Hi All. This edition of NYC Best Weekend Bets has been carefully calibrated for maximum fun and minimum stress on your part over the course of the next few days. It features a little something for everyone (music, movies, weird theatre, free drinks etc) and will be punctuated with inspirational images of PARTY MONSTER because Macauley Culkin’s seminal Macauley Culkin’s Ipod party (which is EXACTLY what it sounds like) is back this week @ Le Poisson Rouge and it is a special BIRTHDAY EDITION. And who are we not to celebrate? (that was a trick question)

Before we kick off though: do sign up to get this as a newsletter/tell all your friends to sign up for it too + follow us on twitter @BYTNYC so you can keep track of all the fun content to come.

OK, ready for the weekend now?

THURSDAY

• summer=free outdoor shows all the time! Laura Marling (who (ever-so-gently) blew our minds at both Bonnaroo and 930 club this past week) is playing at the Prospect Park bandshell as part of the CELEBRATE Brooklyn! series. Doors at 6, show at 7.
• Brooklyn Industries opens a Greenpoint outpost. More importantly-there’s free Tito’s vodka involved.
• also fashion related but not involving anything free (and probably involving you blowing your rent money before even noticing): the Rag & Bone sample sale is ON this whole weekend.
• over at The Little Zelda, there is a classic album sing-along every Thursday, which sounds just embarrassing enough to probably be fun. This Thursday, get your feelings heard to The Smiths/God Save the Queen. Tears in your beers guaranteed.
• + some pretty sweet shows happening: Ceremony is @ Warsaw (homework: check out our review+photos of their DC show) and that monster Northside festival (click here TO ATTEMPT to comprehend all that is about to happen this weekend-350+ bands and more) features Class Actress and Eternal Summers @ The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and BYT Bff’s Ian Svenonius’ Chain And the Gang alongside the 85 members of MUCCA PAZZA @ Public Assembly. (homework: BYT interview with CA’s Elizabeth Harper can be found here and our Mucca Pazza interview is here)
• + Ramona Falls @ Mercury Lounge and Mogwai @ Webster Hall
• oh and-the aforementioned Macauley Culkin Ipod Dinosaur Dance party

FRIDAY

• sneak out of work early to beat the unwashed masses of post 6pm crowds and see some art: it is FREE Fridays @ MOMA, pay-what-you-can Fridays @ The Whitney + those Avedon @ Gagosian Gallery and Ryan McGinley @ Team Gallery shows are not going to check themselves out.
• the #1 show we’re pretty jazzed for tonight is the Northside Festival Showcase at Matchless, featuring some pretty wonderful, sophisticated dance acts: Something in Spanish, Heloise and the Savoir Faire, Dynasty Electric and more.
• also part of the Northside extravaganza-at McCarren park: Of Montreal, Jens Lekman, The Thermals and Beach Fossils all come together. SOMEHOW.
• and at Music Hall of Williamsburg-the BYT all-approved line-up of Caveman, Frankie Rose, Hume and Fort Lean are doing their indie best.
• OK-so we’ve been super intrigued about these weird theatre folk Odyssee works which make 24 hour long performances inspired by a single person and then performed for an audience of that one person alone. You have to, it seems, apply and then hopefully be selected for their play consideration BUT this Friday they’re hosting a rehearsal at 7pm at City Hall Park. You’re supposed to bring a notebook, a mapping tool (?) a pen and wear something green. If it sounds weird-it is because IT IS.
• or-swing by the Chuck Klosterman reading @ Court Street. If you can’t make it-the next best thing is to slog through this mega epic pop culture 2 part story we did with him a while back. Long but rewarding.  (part 1 here + part 2 here)
• or-try and score some secondary market tickets to that Philip Glass/Laurie Anderson ISSUE ROOM PROJECT show which has been sold out for a while but would probably totally be worth losing a kidney to see/hear/
• or-check out the screening of EXTRATERRESTRIAL at Rerun which is being described as a “sexy sci-fi comedy” and a “sci fi Woody Allen type film”. We really want to believe both of those statements.
• + a folk rock musical, because, you know-why not?

SATURDAY

• doesn’t hanging out on the grass of NY Botanical Gardens, drinking cocktails and listening to music sound enchanting? We think so. Monet Evenings kick off at 6pm tonight. Take a date.
• Annnnnnnd the second annual BarrelhouseBKLYN Summer Cookout, happens today. Free Food, Free Drinks, Free Admission, Lots of Food, Beautiful People and good vibes. Make sure you RSVP at Inquiry@BarrelhouseBKLYN.com for the location.
• more free music outdoors? yes please. Kurt Vile and Dawes (read our interview with them here) play the Central Park Summerstage
• indie comedy super nerd out with HEART OF DARKNESS @ Bell House feat. Kristen Schaal and H.Jon Benjamin (read these old but awesome interviews we did with both of them here and here respectively)
• and Aziz does his thing @ Beacon.
• excellent double whammy of early/late shows @ Brooklyn bowl: start the night off with Asobi Seksu and Exitmusic and finish things off with The Knocks and Ghost Beach.
• + HAPPY FOZZIE DAY! (which we think means: MUPPET MOVIES ALL DAY AT Union Hall)

SUNDAY

• A talk show hosted by one of the dudes from Das Racist? Yes please.
• All the well dressed women you’d want to ever meet should be at the Met where The Rookie’s Tavi and Iris Apfel host a fashion powwow entitled “Good Taste/Bad Taste: The Evolution of Contemporary Chic”.
• NEW ZEALAND DAY @ Littlefield. Cute accents + the guy from The Clean + more cute accents.
• River to River Festival kicks off at the South Street Seaport. Go now or plan to check out one of the shows through July 15th.
• eat some schnitzel burgers and watch some soccer/talk to boys eating schnitzel burgers and watching soccer at Edi and The Wolf.
• and JEFF the Brotherhood rock your week out to a close @ Bowery Ballroom
• mentally prep yourself for seeing Dan-freakin-Bejar on his Destoyer-greatest-hits tour tomorrow at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple by reading this terrific interview Phil did with him for us. Trust us-you won’t regret it.

LEAVE US COMMENTS WITH THINGS YOU THINK WE MAY HAVE (not on purpose) MISSED. And remember: if you have tips, an event you want to let us know about or would like to get involved with BYT NYC, shoot us an email at: info@brightestyoungthings.com with #BYTNYC in the title. See you around and all the time. And, one for the road: