Plenty of family-friendly events to celebrate NEW YEAR'S EVE complement the typical adult attractions this year, so whether you're in search of an ersatz babysitter or quality time, here's a list of events where the whole family can ring in 2005 this Friday. The Louisiana Children's Museum (420 Julia St., 586-0725; www.lcm.org) offers its Kids' New Year's Eve Party, hailed as the museum's biggest annual event, attracting upward 1,500 partygoers from across the region. The countdown is at noon, with the party running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day starts off with activities such as face-painting and crafts, followed at 11:30 a.m. by mega-popular children's music group the Imagination Movers who usher in 2005, which is rung in with confetti, a balloon launch, noisemakers and toasts. Tickets are $8 per person, with advance purchases strongly recommended, based on previous years' popularity. The Audubon Zoo (6500 Magazine St., 581-4629; www.auduboninstitute.org) is teaming up with Radio Disney to present "Noon Year's Eve" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This first-ever event features some of Radio Disney's most popular performers. Triple Image, radio hit-makers of tunes such as "Last One Standing" headline a bill that also includes young Cajun fiddler phenom Amanda Shaw. Apple cider toasts ring in 2005 at noon, and party favors are served. Radio Disney also will enter partygoers into a drawing for a four-pack of tickets to Disneyland. Admission is included in regular zoo admission, which is $11 for adults, $6 children ages 2-12 and $7 seniors. Pack up the family roadster for the seventh annual Carrier Family Festival, held in the Offshore Lounge in Lawtell (north of Lafayette) Friday through Sunday, Jan. 2. Considered a red-letter-date zydeco dance event, the festival features 10 bands. Roy Carrier & the Night Rockers (pictured) headline (and will also make a rare New Orleans appearance at 9 p.m. Thursday at Mid City Lanes Rock Œn' Bowl). Admission is $10 per day, or $25 for three days. Call (337) 939-9879 for directions or info. -- Frank Etheridge

WWE SmackDown! 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena, 522-5555; www.wwe.com Thursday nights for hard-core professional wrestling fans means one thing: another broadcast of WWE's SmackDown!, a high-flying spectacle that offers a commercially viable blend of sport and entertainment. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has a semi-regular home in the Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena, a frequent stop on the ceaseless tour of the show, which brings the WWE's biggest stars -- and most outlandish storylines -- to play out in week-by-week, soap opera-like developments. A long list of the league's top performers are scheduled to appear, including current champion, JBL, an urban cowboy who recently described himself as 'the greatest champion Š the champion of all champions.' Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Spike Dudley and Rob Van Dam are also on the bill. Tickets range from $21.50 to $41.50 and are available through Ticketmaster. -- Etheridge

North Mississippi Allstars 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE; www.hob.com Recorded live at Bonnaroo 2004, Hill Country Revue (Ato) pairs Cody and Luther Dickinson with their musical father, boogie blues giant R.L. Burnside, as well as their biological father, legendary Memphis producer, Jim Dickinson. Hill Country Revue plays like a copper-still-driven jam session where the Dickinsons, bassist Chris Chew and friends -- like Burnside's sons Duwayne, Garry and Cody Burnside; Chris Robinson; and Widespread Panic's Jojo Herman -- wander on and off the stage, adding licks and riffs whenever the spirit strikes them. Make no mistake though, the Allstars themselves are the focus with their alloy of power boogie, psychedelic rock and jam band improvisations. The disc makes it clear that the band's goal is to create a new southern rock, one rooted less in Lynyrd Skynyrd and more in the Band. Tickets $20-$22.50. -- James Bailey

Sister Helen Prejean reading and signing 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 29 Garden District Book Store, 2727 Prytania St., 895-2266; www.prejean.org Baton Rouge native Sister Helen Prejean toiled in the requisite obscurity of life as a Roman Catholic nun until her 1993 book, Dead Man Walking, vaulted to the top spot on The New York Times' bestseller list and made her the face of the crusade against capital punishment. Prejean has remained dedicated to the cause over the past decade and now follows up with another book, The Death of Innocents. Prejean's latest work continues the complexities of the death penalty debate. What if we're killing the wrong person? Why is that more than 80 percent of all of America's executions in the past 25 years have taken place in former slave-holding states? Why do appeal cases receive judgments based on procedural grounds rather than their own facts and merit? In her extensive research of death penalty cases across the country, Prejean examines all these questions and more. -- Etheridge

