10 cheap ways to kill your weekday woes this week

Catch the Bandits on the Run (#6) — Catch the Bandits on the Run in full color (#6)

1. May is National Chamber Music Month! What better place to celebrate than at Williamsburg’s fancy new classical venue, National Sawdust? The Kick-Off Party features three acclaimed small ensembles: Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue, the Del Sol Quartet, and the Greg Lewis Organ Monk Quintet. (Monday, National Sawdust, FREE)

2. Cobble Hill watering hole Fawkner presents new series LoFi Talks: presentations by interesting people with no PowerPoints, no fancy graphics, no bells or whistles. Tonight’s talks will be on Hidden Science: stories you’d never hear from your science teacher by Tarun Chitra, Kelly Reidy, Deena Walker, and Maryam Zaringhalam. (Monday, Fawkner, FREE)

3. It’s the 50th anniversary of the surreal, satirical, Faustian classic, The Master & Margarita, and just 12 days prior to Mikhail Bulgakov’s 125th birthday. Launch a brand new revised translation with a discussion of this seminal work between Boris Fishman, Darin Strauss, Masha Gessen, and Liesl Schillinger. (Tuesday, powerHouse Arena, FREE)

4. Things are bound to get a little nutty at the new comedy and variety show I Have a Crazy Idea…to Get Married. Expect storytelling by JD Cerna, a rap-and-dance number by Hila The Killa, hip-hop by Sir KN8, and some kinda hijinks by “Korean erotic clown” Hye Yun Park, aka the Ancient Toddler. (Tuesday, Threes Brewing, FREE)

5. It’s Star Wars Day! May the fourth be with you at Gemini & Scorpio’s screening of The Force Awakens, where you can watch while lounging in a fancy loft and sipping sci-fi-themed cocktails. (Wednesday, Gemini & Scorpio, $10 suggested)

6. Or you could get a little more out-there at “circus-theatrical and concert event” Gathering of the Elements, featuring music by Bandits on the Run, Hey Anna, The Boobies, and Pool Cosby, plus circus and sideshow performers including Roxie Valdez, Lola Carter, Sylvana Tapia, Miss Fly Hips, and Hazel Honeysuckle. (Wednesday, House of Yes, $13.52)

7. The Museum of Food & Drink heads south to look at the pan-Caribbean restaurant culture of rapidly gentrifying Crown Heights. The evening will include tastings and a discussion with Jessica B. Harris, author and scholar of African diaspora cuisines and culinary history; Jack Summers, founder of Jack from Brooklyn; and Colette Burnett, chief magic maker at Super Wings. (Thursday, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, $16)

8. Or head even further south to Q Train, Ditmas Park’s only queer party, which will feature bingo hosted by Ariel Speedwagon, a ’90s R&B cabaret performance by Sasha Pierce, and dancing late into the night to tunes spun by DJ Gogo Gadget. (Thursday, Sycamore, FREE)

9. Reach out to someone at this month’s BHS Free Friday: Keep in Touch, inspired by the society’s exhibit on letters and photo correspondence in Civil War-era Brooklyn. There will be a calligraphy workshop, a love-letter-writing station, a reading by Brooklyn authors featuring letters to their younger selves, and more. (Friday, Brooklyn Historical Society, FREE)

10. There seems to be no end to the Prince tributes, which doesn’t bother us a bit. (Find our ongoing roundup here.) Tonight the fellas behind Feeling Gloomy present Sign o’ the Times, featuring hits but also a lot of back-catalogue tunes and songs written for other artists, all spun by DJs Gordon and Nathaniel Gloom, plus special guest DJ Fucci. (Friday, Grand Victory, $6)

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