Thursday, August 02, 2007

Astorian Weekend Edition 02.08.07

Welcome to the first weekend in August! I'm amazed how time flies - seems like just yesterday we were ringing in the new year. It's going to be a hot weekend - great for staying inside in the a/c or hanging outside, whichever you are prone to doing. On Thursday, stop by Tell Astorya Cafe (37-05 28th Ave). Sign up at 7pm, show starts at 8pm for 2 hours. You have 8 minutes to show off your talent! If open-miking isn't for you, head to Waltz (23-14 Ditmars Boulevard) for some great Brazilian music in the form of Sambasaurus ($2 Cover, $7 Drink Minimum). Stephanie Wremble will be there Friday night, too ($10 Cover, $7 Drink Minimum). Thursday night also brings us the Waterfront Concert Series - the Marvelettes are performing this week at Astoria Park. Bring a blanket, some food, and friends and enjoy one of NYC's best city parks.

On Friday, you are invited to an opening reception of a group show at LIC's The Space. The show, "1s ad 3s", features artists Eileen Cohen, Adrienne Dowd, Chris Harris, Cristian Pietrapiana, Brandon Schreck, Aleks Zelenina, Jaya Lamba, and Kristy Schopper. The opening reception is from 7-9pm at their gallery, 25-17 41st Ave in LIC.

Saturday of course, bring us Warm Up at PS 1. This week's lineup: Psychic TV and Flaming Fire. DJs include Cool Gypsy Bogdan (Turntable Lab), In Flagranti (Codek Records), plus Ned Rothenberg. Warm Up goes from 3-9pm, and you can head to Water Taxi Beach afterwards for some dogs (meat and soy!) and fries, and views of the East River and Manhattan. If you want to stay cool, for years people have gone to the movies, and you can too at Astoria's own MOMI. Gone are the horror films and now they're showing a bunch of films from the Nixon Era. I'm sure they will be thought-provoking gems.

On Sunday, consider participating in Bike New York's Savvy Cyclist Workshop. Here, you can hone your cycling skills with instructor, Emilia Crotty. She will show you how to do basic bicycle maintenance and repair as well as teach important traffic skills. It's an all day affair, going from 9-5. Meet at the Recycle-A-Bicycle training center, corner of 46th Avenue and 5th Street. Everyone must bring a bike and helmet. Registration is required. Call 212-932-2300x131 or email emiliac@bikenewyork.org for more information.

Also on Sunday is the last Pub Quiz at the Irish Rover for this season. So, if you have been meaning to partake in the Quiz for a while, this would be the night for you! The Irish Rover is on 28th Ave and 38th Street. They pour a great Harp, by the way. Best I've had in the area. That same night,, Socrates Sculpture Park (32-01 Vernon Blvd) presents an evening of outdoor video at 7pm. This is part of the L.I.C., NYC Video project. You can also catch a Czech film that night at the Beer Garden. Holiday Makers (Účastníci zájezdu) is this week's screening.

And on this hot weekend, just over the Pulaski Bridge in Greenpoint (97 Commercial Street, and yes, I know it's not in Queens, but it's close enough!), is the northern location of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Company. It's as good as the stuff in Dumbo - I recommend their chocolate chocolate chip. Of course, you could always hit up Oleput (Ditmars and 33rd), which also has fab ice cream.

More fun, here.

2 comments:

JoeyP said...

If you plan on drinking at the Water Taxi Beach, plan on waiting. The lines have been rediculous!

megc said...

Dang, thanks for the tip, joeyp!