Bars and Clubs

House of Blues. Harvard Square. 491-BLUE. Rick Russell's Blues Buffet and Jam on Thurs., March 9.

ManRay. 21 Brookline St., Central Square, Cambridge. 864-0400. Hell on Fri., March 10. Retro and New Wave Party on Sat., March 11.

The Middle East. 472 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 497-0576. Downstairs: Throat Culture on Thurs., March 9. Elevator Sextet on Fri., March 10. Upstairs: Fast Backs on Sat., March 11. Scopitones on Sun., March 12.

Regatta Bar. The Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge. 876-7777. Betty Carter and her quintet from Wed., March 8 through Sat., March 11. The Lello Molianri Quintet on Tues., March 14.

Ryles. Inman Square, Cambridge. 876-9330. Music from 8:30 p.m. nightly.

Venus de Milo. 11 Lansdowne St., Boston. 421-9595. American Spirit, classic rock on Thurs.s.

Chocolate

Chocolate Fools Day. 661-5865. Charles Hotel, Harvard Square. Sun., March 12, 1-4 p.m. $15 at the door; $12.50 in advance. More than 20 of Boston's leading chefs and chocolatiers will offer cakes, cookies, truffles, tortes and more at the sixth anniversary of this chocolate tasting extravaganza. Proceeds benefit after-school programs of the Cambridge Performance Project.

Concert

Boston Conservatory. 8 The Fenway, Boston. 536-6430. Leonard Ciampa, pianist, will perform works by Chopin, Albeniz, Granados. Sun., March 12, 3 p.m. Free.

Women's Choir will perform works including Ave Maria by Mozart. Mon., March 13, 8 p.m. Free.

Boston Conservatory Chamber Winds and Wind Ensemble will perform works by Strauss and Milhaud. Wed., March 15, 8:30 p.m. Free.

Longy School of Music. Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall, 27 Garden St., Cambridge. 876-0956, ext. 120. Opera at Longy from Thurs., March 9 through Sat., March 11 at 8 p.m.

Longy's Benefit Concert Series on Sun., March 12 at 4 p.m. $7 for students.

MIT. 253-9800 or 253-2826. MIT Chapel Series on Thurs., March 9 at noon at the MIT Chapel. Free.

MIT Symphony Orchestra on Fri., March 10 at 8:30 p.m. at Kresge Auditorium. $2.

7th Annual New England Collegiate Jazz Festival on Sat., March 11. College Band Performances/clinics begin at 10 a.m. Concert at 7 p.m. $10. Kresge Auditorium.

Faculty Concert. Sun., March 12. Kresge Little Theater, 8 p.m. Free.

Learn to Meditate Concert and Seminar. 661-0767. Sat. March 11 at 7:30 p.m. Concert of New Age music. Tues., March 13 and Wed., March 14 at 7:30 p.m. Free meditation seminar with international lecturer Sujantra McKeever. Friend's Meeting Houe, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge.

Dance

American Festival. Through March 19. Wang Center. 931-ARTS. Twyla Tharp in the Upper Room with music by Philip Glass. Paul Taylor Company B with the music of The Andrews Sisters. Merce Cunningham Breakers with music by John Driscoll.

Exhibitions

The Children's Museum. 300 Congress Street, 426-8855. Current exhibits include the Climbing Sculpture, a two-story suspended puzzle piece climbing maze; Climbing the Wall, a rock climbing exhibit; El Mercado De Barrio, a replica of a Latino neighborhood market in Boston; Teen Tokyo, an exhibition on social and cultural life for kids in Japan; Jump Up! Boston's Caribbean Carnival; and Powwow, an exhibition of photographs of Arapahoe and Shoshone powwows.

Compton Gallery. 77 Mass Ave., M.I.T., Cambridge. 253-4444. Through March 17. "AIDS: The Challenge to Educate."

Dean's Gallery. 50 Memorial Drive, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge. 253-9455. Through March 16. "Images from 1's and 0's."

Through May 10. "Works from a Small Studio."

Hart Nautical Gallery. 55 Mass Ave., M.I.T., Cambridge. 253-5942. Ongoing. "Course 13, 1893-1993: From Naval Architecture to Ocean Engineering." "Permanent Exhibition of Ship Models."

M.I.T. Museum. 265 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 253-4444. Through June 18. "From Louis Sullivan to SOM: Boston Grads Go to Chicago." Through drawings and artifacts, this exhibition explores the explosive growth of the city of Chicago in the last quarter of the 19th century and the contributions to this building boom by MIT and Boston architects.

Ongoing. "Holography: Artists and Inventors." "MIT Hall of Hacks." "Light Sculptures by Bill Parker." "Math in 3D: Geometric Sculptures by Morton G. Bradley, Jr." "MathSpace."

Museum of Fine Arts. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 267-9300.

March 11--Oct. 22. "Degrees of Abstraction: From Morris Louis to Mapplethorpe." The selection of objects and the installation of this exhibition will play "pure" abstraction against representation.

Through April 16. Ongoing. "Sweet Dreams: Bedcovers and Bed Clothes."

Through May. Ongoing. "Monet Installation."

Through May 7. Ongoing. "Emil Nolde: The Painter's Prints."

Through June 4. Ongoing. "Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist."

