FRIDAY
8pm: get a preview of the brooklyn folk festival (5/18-20) at jalopy with elizabeth butters, 4 o’clock flowers, the whiskey spitters and the dust busters, $10.

8pm: lush rock band bird of youth play the rock shop, $8.

8pm-3am: the red and black masquerade ball promises buto, aerialists, projection installations, and live music. red and black formalwear strongly encouraged. house of yes, $12 admission includes a drink. (more…)

FRIDAY
7pm: musician/author and former soul coughing leader mike doughty discusses his book the book of drugs: a memoir at book court, free

8pm: new skaters get assigned to their teams at the gotham girls roller derby annual blow-out: the derbytaunt ball. free brooklyn brewery beer 8-9pm (while supplies last), $4 mixed sailor jerry cocktails and $2 sailor jerry shots all night long. littlefield, $15.  (more…)

FRIDAY
8pm: cast members from fox’s animated series bob’s burgers eugene mirman, kristen schaal, larry murphy, and jon benjamin show off their comedy skills and previews from the new season at the bell house, free (get there early!).

8pm: tonight’s kings county comedy hour at bushwick’s vaudeville park features nikki glaser, tony zaret, mark normand, kara klenk, adam lowitt, and host matt koff. free. (more…)

FRIDAY
7pm: put on your best specs for nerd night trivia and presentations about genetic genealogy, malaria, and ways to ace standardized tests. galapagos, $10-14.

7:30pm: celebrate the launch of hella bitter’s new seltzer cart with all-you-can-drink cocktails at windmill studios (287 kent ave), $10. (more…)

FRIDAY
6-8pm: sample local booze/wine and support the brooklyn bridge park conservancy. waterfront wines & spirits, free.

8pm: savoir adore, via audio and lightyear play cameo, $10-12.

8pm: noisepunk band parts + labor play with oneida, neptune and noveller at 285 kent, $10. (more…)

FRIDAY
7:30pm: experience jj abrams’ new show alcatraz as an interactive bank heist investigation event where you help solve the mystery while exploring three levels of the historic williamsburg savings bank. 1 hanson place, free. (more…)

FRIDAY
7pm: bring your written break-up stories to read aloud at word’s v-day edition of ‘just working on my novel‘ (10-minute time limit), free.

8pm: is it hot in peru, or is it just us? alistair r. noble of the hollow earth society lectures on the phallic stone monuments recently discovered near — wait for it — lake titicaca. observatory, $5.  (more…)

FRIDAY
8pm (+ 2/4): poets, puppeteers, musicians and other artists join forces for an evening of puppets + poetry at brooklyn arts exchange, including alphabet arts, dolly parton cover band doll parts, and the occupy wall street puppetry guild. $10.

8pm (thru 2/5): multiple playwrights collaborate on one work without knowing what others are doing at piper mckenzie’s dainty cadaver. the brick, $10. (more…)

FRIDAY

6-10pm: opening reception for group exhibit 120db, showcasing the work of thirteen female concert photographers. fort useless (bushwick), free.

7, 9pm (thru 1/29 + 2/2-5): the 9th annual cool new york 2012 dance festival features 60 companies and choreographers performing in an intimate setting. white wave (dumbo), free.

7:30pm (thru 2/26): brooklyn’s truffle theatre company performs shakespeare’s a midsummer night’s dream in the mezzanine of 61 local (cobble hill), $15

9pm: there’ll be a whole lotta love when bustle in your hedgerow puts on a show of led zeppelin tunes. brooklyn bowl, $10-12.

(more…)

FRIDAY
8pm (+ 1/21, 26-28): airborne mutant serpents attack earth in everywhere theatre group’s flying snakes in 3d. what did you think it was about? the brick, $18.

8:30pm: former off-broadway show the marijuana-logues lets tony camin, rob cantrell, and bruce cherry perform monologues about their favorite herb. bell house, $10 adv, $13 dos. (more…)