What to do this week(end)

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Photo: @zimlion

Happy weekend, fair BB readers, and let’s hope that we actually get some May flowers out of all this April monsooning that’s been going on because sucky weather is the last thing anybody’s frayed nerves need at this point. Speaking of, does anyone else out there feel like their job has taken over their entire life lately? Work seems to be the only thing I do anymore, unless of course you count the times when I’m boring everyone in my life to death with impossibly dull tales about my work, and I think the point was really driven home for me by Fran Lebowtiz, of all people, when I saw her speak at The Town Hall earlier this week. During the audience Q&A session, a man asked Fran for her advice on how to find more hours in the day to dedicate to reading, and Fran paused and said “You must have a job. People with jobs seem to spend a lot of their time working, which doesn’t leave much time for books.” Obviously, we can’t all be Fran Lebowitz, and unfortunately most of us don’t have the option to sleep in every morning and read and stroll around the city and meet brilliant, funny luminaries who happen to be close personal friends for a drink in the middle of the day to shoot the shit in between making cameo appearances on Law & Order or whatever, but surely there is a happy medium between that dream life and this endless slog brought to you by Zoom? I never get to read anymore, because I’m constantly worrying about projects I’m behind on or upcoming meetings I’m not prepared for, and it’s not an enjoyable or sustainable way to live. Particularly when all the work I do does not produce enough cash to find an even halfway decent apartment in this town! Seriously, has anyone been looking at real estate lately??!! What. Is. Going. On. How did it get worse than it already was? Does literally *everybody* work at a hedge fund now? 

OK, sorry, this is where my head is at the end of yet another hell week, but it really hasn’t been all bad! In addition to the highly entertaining evening spent with Fran, I’ve also had some truly stellar meals with various friends at Lore and Sofreh, both of which I recommend enthusiastically.  I’m very contentedly watching Slow Horses, a new Apple TV show about the purgatory where subpar MI5 spies get put out to pasture after they screw something up and the third season of My Brilliant Friend, which I continue to love deliriously. And can we all just focus on the fact that there is finally going to be a Black woman on the Supreme Court?! That news put a huge smile on my face, despite every other piece of news these days being pretty much universally terrible.

This weekend, assuming the weather cooperates, I’d like to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens to get a glimpse of the cherry blossoms in bloom, and maybe I’ll ride my bike to Dumbo to peruse the stalls of Brooklyn-made wares on sale at the FAD Market. If I’m feeling ambitious, I might just head into the city to see the new Basquiat exhibit at the Starrett-Lehigh Building or the Whitney Biennial that opened this week. And if I’m feeling like a time warp back to my 20s, I’d love to check out the reincarnation of the legendary Kim’s Video, a former St. Mark’s Place institution, now at the Alamo Drafthouse’s new downtown Manhattan location (apparently 55,000 VHS tapes are available for rent, as well as a VCR to play them on). On Monday night, BAM is hosting a free opening reception for Saya Woolfalk’s Floating World of the Cloud Quilt, an immersive digital projection installation that looks pretty cool. 

Itching to get out of town? Storm King Art Center is open to visitors, provided you buy a timed ticket in advance, and while you’re at it maybe you want to plan ahead to participate in the upcoming Workshop Experience Weekend taking place on May 7-8 in Hillsdale, NY. The event consists of more than 35 workshops on a wide variety of topics including gardening, cooking, crafting, nature, and hula hooping. If you’re interested, you can win two tickets to Cocktails for the Home Bartender, a workshop led by Georgette Moger-Petraske on the afternoon of May 7. Enter to win by emailing info@taconicridgefarm.com, and best of luck to you!

Speaking of future weekends, it’d be smart to buy your tickets now to see comedian and writer Sam Jay, who you may know from HBO’s Pause with Sam Jay, at the Bell House next weekend, or Hannah Gadsby at BAM in May. I’m personally making reservations at new restaurants I want to try pretty far in advance these days, as it’s nice to have something to look forward to. On my list for the weeks ahead: Patti Ann’s, the latest addition to the Olmsted empire, and Runner Up, the sit-down restaurant/wine bar connected to the perpetually over-patronized Winner on Seventh Ave. Lastly, if you heard the extremely disturbing news about Rash, the LGBTQ+ Bushwick bar that was the target of an arson attack over the weekend, and want to help, you can donate to their recovery and rebuilding efforts here

That’s it for this round, folks, and wherever the next few days take you, we hope you end up with a truly fantastic weekend and a positive start to the week ahead. Let’s make it happen, y’all!

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