NYC Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, Dec. 3-5, 2010

Friday Dec. 3, 2010

Visit the Neue Galerie for free tonight as part of their First Fridays program! 1048 Fifth Ave., 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. https://www.neuegalerie.org/programs/first-fridays.

The Indigo Girls will be visiting J&R in-store to perform Christmas classics and promote their new Holly Happy Days album! 6 p.m., 23 Park Row, free!

Apple SoHo will be hosting Nicole Kidman and Aaaron Eckhart as part of the Meet the Filmmakers Series. 6 p.m., Apple SoHo, 103 Prince St., http://www.apple.com/retail/soho/, free!

Celebrate Christmas with candlelight and a Christmas tree at the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum as part of their First Friday program! There were also be treats and an a cappella group will perform. 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the mansion is at 895 Shore Road, take the 6 to Bartow-Pell /City Island and the free Seaside trolley will take you to the museum and back, $10.

Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra perform a blend of “second line funk, gospel” at a free concert tonight, 10 p.m. (bar opens at 8 p.m.) BAMCafe, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, free!

Saturday Dec. 4, 2010

This Nutcracker isn’t one that cracks nuts! Check out a New York City Ballet performance at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center at 11 a.m., http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium-nyc-ballet-dec-4, free!

Kim Novak may cast a spell over you during this free screening of Bell Book and Candle at the Sony Wonder Technology lab, 2 p.m., 56th and Madison, free! (but reservations required, call (212) 833-7858 for tkts.

Perhaps you’ll feel like kissing your tour guide after Big Onion’s Irish New York walking tour. Stops could include: the founding site of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Al Smith's home, the Five Points, the first Catholic church in the city, and sites associated with Tammany Hall, Thomas Addis Emmet, and many others. 11 a.m., meet directly in front of St. Paul's Chapel, Broadway between Fulton and Vesey Streets, $15.

The Brooklyn Museum is free today as part of its First Saturday program! Tonight is ladies’ night with a screening of Frida and performance art, http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/visit/first_saturdays.php.

Scope out local holiday gifts such as jewelry, clothing, and art at 3^rd Ward’s Handmade Holiday Craft Fair! Noon to 6 p.m., 195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, http://www.3rdward.com/special-events/2010-handmade-holiday-craft-fair.html, free!

Martha Stewart (or at least her employees) does the holidays at this annual craft fair (http://www.marthastewart.com/article/holiday-craft-sale-2009!)

Saturday and Sunday Dec. 4 and 5, 2010

Shop at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Art Market (http://www.americanindian.si.edu/artmarket/2010/), Take 30% off books, music, and movies at Housing Works bookstore (http://www.housingworks.org/events/detail/monthly-30-off-sale-all-day-december-4th-and-5th/), and you can tour Historic Greenwich Village Taverns at Christmas 5:30 p.m., $18 (drinks extra), or learn about the origins of Christmas and Victorian Christmas traditions, 2:30 p.m. $18, with Discovery Walking Tours! Call 212-465-3331 for meeting places and reservations.

Sunday December 5, 2010

It’s jump rope as you’ve never seen it before! Contestants from around the world will dazzle with skills incorporating music and dance moves at the 19^th Annual Double Dutch Holiday Classic! 1p.m., The Apollo Theater, 253 West 125th Street, $20/$22, buy tkts here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000453BAAC07BD9

Where else could Mark Twain and characters from A Christmas Carol meet? (well, except maybe a Dr. Who episode…) A. The Morgan Library! During their Winter Family Day Celebration free events include ragtime dancing, costumed Dickens characters, a Mark Twain play, and toy making! (Don’t forget to take a peek at an original copy of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol while you’re there! 2 to 5 p.m. Morgan Library & Museum , 225 Madison at 36^th St., free with museum admission, $15 adults, $10 children.

Join the Municipal Art Society on a walking tour of Harlem with stops Hamilton Heights, Striver’s Row, 20’s speakeasies and nightclubs, the Apollo Theater, Sugar Hill, the Schomburg Center and sites associated with Langston Hughes, Madame C.J. Walker, Florence Mills, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie, 12 p.m., Meet at 125 W. 125th St. (H&M store), near Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., $15.

Mark the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death with Discovery Walking Tour’s John Lennon and the Beatles New York walking tour. You’ll visit a dozen stops associated with Lennon’s NYC of the 6o’s and 70’s including the Dakota, Carnegie Hall, and Strawberry Fields. 11:45 a.m., call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, $18.

The Holiday Food Experiment is like a live version of Top Chef! Watch as cheftestants battle it out for cook-off king or queen using seasonal items including egg nog and gravy! 4 p.m., The Bell House, 149 7th Street, $20 in advance or $25 at the door, get tkts here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3283435.

For an actual Top Chef judge (Gail Simmons) and cheftestant (Top Desserts’ Dannielle Kyrillos) head to a pie competition where you can sample slices, shop for gifts, and drink egg creams! 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; judging at 1 p.m., P.S. 29, 425 Henry St. (at Kane St.) Brooklyn, $5 per slice or five slices for $20 to benefit the school.

All weekend long the Cathedral of St. John the Divine will be hosting a holiday craft fair (http://www.craftsatthecathedral.org/), and you can catch the Romanian Film Festival (http://www.icrny.org/s55-2007-2nd_Romanian_Film_Festival_in_New_York.html)!

Watch out for a slightly-delayed holiday guide soon!