FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2010 >>>

1. The Vinyl Tribe DJs hosts a "Funky Cat Hat Party" featuring dubstep and house music beginning at 10 p.m. inside the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative.

2. Local artists and chalkheads will gather in Frost Park and Ninth and Commerce in downtown Tacoma at noon and draw works of art with chalk for an hour. As always, chalk will be available for free.

3. King's Books hosts another Distinguished Writer Series featuring poet Tony Barnstone at 7 p.m. followed by an open mic.

4. Israel Horovitz's Six Hotels, currently making its West Coast premiere at Harlequin Productions in Olympia at 8 p.m., is a disparate collection of one-act plays.  If this anthology has any single uniting theme, it's the exposure of clandestine desires, motivations and major malfunctions. Read a full review here.

5. Flamenco song and dance is - pretty much - sexier than you'll ever be (even if you grow your hair out like Antonio Banderas). It's a bummer. Luckily, like an un-sexy sponge, you can sop up the sexy sweat Flamenco exudes and use it to your advantage. Flamenco Arte Y Paz will hit The Vault in Olympia at 8 p.m.

LINK: New movies open today