by Min Liao

THURSDAY 10/14

RENTERS' BALL -- Aptly named "Poverty on a Lease," this party/benefit for Judy Nicastro's (the QUEEN of renters' rights) city council campaign features dancing, live music, and cocktails. Get drunk and swap slumlord stories with other struggling apartment dwellers! Aristocrat's Club, 220 Fourth Ave (at Main), 9 pm, $10, 21+ only.

FRIDAY 10/15

PAINTING MARATHON -- Create, godammit, CREATE! The pressure's on, as CoCA's relentless 24-hour "art marathon" separates the real artists from the... guys who can, uh, paint. Watch, cheer, inspire, pose, or just be a nuisance as Seattle's top painters (including Shawn Ferris, Geoff Garza, Parris, and Whiting Tennis) struggle to stay awake while producing pieces that will be auctioned off the very next day. (Coffee available at all times.) Center on Contemporary Art, 65 Cedar St (Belltown), 728-1980, Fri at 2 pm-Sat at 2 pm, $5.

BENEFIT FOR MARK COOK -- Ramona Africa, advocate against police brutality, teams up with Christian Parenti, author of Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis, to speak about problematic law enforcement and the plight of U.S. political prisoners. A benefit for Washington state political prisoner/former Black Panther, Mark Cook. Seattle Central Community College, room 1110, 7 pm, $5.

SUNDAY 10/17

STRINGS OF WONDER -- From classic Chinese epics to contemporary comic scenes, 80 year old Huang YiQue, world famous marionette artist (on his first-ever U.S. tour!), will surely impress you and (prepare yourselves for a really bad pun) tug on your strings. Ha. Northwest Puppet Theater, 9123 15 Ave NE, 523-2579, 1 & 3 pm, $6.50 kids/$8.50 grown-ups.

WEDNESDAY 10/20

YOUR OLD HOUSE -- Historic Seattle wants to help you learn about fixing older plumbing and electrical systems so you can better understand your creaky old interior. You'd be surprised at how good you feel after learning how to "do-it-yourself"! [The Stranger apologizes for the geeky tone of this paragraph written by Min Liao, the Biggest Nerd in the World.] Good Shepard Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, call Historic Seattle at 622-6952 for details, 7-9 pm, $10.