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NEW ORLEANS — Actress Patricia Clarkson got a brass band reception when she arrived Wednesday in New Orleans, setting the stage for the all-women Krewe of Muses parade to roll Thursday night.

Muses kicks off a string of celebrity-studded parades leading up to Mardi Gras on Tuesday. The parades are held by individual krewes — social clubs that spend all year putting together the elaborate floats and costumes. The pop-rock band Maroon 5 rides with the krewe Endymion on Saturday night, comedian and actor Will Ferrell rides as king of Bacchus on Sunday night and rocker Bret Michaels will join Grammy-winning singer Cyndi Lauper in Orpheus on Monday.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Theresa Andersson will also be featured in Muses, and as her float rolls through the city streets she will perform songs from her upcoming album “Street Parade,” accompanied by a 50-piece marching band. It

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They’re in … a new class of inductees was announced by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Wednesday morning.

Performers inducted are: rap/rock pioneers the Beastie Boys, pop troubadour Donovan, hard rockers Guns N’ Roses, poetic singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, L.A. funk-rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers and British pop icons the Small Faces/the Faces.

The Guns N’ Roses induction sets up the drama: Speculation is rife about how abustible reunion of guitarist Slash and frontman Axl Rose would lead to a full reunion tour.

Inducted as an “early influence” is R&B/bluesman Freddie King (“Hideaway”); the Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award goes to song publishing mogul/TV producer Don Kirshner; and the Award for Musical Excellence was awarded to New Orleans recording engineer/studio owner Cosimo Matassa, recording engineer/producer Tom Dowd and recording engineer/producer Glyn Johns.

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Still very much an irrepressible life-force at 70, Chucho Valdés, the renowned Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader, is on a winter tour of the United States that sets down for high-energy maneuvers Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 and 28, at the cabaret series at the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

Valdés is trekking coast-to-coast with his fiery ensemble, The Afro-Cuban Messengers, promoting his eighth Grammy Award winning album, “Chucho’s Steps.”

The latest product of Valdés’ expansive, ecumenical musical mind — an intellect honed in the demanding proving grounds of Cuba’srigorous conservatories and celebratory clubs — the new disc is a vibrant blend of hard-swinging American jazz and complex, compelling Afro-Cuban rhythms. And, a

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The state of New York and the Seneca Indian Nation have a contract that states the Nation will provide a percentage of the funds created by slot machines in the Seneca casinos. But for the past two years the Nation and the state of New York have been at odds with one another over the issue of allowing casinos not owned and operated by one of the Indian Nations that reside in the state of New York. As a result for the past two years the state of New York and the communities where the casinos are operated have not received any slot machine funds.

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The Oklahoma City Philharmonic is an orchestra whose programming remains strongly anchored in the classical and romantic periods. So it’s always a treat when a concert features music that was written before or after those eras.

Andrew von Oeyen Photo by Akos Photography

In a rare foray into baroque music, the orchestra’s recent classics concert opened with Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks,” a 1749 work composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle that ended the War of Austrian Succession.

Joel Levine drew ample majesty and pomp from the opening Overture, with dotted rhythms carefully executed and a tempo that was brisk but never rushed. As

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