by the L.A. Bike Coalition, the ride will offer T-shirts, food, fun and four pit stops along the way. The 70-mile ride starts at 8 a.m., the 45-mile ride and the 15-mile “family” ride at 8:45 a.m. and one-mile “kids” ride at 11 a.m. See www.labikecoalition.org for route details.

Los Angeles River Ride, Griffith Park, Los Angeles. 8, 8:45 and 11 a.m. Sunday. Registration begins at 7 a.m. $35. (213) 629-2142.

WEDNESDAY

THEATER

A story big as Russia

“Zhivago,” based on Boris Pasternak’s epic novel of forbidden love set against the turmoil of the Russian revolution, comes to the musical stage. The world premiere adaptation, directed by Des McAnuff, features a book by Michael Weller, music by Lucy Simon and lyrics by Michael Korie and Amy Powers.

“Zhivago,” La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla. Opens 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. $48 to $85. (858) 550-1010. www.lajollaplayhouse.com

* Runs 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, except 8 p.m. only on May 27. Ends June 25.