Garfunkel

Tonight's dinner: vegetable stew (vegan, gluten free, contains soy), rice (vegan, gluten free, soy free), fruit salad (vegan, gluten free, soy free), and green salad with avocado and tomatoes (vegan, gluten free, soy free)! Within the first days of Occupy Baltimore, a food committee was formed and most days since the committee of volunteers has prepared meals in the various kitchens around town that have been made available for the volunteers. Don Barton, who works with Baltimore Free Farm, is among the volunteers who prepare dinners for the McKeldin Square occupiers.

Extra! Extra! Dog bites woman! That's one subplot on this week's "Seinfeld" (9-9:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2), which has Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) fearing she's gotten rabies from a dog bite. NBC.* "Frasier" (9:30-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- John Mahoney, as Frasier's dad, gets to snarl overtime when his sons (Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce) take him to dinner at an expensive restaurant. NBC.* "Dateline NBC" (10-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- On tonight's show, Jane Pauley is scheduled to do a profile on Paul Simon, that soft-spoken, bespectacled senator who -- no, wait.

New York - Paul Simon, the pop star most likely to make the cover of National Geographic, is snug back in his native habitat this afternoon as a chilly squall blows pedestrians up Broadway far below his office window.Even on a busy day, the mood is cool efficiency here at Simon Central, a maroon-carpeted suite of oak built-ins, glass brick and full-grown ficus trees in the Brill Building, the Pentagon of American popular music. A glass cabinet displays a dozen Grammy awards; gold and platinum records cover an entire wall.

Remember Simon and Garfunkel's 1960s-era hit The Sound of Silence? But what exactly does silence look like? And of course, what does it sound like? This is the subject explored in Speaking of Silence I, an extraordinary exhibit by local artists and students on view at Sub-Basement Artist Studios. The show was organized by Art on Purpose, a community nonprofit founded by curator-educator Peter Bruun that sponsors local exhibitions and workshops about social justice issues. At Sub-Basement, Bruun has put together a potpourri of works ranging from minimalist painting and sculpture to photography, performance art and sound pieces.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will be crowned 2003's top concert attraction by Pollstar in the magazine's annual ranking of the top 100 North American tours, a list that will be finalized this week. The New Jersey rocker grossed $115.9 million from 47 performances in 30 cities, according to Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni, placing him No. 2 on the list of the highest-grossing tours ever. The Rolling Stones' 1994 tour remains the all-time champion with $121.2 million in tickets sold.

HARBIN, China -- During the era of Mao Tse-tung, the Communist Party earned widespread praise for practically shutting down China's flourishing prostitution industry. But with today's freer economy, the sex trade's back, and some Chinese officials would rather tax it than fight it.Since last year, at least 14 cities have begun taxing China's "san pei girls," young women who earn large sums for accompanying men in nightclubs and karaoke bars. For a higher fee, many of the women will sleep with their customers.

After nearly a decade of winning over local and out-of-town crowds as the lead singer of Fools & Horses, singer-songwriter Matt Hutchison suddenly became a solo act after the band broke up in October 2011. Since then, he's played wherever they'll have him — colleges, coffeehouses, the Night Cat in Easton, Joe Squared in Station North, to name a few places — trying to rebuild the interest his previous band earned. Consistent gigs are good, but it's difficult to gain listeners without releasing albums.

The Graduate is going to matriculate to Broadway all right. And it's going to do it on a wave of money. But based on the evidence at the Mechanic Theatre, it's not going to graduate with honors. The original London production - which opened with Kathleen Turner bravely baring all, as she is doing again here - ends its nearly two-year run today, having made $10 million. The 10-day Baltimore engagement sold out before the first curtain rose (a first in Mechanic history). Toronto, the next stop on the three-city tryout tour, also is sold out. And Boston, the final pre-Broadway destination, has extended its run one week.

I HAVE TO admit, I'm still a little skeptical about Terrell Owens and his supposed groin injury. Seems to me that his groin only seems to hurt when the Eagles need an excuse to keep him out of the spotlight. He didn't show up in Baltimore for the Aug. 20 exhibition game against the Ravens because of it, but he looked just fine catching a 64-yard touchdown pass against the Cincinnati Bengals a week later. So, where was he on Sunday when the Eagles held their annual charity carnival? Nursing that groin injury, of course.

In a bare classroom, the strangers sat in a shy half circle around the director's chair. There were four older women, people you might not notice unless their grocery cart hit yours at the Metro. There were two middle-aged men (one, an eighth-grade science teacher), who had never done anything like this and this was nuts. There was a 14-year-old girl with straight long hair and serious glasses. Everyone thought she was at least 18. When she said she'd never heard of Marlon Brando, the group never doubted her age again.