THURSDAY MAY 30


Fast Balls & Cheap Beer

(QUEER PINBALL) The title of this here blurb pretty much says it all, so I'll keep this brief: If you are of the homosexual variety and like to play pinball whilst consuming beer, check out this event at Shorty's. (Shorty's, 2222 Second Ave, 441-5449, the last Thursday of every month.) BRADLEY STEINBACHER


Members Only

(FASHION/MUSIC) Music and fashion strut down a catwalk together tonight, as the Epoxies, the Cripples, and the Fitness style rock with arty attitude. Stores like Double Trouble, Lipstick Traces, and Atlas flaunt their swank clothes, and designers LeChamp and Best Girl Wins showcase boutique designs. Add in video installations, DJ Frankie Chan from Graceland, raffles, and MC French Fillup (Jared Warren of Tight Bros fame) and you've got a full night of blurring the lines between fashion, music, and free stuff. (I-Spy, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492, 8 pm, $8.) JENNIER MAERZ


FRIDAY MAY 31


Blu

(NEW CLUB) It may look like a '50s TV dinner on the outside, but the interior of Blu, which is just now opening on Capitol Hill, is clean and smooth and ridiculously polished--like drinking inside an egg, only with a shitload of TV screens. Comparisons will undoubtedly be made to the Hill's other über-gay, egglike club, Manray--comparisons that will be hard to argue against, since Blu was conceived and opened by Manray's original owners--but competition is healthy, or so they say. Of course, Manray may have a different opinion, perhaps more along the lines of "Oh shit." (Blu, 722 E Pike.) BRADLEY STEINBACHER


SATURDAY JUNE 1


Lords of the Floor

(DANCE) During my breakdancing years (1984 to 1987), moves like popping and locking, moonwalking, the airplane, the helicopter, and the windmill were all about machines. The new breed of breakdancers, however, are not inspired by machines but biotechnology. We were the stiff and mechanical T 800 series, whereas the breakdancers of the 21st century are the fluid and mutable T 1000 series. This afternoon, you'll find the new generation of urban dancers in full effect at the Lords of the Floor. National b-boy crews--like the LA Breakers, B-boy Intrigue, Cloud and Venom, Circle of Fire, and Reveal and Iron Monkey--and ambitious local breakers will throw down some serious biotech boogie. (Sand Point Park, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, $12 in advance, $15 at the door, 2 pm.) CHARLES MUDEDE


SUNDAY JUNE 2


Polish Hall in Tacoma

(FOOD DESTINATION) Devotees of Dom Polski, Capitol Hill's Polish Home Association, already know the secret to earning a cult following: lots of pork, served at infrequent intervals. Only open Friday nights, the PHA continues to draw salivating crowds, offering traditional Polish treasures like kielbasa and other sausage platters, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, blintzes, pierogi, stuffed cabbage, homemade borsch, and mammoth pork chops. Now PHA's plump cousin, Polish Hall, has arrived in beautiful blue-collar Tacoma, where the same authentic favorites (including Polish beer and wine) can be enjoyed on Sunday afternoons. Join our cult and try the pork hocks--you'll soon understand why schlepping all the way to Tacoma is TOTALLY worthwhile. (Polish Home Association, 1714 18th Ave, 322-3020, Fri 7-11 pm only; Polish Hall in Tacoma, 1650 E 30th St, 253-839-4529, Sun noon-4 pm only.) MIN LIAO


MONDAY JUNE 3


Shorts of Breath

(MINI-FESTIVAL) With all this SIFF in the air, it might not be amiss to check out this "mini festival" of 11 experimental shorts made completely out of 16mm found footage by the likes of Bruce Conner, Jay Rosenblatt, Martin Arnold, and Matt McCormick. Curated by Chris Chase. After all, it's no big trick to, like, write a movie and plan it out and all that; try making one from scrap.... (Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater, 2320 Second Ave in Belltown, 7 pm and 9 pm, 21+, $6.) SEAN NELSON


TUESDAY JUNE 4


Softcore

(VISUAL ART) This could go either way. It's certainly not the first time that a kind of gentle activism about bringing art to the masses--here, through affordable prints--has popped up in Seattle; our tireless artists are knocking themselves out trying to get us to pay attention. Curator Chuck Dong has gone about this in a very stylish way, however, and has assembled a group of graphic-design-y artists whose work will look very good in your ever-so-mod homes. Shown, appropriately enough, in an ever-so-mod furniture store. (Area 51, 401 E Pine St, 569-4782, through July 31.) EMILY HALL


WEDNESDAY JUNE 5


Linda's Movie Nights

(BOOZY FLICKS) Summer on Capitol Hill officially arrives tonight, when Linda's Tavern kicks off its eighth annual Wednesday-night movie series at dusk. Tonight's feature: Fireball 500, a 1966 car-chase flick starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello (Avalon's in a hot-rod cross-country race, Funicello is his gal pal). But the movies (other Wednesday lineups include M, Metropolis, montages of retro elementary-school filmstrips, late-'60s sitcoms, and Golden Age TV commercials) don't matter. The real fun is in vying for a patio table and getting sloshed before the movie starts. (Linda's Tavern, 707 E Pine St, 325-1220, every Wednesday June 4-Aug 21 at dusk, free.) AMY JENNIGES