Cheap Chick NYC, Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, Jan 28-30, 2011

Friday January 28, 2011

A diverse range of performances will be on-hand for the NYPL’s "Three Faiths in the Form of a Fugue" program to celebrate the library’s multi-religion exhibit on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (the one with the lions!), Fifth Ave. and 42^nd St., More info here: http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/36/node/107082?lref=36%2Fcalendar, $15 general admission!

If you haven’t seen the Museum of the Moving Image’s face-lift, head out to Queens stat! Admission is free today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.!

Friday and Saturday January 28 and 29, 2011

I don’t know about you, but “I ain’t afraid of no ghost!” Check out late-night screenings of Ghostbusters tonight! Midnight, Landmark Sunshine, 143 E. Houston, $9.99!

Love goofy home movies or have a yen to see footage of puppet aerobics? Then head to the Found Footage festival where VHS tapes still reign in all their 80’s and 90’s glory! 8 and 10 p.m. both nights, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., $13!

Saturday January 29, 2011

Soak in the worlds of The Age of Innocence, New Year’s Day, and The Old Maid on the Municipal Arts Society’s tour of Edith Wharton’s New York! Stops include sites related to Teddy Roosevelt and Jennie Jerome, 2 p.m., meet at N.W. corner of Fifth Ave. and 23rd St., in front of 200 Fifth Ave., $15!

Shopping becomes sport (funny I thought shopping at the Union Square Trader Joe’s was a contact sport…) at the annual Idiotarod race, which pits participants against each other in a shopping cart race around the city (inspired, of course, by the Alaskan sled dog race! 9 a.m., this is the best I got on location details: http://www.cartsofbrooklyn.com/route.html (I do believe there is a Facebook page), free to watch (participation closed)!

If you’re one of those annoying people who recites every line of a movie, then get ready to geek-out at Movieoke, where you can act out scenes from your favorite flicks (BYO DVD) and actually travel Back to the Future or even put Baby in the corner! The event is hosted by (my friend! And fellow blogger!) Noah Tarnow of Big Quiz Thing fame, and the night includes trivia (of course!) and prizes. 10:15 p.m., 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., $10, buy tkts here: http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?category=92Tri+92YTribeca+Film888&productid=T-MM5FJ88&adsource=hpcol_movieoke&xad=hpcol_movieoke

Saturday and Sunday January 29 and 30, 2011

Where else can you whisper in a corner, gaze at the constellations, visit a museum, and go food shopping? Grand Central of course! Stay warm as you tour the building (did you know that the proper name is actually Grand Central Terminal, not Grand Central Station? Just checking!) Learn all of Grand Central’s secrets with Discovery Walking Tours! Two tours (each day) start at 12:45 and 2:30 p.m., Cost is $18, call 212-465-3331 for meeting place and reservation!

Sunday January 30, 2011

Dance the night away with free Salsa Sundays at Brooklyn Bowl with the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra, 6 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Avenue, free!

The Pulse Ensemble Theater is giving a performance of “W.E.B. Dubois: The Man and His Life” depicting the history of the famous activist and politician. 1:30 p.m., Brooklyn Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, free!

Cheap Chick NYC, Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, Jan. 21-23, 2011

Friday January 20, 2011

Help celebrate the latest issue of Electric Literature with J. Robert Lennon, Ben Greenman, and Lynne Tillman! There will also be a short film screening and DJ music to round out the evening! 7 p.m., Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby, free!

Watch out for giant penguins at 92ndY Tribeca’s screening of Billy Madison! 8 p.m., 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street. Tkts are $10 and can be bought here: http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?category=92TRI+92YTribeca+Beer+Goggles888&productid=T-MM5FJ80

Also Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide, an exhibit of the Beijing photographer’s work begins today at the International Center of Photography!

Saturday January 21, 2011

Get a really early start on spring cleaning and get some “new to you” stuff at today’s Stop ‘N’ Swap event (if you can’t make it today, don’t despair, there will be other events in the other boroughs at later dates!) today’s swap is at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the I.S. 52 Cafeteria in Washington Heights, more details are here: http://www.grownyc.org/swap, free!

