Going out

        Heavy metal fest: It's a true mother lode for metal, head banging and a bit of the mosh at Bogart's when Soulfly, Downset, Primer 55 and Slaves on Dope crank up their amps. 7:30 p.m. today, $18.50-$20. 562-4949.

        Cincinnati Film Society: Kill the lights and kicks off a long weekend tribute to avant-garde film avatar Stan Brakhage today with a screening of his celebrated experimental work Dog Star Man. Newsreel Theater, Cincinnati Museum Center, 8 p.m., $5-7. 251-6060.

        Diane Rehm: The popular National Public Radio talk show host chats it up at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 4 p.m. today. She'll discuss her candid memoir, Finding My Voice, a tale of 20 years on public radio and eight-year battle with the voice disorder spasmodic dysponia. 396-8960.

        Theater: Village Players of Fort Thomas take aim on the funny bone with Beau Jest, a sassy comedy about a Jewish woman dating a gentile and trying to keep it secret. 8 p.m. today, Village Players theater, 8 N. Fort Thomas Ave. Continues through Oct. 21. $9. (859) 441-0122.

Staying In

        TV picks: How many times — if any? — will we hear “fuzzy math” or “the wealthiest 1 per cent” when George W. Bush and Al Gore meet in the second of three TV debates (9-10:30 p.m., NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Fox News).

        • If you're tired of the politicians' same old song and dance, TV Critic John Kiesewetter suggests you tune in VH1's countdown of 60 of the 100 Greatest Dance Songs (8-11 p.m. today). All 100 air 6-11 p.m. Friday.

The Goods (What's in stores today)

        Disk picks: The big rock release this week is the Wallflowers' Breach (Interscope; $18.98 CD, $14.98 LP, $12.98 cassette), the long-awaited follow-up to 1996's Bringing Down the Horse.

        The Divine Bette Midler celebrates her new sitcom with an album of the same title, Bette (Warner Bros.; $18.98 CD, $12.98 cassette).

        The week's big rap releases are E-40's Loyalty and Betrayal (Jive; $17.98 CD, $11.98 cassette), featuring Too Short and Nate Dogg, and Ja Rule's Rule 3:36 (Def Jam; $18.98 CD, $12.98 LP, $12.98 cassette).

        The Beatles Anthology book, together with John Lennon's birthday last Monday (he would have been 60), make it enough of an occasion to re-release his final album, Double Fantasy (Capitol; $17.98 CD) with a couple of bonus tracks and a previously unreleased song.

        And Grateful Dead heads can rejoice in the much anticipated release of Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead/Arista; $28.98 CDs only), a massive four-CD live collection from 1971 (a very good year for the Dead), culled from the band's extremely hot five-night stand at the soon-to-close Fillmore East, a favorite Dead venue.

Planning Ahead

        24 hours out: Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival spins yarns with Conor McPherson's The Weir, a play about five Irish types sharing stories over a glass or two of stout in a Dublin pub. Well, they are Irish, for heaven's sake. 8 p.m Thursday, CSF Theater, 719 Race St., downtown. 381-2273.

        48 hours out: Illusions, ghosts and some mighty big frights when Queen City Mystics pop up before a showing of the enormously creepy House of Wax. Midnight Friday at the Esquire Theatre, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. $12.50. 281-8750.

        Get To It appears daily. Send items to Get To It, Tempo, Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202; fax: 768-8330.

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