Going out

Parade: The Opening Day Parade begins at noon today at Findlay Market with a conga line of Budweiser Clydesdales, high school bands, custom automobiles, grand marshal Tom Browning and more. Starts at Race and Elder streets, traveling south on Race and east on Fifth Street past Fountain Square. 665-4839.

Book signing: Barnes & Noble at Newport on the Levee hosts baseball writer Rob Trucks as he signs and discusses his book Cup of Coffee: The Very Short Careers of Eighteen Major League Pitchers, consisting of interviews with players who spent fewer than 50 innings on the mound, 1 p.m. today. (859) 581-2000.

Holistic health: The staff at Mercy HealthPlex Western Hills offers a free introductory lesson on reflexology and acupuncture, 7 p.m. today, Harrison Branch Library, 10398 New Haven Road. 369-4442.

On TV

Scheduled shows - particularly those on the larger networks - could be pre-empted by developing news on the war with Iraq

Top pick: Hollywood High, 8 p.m., AMC. Here is a surprisingly well-crafted and honest documentary. The subject is drug use in the movies. Director Bruce Sinofsky found some frank people who have something to say. They include directors John Waters, Penelope Spheeris and Jim Jarmusch, actor Willem Dafoe and Traffic writer Stephen Gaghan.

Other choices:

• Biography, 8 p.m., A&E. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was young when her parents divorced. She spent her childhood shuttling between two families - one rich and the other richer. She also put on shows at home and at Northwestern University. Suddenly she was swept to Saturday Night Live (at age 21) and Seinfeld. Here is a fairly interesting portrait.

• Everybody Loves Raymond, 9 p.m., CBS. Ray isn't sure what to make of it when the mother of his daughter's friend pats his butt.

The goods

Buckeye boy: This straw-hatted, dimple-cheeked farmer is a poseable Kindle Creation with the state bird perched on his hat and holding an official Ohio bicentennial pin that can be removed and worn. Wm. Effler Jewelers in Rookwood Pavilion commissioned it from the Byers' Choice Factory in Chalfont, Pa. $27. 631-3099, www.efflerjewelers.com.

Planning ahead

24 hours out: Jazz guitar master Kenny Poole and versatile vocalist Pam Kneer continue their lively gig, 7-10 p.m. Tuesdays at the atmospheric Muirfield Pub at deSha's American Tavern, 11320 Montgomery Road, Symmes Township. 247-9933.

48 hours out: The Barrows Conservation Lecture Series continues with world-famous field scientist Dr. Michael Fay speaking on "Megatransect: 1,200 Miles Through Africa's Congo Basin," 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Schiff Family Conference Center, Cintas Center, Xavier University. $8-$12.
(513) 745-3411, Ext. 7.

72 hours till Thursday: Miami University Theater Department opens a production of the uproarious Rodgers/Abbott musical The Boys from Syracuse, 8 p.m., Gates-Abegglen Theatre, MU, Oxford. $6-$9. (513) 529-3200.

E-mail jknippenberg@enquirer.com