Cheap Chick NYC: Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, March 18-20,2011

Friday March 18, 2011

Gather ‘round for some local storytelling at the Bronx Museum’s Bronx Stories event. Storytellers will share their tales in the galleries (be prepared and bring your own!), and the program includes a screening of the doc, Richie Perez Watches Fort Apache: The Bronx. 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, free! For storyteller and other info, go here: http://www.bronxmuseum.org/events.php.

End the stressful work week with a free mini-facial and eye treatment from Caudalíe at Sephora’s UES location. Caudalíe founders, Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas will be on-hand performing the treatments, which incorporate products from the company’s Premier Cru line. 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., please visit the store or call (212) 426-6199 to book your appointment for the event. If space is available, walk-ins will be welcome! Sephora, 144 E. 86th St. and Lex., free!

Check out a special sneak preview of The Best and the Brightest, a new movie dealing the NYC kindergarten application process, and starring Neil Patrick Harris, Amy Sedaris, and Kate Mulgrew. 8 p.m., The Bell House, 149 E. 7^th St. bet. Second and Third Aves., Brooklyn, $10, the Sat show is already sold out, so act quickly! (http://www.thebellhouseny.com/)

Gather to pay your respects to Japan with others at an interfaith candlelight vigil. At 5:30 p.m. you can congregate at The Church Center for the United Nations (777 First Ave. at 44th St.) and at 7 p.m. you can light a candle for Japan at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza ((47th St. between 1st and 2nd Ave.) This event is sponsored by the Asian American Arts Alliance, for more info about this program please contact: Emiko 347-613-9839, free!

Described as “the zaniest pop-up party in town,” drag queen Linda Simpson hosts Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Drag, with “a cast of New York’s kookiest queens providing nonstop thrills and laughs, on stage and off!” Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. (end-time is 10 p.m.), Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker, free! (Cheap Chick tip: I would plan to spend some money on food/drink while there.)

Foodies should also head to NYU for Food: The Conference, a free event going on through 6 p.m. (http://web.me.com/jenniferlittle/2011_English_Students_Association_Conference/Home.html) and female fashionistas can attend a free lecture “Women’s Clothes and Women’s Rights,” which traces the evolution of women’s fashions relating to career and the workforce at FIT as part of its series commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire (http://www.fitnyc.edu/10152.asp).

Friday and Saturday March 18 and 19, 2011

Spend some quality time with Chunk and the Mouth during late-night Goonies screenings. Midnight, Landmark Sunshine, 143 E. Houston, $10!

Saturday March 19, 2011

Join "Mr. Apollo" Billy Mitchell, the unofficial Apollo Theater historian (he’s worked there 40+ years), as he leads a gallery tour of the Museum of the City of New York’s Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing exhibit, which explores the impact of the Apollo theater on American entertainment. 1 p.m., Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, free (!) with museum admission, $10 suggested admission.

Party it up Purim-style I Love Vinyl DJs Scribe and Jon Oliver, carnival and arcade games, and even a costume contest! 9 p.m., 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., Tkts are $20 and can be bought here: http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?category=92Tri+92Tribeca+Jewish+Life888&productid=T-MM5SH10&ev_ads=_Tripurim_VinylDJ

El Museo del Barrio hosts its free Super Sabado program today as well! (http://www.elmuseo.org/en/event/super-sabado-art-amp-activism)

Sunday March 20, 2011

Find the answer to that classic movie question, “Are you trying to seduce me Mrs. Robinson?” at a free Graduate screening. The film will be shown as part of the Tribeca Grand Hotel’s Sunday Night Screenings program (http://www.tribecagrand.com/sunday-night-screenings), 8:30 p.m., Tribeca Grand, Church Lounge, Two Sixth Ave., free!

Today the “land of ten thousand lakes” (Minnesota!) will be honored at the Bell House’s state fair series. Enjoy a food on a stick competition, butter sculpting, state fair trivia, and more! Those with a MN ID get $3 beers from the Midwestern State! 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., 149 E. 7^th St. bet. Second and Third Aves., Brooklyn, free to attend (otherwise pay for your food and drink!)

Attend the “Gender and Genocide: Aspects of the Sexual Violation of Women During the Holocaust” lecture at the Brooklyn Museum. Gloria Steinem moderates this panel discussion and is joined by authors Dr. Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel, co-editors of Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women During the Holocauast, Nava Semel (And the Rat Laughed), and Jeanne Kasongo L. Nogondo. Afterward there will be a reception to acknowledge the fourth anniversary of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art. 2 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, free with suggested donation of $10 toward museum admission!

Take a first day of spring walk through Central Park, eyes will be open for “blossoms, birds, and bugs that are springing back to life.” 11 a.m., meet at Belvedere Castle, (mid-park and 79^th St.), free!

Celebrate the official first day of spring (yea, no more blizzards!) with free Italian ice at Rita’s today (http://www.ritasice.com/) and free macarons as part of Macaron Day here in the city (check here for info and participating locations (http://macarondaynyc.com/what_is-mac.html), and the Explorer’s Club holds its annual open house, complete with high tea and lectures (http://www.explorers.org/)!

Plus, during the rest of the weekend…there’s still time to see "The Rover," a Restoration comedy by Aphra Behn at the World Financial Center and performed by members of New York Classical Theater (http://newyorkclassical.org/) through the 20th, Housing Works is having a 30% off film book and DVD sale all weekend (http://shophousingworks.com/eventsdetail.cfm?entry=4116) through the 21st, take tours of the rarely-seen Irish servants’ quarters at the Merchant’s House Museum (http://www.merchantshouse.com/calendar), soak up Asian culture during Asian Week (http://www.asiaweekny.com/index.html), and watch Taxi Driver at the Film Forum http://www.filmforum.org/films/taxidriver.html, through the 31st!

And it's Purim time, see which parties my friends at Time Out New York suggest: http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/this-week-in-new-york/1016219/five-best-purim-parties?cmpid=HOT (includes 92ndY Tribeca party listed above.)