Look for hibernating animals in Prospect Park with the Urban Park Rangers during the Hibernation Hike this morning! 11 a.m., meet at the Prospect Park Picnic House, West Drive and Third Street., free!

Perhaps it's "out of the blue," but I don't think you'll be "alone" if you check out the Debbie Gibson+Tiffany concert tonight! 8 p.m., Canal Room, 285 W. Broadway, tkts just $20 (I wonder how much that would be in 80's money?), and can be bought here: http://rubixkube.com

Saturday and Sunday January 21 and January 22, 2011

Stay warm with Discovery Walking Tour’s indoor tours of the US Customs House and Titanic History sites. 2:30 p.m., $18, call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place!

Sunday January 22, 2011

Embrace everything jerky at the Bell House’s latest cooking competition! 4 p.m., The Bell House, 149 Seventh St., Brooklyn, tkts are $10 and can be bought here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3408325

Break out the whipped cream at a different kind of cook-off, the Fourth Annual Brooklyn Pie Contest! 110 Bedford Ave. (at N. 11th St.), Brooklyn, pies accepted at 5:30 and eating starts at 7 p.m., $10 gets you tastes of 50+ pies, so grab a fork and dig in! All proceeds benefit Growing Chefs.

Find out where the wild things really are during the Liberty Hall screening of Tell Them Anything you Want, a film that examines the life of author Maurice Sendak, 7 p.m., Ace Hotel, 20 W. 29th St., b/t Fifth Ave. & Broadway, basement level, free!

All weekend…

Housing Works Bookstore is having a 30% off sale of children’s and YA books all weekend (http://www.shophousingworks.com/eventsdetail.cfm?entry=3872), check out the Taschen books sale too (http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/stores/index.taschen_stores.htm), bring out your Frasier and Niles Crane sides with the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions Squash event (http://www.tocsquash.com/Content/tickets.html), through the 27^th, and of course you can drool over all the boats you can’t afford at the Boat show going on at the Javits Center (http://www.javitscenter.com/!)

Cheap Chick NYC, Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, Jan. 14-16, 2011

Friday January 14, 2011

Smugglers, robots, aliens, and games round out the book learnin’ at Nerd Nite! Get your geek on with trivia before the main lectures begin! Trivia starts at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) Nerd Nite will start at 9 p.m. (doors open at 8:40 p.m.) $14 for trivia and Nerd Nite, $10 for Nerd Nite, buy tkts here: http://nyc.nerdnite.com

Party with mystery writers (I know it sounds like a set-up for a murder mystery or at least an ep of Murder, She Wrote!) at the Mystery Writers of America annual book party. Guests include Mary Jane Clark, Lee Goldberg, Lisa Scottoline, and many others! 6 p.m., Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers, 44 Greenwich Ave., free!

Fashion designer Anna Sui discusses how her fall line was inspired by work of Charles Rohlfs. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Ave @ 82^nd St., $25, buy tkts here: https://www.metmuseum.org/tickets/calendar/view.asp?id=3337

Saturday January 15, 2011

If Facebook’s founder has no friends, does anyone care? Ponder that as you watch The Social Network, Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 56^th and Mad., 2 p.m., free! Call the events line to RSVP at (212) 833 7858.

I would let Christian Bale deliver a paper to me anytime! You can decide for yourself at 92Y Tribeca’s Newsie’s Sing-a-long! Perhaps Anne-Margaret (I loved her as Anne-Margrock on The Flintstones and of course her turn in Bye, Bye Birdie as used in Mad Men!) can tell you the “way to Santa Fe!” 10:30 p.m., 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., Tkts $20/$15 in advance, buy tkts here: http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5FJ89

Keep warm with an indoor walking tour, and then cool off with a drink during Discovery Walking Tour’s Historic Pubs and Taverns of Greenwich Village tour. The tour will cover “the history behind each tavern and stops at several for refreshment. Stops include a 1920s speakeasy once associated with founding father Thomas Paine, a pub where Robert Kennedy and Norman Mailer contemplated their political futures, and New York’s third oldest bar, a haunt of Dylan Thomas, author of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” 5:30 p.m., Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, $18.

Have le fun at Le Bingo hosted by Murray Hill and Linda Simpson! 7:30-9:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., free!

