By Jason Nebel
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Going out

Bach & Beyond: The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra kicks off its acclaimed series for small orchestra with a delicious program featuring intimate works by Mozart and Haydn that showcase principal clarinetist Richard Hawley and violinist/conductor Jaime Laredo, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Corbett Auditorium, UC. $30. 381-3300.

Big band: Dee Felice Cafe moves tables to make room for its 12-piece swing band under the direction of local jazz favorite Bill Gemmer, 7-10 p.m. today, Sixth and Main streets, Covington. (859) 261-2365.

On TV

Top pick: Think you're a wise guy, eh? Jay Mohr, Buddy Hackett, Colin Quinn, Caroline Rhea and Mo'Nique go hunting for the funniest young stand-up comedians in Los Angeles and New York on the premiere of NBC's eight-week Last Comic Standing (9-11 p.m., Channels 5, 22).

• Critic John Kiesewetter also says WB repeats a cool episode of Smallville when red kryptonite turns Clark (Tom Welling) into one bad dude (8 p.m., Channels 64, 26).

New on DVD/video

Critic's pick: Salma Hayek's passionate performance and Julie Taymor's lush direction turned Frida into one of last year's reliable award-winners, says film critic Margaret A. McGurk. Now home viewers can check out this sexy bio-pic. Also new to DVD is a feature-packed two-disc special edition of Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.

New on CD

• Radiohead's hotly anticipated new disc, Hail to the Thief (Capitol; $18.98, $20.98 for limited-edition package), arrives in stores today.

• The week's big R&B release is Dance With My Father (J Records; $18.98), the album that perennial Cincinnati stadium soul festival headliner Luther Vandross had completed just before his devastating stroke,

• Annie Lennox goes Bare (J Records; $18.98; $21.98 with limited edition bonus DVD).

• Steely Dan is back, as Donald Fagen and Walter Becker celebrate their 2001 Grammy with the new Everything Must Go (Warner Bros.; $18.98; $24.98 for limited edition including bonus DVD).

Planning ahead

24 hours out: A lecture at the Cincinnati Art Museum takes up "The Sublime, the Grand, the Wonderful in Nature: The Cincinnati Landscape Tradition," in works by painters such as Duncanson, Sontag, Twachtman and Meakin, 7:30 pm.. Wednesday, CAM, Eden Park. Free. 721-2787.

48 hours out: Banjo master Bela Fleck and the progressive bluegrass Yonder Mountain String Band share the stage at Annie's, 6 p.m., 4343 Kellogg Ave., Columbia-Tusculum $22.50. 562-4949.

E-mail jnebel@enquirer.com; fax 768-8330.