(Traffic) Jammin’ With Mariah, Rage

Watch this week for two big-name music acts to host local jam sessions--the traffic variety, not the guitar kind. Pop diva Mariah Carey and the aggressive rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine will both participate in an old-fashioned rock tradition this week by visiting Sunset Strip record stores to sign autographs, hype their new albums and press the flesh with fans. Rage visits the Virgin Megastore (8000 Sunset Blvd.) on Saturday at 3 p.m., while Carey hits Tower Records (8801 Sunset Blvd.) on Friday at 7 p.m. Expect two sizable--and exceptionally disparate--crowds to show up for the events, and don’t be surprised to see store managers hiding a smirk if the crush of fans clogs traffic or creates other minor havoc in the already congested district. “Sure, we get excited if it ends up on the news with footage of a big crowd and the Virgin logo right behind them,” says Manny Hernandez, manager of the store hosting Rage. “The more hoopla the better, and bad press is good press as long as it’s not anything serious. [The fans] can scream and yell all they want as long as they don’t get destructive.” Hernandez’s store will have bicycle racks set up to keep the crowd organized and he concedes that these events can be a challenge. But they are increasingly important as the Internet threatens to steal more and more sales from brick-and-mortar merchants. “We have to become destinations and offer more to our customers than just an album to buy,” says Hernandez. “And this is a perfect way to do that.”

Two New Films for Mr. Versatile

Whether it was as the embittered runaway slave in “Glory,” for which he won the Oscar for best supporting actor, or the fiery civil rights leader in “Malcolm X” or the womanizing trumpet player in Spike Lee’s “Mo’ Better Blues,” Denzel Washington has portrayed a richly textured array of characters since making his film debut in 1981 in “Carbon Copy.” As 1999 draws to a close, Washington will star in two high-profile films--the suspense thriller “The Bone Collector,” which opens Friday, and “The Hurricane,” a biopic of boxer Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, which debuts Dec. 29 in select cities and then expands on Jan. 14. The films put on display Washington’s reputation as a thinking person’s movie star. “His bankability and crossover appeal is well documented,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. “In ‘The Bone Collector’ and ‘The Hurricane,’ he is carrying the films on his shoulders.” In “The Bone Collector,” directed by Phillip Noyce, Washington plays Lincoln Rhyme, a New York City police detective who is left a quadriplegic after a near-fatal injury. With little to live for, Rhyme is enlisted by fellow detectives to assist them in finding a brutal killer who leaves a trail of cryptic messages at the scene of the crime.

‘Dilbert’ . . . Feeling a Little Crowded?

UPN’s “Dilbert” begins its second season on Tuesday, but it may not be showing up for work at the best of times. “The Simpsons,” once a lonely bastion of prime-time animation, currently finds itself with plenty of company, and not all of the shows are faring that well from a Nielsen standpoint. Just six weeks into the season, two animated programs--Fox’s “Family Guy” and the WB’s new entry “Mission Hill”--have both been temporarily shelved due to low ratings. Even “The Simpsons”--now flanked Sundays by two other animated comedies, “King of the Hill” and “Futurama”--ranks a mere 39th thus far among prime-time series, down from 26th last season. Animation takes a long time to complete, so many of the shows put into production at the height of “South Park” mania are finally getting ready to make their debut. TV executives have downplayed the idea of animation saturation, stressing that people don’t react to a genre but rather to specific shows. They had better hope that’s right, since several more animated shows will arrive next year, meaning “Dilbert’s” set-upon title character will have even more reason to feel like just another face in the crowd.

--Compiled by Times staff writers