Bye-bye HNL — NextDoor's new Thursday night is cookin' with Love Oven. Organized by former Quadraphonix member Killawatz the Mongoose (aka Jamal Mamalitas) and NextDoor's own Lacy Matsumoto, Love Oven is a loungey night when you can hear rare hip-hop and a special guest — this week it's saxophonist Dave Mergen of Nu Swing Project — meant to get creative juices flowing. "It's gonna be kind of relaxing," says Killawatz, "for people who work during the week, and a warmup for people who go out on the weekend."

— Lesa Griffith

DAYS OF EMPIRE

With an Empire Establishment T-shirt, what you see is not all you get — when you sweat, new designs appear. The just-turned-1 company's young owners (and Farrington grads) Lyndon Quelnan and Michael Agcanas say their fresh urbanwear is about positivity. Given the chance to "hustle on the streets," the duo chose to use its skills the "right way" instead says Quelnan. Now they pass the message on. "If everyone can climb up the ladder together, then everyone can be at the top," says Quelnan. The shirts are at Fighters Corner, 405 N. King St. Online: www.myspace .com/lqbonafide.

— Katie Whitman

DRAWN AND QUARTERED

Are you a doodlehead? Go to D.U.I. — Drawing Under the Influence — the American Institute of Graphic Arts Honolulu's "Pictionary¨-type Competition & Social Event" at Vino in Restaurant Row, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Registration to compete is closed, but you can go as a "wallflower" ($20) and watch the graphic mayhem, eat pupu and mingle with local design stars such as Bernard Uy of Wall to Wall and emcee Alan Low. E-mail DUI@honolulu.aiga.org to see if there's space available.

— Lesa Griffith