Hi Everyone! Welcome to the first ever (EVER!) BYT NYC BEST WEEKEND BETS. That means that one day you’ll be able to say: You know what? I READ THEM BACK WHEN THEY WERE STARTING OUT IN NYC. And we may give you a plaque or something, if you can prove it.

But for real-it is a long weekend ahead, we are SO EXCITED to be publishing in NY and we have quite the event selection ahead  to spend your hard-earned free time and expendable income on. As is customary with BYT-we’ve calibrated this very carefully for maximum fun and minimum stress and we’ve decided to punctuate it with (somewhat predictably, but hopefully endearingly) with images from ANNIE HALL. You know you love it too.

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.

Anyway, ready for the weekend?

THURSDAY

• first things first: FLEET WEEK is here. According to Sex and the City “a GREAT time of the year”.
• sneak out of work a little early and check out the kick off of the Hester Street Fair which is (somewhat confusingly) not on Hester Street but on Madison between 29th and 30th: food, friends, fun.
• in the mood for some good AND hilarious times? BYT fave funnyman Dave Hill is having a book party launch for his TASTEFUL NUDES opus over at The Bell House in Gowanus. Doors for this classy literature/mayhem event are at 7:30, which means it is PERFECTLY timed to enjoy some awesome happy hour specials at Mission Dolores courtyard beforehand (a close 10 or so min walk away), which is ends at 7pm and features 2-for-$5 rail drinks, $12 pitchers of beer and more. EVERYONE WINS.
• then-help support the NY Poetry Festival by checking out their benefit @ The Norwood Club (241 W. 14th)
• if we say: “Imagine if The Strokes went a bit more of a jangly rnr route” – does that make you want to check a band out? If so-then Mail the Horse @ Cake Shop is a show you DO want to go to.
• and while we know Questlove is @ The Brooklyn Bowl every Thursday, considering that Friday may as well be a day off, all things considered, Bowl Train should be a really good place to spend some quality later night swimming in choice vinyl and Soul train videos.

FRIDAY

• Leave work early and go see some art while all the tourists are still stuck in traffic trying to get into town. We recommend:
• The Whitney Biennale since, hey-it IS closing this weekend.
• after work and still art related: drop in on the DROP-IN drawing session: Imperial Portraits at The Met (starts at 6:30pm, materials provided, but hey-you can totally bring your own sketchbook too)
• not much beats movies under the open sky on a nice, clear night and the ROOFTOP FILMS series over at the Open Road Rooftop above the New Design High School is showing a bunch of DARK TOONS tonight. Tickets and details here.
• Looking for shows?
• that dog is making their first appearance on the East Coast in 15 years. BIG DEAL (and we mean it). Thursday show @ Music Hall of Williamsburg is sold out but Friday night tickets are still available. Bonus points: BYT friend comedian Kurt Braunohler and some other genuinely funny people will be there too.
• Pale Lights (feat. members of BYT 4ever favorites Comet Gain and Crystal Stilts) + Bad Indians are @ Cake Shop
• and Psychic Ills are playing Death by Audio
• Looking for shows you can (REALLY) dance to?
• Simian Mobile Disco and Lindstrom are @ Webster Hall
• over in Tribeca @ Flea Theater-free music/dance/performance festival “MUSIC WITH A VIEW” is worth checking out.
• COMEDY wise: UCB hosts a “CRISISTOWN: Choose your own adventure” comedy night which is SOMEHOW actually officially supported by the Choose Your Own Adventure book people. YEAH.
• over at Union Hall things get karaoke weird with KARAOKE KILLED THE CAT. And you know that when someone says “karaoke weird” they mean “really weird”

SATURDAY

• start things off right: there is something called “STRAWBERRY FIELDS: A Tribute to Beatles – ALL YOU CAN EAT BRUNCH” at BB Kings’ ($40, tax and tip included) and if everything about that sentence didn’t make you super happy, then you’re dead on the inside.
• with Moonrise Kingdom opening it is totally understandable if you’re in the mood to revisit some Wes Anderson favorites. Thanks to The Museum of the Moving Image you can marathon your way today through: Fantastic Mr.Fox (1pm), The Life Aquatic (3pm) and The Darjeeling Limited (6pm). Or-you know. Just pick one of them.
• now-it IS Memorial Day weekend and if you’re not at the beach already you may be looking for a pool or something to hang out on: Jimmy at The James presents Summer Saturdays + Sundays! at their rooftop pool.  This Saturday will feature DJ Lion Dove. Beginning at 3PM, come by and enjoy hand-crafted cocktails, light bites, great music and take a dip in the pool.
• In the mood for a mini-city escape: the Governor’s Island is finally open for the season and things kick off with a 2 day 5Boro PICNYC. Tickets ($25) and details here.
• at night:
• The DELI’s Best of Emerging Artist’s Festival closes out today at the Casio Gallery and features a solid line-up including Snowmine and ARMS.
• Afternoon Delight music series (shows at 3 and 7) @ Pete’s Candy Store is always a low key good time worth checking out.
• One Direction (no, really. well sorta) is @ Beacon. I mean, you all have that “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful”  song (whatever,  that GLEE prom episode was great) stuck in your head. You may as well cave and see it live.
• and over at Tandem in Bushwick, SHAREGROOVE is back. All vinyl. All best music you never heard of.

SUNDAY

• BRUNCH TIME! Gospel Brunch over @ Red Rooster in Harlem is awesome. But-when they say “get there early” they really DO MEAN IT. So…. get there early.
• casual brain eating good times: ZOMBIE CRAWL hits Brooklyn.
• DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: Over @ Roberta’s in Bushwick-it is TIKI DISCO Opening Day. Magical AND Free.
• + a celebration of all things glam kids over at Le Poisson Rouge.
• Comedy: Hannibal Buress is consistently one of the funniest men around. Catch him tonight @ The Knitting Factory.
• Shows wise: Cultfever is @ Mercury Lounge. When we were deciding what goes into this guide the words “I effing love CULTFEVER” were uttered more than once around the BYT office.
• and Ace Hotel’s Sunday Night Live series features the very lovely and talented Shenandoah and The Night performing a combo of pop noir, cabaret, doo-wop, folk and some other things you like.
• for our gays out there looking to dance: the Habibi 10 year anniversary @ The Ritz looks pretty awesome. BELLYDANCERS!

MONDAY

• it is ABSOLUTELY acceptable if you want to just veg out today. May we recommend our weekly “DVD/INSTANT NETFLIX/ON DEMAND” movie guide for your perusal? Even the back issues of those are gold.
• keeping with the general mood-over at the Bookstore Cafe on Crosby the Lowbrow Reader Reader party features Adam Green, Supercute + some funny people to boot.
• and there is some (presumably) sexy storytelling happening @ BARE! at Union Hall
• over @ Splash the Original Music Mondays provide a nice balance of trashy drag queen fun and well, trashy non drag queen fun.

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: [email protected] with #BYTNYC in the title. See you around and all the time. And always remember: