Going out

Strumming along: Guitar virtuoso Kenny Poole delivers a night full of jazz in an intimate pub setting. Known for playing anything and everything, Poole is as at home with guitar-driven rock as he is with classic jazz (witness his CD tribute to the late George Van Eps, a work people are still talking about). 7:30 p.m. today, Stein & Vine Pub at the Heritage, 7664 Wooster Pike, Mariemont. 561-9300.

Bluegrass bonanza: Bogart's stages a night of bluegrass that offers a little something for everyone. First off, it's the jam-grassers of Leftover Salmon; then comes the hardcore trad-grass sounds of the Del McCoury Band.

8 p.m. Wednesday, Bogart's, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, $15. 562-4949.

Dance night: It's the dance of the people, from hip-hop to classic African-American to street dances from the Latino community when Rennie Harris Puremovement hits town for a night of high-stepping and high-energy dance. 7:30 p.m. today, Hall Auditorium, Miami University, Oxford, $10, $8 seniors, $5 youth.

(513) 529-3200.

Shopping trip

Birthday party: Longworth Hall, one of the world's longest buildings, this week begins a year-long celebration of its 100th birthday with a shopping trip. The design wing, home to dozens of interior design studios, opens to the public for tours and a sale of the designers' wares at rock bottom prices. The wing is traditionally open only to industry types, so the Longworth crowd is treating this as a big deal. Noon-5 p.m. Friday, Longworth Hall, 700 W. Pete Rose Way, free. 721-6000.

Newsstand alert

Russell talks: The very private - some say obsessively so - Russell Crowe is the cover story in the December Biography. Like all Biography stories, it's fanatically complete, tracing his career from something like age 14 up to the present and his intention to take a year off and do what he calls "some life things." It's $3.95 where magazines are sold.

Planning ahead

24 hours out: It was a hit last weekend and will no doubt be a hit again when it resumes this week. Cabaret, the classic Kander and Ebb musical about the low-down dirty and decadent lifestyle of pre-war Berlin, delivers such classics as the title tune, "Maybe This Time" and "Money, Money." 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Gallagher Theater, Xavier University, 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston. $12, $5 students/seniors. 745-3939.

48 hours out: Jeff Chapman-Crane, the self-taught American realist who captures the landscapes and characters of his Appalachian home, has a one-man show of his egg tempera and watercolor paintings starting this week. Opens to the public 10 a.m. Friday, continues through Dec. 12, Closson's Phyllis J. Weston Art Gallery, 2643 Erie Ave., Hyde Park.

762-5510.

72 hours out: What can you say about the Festival of Lights? It's Cincinnati's largest (2.5 million lights) and longest running (this is the 21st annual) Christmas party, complete with ice skating, Santa, gift shops, hot drinks, food and lights affixed to anything that doesn't run the other way. Opens to the general public 5 p.m. Saturday and continues through Jan. 3, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale, $11.50, $9 seniors, $6 children.

281-4700.

Jim Knippenberg

E-mail: jknippenberg@enquirer.com;

fax: 768-8330