Going out

Drum corps: The Summer Music Games is a thundering, high-energy drum corps extravaganza with more than 10 groups from around the country competing for national honors. 7 p.m. today, Fairfield Stadium, Ohio 4 and Stadium Drive, Fairfield, $10-$18. 858-3788.

Charlie Hunter: The eight-string jazz guitar master rolls in for a night full of music, much of it from his new Right Now Move CD. 9 p.m. today, Jack Quinn's Emerald Ballroom, 112 E. Fourth St., Covington, $18-$20. (859) 491-6699.

'Prague': Celebrated young novelist Arthur Phillips is here to introduce the paperback version of his best seller Prague (Random House; $13.95), about twentysomething Americans in the romantic Czechoslovakian capital circa 1990. 7 p.m. today, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960.

On TV

Top pick: CBS' Big Brother reality show returns for a fourth summer with a delicious twist called "The X Factor." Some of the housemates are stunned to learn that their former spouses also will be living with them in Los Angeles during the $500,000 competition (8 p.m. today, 9 p.m. Wednesday and 8 p.m. Friday, Channels 12, 7).

• Critic John Kiesewetter also says Channel 9's Dennis Janson helps Ken Griffey Sr. remodel a bedroom with a baseball theme for his eight grandchildren at the former Red's Orlando home on Major League Remodel (7 and 10:30 p.m., Do It Yourself cable).

New on DVD/Video

Critic's picks: The Colin Farrell thriller Phone Booth tops the new home video choices this week, but Enquirer film critic Margaret A. McGurk says the big news for film fans is the new-to-video edition of the sublimely silly foreign-affairs comedy The Mouse That Roared, starring the late Peter Sellers in three roles - including a grand duchess.

Planning ahead

24 hours out: The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's PianoFest Cincinnati Festival steps up with an All-Beethoven recital from star pianists William Black, Eugene Pridonoff and Frank Weinstock. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, UC, free. 556-4183.

48 hours out: Northern Kentucky University Dinner Theater opens its second summer production, the music-filled murder mystery Something's Afoot. 8 p.m. Thursday, Black Box Theater, NKU, Highland Heights (dinner begins 90 minutes before show), $24 ($12 show only). (859) 572-5464.

72 hours till Friday: The behemoth St. Rita Fest begins three days of game booths, rides, live music and more, 7 p.m.-midnight, St. Rita School for the Deaf, 1720 Glendale-Milford Road, Evendale. 771-7600.

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E-mail: jknippenberg@enquirer.com; fax: 768-8330