THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2011 >>>

1. What's considered chic one week is trashed by the trend setters the next. It's in this blink-and-you-missed-it environment that Tacoma's Third Thursday ArtWalk has become something of an institution. Nothing more than an intermittent and amorphous congregation of people who enjoy original art, the monthly night has managed to snowball into a downtown Tacoma support system for the visual arts.  Or something like that. From 5-8 p.m., officially, galleries, museums, businesses and restaurants welcome the public to tour their hanging art with open arms. Be sure to check out the Oliver Doriss and Galen McCarty Turner Pr3v1ews & PrOtoTyp3s show at Fulcrum, the Invitational show at Brick House Gallery, the contemporary Native American Coyote Forward art show at B2 Fine Art Gallery, and the Seven Wonders of the West show at the American Art Company.

2. Tacoma's Little Engine That Could continues to chugs along offering another tour of Third Thursday ArtWalk via a yellow school bus. Pay your $10, jump on the Art Bus at 5:45 p.m. in front of the Tacoma Art Museum and tour Embellish Multispace Salon, Brick House Gallery, Jazzbones, Tacoma Art Place, Proctor Art Gallery, Evergreen State College and The Swiss Pub. Friendships are born. Flasks are passed. And an occasional sing-along busts out. RSVP here.

3. Community Cinema Tacoma hosts a free screening ofWelcome to Shelbyville - an inside look at America at a crossroad at 6 p.m. inside the Washington State History Museum. It's a fascinating look at a small Tennessee town grappling with changing demographics. Shelbyville's longtime African American and white residents are challenged with how to intergrate a burgeoning Latino population and arrival of Somali refugees of Muslim faith.

4. Similar to the famous A Great Day in Harlem photograph of famous jazz musicians snapped by Art Kane, A Great Sway in Tacoma was snapped of the famous Tacoma Thursday Runners at the Harmon Tap Room last year. A great day, indeed. And a helluva party. The drinking club with a running problem is back tonight, logging in a 3-mile jaunt beginning at 6:30 p.m. in front of said Stadium District watering hole only to return and pound beers until someone loses a shoelace. Bonus: United Way party animals Project:U will also be in the house.

5. The United States of America, as a nation, is perhaps the most charitable in the history of the world. Despite its flaws, the philanthropy that flows from our country is unmatched. Our country is full of folks just itching to pitch in and do their part to help their fellow man. We also love mud wrestling. At 9 p.m., at Surreal Ultra Lounge in Tacoma, the club is promising "a sexy night and an amazing cause!" And, yes, what they're talking about is chicks wrestling in mud to raise money for the leukemia. DJ Pedro will provide the jams - surely a gig he's dreamed about since childhood.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Try to tell us you don't like nightlife