Events to check out this weekend, August 2 to 5.
1. Spot some campy cats.
Get a new catitude (sorry) at the Algonquin Hotel tonight at the deliciously kitschy Cat Celebration and Fashion Show. From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., furry felines will be up for adoption, with the festivities beginning at 5. Guests are inspired to wear their best feline-inspired outfit for an evening benefiting the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals, with cocktails, a silent auction, and cats in outfits. And, hey, while you’re at it, why not wear that same outfit to the Laurie Beechman Theatre this weekend. You’ll fit right in when Drag Race star Alaska and her sidekick Handsome Jerry pay homage to the Golden Girls, with multiple shows. Bring cheesecake to that one, and settle in for the ride.
2. Get festive(al).
Have your tunes down by the seashore at the free Coney Island Music Festival on Saturday, featuring a lineup that includes Navy Gangs and Juan Wauters. Or swing through MoMA PS1 for the Warm-Up dance party on Saturday with notable performers, including Laff Trax (Toro y Moi + Nosaj Thing), ambient British producer Leon Vynehall and Starchild & the New Romantic, a project by Bryndon Cook, who’s worked with Solange and Blood Orange. The free Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival continues this weekend with Peter Wolf, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, plus more. Or just stay at home with some popcorn and livestream Lollapalooza on redbull.tv. That kicks off tonight at 7 with Franz Ferdinand.
3. Yuk it up.
Folks who love to laugh, boy, is it a great weekend for you. Head to Carolines through Saturday when the hilarious Late Night Whenever podcast host Michelle Buteau does six shows through Saturday. And speaking of talk-show hosts, Guy Branum of Talk Show the Game Show has a new memoir My Life As a Goddess. He celebrates tonight at Union Hall with Cole Escola. Mike Birbiglia’s still got stories a decade after Sleepwalk With Me, with his current show at the Cherry Lane simply called The New One (guess he ran out of names), and through Saturday at the Bell House are six installments of the comedic competition show Amanda Seales Presents: Smart, Funny, and Black. Those are all currently sold out, but hey, you never know.
4. Take to the streets.
For the first three Saturdays in August, Park Avenue up to Central Park is shut down to traffic for Summer Streets. Come between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. for free activities for all ages, like a bouldering wall, free inline-skate rental, a dog park and agility course, and a station where you can learn to ride a bike and also make origami flowers out of recycled street maps. Skills!
5. Reminisce about elementary school, with beer.
Cover your heads, or maybe just don’t sit too close for the 2018 Dodgeball World Cup, this Saturday morning at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. See groups from all around the world — including Malaysia, Egypt, and South Africa — compete in a sport that they’ve presumably been playing since elementary school. Which probably means they’re really, really good.
6. Visit Hawaii.
In conjunction with their “Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i” exhibition the New York Botanical Garden takes you to the tropics with Aloha Nights, which includes lei-making, hula lessons, live music, poke bowls, and cocktails on select Saturdays, including this weekend. You just bring the Hawaiian shirt.
7. Catch a rising art star.
This week it was reported that Beyoncé would be the cover of Vogue’s September issue (she’s also at the MetLife Stadium tonight and tomorrow with Jay-Z). Not only that, but she was contractually given control over the photos, including picking the photographer. For that she’s said to have booked 23-year-old black photographer, Atlanta native, and NYU Tisch graduate Tyler Mitchell. Get to know his work at “The Way We Live Now,” featuring 18 artists and photographers, including Mitchell, chronicling today’s world, and co-curated by New York photo editor Marvin Orellana. The way we live now, indeed.
8. Watch movies about alien moons and bitter melons.
The Rooftop Films summer season is winding down, but they do still have some tricks up their sleeve. This Saturday at Green-Wood Cemetery see Prospect, a film about the riches found on an alien moon, and the same night catch a free screening of Black Panther on the Brooklyn Army Terminal pier. The Asian American International Film Festival also wraps up this weekend. See films like the Filipino dark comedy Bitter Melon, followed by a panel with the director and actors, and documentary Minding the Gap, which won this year’s Sundance jury award for breakthrough filmmaking.
9. Catch some polo.
This Saturday Governors Island is host to the Victory Cup NYC Classic, a laid-back equestrian polo match plus food and drink tastings, a kids area, and a car show. For the noncommittal there are even free tickets to watch from the lawn, which gives you access to the craft brewers’ festival tent.
10. Go Greek for a cause.
The small village of Mati just 18 miles away from Athens was hit hard in the Greece wildfires, with at least 80 lives lost and hundreds more injured. This Saturday Greek restaurant Nerai on East 54th fundraises for those affected, with all money spent benefiting the Red Cross, earmarked for the Greece Wildfire Campaign. Reservations are required.