Learn about Brooklyn’s role in the underground railroad at this tour led by Urban Park Ranger Anne Reid. She’ll take you to sites in Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, and Bay Ridge to see sites in the historic network. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., meet at the Fort Greene Park Visitors Center (enter at Myrtle Ave. and Washington Park. Free, but reservations are required. Call 718-722-3218 to claim your spot on the tour!

Saturday and Sunday January 15 and 16, 2011

Discovery Walking Tours is hosting a Harlem walking tour in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with stops including the Apollo Theatre, Lenox Lounge, where Billie Holiday performed, and Blumstein’s, where an assassination attempt was made on King’s life in the 1950s. 2 p.m., call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, $18.

The Beatles and ukuleles go together like pb&j, see the magic at the Beatles Complete-On Ukulele Concert, performed by Roger Greenawalt with special guests. Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave @ N. 11^th St., Sat at 6 p.m., and Sun at noon, $10!

Sunday January 16, 2011

Laugh your butt off at Upright Citizens Brigade’s ASSSSCAT 3000 show! Shows at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Upright Citizens Brigade, 307 W. 26th, Tkts are $10 for the 7:30 p.m. and can be bought here: http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/shows/12. The 9:30 p.m. show is free, wth tkts given out on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 8:15 p.m.

Join in a literary tradition by attending KGB Bar’s Sunday Night Fiction Series. Tonight authors Robert Lopez and Gary Lutz will read from their works. 7 p.m., KGB Bar, 85 E. 4^th St., bet Bowery and Second Ave., free!

Monday January 17, 2011 Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! (For those of you luck enough to have the day off, check out these picks!)

Join Big Onion Walking Tours on a an historic jaunt through Harlem to honor Dr. King, while visiting haunts that may include Abyssinian Baptist Church, Striver's Row, the Big Apple Night Club, and sites associated with the Harlem Renaissance, W.E.B. Du Bois, Madame C.J. Walker, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and many others. Meet at the northwest corner of 135th Street and Lenox (Malcolm X) Avenue Ð in front of the Schomburg Center., $15.

Play trivia for a trivial price at Last Exit’s Pub Quiz, watch everyday, regular quiz folks flex their acting muscles, and get that burning question answered, Anne Hathaway, Canadian or Not Canadian??? 9 p.m., 136 Lafayette Ave., $5!

Don’t forget the Met is open on holiday Mondays (http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/general_information/), and Housing Works Bookstore is having a special MLK Jr. Day sale (http://www.housingworks.org/events/detail/mlk-day-sale/) today!

And all w/e long, BAM is hosting tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. (http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=6), a new exhibit called “Comics Stripped” opens at the Museum of Sex (http://www.museumofsex.com/exhibit/comics-stripped), and the Museum of the Moving Image reopens with tons of workshops, activities, screenings, and a dance party Sat night (plus free admission on Monday!)-more info is here: http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2011/1/13/week/type/1/2/3/4/5

Cheap and Free NYC Weekend Event PIcks, Jan 7-9, 2011

Friday January 7, 2011

Jazz it up tonight with Eldar and Harlem in the Himalayas, 7 p.m., the Rubin Museum, 150 W. 17^th St., $18!

Channel your inner artist at the Met’s Astor Court during a drop-in drawing session, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., instructors will offer informal guidance as well as art supplies, Fifth Ave at 82nd St, free (for all ages!) with admission (pay-what-you-wish)!

The Neue Galerie (http://www.neuegalerie.org/programs/first-fridays) and the Noguchi Museum (http://www.noguchi.org/programs/public) are both free today as part of their First Friday programs, plus you can catch a midnight showing of The Thing, starring a young Kurt Russell (is also on Saturday at midnight) at the IFC Center. (http://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-thing)

Saturday January 8, 2011

Will you or won’t you attend a performance of “Twelfth Night” performed by the Red Monkey Theatre Group. Noon to 4 p.m., St. Paul’s Church in the Bronx, free! (Directions are here: http://www.nps.gov/sapa/planyourvisit/publictransportation.htm)

Give you and your dog a treat with Coffee Bark! At this monthly event sponsored by FIDO (Fellowship in the Interest of Dogs and their Owners) there will be free goodies for dogs and their owners, as well as info about off-leash activities and issues. 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Prospect Park, in the meadow beside the Picnic House, enter at Prospect Park West and 3rd Street, free!

