The word of this weekend is “eclectic,” and not just because we suddenly got some random old Wyclef songs stuck in our head (though that certainly didn’t hurt). It’s because we’re bringing you a (runs to thesaurus) wide-ranging list of events.
This weekend you can see rare footage of James Baldwin, laugh at the legendary Janeane Garofalo, groove to live jazz, work out money issues with your partner, and even learn a few tricks for growing the perfect houseplant — and that’s just the beginning.
Here we go.
Friday, January 10
James Baldwin at 100: Price of the Ticket and From Another Place @ Central Library
6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating the centenary of the legendary writer’s birth with a film series (there are two more movies on Saturday). Each of these films require separate registrations, with Price of the Ticket showing first at 6 and then From Another Place at 8. The former, released just a few years after Baldwin’s 1987 death, “melds intimate interviews and eloquent public speeches with cinéma vérité glimpses of Baldwin and original scenes from his extraordinary funeral service.” The latter, from the early 1970s, is a short-film, which “finds him discussing his work, sexuality, and complex feelings about the United States.” It’s followed by a talkback with film archivist Brian Meacham about how the film was preserved and restored.
Medeski, Russo, and Cline @ Brooklyn Bowl
8 p.m.
Keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood, drummer Joe Russo of the amazing Benevento/Russo Duo, and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline first got together as a trio in February of last year. The results were, as you might expect from three world-class improvisational musicians joining forces, pretty incredible. Now, they’re coming to Brooklyn Bowl for a night of deep grooves and weird sounds.
Janeane Garofalo @ Eastville Comedy Club
8 p.m.
For those of us (ahem) who are old enough to remember the ‘90s, Janeane Garofalo is something close to a patron saint. She was funny, cynical, and cooler than cool. In the 2020s, she’s still all of those things. This weekend (there are shows on both Friday and Saturday), you can witness it for yourself.
BARANGAY: SOUL KANTO with LANSUH, Jay Dalawa, Gabriel Etrata @ Jupiter Disco
8 p.m.
Filipino Americans have a long and notable history as DJs. You can (and should!) read Oliver Wang’s superb 2015 book Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area to get the backstory. Once that’s done, move up to the present day with a party put on by Barangay, a Filipino-American-owned creative production agency and DJ collective. Soul Kanto promises a night of house, disco, and a lot more.
Saturday 1/11
New York City Winter Jazzfest “Brooklyn Marathon” @ Various Venues
All evening
NYC’s Winter Jazzfest is presenting two “marathons” this year, where one ticket price gets you into a staggering variety of shows over the course of a single evening. One of these is in Brooklyn, taking over Union Pool, Baby’s All Right, National Sawdust, Loove Labs, and more. Click the link above for the full schedule.
Nurturing Children and Creativity @ Sound Mind Center
12 p.m.
This is another New York City Winter Jazzfest event, though it’s not a concert. Instead, it’s a conversation about parenting for musicians. The extremely worthy goal of the event is “to provide guidance, and to imagine collective solutions and support systems for our Jazz, Black American, and Improvised Music communities.”
Money for Couples Live: An Evening With Ramit Sethi @ Brooklyn Paramount
7 p.m.
Money for Couples is exactly what it sounds like: a podcast by finance expert Ramit Sethi where he talks to real-life couples about their finances and the challenges and hangups associated with them. It is, surprisingly for anything related to finance, pretty jargon-free, and Sethi seems interested in actually helping people instead of selling them a sponsor’s product or the latest crypto scam. Sethi is doing a live taping of the show, which should be both informative and, if past shows are any guide, funny and entertaining to boot.
Torschlusspanik (“Door-Closing Panic”) by Christopher Lyon @ FiveMyles
7 p.m.
The FiveMyles exhibition and performance space in Crown Heights is putting on this “puppet play” inspired by William Gaddis’ posthumous novel Agapē Agape. In the novel, as in this version, the entire story is a monologue delivered by an old man confined to a hospital bed, who is obsessed with mechanization and the arts — the history of the player piano was a big inspiration for the novel. If you’re looking for something fascinating, challenging, and unusual, this is your bet.
Sunday 1/12
Sundays on Fire: Secret Hong Kong 35mm Feature @ Nitehawk Prospect Park
12 p.m.
We here at Weekend Guide love surprises, and we love ‘80s Hong Kong films. So combining them by showing a surprise 1980s HK film (the only thing we know about it is that it’s an early work by a very famous director) sounds perfect.
Laura Ortman @ Brooklyn Museum
2 p.m.
Ortman is a violinist and composer who keeps her work local. In fact, the work she’ll be performing, Someday We’ll Be Together, is so local that it contains field recordings from Flatbush Avenue. While you’re at the museum listening to her, you can check out her self-portrait, which is featured in their Brooklyn Artists Exhibition.
Multiplying Houseplants: Propagation 101@ Brooklyn Botanic Garden
2 p.m.
Some of us (again, ahem) have been endlessly frustrated in our attempts to grow flourishing houseplants. Well, worry no more! Just pony up $48 ($43 if you’re already a Botanic Garden member), and learn how to grow plants from cuttings. Also, once you’re done, you can impress your friends by using the term “asexual propagation” correctly in a sentence.
Ex Pilots @ Baby’s All Right
9:30 p.m.
Ex Pilots are a rock band from Pittsburgh who wear their influences on their sleeve — they even cover mid-90s Guided by Voices. Their newest project Motel Cable, released last August, brings to mind ‘90s and early aughts lo-fi, with a bit of dreamy, noisy shoegaze mixed in. It’s a perfect combination that’s guaranteed to sound best in front of a sweaty crowd.
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