EASON TODEFEND BROOKLYN
Founded in 1979 as an excuse to both show off the newly-renovated Prospect Park Bandshell and lure Manhattanites to Brooklyn, the annual Celebrate Brooklyn (Prospect Park West & 9th Street , opens June 15) has evolved into one of the best free outdoor fests the city has to offer each summer. To be able to give a $3 donation at the gate, and then sit on the grass on a beautiful warm July night, drink a few beers and watch The Man With the X-Ray Eyes with a live soundtrack provided by Pere Ubu? What could beat that? Well, of course that's just me. If Pere Ubu and Roger Corman aren't up to your taste, they also offer jazz, dance troupes, other movies, bluegrass, youngster bands, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, kids shows, world music and poetry readings-all for free (the donation's up to you, but hell, it's still the cheapest entertainment in town). Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th St. (at Prospect Park West), 718-855-7882 or CelebrateBrooklyn.org, free ($3 suggested donation).
HOTTEST VISUAL SPECTACLE
When it comes to showing weird, offbeat, decidedly independent films on a variety of Brooklyn rooftops, nobody does it better than the roving Rooftop Films crew . All summer long on most Friday and Saturday nights (and a few others in between) they'll be screening another swell collection of animation, shorts, documentaries, found films, homemade horror movies and drive-in fare-along with their "Free Range Film Festival"-across a series of rooftops in Williamsburg, Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn. Most Fridays you'll be able to find them on top of the Automotive High School in Williamsburg. Tickets to most shows are $6, and they're all set to duck inside whatever building they're atop in case of rain.
Opening weekend, June 1-2.
www.rooftopfilms.com
HOTTEST EDIBLE EVENT
The Fancy Food Show can be a little overwhelming. Once you get inside, you suddenly find yourself surrounded by hundreds of vendors hawking all varieties of cookies, candies, chips, condiments, cheeses, crackers, mystery snacks, beer, liquor, soda?One booth has brownies, another jellybeans, another whiskey, another brie, and over there's a room full of mustard! And much of it's in the form of free samples. These people, after all, are there trying to cut a distribution deal with restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, department stores, gift shops, mail order catalogs-whoever has the network. Hey, if someone picks up their new "kidney and alum" flavored corn chips, they're on easy street. And you, you lucky devil, will have had a chance to try them first.
July 9-11. Jacob Javits Center, $35 adv./$60 door, www.specialtyfood.com
HOTTEST NON-GENERICSTREET FESTIVAL
Williamsburg's century-old Festa del Giglio traces its origins back to southern Italy sometime in the 1400s, and remains one of the city's most unique street festivals to this day. Centered at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel but spreading for blocks around, the feast is a celebration of food, music, faith, lilies and history, as Italians mark St. Paulinus' liberation of the men of?well, it's a long story. You'll learn it if you go. What really sets the festival apart is Giglio Sunday (July 9), when 112 dancing men carry a platform loaded with a live band and a 70 foot-tall, 8000-pound tower adorned with lilies and images of Paulinus through the streets of Williamsburg. The festival has updated itself a bit over the years, but in spite of that it remains a real taste of old world New York.
Begins July 6. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 275 N. 8th St. (at Havemyer St.), W'burg.
HOTTEST PLACE TO LET YOUR WEIRDNESS SHINE
For the last half of August, it feels like there's just no escaping the Fringe Festival, as over 1,000 actors, visual artists, dancers, musicians and performers beyond simple description take over the theaters, clubs and parks to put their wares on display. Everywhere you go, there's something else connected with Fringe NYC. Puppet shows, seminars, children's programs, readings, performances aimed at high school kids, multimedia events. Now, granted, FringeNYC isn't exactly the most discriminating arts festival (you sign up, you're in). And it seems like a lot of these artists probably can't get work anyplace else. But you can always count on a few acts worth seeing, a few that'll leave you scratching your head, and a few you'll never forget, for whatever reason.
Aug. 11-27. Buy tickets in person at
125 W. 3rd St. (betw. 6th Ave. & MacDougal), 212.279.4488, $15.
www.fringenyc.org.
HOTTEST HIGHBROW RUBECONGREGRATION
Anyone who heads to Museum Mile thinking it has anything to do with "culture" or "art" has a big surprise coming. Oh it's a fine idea-one night a year close Fifth Avenue to cars and have all the museums along a 23-block stretch throw their doors open to the public. But over the past 27 years, it's turned into a terrifying mob scene; a surly throng of the pretentious and faux-pretentious, with fat old ladies turning their massive Met bags into weapons and hopeless rubes mispronouncing "Malevich" and pretending they care what Fauvism's all about.
June 13. 5th Ave., (betw. 82nd & 105th Sts.), 212-606-2296; 6-9, free.