FRIDAY
· Sonic Youth leader Thurston Moore makes the solo rounds with The Haters, Dead Machines and Hive Mind at the Smell.

· In honor of Darwin's 200th birthday, USC's Master of Professional Writing program brings acclaimed scientists and poets to the Natural History Museum to examine Darwin's influence on poetry in Darwin Among the Poets.

· Glockenspiel master (among other instruments) Andrew Bird plays the Orpheum. It's sold out, but that shouldn't stop you.

Friday
· Annie Lennox appears at the Grammy Museum for a Q&A/mini-performance.

· Or, in a simpler variation, just drop 20 on her DVD Totally Fit and call it good. She'll sell it to you personally tonight at the Virgin Megastore.

· Mortified LA: Doomed Valentine's Show offers an evening of epically humiliating romantic raconteurship. Misery loves company, especially around this time of year. At King King.

· The exquisite Cat Power takes the stage at the Avalon. Will it be one of those mental breakdown quickies? Or a 3 1/2 hour set that exhausts her repertoire? Either way, go.

· American Gladiators alumnus Nitro — née Dan Clark — will share good, bad, ugly and 'roidally deranged tales from the old days while reading his new biography at Book Soup.

Friday
· U.K. rapper Lady Sovereign brings her rhymes to the Echo.
· Stormy Weather, the Lena Horne biographical musical with Leslie Uggams in the title role, continues at the Pasadena Playhouse.

· The Silent Movie Theatre screens Ernst Lubitsch Musicals, from the silent film pioneer who combined his love of European operettas and his mastery of film to produce the first Hollywood musicals. Tonight: 1934's The Merry Widow.

· Be among the baffled public to help Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes work out their deafening joke-rock identity crises when the Eagles of Death Metal appear at The Music Box.

· Joyless, dyslexic, elitist fungus of a film critic David Denby discusses his book Snark at the ICM Screening Room. Should be fun!

· It's Dustin Lance Black night at Book Soup! He'll sign just about anything, but preferably Milk: The Shooting Script. It's your chance to brush up against a possible Oscar-winner. (No groping.)

Friday · Ultimate unisex Journey tribute band Infinity—with members from L.A. bands like Longstocking and Patsy and led by Steve Perry-channeling Michelle "Woody" Stevenson—plays Spaceland. Start believin'.

· After three decades and a half-million hairstyles, Patti LaBelle finally reunites her eponymous R&B trio in LA at the Nokia Theater.

· Brian Wilson will sing some of pop history's most influential songs at the Wiltern. Indigo Girl Amy Ray will present less important songs at the Troubador, but is likelier to sing in key.

· 826LA's monthly Tiny Vaudeville series comes to the Echoplex, with the musical stylings of Pop Levi, Dave Foley, Al Madrigal, Dave (Gruber) Allen, and James Adomian.

Friday · The Phantom of the Opera fills the void left by Wicked at the Pantages. Everyone loves Phantom: It has a falling chandelier!

· The Mayan hosts the Art of Change Inaugural Ball, featuring multimedia vaudeville troupe the Mutaytor and the Crystal Method, helping move your feet in the right direction.

· Join Harry Shearer as he throws George W. Bush a going-away party at Largo. He'll perform selections from his Grammy-nominated album, Songs of the Bushmen.