Cheap Chick NYC Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks! April 8-10, 2011

Friday April 8, 2011

Watch the skies for a TARDIS sighting as Dr. Who cast members, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, land in the Fifth Ave. Barnes&Noble to celebrate the Fifth Series DVD boxed set. From Barnes&Noble, “You will need a wristband to join the signing line for this event. Wristbands will be distributed starting at 9:00 am on Friday, April 8 with the purchase of the Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series boxed set. Please call store for additional details.” Wristbands distributed beginning at 9 a.m., Barnes&Noble, 555 Fifth Avenue, 212-697-3048, free aside from DVD set purchase.

Tonight is the opening night for the 3.11 Project, a charity silent auction and group exhibition, and featuring up to 50 artists including multimedia installations, painting, photography, and sculpture. All proceeds will go to Japan Earthquake Relief Fund via the Japan Society. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Openhouse Gallery, 201 Mulberry St., free to attend! Celebrate the weirdly unique in life at the opening night for Sideshows by the Seashore, 8 p.m., 1208 Surf Avenue, $10!

Newly pregnant queen of 30 Rock, Tina Fey, will be on-hand at Barnes&Noble, reading from her memoir Bossypants! 7 p.m., Union Square B&N, 33 E. 17th St., free!

It’s the time of month again for all dorks to gather and revel in their geekiness at Nerd Nite! Tonight’s presentations include: Fitness Fads, Facts, and Phases, God of the Game: Iconography, History, and Sexy Nuns in Modern Video Games, and How To Design a Great Puzzle (And Why Microsoft Sucks At It), with trivia before the lectures start! Trivia starts at 7 p.m. and presentations start at 9 p.m., Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street in DUMBO Brooklyn, $14 gets you Nerd Nite+trivia, $10 gets you into Nerd Nite. Get tkts here: http://nyc.nerdnite.com/

Life is wild when Aveeno creates a pop-up forest in the middle of Times Square! AVEENO Consultant and Sustainability Expert Summer Rayne Oakes will be helping to “raise awareness about the benefits of trees and consumer responsibility to the environment,” and visitors will each receive their own seed cards to plant. Part of MillionTreesNYC. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Father Duffy Square (Times Square area), free!

Check out $1 clams, $1.50 oysters, $8 cocktails and more at Soho’s Lure Fishbar during their happy hour (http://www.lurefishbar.com/menu.php)!

Friday and Saturday April 8 and 9, 2011

Join Bruce Campbell as he battles the dead in the fantasy/horror flick, Army of Darkness, Midnight, Landmark Sunshine, 143 Houston St., $10! Dude! It's Quentin vs. Coen dueling it out in the art world at Bold Hype Gallery today and tomorrow! 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., 547 W. 27 St. bet 10 and 11, free!

Saturday April 9, 2011

Queens Public Library hosts A Celebration of African-American History, Musical Storytelling with Kim and Reggie Harr, which chronicles the stories of African-Americans including Harriet Tubman and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who helped build this country. 1 p.m., Langston Hughes library branch, 100-01 Northern Blvd., Corona, 718-651-1100, (since it’s far and a bit obscure, here are directions: Train: 7 to 103rd St./Corona Plaza, walk 5 blocks to Northern Blvd), free!

Frank McGuinness, an Irish playwright, and Ernest Hartmann, a psychiatry professor, discuss the Celtic dreamscape during their “Irish Dreams” program (part of Imagine Ireland, 2011.), 4:30 p.m., Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St., $15, and tkts can be purchased here: http://www.rmanyc.org/brainwave. (scroll down.)

Explore Hallett Nature Sanctuary, one of Central Park’s lesser-known woodland areas, complete with a mysterious waterfall, with the Central Park Conservancy! 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., Sixth Ave. and Central Park South, Call (212) 794-4064 for directions, free (Note from the Park: Due to the limited space in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, only the first 20 people to sign in at the beginning of the tour will be able to participate!)

