Chili Peppers

Downloaded singles 1.SOS (edited), Rihanna 2.Bad Day, Daniel Powter 3.What's Left of Me, Nick Lachey 4.Temperature, Sean Paul 5.Dani California, Red Hot Chili Peppers [Courtesy iTunes] Downloaded albums 1.We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen 2.Let Love In, Goo Goo Dolls 3.All the Roadrunning, Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris 4.A Girl Like Me (bonus tracks), Rihanna 5.IV, Godsmack [Courtesy iTunes] Downloaded videos 1.Drug Testing, The Office 2.A Million Little Fibers, South Park 3.S.O.

One of the hottest summer tickets in Europe for the past 10 years, the Virgin Festival is making one stop in the United States this year -- at Pimlico Race Course -- and bringing along 15 bands including the Who and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The last major event at the track that didn't involve horses was the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Open Road Tour, which brought thousands of bikers, along with Bob Dylan, Billy Idol and Hootie & the Blowfish, to Pimlico in 2002. If you go The Virgin Festival will be held Sept.

Once upon a time chicken meant roast chicken, usually served for Sunday dinner. Anyone who didn't like that didn't know a good thing.Today chicken is the meat of choice, the meat of the '90s. With less cholesterol than beef, pork or lamb, chicken is on every table several times a week.The only problem is boredom. I'm always on the lookout for a good chicken recipe slightly off the beaten track, something that's easy, quick and, most of all, has some zip.Oriental ChickenServes 41/4 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade2 tablespoons hoisin sauce2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce1 teaspoon rice vinegar1/2 teaspoon sugardash freshly ground pepper1 pound chicken parts (thighs or breasts)

DIRTAlice in Chains (Columbia 52475)If you think the last thing the world needs right now is yet another mega-metallic sludge band from Seattle, it's probably only because you haven't heard Alice in Chains yet. Sure, the band's second album, "Dirt," relies on the same sort of menacing guitar and slo-mo riffage that took Soundgarden and Pearl Jam to the top, but that's where the similarities end. Dark and foreboding as its sound often is, Alice in Chains never...

Rock and roll radio shows have been around since the days of Allen Freed, the man many credit with inventing the term "rock and roll." But few rock and roll shows sponsored by radio stations are as high-profile or ambitious as the annual HFStival.In the 10 years since WHFS (99.1 FM) put on the first fest in Washington, the concert has grown into one of the largest radio shows in the country, garnering coverage from MTV, Rolling Stone and Spin. But the show this Saturday promises to be the biggest yet, with 30 bands on the bill, and an expected audience of some 75,000.

With almost any awards show, the bottom line is "Who will win?" But to find out who the Best Whatevers are, the folks at home are usually forced to endure an unending stream of witless celebrities and pointless production numbers -- precisely the sort of time-wasters that leave most of us wishing there were a way to fast-forward through to the good stuff.Not the MTV Video Music Awards, though. This special (which airs live at 9 tonight on MTV) is perhaps the only awards show on television that manages to remain interesting even when they're not announcing another batch of winners.

Food for thought Just in time for the holidays, Cambridge University Press has issued a two-volume set, "The Cambridge World History of Food." The 2,000-page work includes anecdotes about foods ranging from chili peppers to sea urchins as well as analyses of the role of food in warfare, immigration and the rise and fall of civilizations. The hardcover set retails for $150. Grateful for the grapes California vintners can't keep a cork in their enthusiasm for this year's grape harvest, calling it one of the best ever.