Make good on that New Year’s Resolution and start off the weekend with a walk in Riverside Park. Join the Urban Park Rangers as they cover the entire park via their A Well-Trod Path Program! 1 p.m., W. 72nd Street and Riverside Drive (in the park), free!

Leave the shoes at home during the Barefoot Boogie, “a freestyle barefoot dance party in a relaxed alcohol-free environment,” with a mix of R&B, world, funk, tribal, hip-hop, ambient, reggae, house, African, electronica, disco, rock, techno, drum, and bass, etc. 28 W 27th Street, 10th Floor (Buzzer #27), $10!

Discovery Walking Tours is hosting Historic Wall Street Pubs and Taverns today! “Join us on this mostly indoor walking tour of historic pubs and taverns in Lower Manhattan, all with historic associations, with stops at several for refreshment. Stops include Fraunces Tavern where Washington bid farewell to his officers; a downtown pub frequented by Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln; and a legendary watering hole on a site once associated with the Cotton Exchange and Captain Kidd.” 5 p.m., $18. Call 212-465-3331 for reservation and meeting place.

Stuck with a reindeer sweater you don’t want to wear? Then go to Regifted: A Night of Short Films and Music feat. Xylos, where you can watch movies and exchange your unwanted Christmas gifts! Other musical acts include Living Days, VJ Shantell Martin, and DJ Jan Woo. Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N. 6 Street.

Saturday and Sunday January 8 and 9, 2011

Indoor Walking Tour, The US Customs House and Titanic History Tour with Discovery Walking Tours! “Stay warm on a historical and architectural tour inside this beautiful Beaux Arts gem in Lower Manhattan that once anchored New York's steamship district, considered by many to be the finest interior in the city. Immediately following will be a tour of sites and memorials in the direct vicinity of the building associated with the fated White Star ship, Titanic.” 2:30 p.m., $18, call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting space.

Recycle your Christmas tree at the Department of Park’s Mulchfest. Take your tree to one of the many stations set-up in the five boroughs. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free! For a complete list of mulching locations visit this website: http://www.nycgovparks.org/services/mulchfest/mulchfest.html

Sunday January 9, 2011

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Brooklyn Bridge, but were afraid to ask at the Brooklyn Bridge History Talk today! 1 p.m., Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, free!

Learn the history behind the movie with Big Onion’s Gangs of New York tour! “A tour exploring the legends and lore of the Five Points neighborhood and Herbert Asbury’s 1927 classic The Gangs of New York – the inspiration for the major motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese. Stops could include: Paradise Square, “Murderers Alley”, and sites associated with Bill “The Butcher” Poole, William M. Tweed, Master Juba, and the 1857 Police and 1863 Draft Riots.” 11 a.m., Meet at the southeast corner of Broadway & Chambers Street, at City Hall Park, $15.

Sit back and relax as you listen to the World/African music of Kaïssa, who is known for “unique blend of African, reggae, jazz, R&B, makossa, and Brazilian fusion.” 3 p.m., Central (Queens Public) Library, 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, free! For more info call 718-990-0778.

Drop those bottoms on the No Pants subway ride sponsored by Improv Everywhere, 3 to 5:30 p.m., Location TBD, visit http://www.improveverywhere.com for more info! Free!

All weekend long get “crafty” with The Fourth Williamsburg Cask Ale Festival (http://www.gotham-imbiber.com), tkts for the Professional Bull Riders Invitational at Madison Square Garden start at $15 (http://www.pbrnow.com) and starting Saturday (and through the 30^th) get a little taste of summer in January at the Park Here Pop-up, with a lawn, trees, park benches, forest murals, and SAD light boxes.

If you have a little extra cash (start pulling up those couch cushions!) you may want to check out the New York Times’ Arts and Leisure Weekend, which features guests such as Annie Proulx, Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling, and Robert Redford! Tkts are $30. For the full schedule and to buy tkts, check here: http://www.nytimes.whsites.net/artsandleisureweekend.