Commune with ghostly friends during Discovery Walking Tour’s Gotham City Ghost Tour at Twilight! “A tour of the historic, infamous and macabre of Greenwich Village history, laced with ghost stories along the way as only New Yorkers would know them. Stops include Edgar Alan Poe’s home; the hanging elm, a legendary public execution site in New York City; the cemetery at St. Mark’s, and the burial ground at Washington Square. And you thought only subways ran beneath the city streets!” 5:45 p.m., Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, $18!

Hope all that plaid doesn’t hurt your eyes during this year’s Tartan Day Parade! 2 p.m., Sixth Avenue, from 45th to 55th, free!

Watch your peephole for the CABLE GUY! A free screening of the Jim Carrey/Matthew Broderick film is available today! 2 p.m., Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 550 Madison Ave, movie is free, but please call (212) 833 7858 for tickets/RSVP.

Saturday and Sunday April 9 and 10, 2011

Discovery Walking Tours marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with a walking tour “exploring connections with the Bitter War Between the States that also bitterly divided New Yorkers. Stops include sites associated with Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, the attempted burning of New York in 1864, the bloody Draft Riots of 1863, a stop on the Underground Railroad; a Confederate prison camp; and places associated with the Union ironclad Monitor and an important hero from the Battle of Gettysburg.” 2 p.m., call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, $18!

Plus look for some laughs at MoCCA Fest 2011, a fundraiser for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art-MoCCA! http://www.moccany.org/content/mocca-festival, and The Anarchist Book Fair sets the book world on fire (just figuratively!), with bookstores selling their wares, workshops, and art installations (http://www.anarchistbookfair.net/)!

Sunday April 11, 2011

The local Krrb Meetup is holding swap meet and community yard sale today! From the group, “Bring your clothes, books, technology, music, or any handmade crafts, foods and goods to sell or swap. Expect treats to be unveiled.” All items left at the end of the day will be lovingly donated to those in need. 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., Mission Dolores Bar, 249 4th Ave., Park Slope, free, but pls RSVP here: http://blog.krrb.com/2011/03/22/meet-swap-krrb-a-community-swap-and-yard-sale-in-brooklyn!

Another spin on eating al fresco, in case you forget your picnic basket at home or find yourself with the munchies while walking through the park is foraging. Forager, locavore Brooklyn Botanic Garden instructor, and author of The Locavore’s Handbook: The Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget Leda Meredith is leading a foraging field trip in Prospect Park where you’ll find edible plants like mushrooms just ready for the picking (literally!) After the walk you can gather for lunch (bring a brown bag) while asking Leda all of your burning locavore questions and enjoy some treats made from local finds. From the organizers: “Please bring a bottle of water, a camera if you have one, baggies for samples, a notebook, pen, and labels to identify what you collect. If you want to stick around afterwards, bring a prepared lunch. Wear comfortable shoes! Weather notes: We will walk in sun or drizzle. Heavy downpour, we’ll reschedule. 8:30 a.m., Grand Army Plaza entrance at Prospect Park (where the farmer’s market sets up, $18!

Treat yourself to a Pre-Passover walking tour with the Eldridge Street Synagogue. You’ll hit the streets of the LES to dine on chocolate-covered matzoh, freshly ground horseradish, pickles and Passover schnapps. Then you’ll learn where the area’s Eastern European immigrants shopped, lived, and gathered. 11 a.m. AND 2 p.m. Meet at the Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge Street Between Canal and Division Streets, $15, space is limited so Email hgriff@eldridgestreet.org or call 212.219.0888 for more information!

Plus the Hell’s Kitchen Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar begins again today (http://www.hellskitchenfleamarket.com/home/), watch out for that goose at Jimmy’s New York City Duck-Off (http://www.jimmysno43.com/), and Dr. Sketchy takes on Dr. Who in a battle of fictional doctors (http://www.drsketchy.com/branch/newyork)!

And all weekend… Java up for the the Northeast Regional Barista Competition (usbaristachampionship.org), and browse some golden oldies at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair (http://sanfordsmith.com/default.aspx?pageId=6)!