Friday July 20, 2012
Remember bell bottoms, peace signs, and mood rings? Well I’m betting you will after watching AMERICAN CANDY: The Super 70s sketch comedy with a 1970s theme tonight (and come on, we all know Mad Men is slowly inching toward the “Me” decade…)! 8 p.m., South Oxford Space 138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn, cost: $20 (inc. open bar)
Rooftop Films celebrates the theme “Coming Home” tonight with “spirited black comedies, fraught animations and intimate documentaries offers hope for reconciliation.” 8 p.m. doors open, 8:30 p.m. live music starts, 9 p.m. the shows start! Metrotech Commons, outdoors, downtown Brooklyn, 5 MetroTech Center, cost: free!
Fireworks and running go together like peanut butter and jelly, right? Well the Free Fireworks Fridays Group Run (FGR), hosted by the Prospect Park Track Club (PPTC) certainly thinks so, with their run tonight! 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., meet in Prospect Park (Park Circle under the Horse Tamer Statues) for a six mile run down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island, hang out afterward for some “beer, singing karaoke, the Cyclone, dancing on the beach!” cost: free! (Please note that this event is repeated on Friday nights during the summer until August 31, 2012.) RSVP required here!
And…Travel to France w/o leaving NYC w/the Chelsea Triangle French Market, which opens today (and runs thru November) by featuring a wide variety of Frenchified food items, Superman, The Movie” screens for free at dusk as part of RiverFlicks for Kids at Hudson River Park’s Pier 46 at Charles Street, Star Trek screens for free at sunset on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid as part of the Intrepid Summer Movie Series tying in w/the newly-installed Space Shuttle Enterprise exhibit, where you can meet NASA astronauts, and Rooftop Films has another free screening tonight of Suite Habana outdoors at the Queens Museum of Art (remember tonight is Target Free Fridays at the museum)!
Saturday July 21, 2012
Explore the spooky side of the city with Discovery Walking Tours’ Gotham Ghost City at Twilight Walking Tour! “A tour of the historic, infamous and macabre of Greenwich Village history, laced with ghost stories along the way. Stops include Edgar Alan Poe’s home; the hanging elm, a legendary public execution site in New York City; the cemetery at St. Mark’s, and the burial ground at Washington Square. And you thought only subways ran beneath the city streets!” 6 p.m., Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place! Cost: $20!
Oink, oink baby! “Pig” out at Third Ward’s 5th Annual Pig Roast! 4 a.m. to 11:55 p.m., Thurd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave., cost: free! (BUT RSVP req. here!)
See Salmon Fishing in Yemen at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab today for free! 3 p.m., Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 550 Madison Ave. at 56th St, cost: free!
Live out your vicarious Ice Princess/Cutting Edge/Ice Castles fantasies at the Ice Theatre of New York show! The early attendees will even get a free pass to the open skating session after the show. (around 8ish-skate rental still costs $5 tho!) 7 p.m., World Ice Arena in Queens, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, cost: free!
Even in the Internet Age, zines are flourishing! Celebrate the medium’s survival at Pete’s Mini Zine Fest! Mix and mingle with other zinesters, and cartoonists 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street, cost: free!
It’s not The Artist, (which I highly recommend btw!), but an actual silent movie, Hands Up! part of The Silent Clowns Film Series and dedicated to silent era film star, Raymond Griffith today! As a bonus the library will be screening Dog Shy (1926) with Charley Chase. 2:30 p.m., Library of the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza (near 66th St. 1 stop), cost: free!
It’s the most fun you’ll have on two wheels! Today is Bike NY Pedal Stops featuring “bike checks safety instruction, ride suggestions, basic bike repair, informal bike skills, NYPD bike ID, and bike rentals through Bike and Roll.” 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., cost: free!
Relax and unwind after a hard work week with two outdoor concerts this afternoon (Hot Jazz/Cool Garden concert at 2 p.m. at the Louis Armstrong House Museum-$15 inc. house tour) , and tonight (New Juilliard Ensemble at MoMA’s Summergarden free concert in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at 8 p.m.; galleries closed during the concert.)
Discover the hip-hop side of the Bronx on a special Urban Farm Trolley Tour With Hip Hop Perspective of South Bronx! “Meet farmers as they tend to their plots of land, and see chickens that roam freely producing Bronx farm-fresh eggs. The day includes a garden related workshop, healthful lunch, and a fish fry. RSVP required. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Meet at The New York Visitors and Convention Bureau, 810 Seventh Avenue at 52nd Street, Manhattan, cost: $20-inc lunch/fish fry (email bronxfoodsummit@gmail.com or call (718) 817-8026 to reserve your spot on the tour!
And…The Harlem Book Fair, hits NYC shelves, Sculpt sand castles at Coney Island, The New Museum takes to the streets today with its New Museum Block Party (inc entertainment and free admission to the museum all day, it’s Super Sabado at El Museo del Barrio, Watch rare and never-before-seen footage of the Muppets, Sesame Street, and other childhood favorites at Nitehawk with special Muppet guests, the 411 is that you can see Clueless as part of the Bell House’s Party like it's 1999: Clueless in July Edition, and don’t forget PS1’s Warm-up is tonight (Queens residents get in free!)
Saturday and Sunday July 21 and 22, 2012
Are you a poet and don’t know it? Perhaps you are and you know it! Either way you should go to The 2nd Annual New York City Poetry Festival! Governors Island, Colonel’s Row, 11 am. to 5 p.m., cost: Day-of tickets: $5 per day! (in case you still don’t know where Gov Island is, you take the ferry from the Gov Is ferry station, right next to the SI Ferry Terminal.)
Hop on the PATH train for a visit to the Garden State just in time to celebrate St. Ann’s Feast with Discovery Walking Tours in Hoboken! “St. Ann’s Feast comes but once a year. Visit the feast and explore Hoboken – the Square Mile City and “sixth borough” – rich in history, with stops at the homes of Frank Sinatra, photographer artist Alfred Stieglitz, and composer Stephen Foster (Swanee River, Camptown Races) as well as the birthplace of baseball and locations associated with Edgar Allen Poe, Gen. William T. Sherman, Woodrow Wilson, and the film, On the Waterfront. Along the way, sample foods from the Italian district there and visit the Feast of St. Ann.” Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, cost: $26 (inc. food).
Plus Stillspotting nyc: Staten Island continues both days (and next w/e as well!)
Sunday July 22, 2012
Learn all about Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War during a walking tour with the Urban Park Rangers! 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Fort Greene Park Visitor Center Myrtle Ave., De Kalb Ave. bet. Washington Park and St. Edward's St., cost: free!
Prepare for the long, cold winter ahead (I know it’s hard to imagine in this heat!) by learning how to can tomato sauce! 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West (Between 2nd and 3rd streets, Brooklyn, cost: $20 (inc jar to take home)! Participants should bring recipes, your questions and interests, and knife/ cutting board. BSEC will provide the rest. Space is limited, so register here now!
Can women be as funny as men? Or funnier? Decide for yourself at the Saw Her Stand-Up There comedy show! 6:30 p.m., Spike Hill, 186 Bedford Ave., Wiiliamsburg, cost: $5!
Did you know that Jewish people migrated to the UES? This special walking tour is sponsored by the LES Jewish Conservancy. From the conservancy, “Urban historian Barry Feldman will lead us past the Beaux Arts mansions of the Fifth Avenue 'Gold Coast' to the east end at York Avenue. We will discuss the evolution of this significant Jewish community: its prestigious sacred sites - Central and Park East Synagogues & Temple Emanuel; the unique 92nd Street Y, and glamorous architecture. Our conversation will contrast the serenity of life on the tree lined Upper East Side with the tenement and pushcart congested LES.” 10:45 a.m., meet at NW corner of E. 68 St. and Lexington Avenue, cost: $12 in advance, $14 day of tour. Buy tkts here!
Get your reggae and cookout all in one day! The event includes Stoli Sno Cones, tacos, and more! Plus live performances by JUDAH and EL! 12 p.m., The Paper Box, 17 Meadow Street, bet. Waterbury and Bogart, cost: free!
Also tonight…the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra hits Brooklyn Bowl, dance under the stars with the nos Colón salsa band, and dance under the stars with Hudson River Park’s Moondance and the Los Hermaes salsa band!
This w/e marks the last chanc you’ll have to see "Twelfth Night" with NY Classical Theater at Battery Park, and Honor what would have been Gene Kelly’s 100th b-day this w/e with Lincoln Center’s http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/invitation-to-dance-gene-kelly-at-100!")
Looking Forward…
Monday July 23, 2012
It’s no longer Spaghetti Westerns anymore! It’s a perfect marriage of spaghetti and movies at Bar Toto on Monday nights! Tonight’s picture (I love the word picture to describe movies, I think it’s a shame it’s gone out of style.) is Matrimonio all’italiana (Marriage Italian-Style), a 1964 comedy starring Sophia Loren. Spaghetti and meatballs are just $11, plus you get to enjoy the picture! 9 p.m., Bar ToTo, 411 11th St at 6th Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn, cost: buying something off the menu!
Tuesday July 24, 2012
Can you find your match made in wine heaven? You won’t find your soulmate, but you may find you’re a wine to keep you busy in the meantime ;-). Intrigued? Fill out this Questionnaire (http://ww3.efs-survey.com/uc/Grapepointwines/) to find your perfect wine match. Then come to Grapepoint Wines for a special mixer featuring wine tasting, cheese sampling, and a raffle for your wine match! 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Grapepoint Wines, 155 Norman Ave (corner of Newel Street), Greenpoint, cost: free!