Through June 25. Ongoing. "The Renaissance Print: France and Italy."

Through July 25, 1995. Ongoing. "The Taste for Luxury: English Furniture, Silver and Ceramics, 1690-1790."

Museum of Science. Science Park, Boston. 723-2500. Exhibits include "The Observatory," featuring infrared and ultrasonic sounds and images of unseen events, and "The Test Tube," an exhibit of some of the museum's work-in-progress for upcoming exhibits. Laser show "Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon," "The Police," "Lollapalaser," and "Dream On: The Music of Aerosmith." Omni Theater. Planetarium.

Nostalgia Factory. Through March 31. 336 Newbury St., Boston. 236-8754. "P.C.: Pre-Computer," an exhibition of vintage ads for office machines and computers, dating from the turn of the century through the 1970s.

Wheelock College. Towne Art Gallery, 180 The Riverway, Boston. 734-5200. "Streets are for Nobody," Melissa Shook's photographs and interviews of homeless women in Boston and other communities.

Movies

Brattle Theatre. 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. 876-6837. "Mamma Roma" at 3:30, 5:40, 7:50 and 10 p.m. on Thurs., March 9. "Ladybird, Ladybird" at 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m. from Fri., March 10 through Thurs., March 16, with Sat. and Sun. matinees at 2 p.m.

Sony Fresh Pond. Fresh Pond Plaza. 661-2900. On Thurs., March 9. "Just Cause" at 2:30, 4:45, 7:15 and 9:50 p.m. "Brady Bunch" at 1, 3:10, 5:45, 8;15 and 10:30 p.m. "Roommates" at 1:45, 4:15, 6:45 and 9:15 p.m. "The Hunted" at 2:15 and 6:30 p.m. "Walking Dead" at 4:30 and 9 p.m. "Man of the House" at 12:45, 3, 5:30, 7:45 and 10 p.m. "The Mangler" at 2:45, 5:15, 8 and 10:40 p.m. "Nobody's Fool" at 1:30, 3:45, 6 and 8:45 p.m. "Hideaway" at 1:15, 4, 7 and 9:30 p.m. "Forrest Gump" at 12:30, 3:20, 6:15 and 9:40 p.m.

Sony Harvard Square. 10 Church St., Cambridge. 864-4580. On Thurs., March 9. "Exotica" at 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:50 and 10:15 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. "Miami Rhapsody" at 1:30, 3:40, 5:45, 8:15 and 10:30 p.m. "Once Were Warriors" at 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40 and 10:05 p.m. "Before Sunrise" at 12:30, 2:45, 5:05, 7:25 and 9:50 p.m. "Madness of King George" at 2, 4:40, 7:10 and 9:35 p.m. "The Crow" at midnight. "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at 12:20 a.m. on weekend nights.

Sony Janus. 57 JFK St., Harvard Square. 661-3737. On Thurs., March 9. "Shallow Grave" at 2:15, 4:30, 6:45 and 9 p.m.

Wang Center Classic Film Series. "Singin' in the Rain" on Mon., March 13 at 7:30 p.m. $6. 931-2000 or 482-9393.

Theatre

The Guardsman. March 10 through April 9. Huntington Theatre Company, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston. 266-0800 or 931-ARTS. Set in Budapest, Hungary before World War I, this play is about a flamboyant, talented actor and his equally famous and strong-willed actress wife, known for becoming restless after a half-year of commitment to the men of her life.

Henry V. Through March 25. American Repertory Theatre, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. 547-8300. Civil war is at an end and the young king must turn his attentions to the turmoils abroad. Hal proves himself a great soldier and statesman, finally meeting Katharine, the beautiful daughter of the King of France, who teaches him his first lessons in love. Tues.-Fri. at 8 p.m. Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m.

An Ideal Husband. Through March 12. Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon St., Boston. 437-7172. A rarely produced farce by Oscar Wilde, the play was dedicated to Victorian publisher and pornographer Frank Harris.

Joey & Maria's Comedy Wedding. Ongoing. Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St., Boston. (800) 733-5639. An audience-participation dinner show that, in the guise of the marriage of Maria Angelina Cavatelli to Giuseppe Antonio Gnocchi, serves up a roomful of Italian stereotypes.

Nunsense I and II. Ongoing. Theatre Lobby, North End. 931-ARTS or 227-9872.

School for Wives. Through March 19. Brimmer Loft Theatre, 69 Brimmer St., Boston. $5.

Shear Madness. Ongoing. Charles Playhouse, Warrenton St., Boston. 426-5225.

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. Through April 9. New Repertory Theatre, 54 Lincoln St., Newton Highlands. 332-1646. The Boston premiere of the 1992-93 winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for "Best Foreign Play," relates the story of a trio of hostages awaiting their fate at the hands of unseen captors. In their struggle to survive the incarceration, these untimely heroes courageously confront their fears and form a loving bond to combat their isolation and helplessness.

An Unfinished Song. Through March 12. Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St., Boston. 426-6912. Four friends and/or past lovers of wanna-be musical-theater writer Michael, who has succumbed to cancer, comb the contents of his New York apartment and serenade his urn. The story concentrates on a pair of gay lovers who, because of the stubbornness of one and the cowardice of the other, never finished their song of love.