Brokelyn has a well-documented pro-summer bias, and for good reason: In addition to being the season that lets us do the actual best things (beach, rooftop boozin, etc), it’s also the time of year with by far the most free events every day of the week. And this post-July 4 week is a doozy: Not only do we get the regular assortment of free concerts, outdoor workouts and games, but two of the big free film series kick off this week in McCarren Park and on the pier in Red Hook. Plus, belly dance yoga, honky-tonk music, Vice’s Dos and Donts party, star-gazing and more, all of it free for your lovely people to enjoy.
Events pulled from our Brokelyn events calendar. Add yours today!
MONDAY
7pm: Rooftop Films: Edge of the City: Underground NY Shorts By the Sea, Coney Island
Rooftop Films presents a special screening of independent short films on Brooklyn’s famous beach spot – Coney Island.
7pm: Books Beneath the Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Come to Brooklyn Bridge Park for our Books Beneath the Bridge Series. Enjoy this outdoor literature series curated by local and independent bookstores. Each program with include a reading, Q&A and book signing. This week is Brian Francis Slattery author of Lost Everything.
The Gowanus All-Stars (Spike Priggen, Jay Sherman-Godfrey, Nancy Polstein, CP Roth & Mark Spencer) play Country-Rock and Honky-Tonk music including songs by George Jones, Johnny Cash, Gary Stewart, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Lee Hazlewood, Guy Clark, Roky Erikson, Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Thunders etc.
TUESDAY
6pm: Lee Fields and the Expressions: Greene Music on the Main Stage, Myrtle Ave Lawn in Fort Greene Park.
Bring a blanket, pack a picnic, and enjoy the soulful sounds of noted funk singer Lee Fields and the Expressions, along with Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang and DJ Akalepse.
7pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park Waterfront Workouts: Pilates with the Fitness Guru, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park is offering Pilates Mat classes with the Fitness Guru overlooking the New York Harbor June through September.
8pm: Red Hook Flicks: The Lost Boys, Valentino Pier, Red Hook
The Red Hook free film series kicks off today with the classic 80s vampire tale The Lost Boys. $1 popcorn from Home/Made and $3 tarts from Steve’s Key Lime Pie. Fort Defiance and Dry Dock Wine + Spirits will be serving up a Lost Boys-themed dinner … in Chinese takeout cartons!
WEDNESDAY
6:30pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy: Checkmate 101, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Dumbo
Join Brooklyn chess instructor Zebedee Collins to learn new skills and strategies to help take your game to the next level. Best for beginning players and limited boards available.
7pm: Book Launch Party: VICE Magazine’s DOs and DON’Ts BOOK 2, Powerhouse Books, Dumbo
VICE announces the sequel to DOs & DON’Ts, the most acid-tongued anthology of street fashion critiques in the history of people giving a shit about street fashion. DOs & DON’Ts Book 2 collects the most exuberant Dos and lowliest, most stomach-turning DONT’s from the last three years of VICE Magazine and VICE.COM, and presents them unto you in one tidy volume perfect for the cistern of your toilet or wherever else you keep your important reading material.
8pm: New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks 2012, Prospect Park
A beloved New York tradition, Concerts in the Parks returns for its 47th season with five free outdoor concerts throughout the New York City boroughs, plus a free indoor concert in Staten Island. Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the Philharmonic in concerts at Central Park and Prospect Park.
6:30pm: SummerScreen: Cruel Intentions, McCarren Park
This year’s SummerScreen from L Magazine kicks off this week with Cruel Intentions. Todd P, the veritable godfather of Brooklyn’s DIY scene, is curating this summer’s musical selections on behalf of Showpaper. Wednesday will start off with sets from the sweetly psychedelic Colin L. Orchestra and Northside-alumni Indian Jewelry.
THURSDAY
6pm: SyFy Movies With a View: To Kill A Mockingbird, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Free movies in the park continue this week with To Kill A Mockingbird. Bring a picnic and grab a spot early!
7:30pm: Sex Worker documentary “License to Pimp,” 5 Myles Art Gallery, Prospect Heights
What would you do if the strip club where you worked at became a brothel? Would you adapt to it, fight it, or quit? Filmmaker Hima B. will show an excerpt from her upcoming stripper documentary LICENSE TO PIMP. The film is about the choices that three San Francisco strippers make when their workplaces engage in illegal labor practices that effectively turn them into brothels.
7pm: H20, 7 Seconds, Tournament at the House of Vans, Williamsburg
Free hardcore jams at the huge warehouse on the waterfront. Make sure to RSVP first!
8:30pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy: Journey to the Stars, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Come to Brooklyn Bridge Park and join astronomers as they guide your eyes acros the sky and the wonders of astronomy are revealed.
FRIDAY
7pm: Celebrate Brooklyn Presents: Calle 13 / Ana Tijoux / Ritmo Machine, Prospect Park Bandshell
CALLE 13’s groundbreaking and eclectic urban style has made this Puerto Rican band “one of the most popular and innovative in Latin music, without fitting any recognizable mold.” (NY Times). Calle 13 headlines the annual Latin Alternative Music Conference blowout, with which also features Chilean rapper ANA TIJOUX, “a heavyweight on the mic,” (Austin 360) and RITMO MACHINE, a collaboration between Cypress Hill percussionist Eric Bobo and mix master Latin Bitman.
7pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park Waterfront Workouts: Belly Dance with Dodge YMCA, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and Dodge YMCA are teaming up to offer Belly Dance workouts every Friday in July. Come dance to Middle Eastern rhythms while learning traditional movements and combinations that tone your core! It’s a great opportunity to learn some new moves while working out!