THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Rain and drizzle, hi 60, lo 43

Saturday: Cloudy with a little rain, hi 59, lo 49

Sunday: Strong front moves in and all hell will break loose, hi 54, lo 46

>>> FRIDAY, OCT. 22-SATURDAY, OCT. 23: HOOT 'N' HOWL

Your Halloween costume (Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut) is ready to go. The pumpkin is carved. The candy is, er, well, you ate it, but you're definitely going to pick up another bag of tiny Snickers bars in the next couple of days. The problem is you're so excited by the prospect of the witchy day that you cannot wait until next week. Lucky for you, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park hosts its HOOT ‘N' HOWL this weekend. There'll be games, tram rides, crafts, spooky stories and the usual animals.  Best of all, you can load up on more candy. 

• Northwest Trek, 6-10 p.m., $4.50-$12.50, 11610 Trek Dr. E., Eatonville, 360.832.6117

>>> SATURDAY, OCT. 23: BLACK CAT FIVE-MILE FUN RUN

For some, running can be an excruciating experience. To many others, it's what they live for. But however you feel about running, there's no doubt the experience can be improved by the donning of a ghoulish costume or vampire teeth and a cape. Enter the Black Cat Five-Mile Fun Run, a family-friendly jaunt through Point Defiance Park set to go down at dusk this Saturday. Organized by Metro Parks Tacoma, the event caters to runners and walkers of all levels, and the registration fee gets you free glow sticks, black fleece running gloves and hot cocoa, tea or coffee at the finish line ... or water if you're, like, a really hardcore runner and stuff.

• Point Defiance Park Five Mile Drive, 5:30 p.m., check in 4:30 p.m., $25 until midnight tonight, $35 day of race, 5400 N. Pearl, Tacoma
  

>>> FRIDAY OCT. 22-SATURDAY, OCT. 23: FRIENDS BOOK SALE

Used books reign supreme over new books because there's something to be said for encountering a chocolate stain, a teardrop or a snot smear on random pages, reminding you that you're holding something someone enjoyed before you. Used books are things with histories. At the Lakewood Library's Freinds' Book Sale you can unleash your fetish for used books with wild abandon. Tens of thousands of books will be on sale, not to mention CDs, cassettes and DVDs. Knowledge has become ridiculously cheap and accessible. Take advantage.

• Lakewood Library, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 6300 Wildaire Road SW, Lakewood, 253.582.6040
  

>>> SATURDAY, OCT. 23: SALSA DANCE

This Anglo never could get his hips to salsa. I tried. My college girlfriend - Angela de Sosa - was from El Salvador. She wore size-3 Jordache jeans when we hit the disco scene (the early ‘80s thing to do). The music would play, and de Sosa's hips would sway. She tried to show me how.  De Sosa left me for a better dancer. I took up writing. Every Saturday night at the Abbey Ballroom in downtown Tacoma there's a Latin dance featuring salsa, bachata, cha cha, merengue, and the occasional rumba. I will not be there.

• The Abby Ballroom, 9 p.m., all ages, $5, 1901 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.5424

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

MATT DRISCOLL Editor and String Cheese Addict (not the band!)
Again, the South Sound has quite a weekend in store. There's a whole crapload (maybe two) of things to choose from, and making decisions wont be easy. The best thing to do is simply be decisive, and turn whatever choice you make into the right one by going all-out and not looking back.

While I have yet to follow that advice, and my weekend is still up in the air, I would really like to make it to The Grand for part of the Race & Pedagogy Film Series, which is a precursor to next week's Race & Pedagogy National Conference at the University of Puget Sound.

That, and I've really been craving a BBC from MSM Deli the last couple days, so I'll probably have one of those this weekend too.

So, to summarize my weekend will include: race, pedagogy, beef, cheese and bacon.

PAUL SCHRAG Senior Contributor
I'll be tearing around Olympia with Eprhyme, who will release his second album on K Records sometime next year, shooting photos to accompany a video celebrating Olympia's unique culture. I'll probably end up in a garage with E and Smoke of Oldominion, and hopefully get a chance to molest fellow Volcano scribe Owen Taylor. 

REV. ADAM MCKINNERY Features Writer
This weekend is all leading up to Saturday, when I will be attending a show at my friend's venue, Hilltop Hollows. Until then, I will be helping with doing some renovating of the venue to get it goo and ready. Boy, I hope the cops don't show up.

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
After my usual two days of mix mastering at the bar, I'm going on a date with my husband. We have some fun things on the menu, but due to discretionary promises, I am not allowed to disclose to readers exactly what we are up to. But, go ahead, use your imagination.

JOE IZENMAN Music/Theater Critic
Either having a poker night, playing a show at Cork! Wine Bar, getting engagement photos at Wright Park, catching It's Kind Of A Funny Story at The Grand, and learning to cook Indian food; or continuing to be ill and staying inside feeling gross all weekend. Both are viable options.

KRIS BLONDIN Food/Wine Writer
I'm boring. We WERE going to Westport, but husband has to work. At
least I have a new furnace, heat and really big bottle of vodka. Call
me?

JENNIFER JOHNSON: Lifestyle/Leisure Writer
Friday I will be going to 1022 Fall and Winter Menu Debut Party at 6 p.m. Saturday I will be running 5 miles and then catching a session at Hot Yoga Tacoma. That night I will bid farewell to the Robert Daniel Gallery at "Out With A Bang" at 9 pm. Sunday hopefully will bring a relaxing day and a walk through gorgeous fall leaves (no rain!). 

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
I'll be heading to the Tacoma Little Theatre to review eleemosynary, lamenting the absence of dairy from my diet and preparing for a week in Mexico with the infant, husband and in-laws.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
After a full day at Olympia High School for an upcoming feature, I'll be free to enjoy Harvey at OLT and The Art of Dining at my new alma mater.  Better and boobier yet, I'll be venturing Through the Looking Glass, aka Burlesque Alice in Wonderland, at the Capitol Theater.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Correspondent
I’m going to be all about music this weekend when Tacoma Youth Chorus hosts a free parent appreciation concert at Charles Wright Academy at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Later that night brings Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s season opener, Gershwin and Guitar, featuring Ana Vidovic. She is featured in "Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez." The show also will include Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid" and George Gershwin's "An American in Paris."

ALEC CLAYTON: Visual Arts Critic
 The play's the thing. Going to see Harvey at Olympia Little Theater and eleemosynary at Tacoma Little Theatre.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound