A recent “Massive Muse” at Pioneer Works. The next one is happening this Friday, where there will be nearly 300 in attendance. Photo: Amanda Kelly
Now that Bushwick is the setting for a Hollywood disaster flick called Bushwick, Roberta’s owners are quarreling over slicing up a $5.4 million pie, and the neighborhood is the seventh coolest in the world according to Vogue, it’s safe to say that Bushwick has reached peak gentrification. To address all this change is a sold-out TEDxBushwick conference on Saturday. The lineup, admittedly, is a little strange—everyone from NYC’s Chief Technology Officer to a polyamorous activist will be speaking—but that makes it all the more interesting to watch it livestreamed here, and also at viewing parties across the street at Sugarlift and at Arrogant Swine. While you’re in the neighborhood, it seems only appropriate to observe its transformation at one of its two new restaurants—Pizza Party, an ’80s themed pizza and cocktail spot complete with a Super Mario mural and a Beetlejuice emergency chalk door, and a new noodle joint, Lucy’s Vietnamese Kitchen.
We’ve got more suggestions for neighborhood excursions this weekend, when spring finally arrives.
Thursday, March 19: Remember that “How My Mom Got Hacked” story in the New York Times, about the ransomware cybercriminals who get paid in Bitcoin and provide good customer service, or the woman who runs a mom and pop BDSM dungeon in Park Slope? These crazy-but-true tales happen to come from two of the storytellers–Alina Simone and Heather Dockray, respectively–we’ve got lined up for Thursday’s edition of Funny Story with Tom Shillue. The other great raconteurs include sex educator and burlesque star Iris Explosion, comedian Joey Callahan and Moth storyteller Robert Penty, who’ll all give us plenty to laugh about at Brooklyn Brewery, where the $10 ticket includes your first beer. If you’ve yet to join us for this monthly series, this is a good night to check it out.–N.D.
Friday, March 20: Groupmuse—the site that makes it easy to host chamber music parties in your apartment—is bringing a whole new appreciation for live classical music to those of us who favor playlists. While their main focus is the smaller house parties that anyone can attend, they also host “Massive Muses” like the one this Friday at Pioneer Works, featuring Mozart’s Schauspieldirektor, a 25-minute-long work sung in German, with English narration, conducted by Matthew Aucoin, the 25-year-old assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. While you listen to the musicians, you can also marvel at the space’s current art installation, Living Room Index and Pool, that will surround the opera singers at the event. Tickets are $15 in advance, $22 at the door, and there are 60 seats (out of a total of 300) left.–N.D.
Saturday, March 21: This Saturday, Threes Brewing and Allagash Brewing Company will celebrate the turn of the season with a day of saisons. Between 2 and 5pm, head to the Gowanus brewery and restaurant for a day dedicated entirely to the full-bodied pale ale, including the debut of Allagash’s Century Ale, food pairings courtesy of Threes, a saison homebrew contest featuring eight local brewers (who will be offering free tastes until they run out), and keg upon keg of Allagash’s year-round saison. Admission is free.–N.R.
Photo: King Tai Bar
Sunday, March 22: Sunday’s forecast keeps getting better, so take advantage of the sun and take a trip to Crown Heights. Use our neighborhood guide as your starting point and then find a new spot to explore, like the brand-new, Miami-vibes bar King Tai, where you can get sunny weather drinks like daiquiris and try a rotating selection of hand pies (it opens at 4pm on weekends). Further south is the new Food Sermon, where our food critic Brendan Spiegel fell hard for its Island Bowls and other elevated takes on classic Caribbean food.–N.D.
Monday, March 23: James Hannaham’s new novel Delicious Foods sounds as if it might be light reading, but when the first person you’re introduced to has just had his hands chopped off, and crack cocaine plays such a central role it appears as a character named Scotty, you know you’re in for a much darker tale. This Southern Gothic, which follows the lives of a mother and son upended by addiction, poverty and the sinister farm that employs/enslaves her, has received heaps of praise from the literati, and on Monday the Fort Greene author appears at Greenlight with another neighborhood novelist, Jennifer Eagan, who calls the book “a tour de force.” Arrive early to snag a good seat.–N.D.
Tuesday, March 24: Ever wondered how high-tech movies like Interstellar and The Avengers get made? Well, wonder no more. This Tuesday, Videology and Brooklyn Brainery’s Jeremy Wechter will host an entire evening dedicated to the pleasures and perils of movie magic. Attendees will be assigned a film to watch before the event and then dissect the screenwriting, acting, camera work and editing in particularly riveting scenes with other cinephiles. In between screenings, there’ll be movie trivia with free drink tickets up for grabs, so come with your thinking cap on. $10 tickets ($15 at the door) can be purchased here.–N.R.
Wednesday, March 25: March, you may have noticed, is the month of our annual, spring wedding fair. But it’s also the time of year that we bring the city’s best wedding bands together for a live showcase, Rock the Wedding Bells, at the Bell House. If you haven’t yet picked the musicians who will soundtrack the biggest day of your life, you should come hear the bands we’ve lined up, many of whom have toured with the very folks you would like them to play, from Jay-Z to The Ramones. We’ll even have small bites from Red Table Catering to snack on.–N.D.