El Radio Fantastique 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30 The Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616; http://members.cox.net/circlebarnola/home.html Dressed like a gang of Victorian rag dolls and dissolute French sailors, El Radio Fantastique weaves wistful, spooky melodies that sound influenced in equal parts by Kurt Weill, Tom Waits and gypsy folk music. Their rotating instrumentation includes Baby Rosebud's Courtney Lain on accordion, plus a cello, violin, banjo, keyboard, drums, a bluesy harmonica and of all things, a theremin. In fact, an instrumental opening track on the band's demo that prominently features the theremin seems to herald the band's arrival from outer space. Songs like 'Stephanie' are so joyfully bursting with Halloween whimsy, they could be on the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. Others, like the sinister cha-cha 'Crime Baby,' nail noir like Raymond Chandler. No cover. -- Alison Fensterstock

A Whole New World: Karen Mason, with Billy Stritch 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 31; 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 1 and Jan. 6-8 Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., 581-5812; www.cabaretlechatnoir.com It is moments like these that underscore the true value of Le Chat Noir as New Orleans' true cabaret venue. First there were the coup bookings of Karen Akers in recent years, and now comes a Karen of a different color: cabaret star Karen Mason, paired with critically acclaimed cabaret piano player Billy Stritch. Mason might be better known to more mainstream audiences for her performance on Broadway as Tanya in the hit musical Mamma Mia! (which earned her a 2002 Drama Desk nomination) and for TV appearances on Ed and Law and Order: SVU. Mason has been lauded by critics for her comedic sensibilities in performance along with the kind of resonant voice that one critic in particular associated with Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. Pairing her with Billy Stritch makes this a truly dynamic duo in concert to ring in the new year. Tickets $39; optional light dinner for New Year's Eve performances available for $15. -- David Lee Simmons

Buddy Guy 9:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 31 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE; www.hob.com Buddy Guy is deservedly treated like royalty in Lightning in a Bottle, Antoine Fuqua's history of the blues concert movie. Like Bob Dylan, Guy has regained focus in this late stage of his career; his last two recordings, Blues Singer and Sweet Tea (both on Jive), have pushed him and his music by expanding into acoustic and North Mississippi hill country blues. These records are finely crafted and a relief from his good but formulaic blues rock. Live, he has stopped the annoying habit of covering half a Clapton, Hendrix, or Stevie Ray Vaughan tune and has gone back to the passionate, searing shows that made him the premier bluesman, one recently voted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Tickets $60-$85. -- David Kunian

Nokia Sugar Bowl 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3 Louisiana Superdome, 1500 Poydras St., 522-5555; www.nokiasugarbowl.com Even the most ardent LSU fans should send their hearts out to the Auburn Tigers, who did everything possible (12-0 record, an SEC championship) to qualify for the national championship. But the BCS math didn't work out for No. 3 Auburn, which faces eighth-ranked ACC champion Virginia Tech (10-2) in this nationally televised game on ABC (WGNO-TV, Cox cable 11). The Tigers have a one-two punch in quarterback Jason Campbell (2,511 passing yards, 19 TDs, six interceptions) and running back Carnell Williams (1,104 rushing yards, 12 TDs). Virginia Tech quarterback Brian Randall is no Michael Vick, but did pass for 1,965 yards and rush for 466 yards with 19 TD passes against seven interceptions. Individual tickets are gone, though group rates were still available at press time. Other related events around the game include the Nokia Sugar Bowl Basketball Classic at the New Orleans Arena on Thursday, featuring Mississippi State-Virginia Tech (6:30 p.m.) and LSU-Florida State (9 p.m.). Visit the Web site for a complete schedule. -- Simmons

Fiori: Glass Sculpture by Dale Chihuly Through February Arthur Roger Gallery Project, 730 Tchoupitoulas St., 522-1999 The creative mind of Dale Chihuly, the world-famous maestro of large-scale glass sculpture, never rests, it seems. Of late he has been focused on the garden -- of his imagination -- resulting in a series of vitreous fantasies that meld the sinuous organic lines of art nouveau with the dreamlike qualities of surrealism. The 11 installations seen here are made up of hundreds of hand-blown glass elements ranging from 6 inches to more than 7 feet in height. According to the gallery, "flamboyant fantasy flora are animated by natural light during the day and dramatized in the evening as myriad organic shapes are spot-lit to dazzling effect, in a fantastical display evocative of a luscious tropical garden. A video documents Chihuly and his team at work, creating glass and installing his artwork around the world. -- D. Eric Bookhardt