9 pm: Blues

As it marks its fourth anniversary, the House of Blues couldn’t live up to its name any more forcefully than this--a show by the patriarch of primal blues, John Lee Hooker. At 77, the singer-guitarist has two new trophies--best vocal collaboration and best blues album Grammys for his last collection, “Don’t Look Back.”

* John Lee Hooker, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. $50. (213) 848-5100.

8 pm: Music

A new film by Mike Smith, “1001 Nights,” with a score by David Newman, launches the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Filmharmonic” series on a program also offering music by Tchaikovsky, John Adams and Samuel Barber. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts. Commissioned by the Philharmonic, “1001 Nights” receives its world premiere performance on this occasion. Soloist in Barber’s Cello Concerto is Philharmonic principal Ronald Leonard.

* “Filmharmonic,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. Repeats Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. $8-$63. (213) 850-2000.

8 pm: Theater

The noted Acting Company on tour presents the West Coast premiere of “Love’s Fire: Fresh Numbers by Seven American Playwrights,” an evening of one-acts by Eric Bogosian, William Finn, John Guare, Tony Kushner, Marsha Norman, Ntozake Shange and Wendy Wasserstein.

* “Love’s Fire: Fresh Numbers by Seven American Playwrights,” Cerritos Center, 12700 Center Court Drive. $28-$38, (562) 916-8500; (800) 300-4345. Also, California Center for the Arts, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido, May 9, 8 p.m., $25. (800) 988-4253. The Acting Company will also perform “Romeo and Juliet,” Cerritos Center, Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; California Center for the Arts, May 8, 8 p.m. $12-$25.