Your Ideal Week: April 21-April 27

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Grey Gardens is playing, tktk

Grey Gardens is playing at Film Forum on Thursday.

Another whirlwind of a week here, what with Earth Day, the beginning of Passover, and the New York State primaries (not to mention the disheartening discoveries that someone is really out to disenfranchise Brooklyn voters and an overwhelming majority of Republicans around here think the guy who once said “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich” would make a great leader of the free world). As always, we’ve combed the borough to find you the most appealing activities going on over the next seven days–read on and start scheduling Your Ideal Week ahead.

Thursday, April 21
WILLIAMSBURG: High-Rise screening at Nitehawk, 7pm, tickets↠  SOHO/WV: Grey Gardens at The Film Forum, 9:50pm, tickets↠ 

Friday, April 22
FLUSHING: NYC Bacon and Beer Classic at Citifield, 8pm, tickets start at $79 ↠ 

Saturday, April 23
SUNSET PARK: BUST Craftacular at Industry City, 11am-7pm, free↠  Brooklyn Spaces Bike Tour, 2-6pm, tickets, $40 ↠  GREENPOINT: Taste-O-Vision with Gabi Benedit: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 7pm, tickets $40 ↠ 

Sunday, April 24
BUSHWICK: Shibori workshop at Shibori Haus, 1pm, tickets $90 ↠  CROWN HEIGHTS: Crawfish Boil at Catfish, 4-9pm ↠ 

Monday, April 25
GRAND ARMY PLAZA: Seymour Hersh at the BPL, 7pm, free RSVP ↠  COBBLE HILL: Kate Bolick at BookCourt, 7pm, free ↠ 

Tuesday, April 26
COBBLE HILL: BackFat Variety at 61 Local, 8:30pm, free ↠ 

Wednesday, April 27
RED HOOK: Residency closing party for Brooklyn Raga Massive, 8pm, $10 ↠ 

Celebrate the almost-end of another long work week by taking yourself out to a movie on Thursday night. In addition to all the regular releases that are out right now, there are at least two special, one-night only screenings to avail yourself of today. Be one of the first to catch High-Rise, a new film starring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, and Sienna Miller that’s adapted from the 1975 novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard. Head to Nitehawk at 7pm for a Q&A with director Ben Wheatley and a chance to see the urban sci-fi thriller nearly a month before it hits theaters on May 13. Tickets are $16. If you’d rather revisit an old classic, the Film Forum is screening Grey Gardens, the Mayles Brothers’ indelible documentary about Jackie O’s aunt and first cousin and their remarkable, decades-long descent into hoarding and madness in a decaying East Hamptons mansion, at 4:10pm and 9:50pm.

An event called the NYC Bacon and Beer Classic pretty much sells itself, but in case you need more incentive to take a ride out to Citifield on Friday night, consider this: a ticket buys you three full hours to try as many of the 50+ bacon-infused dishes and 100+ craft beers and ciders as you can. That’s not all, though. All of the food and drink purveyors are local, you can participate in games like giant Jenga and bacon-eating contests, and your money will help support food rescue charities and other good causes. The Friday night session runs from 8-11pm, tickets start at $79, and there are Saturday sessions as well.

Saturday is pretty much overflowing with stuff to keep you entertained, including BUST Craftacular’s spring market, which will bring over 100 vendors of the freshest indie and handmade items you can find anywhere (not to mention snacks, coffee, DJ sets, crafting and DIY workshops, and beauty bars) to Industry City from 11am-7pm. If you pair up a few hours there with a Brooklyn bike tour led by our friends at Brooklyn Spaces, you’ve got yourself the makings of a perfect day of retail therapy and supporting local artists and craftspeople. Later on, Archestratus, Greenpoint’s new shop/cafe/event space dedicated to books about food, food about books, and everything in between, will be churning out an eight-course dessert tasting inspired by one of my all-time favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1971 version, to be clear, not the creepy Johnny Depp remake). Pastry chef Gaby Benedit is promising golden tickets, chocolate river water, and the magic gum that turned Violet violet–I’m assuming the everlasting gobstopper is the piece de resistance? Tickets are $40 a pop.

A Sunday night crawfish boil with fresh-from-the-bayou crustaceans. Photo: Angelin Borsics

A Sunday night crawfish boil with fresh-from-the-bayou crustaceans. Photo: Angelin Borsics

If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at Shibori, the indigo textile dyeing technique that is prominently displayed in stylish shops and homes all around Brooklyn, Bushwick’s Shibori Haus is hosting a three-hour intensive, hands-on workshop on Sunday afternoon. Tickets are $90, but that covers instruction, most of the materials you’ll need (although you’ll have to bring your own items you wish to dye), and green tea and snacks. Cap off the weekend the right way with a legit Crawfish Boil in the backyard of Crown Heights’ Catfish. Louisiana native and cookbook editor Angelin Borsics has been teaming up with her husband for the past six years to fly crawfish direct from the bayou and boil them up the very next day using her dad’s tried-and-true recipe, to the delight of loads of Brooklynites. Starting this Sunday from 4-9pm, the boils are back for through early June. A serving of 3.5 pounds of boiled crawfish and all the fixins (corn, potatoes, garlic, and onions) costs $35, and take note–last week they sold out by 6pm. Also, the boils go well with Catfish’s Sunday night happy hour drink specials.

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For your Monday night enjoyment and erudition, the Brooklyn Public Library is hosting Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who will discuss his latest groundbreaking and controversial reporting on the killing of Osama bin Laden. The man who is credited with blowing the lid off stories like the Mai Lai massacre and the torture at Abu Ghraib has focused his sights on getting to the bottom of what really happened on that fateful night when SEAL Team 6 stormed bin Laden’s hideout, its effect on President Obama’s legacy, and its relationship to the ongoing influence of ISIS in places like Syria and Turkey. Meanwhile, across town in Cobble Hill, The Atlantic’s Kate Bolick will be reading from, signing, and discussing Spinster, her latest book that plumbs her own experience, the lives of famous women in history, and feminist theory to try to explain the reasons why more and more women are choosing to eschew marriage and remain single.

Speaking of women, BackFat Variety, the free comedy show that happens monthly at 61 Local, is back on Tuesday night with a special girls-only edition. Starting at 8pm, you can catch a full set from Missy Baker, the winner of BackFat’s March Madness Joke Contest, who will be joined by funny ladies Sally Brooke, Madonna Refugia, Julia Solomon, Lorelei Ramirez.

Brooklyn Raga Massive Photo: Brooklyn Raga Massive

It’s the last week at Pioneer Works for Brooklyn Raga Massive. Photo: Brooklyn Raga Massive

If your read our piece last month on the Brooklyn Raga Massive’s three-month residency at Pioneer Works and thought to yourself, “I’ve got to remember to get out to see that before it closes,” well, you have this Wednesday night to make good that promise.  The Residency Closing Party, which will feature world-renowned Indian classical, electronica, and rock star Karsh Kale, and promises to be a fitting sendoff for a unique, high-energy music and dance series that infused new life into the Brooklyn arts scene. Tickets are just $10 and the show starts at 8pm.

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