Cheap Chick Weekend Picks, May 21-23, 2010

Friday May 21, 2010
Housing Works Spelling Bee
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Find out if it really helps to ask for the definition…
Cheap Chick Info: Free to watch, $5 to compete
Location Info: Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby St.
Subway: B,D,F,V to Broadway/Lafayette, Downtown 6 to Bleecker St.

Interactive Seminar-Greek and Roman Art
6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Is Greek and Roman art all Greek to you? Find out more at this session with informal discussion with educators and curators in the Met galleries.
Cheap Chick Info: Free with admission, but program is limited to 25 people and registration is required. For more info email observanteye@metmuseum.org
Location Info: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. Meet at the Carson Family Hall in the Uris Center for Education
Subway: 4,5,6 to 86th St.

Kevin Geeks Out About Aliens
8 p.m.
This 2-hour extravaganza features E.T. rip-offs presented by Elliott Kalan, Emmy Award-winning Daily Show writer, homemade alien cupcakes, Martian-themed comic strips, and a brief history of Project Blue Book, “a survey of the galaxy’s sexiest extraterrestrials.” Attendees are encouraged to enter the tinfoil hat contest.
Cheap Chick Info: $10
Location Info: 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson St.
Subway: E,1 to Canal St.

Saturday May 22, 2010
Earth Celebrations Hudson River Pageant
1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Where else could you see 15-foot puppets representing the river’s plants and denizens, I ask you? Not Sesame Street! This event includes a parade, dance, performance, and poetry events.
Cheap Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: Parade starts at World Financial Garden, then heads to Hudson River Park
Subway: E to World Trade Center

Dance Parade/Dance Fest
Parade is 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and the actual Dance fest is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“Have the time of your life” as you see dancers perform boogie, hula, swing, salsa, and Irish step in the parade. Hopefully no one will put you in the corner…The dance fest includes free dance lessons and a dance party.
Cheap Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: The parade will start at 22nd and 21st between Park and Fifth Avenue and then the dance fest will be held at Tompkins Square Park
Subway: Tompkins Square Park: L to 1st Ave., Parade: 6 or N,R,W to 23rd St.

3rd Ward Annual Birthday Barbecue
Could not get a time from the website, so maybe they tell you when you RSVP? Hope so…
Get your grill on with BBQ, drinks, arts and crafts, workshops, and synchronized biking.
Cheap Chick Info: Free! RSVP to events@3rdward.com
Location Info: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave.
Subway: L to Grand St. or Morgan Ave.

Free Comedy Workshop
2 p.m.
I don’t imagine Drew Carey will be there with his annoying buzzer, (but boy I wish Colin Mocherie were…), though Chuck Nice (VHI’s Best Week Ever), Brian Baldinger (comedy booker for Just For Laughs and Jimmy Kimmel Live), Matt Goldich (staff writer for Late Show With David Letterman), and Cory Kahaney (headliner for Comedy Central and HBO and instructor for The Manhattan Comedy School) will be on-hand. The class will cover the basics like auditions and how to find an agent. All participants will get a coupon for a discount to the Manhattan Comedy School’s six week class.
Cheap Chick Info: Free! Space is limited so register at manhattancomedyschool.com/workshop.html
Location Info: Comix, 353 W. 14th St.
Subway: A,C,E to 14th St./8th Ave.

Dance Dance Library Revolution
10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
This is one library-inspired event where you don’t have to be quiet! At this benefit you can help Books Through Bars (if I might interrupt this blog to say that this is a very worthy cause that the Cheap Chick fully supports) with donations of dictionaries and thesauruses. You can also get a free drink through Enid’s, and win prizes through a raffle.
Cheap Chick Info: Donations of dictionaries and thesauruses
Location Info: Enid’s Bar, Greenpoint, 560 Manhattan Ave.
Subway: G to Nassau

Sunday May 23, 2010
Opening Day Celebration for Greater New York
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Grand opening event for new exhibit featuring more than 68 artists from the NYC area and curated in conjunction with MOMA.
Cheap Chick Info: $5 suggested donation
Location Info: P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, 22-25 Jackson Ave. at the intersection of 46th Ave.
Subway: E,V to 23rd St./Ely Ave., 7 to 45th Rd./Courthouse Square

Bust Spring Craftacular
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
More than 50 vendors will be displaying their wares at this event, which includes treats, drinks, and DJ’s. Plus you can bring all those items you cleared out from your closet during all the rain we had the past few days and donate them to Pop-Up Swap’s big swap on May 29.
Cheap Chick Info: $2
Location Info: The Warsaw, 261 Driggs, Greenpoint
Subway: G to Nassau

Walt Whitman’s Fort Greene Park
1 p.m.
Learn about the poet’s connection to the park during this walking tour led by Greg Trupiano, the artistic director of the Walt Whitman project. The event will include readings and discussion of Whitman's work.
Cheap Chick Info: Free! This event is being held rain or shine. Space is limited, for more information and reservations call 718-391-8824
Location Info: Meet at the visitor’s center at the top of the hill in Fort Greene Park, enter at Myrtle Ave, Washington Park, or DeKalb.
Subway: M,Q,R to DeKalb

On Sunday check out the Eldridge Street Synagogue's walking tour: Gangster, Writer, Rabbi. http://www.eldridgestreet.org/calendar-newyork-events.html

LIC Open Studio Event (http://www.licartists.org/documents/LIC-Open-Studios-2010.pdf) and the Hell’s Kitchen Open Studios (http://www.hellskitchen.bz/information/artists-in-the-kitchen-2010.html are on Saturday and Sunday!