This is a week where you can gather with your tribe or explore a scene you barely know, or go ahead and do both. Fans of heavy bass and fast beats can look forward to the weekend-long Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, while a more sedate celebration of music and image takes place at BAM, where legends like Tom Verlaine of Television will be playing at Songs of Unseen Warhol Films as accompaniment for a selection of the Pop artist’s famous screen tests. Comic book lovers are already clued in to the Comic Arts Brooklyn festival because the free talks with luminaries like Al Jaffee are already sold out, but there are still more than 100 exhibitors to see. Anyone in media will want to head to BRIC’s HQ in Fort Greene on Monday, where they’re opening up the space to indie and industry folk alike, giving tours and demos of their TV studio and services. (If this is your thing, be sure to check out IMC, too.)
And in a sure sign of colder things to come, the Brooklyn Flea opens its indoor Winter Market this weekend at a 1,000-sqaure-foot space next to Berg’n, so if you haven’t already been to their mammoth beer hall, you have even more incentive.
Here are seven more reasons to check out something new this week:
Wednesday, Nov. 5: Long Island-raised, Brooklyn-dwelling rockers Nude Beach are playing a show at Mercury Lounge as a release party to showcase their new and third album, 77. For the uninitiated, Nude Beach are the sonic equivalent of a whiskey on the rocks: uncomplicated, straight forward rock music in the vein of Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen. But they aren’t a gimmicky 70’s throwback act, their songs are fun and fresh and full of energy with a pleasingly familiar feel. Check them out and buy a copy of 77 while you’re there; if you’re the type who shuns all things digital, skip the CD and opt for the double-vinyl. Tickets are $12. —A.J.
Thursday, Nov. 6: Until early November hits, you forget how freaking dark it gets by 5:30. Cities around the world have battled the onset of truncated days and dark nights with festivals of light, and we’re getting our own starting tonight in DUMBO, which already has a history of projected light installations during its annual arts festival. For three nights starting tonight, the New York Festival of Light will take over a small quadrant of the neighborhood, the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge and the Pearl Street Triangle (between Pearl & Water Sts.) with DJs, food trucks, and artists from around the world skilled at illuminating building facades with interactive designs and stunning visuals. This should help you adjust to the dark. —N.D.
Friday, Nov. 7: In the wake of last week’s “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman” viral video, and the backlash against it, the conversation around street harassment and violence against women has reached a fever pitch. And right on its heels, Brooklyn artist Heather Marie Scholl is stepping in with her new project Sometimes It’s Hard To Be A Woman, a textile art installation opening at Greenpoint’s Freeman Space this Friday. The project seamlessly combines Scholl’s background as a fashion designer with her interest in addressing more subtle forms of domestic abuse, displaying this disquietude through the romantic mediums of embroidery, sculpture and drawing. Explore the latest additions to this ongoing project at the exhibit’s opening reception from 6 to 10pm. —N.R.
Saturday, Nov. 8: As if we weren’t already spoiled for choice when it comes to great local beer in Brooklyn, yet another highly-anticipated brewery is opening in our fair borough. This month marks the debut of Threes Brewing, a new craft beer brewery, bar and event space founded by Justin Israelson, co-owner of Ditmas Park’s Sycamore Bar and Flower shop, tech entrepreneur Josh Stylman, playwright/lawyer Andrew Unterberg and helmed by brewmaster Greg Doroski, who cut his teeth at Greenport Harbor on Long Island. Ahead of their official opening in late November, the quartet are throwing a “Smite the Brite” shindig in their new space at 333 Douglass Street this Saturday from noon to midnight. Attendees are invited to simply drop by and indulge in three new beers alongside some Texas-style BBQ from Delaney or pre-order one of 250 64-ounce growlers of Threes’ super-fresh Single Tree IPA for $10, which will be waiting at the brewery on Saturday. The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, don’t sleep on this new brewer. —N.R.
Sunday, Nov. 9: Mexican brunch is a phrase almost guaranteed to inspire some excitement on a Sunday, but there’s a very special rendition in store at Eat, a space that has morphed from a combination record store and coffee shop to a farm-to-table cafe to a pottery studio with a kitchen, where meals are served on the dishes that chef Jordan Colón makes. He’s invited another artist/chef, Katiushka Melo, who has a residency there called In the Mood for Brunch, and the $30 menu sounds superb: black chia pudding, your choice of baked eggs over a spicy Romanesco cauliflower gratin or pulled pork enchiladas, bottomless coffee and either a tamarind kombucha mimosa or a chipotle bloody mary. —N.D.
Monday, Nov. 10: Last year we were turned on to High Maintenance, a web series about a pot dealer making housecalls throughout Brooklyn, and have been hooked ever since. Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld, the husband-and-wife team behind it, are skilled at recreating those absurd scenarios in life that are all too real–like having to incessantly answer to a crazy boss, or AirBnBing your loft to strangers you’d rather not host–all with some very good weed as a backdrop. They are now 13 episodes in, and BAM is screening the highlights tonight, along with the premiere of their latest episode. If you feel the need to circle the block before showtime, you won’t be the only one. —N.D.
Tuesday, Nov. 11: This Tuesday, the Old Stone House in Park Slope and Brooklyn Reading Works will observe Veteran’s Day with a special reading led by local veterans as part of their “Writing War: Fiction and Memoir” event. The reading will feature a lineup of literary Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans brought together by Brandon Willets, the executive director and co-founder of Words After War, an organization committed to building a supportive creative community for war veterans, their families and civilian supporters. The two-hour event will begin at 8pm and for those interested in learning more about this wonderful project, please visit Words After War online. —N.R.
Tips this week by Nicole Davis, Alexander Jordan, and Nikita Richardson