WHAT'S HAPPENING : MUSIC.

Adventures of Kronos: Founded in 1973, the Kronos Quartet has assembled a body of work that ranges from Shostakovich to Howlin' Wolf to Raymond Scott to Bartok.

The Bay Area string quartet is consistent in performing only music that was composed in the 20th century. That means if you want Bach or Mozart, look elsewhere.

Kronos, which plays more than 100 shows a year, has even been known to launch into something by Jimi Hendrix in concert. The quartet appears tonight at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and Saturday in a special children's matinee show at UCLA's Wadsworth Theater.

Kronos founder and violinist David Harrington says the quartet is a democracy in which each musician offers suggestions.

Much of Kronos' repertoire has been specially commissioned. In fact, part of Saturday's performance will be devoted to works written or arranged exclusively for the Kronos Quartet.

Another segment of the Wadsworth date, which should be fun for kids, will be given over to instrument maker Dr. Craig Woodson who will lead audience members in the construction of their own ``drumpet,'' a drum/trumpet/string-type thing.

Woodson will conduct the audience in a short performance piece with the Kronos Quartet.

The Alex Theatre is at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Show time is 8 tonight and tickets are $22.50 and $29.50. Information: [phone].

The Wadsworth Theater is at 226 Eisenhower Ave., Brentwood. Show time is 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $22 and $25. Information: [phone].

?13- Fred Shuster

art

Animated alternative: Forget about Mickey and Bugs. For the rest of this week, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is paying homage to the OTHER animation company, the slightly creepy one run by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer.

Before its untimely demise in 1942, Fleischer Studios provided a freakish alternative to Disney's bouncing bunnies and sugar-coated harmonies. Fleischer cartoons had a surrealistic, experimental edge, and the brothers weren't shy about exploiting the genre's unsettling qualities. Though the studio faded, and many of its films had been considered lost, the characters (Popeye, Betty Boop and Ko-Ko the Clown, among others) have endured as pop-culture icons.

Winding up the series, titled ``Out of the Inkwell,'' LACMA will present four different film programs Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30. Friday features a tribute to Ko-Ko, with Robert Israel providing live piano accompaniment to 10 offbeat animated shorts, followed by the 74-minute ``Gulliver's Travels,'' the Fleischer Brothers' first animated feature. On Saturday, LACMA will screen the 77-minute ``Mr. Bug Goes to Town,'' the studio's second (and last) animated feature, plus a program of rare shorts with titles like ``Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions'' (1933) and ``Tears of an Onion'' (1938).

Tickets are $6 general admission, $4 for museum members, AFI members and students with ID. To purchase tickets, call [phone]. LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

?13- Reed Johnson

theater

Harmonic convergence: Thirty-three years ago, on Feb. 9, 1964, the members of the vocal quartet called Forever Plaid were tragically killed in an auto accident.

The boys were on their way to their first big gig - at the Airport Hilton Cocktail Bar - when they were slammed broadside by a school bus filled with Catholic teens. Cut down in their harmonizing prime, the four lads - Jinx, Smudge, Francis and Sparky - never got to sing ``Lady of Spain'' that night, or ``Three Coins in the Fountain.''

Sniff, sniff.

But there's a happy ending to this sad tale. By a miraculous convergence of fate and the Power of Harmony, these four teen angels are being allowed to return to Earth to give the show they never got to do in life. Stuart Ross' ``Forever Plaid,'' which may just be immortal, will be tripping down memory lane again, this time at the Canon Theatre, 205 N. Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, through Feb. 28. Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 5 and 9 p.m. Saturdays; and 3 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $25 to $42.50. For tickets and information, call [phone].

?13- Reed Johnson

film

She's baaack...: You've gotta love ``Mother.'' Not only is it Albert Brooks' most accessible neurotic comedy to date, it has Debbie Reynolds in the comeback role of the decade.

She plays the oddly patient yet relentlessly picky parent of Brooks' middle-age sci-fi writer, a guy who thinks he can solve his chronic problems with women by moving back in with Mom. She's no prize, but he's really a pain; the movie's humor grows out of both her disinterest and her magnificent tolerance of her son's overbearing scheme.

Brooks is his usual chattering joke machine - and as witty as ever at it. But Reynolds is the true comedian here. After decades away from the camera, she comes back with an oddball timing and sense of deadpan absurdity that is fully unique and irresistibly engaging.

You wouldn't want a mother like this, but thank your lucky stars somebody has one.

?13- Bob Strauss

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Hank Dutt, left, Joan Jeanrenaud, David Harrington and John Sherba of the Kronos Quartet perform tonight at Glendale's Alex Theatre and Saturday at UCLA's Wadsworth Theater in Westwood.

(2) Hollywood veteran Debbie Reynolds returns to the big screen opposite actor-director Albert Brooks in his new film, ``Mother.''

(3) Larry Raben, left, Neil Nash, David Engel and Paul Castree give voice to ``Forever Plaid,'' at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills.