At the King & Grove. (Photo: Joshua Kristal)
At this point in the summer, the beach days and ice cream cones are interspersed with back-to-school ads and blazers in every shop window. It all starts funneling in towards Labor Day’s chilly event horizon. Herewith, your guide to wringing the most out of your remaining Dog Day weekends.
SATURDAY, 8/3
Theater for the New City’s “Bamboozled,” from the 2011 street theater tour. (Photo: TNC)
Pull up a lawn chair for the premiere of “Sanitation,” Theater for the New City‘s eco-friendly production about three Lower East Side sanitation workers who scrounge together their savings to take a cruise to the Caribbean, only to get sidetracked by Hurricane Sandy. The outdoor musical, at East 10th and First Avenue, will be followed by a BBQ.
You might want to rest up for this one: Resident Advisor sets up seven DJs churning out an immense amount of music at the city’s foremost underground electro-dance hall, Output. Robert Hood’s set (billed under his alias, “Floorplan”) is the big thing, but the entire line-up has serious firepower.
Catch a bad case of Saturday Night fever at Brooklyn Bowl, where the nine-member nouveau-disco-funk crew, Midnight Magic will make you want to dance right out of your wide-collared suit. Also on tap are the avant-pop sounds of Mirror Mirror and a DJ set from JD Samson, the former MEN frontman and member of the feminist punk band, Le Tigre.
If you hate sunlight and warm breezes, perhaps Deathfest is more to your liking. The epic headbanging of two dozen bands with such murderous names as Visceral Disgorge and Forced Asphyxiation straddles two days and two venues — Saint Vitus and the Paper Box. Headliners are Cephalic Carnage the relatively tame-named Macabre. Good luck.
SUNDAY, 8/4
Turn up at North Brooklyn Farms in Havemeyer Park after noon for a day of pick-your-own produce. A group of intrepid urban farmers have converted a plot of the Domino Sugar factory’s parking lot into a lush vegetable garden. Follow it up with dinner alfresco through Greenpointers — their team will set up tables in the garden and serve a four-courser veggie-forward meal with plates like delicate green pea soup.
Commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots in the place where they went down, at the annual riot reunion concert. Punk bands like Reagan Youth, Antidote, and Sic F*cks will get the Sunday parkgoers slamdancing starting at 2 p.m. If you need cover from the sun, duck into the MoRUS Film Festival, featuring docs about squatting and homesteading.
Space out at Celestial Matter’s morning-through-night party. Starting at 6 a.m. and running late into the night, a tight lineup of techno and house DJs will keep things moving at a quick clip. Pop in for a peek at art installations and sculpture, or a tipple of fancy-pants cocktails. The location is undisclosed; they’ll clue you in once you . Word on the street has the address at 240 Kent Avenue and cover can be paid at the door. But wing it at your own risk.
SATURDAY, 8/10
Troll Craigslist for tickets to the already-sold-out Mad Decent Block Party featuring Matt & Kim, Major Lazer and others. From 1 p.m. till 10 p.m., the nine-band lineup will rock out on the banks of the East River.
Can’t get tickets? Drown your sorrows with a do-it-yourself outdoor-drinking beer hop. Start slightly beyond Bushwick’s borders with pints of Ommegang Witte in the backyard bar at Franklin Park. Head to the sweet little courtyard behind Burnside for tallboys of Naragansett. Beeline to the back patio at d.b.a. Brooklyn for a pull of Monks Cafe Flemish Sour Ale from one of the pub’s sixteen taps. Take the party inside and class it up, if you can, at Tørst, where you can taste half-pints of obscure brews.
SUNDAY, 8/11
Start the afternoon with a fresh-made waffle cone full of the dark chocolate sorbet at Stellina, but don’t spill the beans on the secret ingredient that makes this icy summer indulgence. Fine, we’ll blab: it’s cocoa butter.
Head across the river to find inspired art among the plumbing supplies at Crest Hardware. Look closely as you scan the shelves of garden hoses, paint cans, and electrical tape at this 50-year-old supply shop, and you might find portraits of presidents or sculptures of sparrows made by up-and-coming artists. Watch out for Franklin, the famous potbellied pig that serves as store mascot.
Wind down the weekend at TV Night at Videology. Check their Facebook page for what’s screening but expect crowd-pleasers like True Blood and Dexter with cocktails to match (in this case, bloody Marys, obviously).
SATURDAY 8/17
Blue Ribbon’s beer garden. (Photo: Blue Ribbon)
It’s Summer Streets again! From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Lafayette Street will be blessedly free of traffic. Stroll down to Houston and over to Allen, and make a pit stop at Blue Ribbon’s breezy beer garden on the Thompson LES terrace. Chow down on a $15 plate of BBQ, play ping pong and drink $7 cans of Sixpoint’s Sweet Action brew until they shut the place down at 10 p.m.
You shan’t find these folks online, but the word is out on Greenpoint’s Bar Without a Name and its spacious back garden. Seize a picnic table or if you can, the wooden swing, and order a round of $3 cans of Genesee. Upgrade to whatever’s on tap and pay only $6. They open at 2 p.m. on weekends so there is plenty of time to catch some rays.
Eke out one more use for your wetsuit before it gets stowed under your bed for the winter. Pair it with a mask and a cape and head to Phoenix’s monthly superhero costume party.
SUNDAY, 8/18
Make a reservation for Sunday Lobsterpalooza at the Mermaid Inn where $26 buys you a whole honking lobster with corn, potatoes and a chunky coleslaw. Get in before 7 p.m. and tack on some $1 oysters to your order. It’s cheaper than a New England vacation.
Yuck it up with a trio of “Dark Lords of Comedy” — Mike Lawrence, Jared Logan, and Dan St. Germain — who are Jon Oliver-approved, having appeared on his New York Stand-Up Show. Starting at 8 p.m., Comedy Central presents a night of free outdoor comedy at the East River Park Ampitheater.
Feel the vibrations at King and Grove’s weekly Good Vybez Reggae Night, held on the hotel’s swank eighth-floor pool deck. The dance party kicks off at 5 p.m. and builds into a steady throng through the evening, fueled by the cocktail creations of Johnny Swet.
SATURDAY, 8/24
Brooklyn Bike Park. (Photo: Scott Lynch)
Roll out to Brooklyn Bike Park and speed through the course’s pump track and obstacle area. The mountain bike training route will help you upgrade (or jumpstart) your skills. Entrance is free and if you need to bum a bike, Ride Brooklyn will give you a loaner, with helmet, for $15.
Forgot how to ride? Gather friends for a round of bocce at McCarren Park. Courts are first come, first served so show up early. Extra points for all-white garb.
Make Anella’s outdoor garden your happy place, especially between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. when a roster of bar snacks, main plates, and drinks are deeply discounted.
Revel in the ease with which you can find a slice of open sky in the backyard of the Bushwick bar, The Narrows. Get the Caufield’s Dream — perfectly balanced and understated, it’s refreshingly simple at a time when cocktail culture threatens to jump the shark.
SUNDAY, 8/25
Pay homage to the great jazz master, Charlie Parker at a festival in his honor at Tompkins Square Park. The line-up features alto-sax savant Lee Konitz’s eponymous quartet, singer Sheila Jordan, the Grammy-nominated trumpeter Christian Scott, and the Aaron Diehl Quartet led by the widely acclaimed pianist.
Tap into The Well’s block party benefit for the Brewers Guild and NYC Beer Week, where beers and ales will flow from more than 20 breweries, including Shmaltz and 21st Amendment. For those on the wagon, there will be slushies from Kelvin’s. Entertainment will come from the turntables (or Macbook) of the band Small Black.
SATURDAY, 8/31
What? You haven’t been to a Summer Thunder Party yet? Well, hurry up: this will be Union Pool’s last of the season. But they’re making it a good one via musical stylings from the Thurston Moore, Nate Wooley, Ryan Sawyer Trio among a slew of other bands and DJs. Soak in the sun in the backyard, avail yourself of frosty drink specials and spicy tacos, and begin to bid adieu to the summer.
Mooch off the air conditioning at Spectacle Theater and take in a midnight screening of “And God Said To Cain,” a weird Italian Spaghetti Western.
SUNDAY, 9/1
Tie on a bib and head to the Rub-a-Grub party at Do or Dine’s garden patio. DJ Akalepse of Truth & Soul and Plane Jane is back this year to keep crowd in motion. During dance breaks, taste a three-part menu served in rounds throughout the day. Each round is paired with a cocktail—last year’s gorge-fest included bottomless bloody Mary’s, and a whole roast pig. The reveling carries on at the after-party, set again to be held at One Last Shag.