MONDAY, MAY 5 2014 >>>

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a super fun day when you drink so much Mexican beer that your mouth goes numb, you take your top off at a Taco Bell and drink margaritas the size of your head. Every Mexican restaurant in the South Sound will get its party on today. Here are two specific party suggestions:

1. There's no better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than by shoving six pounds of burrito down your gullet for the fame, fortune and glory of becoming the burrito eating champion of Tacoma. Masa is holding its annual "Jefe de Jefe" six pound burrito eating contest at 6 p.m. Its beer garden opens at 5 p.m. Bands Smoke Perkins & The Filthy Falcons and the Eclectic Approach kick off at 7 p.m. At 9:30 p.m., two DJs spin on two floors.

2. DJ Frank is back at Encore Boutique Nightclub with a sombrero full of reggaetron, merengue, bachata, salsa, cumbia, punta and, of course, hip-hop, beginning at 10 p.m. Start thinking up excuses now for why you'll be rolling into work at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

3. The Hambone Blues Band performs at 8 p.m. in The Swiss.

4. In the same way that sharks must keep swimming to keep breathing, it seems guitarist Rafael Tranquilino must fuse genres across various musical projects in order to stay afloat. His arrangements incorporate blues, funk, rock, funk, ska, metal, reggae, Latin and jazz-fusion. As accomplished as he is varied, Tranquilino can be seen every Monday night as host of Stonegate Pizza's rockin' blues, if not experimental, jam at 8:30 p.m.

5. The New Frontier Lounge isn't The Five Spot on Cooper Square. Then again, it doesn't sit in the East Village of the 1950s either. But, grab the corner bar stool on a Monday night at The New Frontier, nurse a double bourbon, close your eyes and let pianist Nate Dybevik, bassist Arneson Cameron and drummer Peter Tietjen take you to the famous New York City jazz club over the din of the drinking Tacoma crowd. It as it should be: hearing a cool jazz jam in a comfortable, no-pressure environment. It launches at 9 p.m.

LINK: Monday, May 5 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area