Pencil This In

EVENT: Housing works is opening their new store in Brooklyn today. With great events and thrifty finds and a way to support the HIV-positive homeless community, it's nice to see the store is expanding.

11am to 7pm // Housing Works Thrift Store [122 Montague St, Brooklyn Heights]

ART: Photographer Haik Kocharian’s solo show at Robin Rice Gallery is “Isild Le Besco: the Early Years”. Fans of French cinema know Le Besco for her mercurial screen work; in his review of Backstage (which was at Film Forum in November) for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote: “Le Besco has one of the most exotic faces in movies…she might have modeled for the stone carvers of a lost Mesoamerican civilization.” Kocharian’s best photographs in this series radiate a brooding urban romanticism that only amplifies his subject’s peculiar allure. Kocharian is also a compelling musician (myspace); tonight he plays a solo acoustic show at the gallery to celebrate the release of his CD Heaven. - John Del Signore

Friday // 8pm // Robin Rice Gallery [325 W 11th St] // No cover, free wine

EVENT: We know you watch American Chopper and have dreams of riding the open road, so why not head over to Javits this weekend for the New York International Motorcycle Show Days. Customized bikes and a freestyle stunt team are like, the perfect combination for something awesome to happen.

All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [35th St & 11th Ave] // $15

THEATER: Winter in New York always goes down a little easier once the cryptic posters for Richard Foreman’s yearly ‘what-have-you’ start appearing downtown. In this year’s extravaganza, entitled Wake Up Mr. Sleepy! Your Unconscious Mind Is Dead!, Foreman continues exploring the interplay between live performance and film projection. (He shot footage for this production in a functioning mental hospital in Lisbon, Portugal with collaborator Sophie Haviland.) “Wake Up Mr. Sleepy! postulates the invention of the airplane (controlled by a horde of baby-doll pilots) as the death knell of the unconscious mind.” Featuring “old-fashioned airplanes ‘breaking through the language barrier’ and dropping bombs that explode like savage music inside the heads of people trying to remember their most frightening dreams.” Foreman’s theater is a rare case where the old 'only in New York!' hyperbole actually rings true, so take advantage. - John Del Signore

Friday // 8pm // The Ontological Theater at St. Mark’s Church [131 E 10th St] // Tickets cost $23

MUSIC: T.K. Webb and Benjy Ferree play Tonic this Saturday. We checked out Mr. Ferree for the first time last summer. Check out his music here, and if you like what you hear, well then lucky you - tickets are still on sale.

Saturday // 10pm // Tonic [107 Norfolk St]

THEATER: Billboard is a new play inspired by a woman in Utah who auctioned off her forehead as ad space on eBay for $10,000. (Read the article!) The scenario’s different in this fictionalized spoof, which opened yesterday at 59E59. To start, the main character is a dude named Andy, not a devoted mother trying to send her son to a fancy private school. And unlike the actual living billboard’s boyfriend, Andy’s girlfriend is less than thrilled. All signs point to sparks flying in this “battle between consumerism, fame, art and love.” -
John Del Signore

Saturday // 3:30pm & 8:30pm // 59E59 Theaters [59 E 59th St] // Tickets cost $20

MUSIC: FreeNYC points us towards a great way to wind down on a Sunday night: The Blue Owl Jazz Series. This Sunday "The Ira Jackson Trio will set the mood with classic jazz standards from artists such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Ray Charles. Fronted by celebrated musician Ira Jackson, with Don Pate on the bass, and Kenny Brawer on the keys & vocals, this classic jazz trio is back at Blue Owl."

Sunday // 8pm // Blue Owl [196 2nd Ave] // Free

MOVIES: If you're uptown, or in the mood for a field trip, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is playing this Sunday as part of a weekly film series. So head up there for 137 minutes of pure weirdness, and get yer freak on.

Check out other movies for the weekend, here.

Sunday // 8pm // Carlitos Café y Galería [1701 Lexington between 106 & 107] // Free