Dead Horse Bay, photo courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn. (Click photo for more.)
Whenever we Brokelynites want an out-of-the-way vacation destination, we just pop over to our little secret Mediterranean island for cabana boys and mai-tais.
Seriously? We’re lucky if we can afford a trip across the GWB, but we’ve been tipped off to a site that could transform even a Jersey-cation from a mall tour to a chance to see the antenna that sparked the Big Bang Theory or the fabled Gates of Hell. 
FRIDAY
7:30pm: The Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus bring Eastern European and Balkan a cappella songs to Brooklyn Heights’s Congregation Mt. Sinai, free.
8pm: The Arms Around Haiti benefit concert at Public Assembly features djs from Other Music and The Village Voice, plus bands, Reggie Watts, more.
10:30pm: My Robot Friend performs songs from his new album, plus Alex Moulton debuts “TRON:Suite” – a live mix of the film’s score and synth music of the early 80’s. Galapagos, $10.
Vivian Girls, via MySpace
Have you heard about the new showcase at Brooklyn Bowl obsessing over all things local? It kicked off last month with a free Phenomenal Handclap Band show, along with other offerings from local farmers and artists.
The venue just announced its next event for March 28, and it will feature a free show by the Vivian Girls, those lo-fi, noise popsters who shot from being another obscure Brooklyn band to a Pitchfork-lauded sensation doing shows with TV on the Radio in just a few months.
The band German Measles, another Brooklyn catch, will also be performing. More details about the event, like what other local fare will be featured, will be released next week. For now, you can check out the event page, and the Vivian Girls MySpace.
FRIDAY
10am-3pm: A big hit last year, the department of transportation will once again be giving out free bike helmets in Pratt’s gymnasium. Ride safely, y’all.
5-9pm: Thank you, sweet mother. FIPS and Robicelli’s join forces to correct Cupcakegate 2K10 by bringing deep-fried cupcakes to Union Hall. $4 fried, $3 not fried (but you’re coming for the fried, right?)
8pm: Lauren Ambrose (”Six Feet Under”) and her Dixieland/gypsy jazz band The Leisure Class perform @ Bell House, $15
No wonder he's counting money—that sweater cost $390.
Depending on your perspective, you’re either chafing at the news that P. Diddy is throwing his first-ever Brooklyn party next Tuesday night—or you’re planning on crashing. MTV.com reports that a Diddy-hosted tribute party for the Notorious B.I.G. will take place at The Lab, a Bed-Stuy club best known for gay parties on Friday nights. Apparently, as Diddy tells MTV News, it’s “a big deal” for a Harlemite to cross the bridge to these parts:
“I’m going to Brooklyn. It’s gonna be the first time I’m throwing a party in Brooklyn. I’m from Harlem. Everybody in Harlem knows you don’t usually go over the bridge to Brooklyn. It’s a big, big deal.”
Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard that before—from all our Manhattan friends who live here now.
Photo by Daniella Zalcman
Ready your crucifixes: some witches are coming to the Slope. Starting tomorrow, Mar. 4, the Brave New World Repertory Theatre—they of The Tempest on the Coney boardwalk and To Kill a Mockingbird on the porches of Ditmas Park—is launching another site-transforming production. This time, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. And the two-week run will be as atmospheric as it gets, held in Park Slope’s Old Stone House, a replica of the 1699 original from just a few years after the real witch trials ended.
The City Reliquary. Photo by Eric Bartholomew.
There are many reasons to visit The City Reliquary: 1) It’s a tiny Williamsburg museum crammed full of forgotten and unseen treasures from NYC’s past, and 2) The 370 Metropolitan Ave. attraction could soon become a relic itself. The museum’s president, Dave Herman, has announced that the Reliquary needs $10,000 by the end of March to keep the doors open. What we’d lose if the money isn’t raised? Two cozy, cluttered, jewel-box-like rooms, filled with everything from early burlesque memorabilia to New Yorkers’ private unicorn figurine collections to geological samples from the bosom of Mother BK herself.
Admission’s free, but there is a donation box, which we’re sure the place would like to see full right now. You also can help out through the Reliquary’s Kickstarter page, at a couple of Knitting Factory benefits and by buying the museum’s $30 membership card, which also will get you discounts at other Williamsburg establishments.
While we’re on the topic of great, off-the-beaten-path gems, the Reliquary is just one of many Brooklyn cultural must-sees on a slightly smaller scale than giants like the Brooklyn Museum, Botanic Garden and BAM. Here’s what else is around the borough.
FRIDAY
9pm: Bruce cover band Bruce In The USA is a helluva lot cheaper way to get your live fix of The Boss. Music Hall of Williamsburg, $17
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
The Great Pop-Up Art Sale is on at the DUMBO Arts Center. Prices will start at $50 at this mega open art sale featuring the work of many, many artists. Fri. 6-9, Sat. 12-8, Sun. 12-6
SATURDAY
8pm: The Sway Machinery throw a Purim Carnivale with Brooklyn Haitian rara band Djarara. All proceeds benefit the American Jewish World Service Haiti Relief Fund. Littlefield, $10 advance or with costume, $15 at the door
Snow, yay! Or maybe nay. Today’s stuff is more like a quick-sandy slush—venture out and you know you’ll get soaked and miserable under the rodent-sized flakes. And making it down the block seems like a positively tail-bone-bruising endeavor. Yet, you refuse to go stir-crazy in your apartment all afternoon watching your umpteenth day of Olympics and cruising Chatroulette. So, time to get out there and do something, and something cheap. But what? Nurse a tasty stout by the wood-burning fireplace of a cozy bar? Sip evening tea at your favorite cafe? Spend a half-hour sweating it out on the elliptical? We want to know: Where’s your favorite spot to combat the snow (slush) day blues?
Fancy artist like Itziar Barrio will be selling at the pop-up sale. (But this piece probably isn't $50.)
We Brokelynites love art. Of course we’re cultural like that! As Brokelynites, we also sometimes (have to) categorize “art sales” under “wish list.” Not this weekend, guys! Dumbo Arts Center—the group behind the annual Art Under the Bridge fest—brings you the Great Pop-Up Art Sale, a three-day exhibition and sale of affordable artworks. Brokelyn is co-sponsoring this event, so it’s no wonder the prices start at $50. Half of those proceeds go to DAC’s efforts to support the creation of new art, and the other half goes to the artists. But the glory of finding a unique piece that you can actually afford–that all goes to you.
The Great Pop-Up Art Sale
Fri., February 26, 6-9pm, Sat., February 27, 12-8pm, Sun., February 28, 12-6pm.
Dumbo Art Center, 30 Washington St., 718-694-0831
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