Weekend Guide: Don Omar, A DJ Rashad Tribute, The Bushwick Film Festival, and More

By Shawn Setaro

One of the best things about Brooklyn is that it can feel like a bunch of small towns right on top of each other, each one with its own character. We explore that dynamic this week, with an art crawl in East Williamsburg, a Taiwanese food crawl in Greenpoint, a benefit for Palestine in Bay Ridge, a film festival in Bushwick, and a block party in Bed-Stuy. Check it all out in the latest edition of the Weekend Guide below.

Courtesy of Public Records

Thursday, October 8

A Brooklyn Dream @ Nitehawk Cinema, Prospect Park
7 p.m.

Michael “Kaves” McLeer is a true Brooklyn original. He’s been a graffiti artist, a tattoo artist, a restauranteur, a musician with Lordz of Brooklyn, and plenty more (read all about it in this NYT profile). But his latest incarnation finds him putting on a unique play-slash-autobiography-slash-museum exhibit of Brooklyn and pop culture history. Previously, you’ve only been able to see it a few times a month at his gallery in Industry City. But now, A Brooklyn Dream has been filmed and is coming to Nitehawk for a very special screening.

Musical Comedy Is Cool @ Union Hall
7:30 p.m.

Whether you will admit it in public or not, you definitely love a at least one good novelty song. This show brings together some of the best practitioners of the art, including the Gregory Brothers (of Auto-Tune The News fame), Charlene Kaye, Tiny Idea, Caroline Baniewicz, Couplet, and Josh Nasser.

Ridgewood Asylum’s 2026 Haunted House @ The Ridgewood Asylum
8 p.m.

Haunted house season is in full effect, and this one is a must. It’s a frightening combination of haunted house and escape room, with a terrifying story attached. Tonight is opening night, so be prepared to be the first among your friends to experience the horror.

Hearts & Diamonds: Midnight Magic with Three of Hearts @ Public Records
8 p.m.

Start the weekend a little early in the Public Records Sound Room with a heavy dose of live disco and funk from Midnight Magic, followed by a set from Three of Hearts, a DJ trio presumably going back-to-back-to-back. Doors are at 8, and music should follow not long after.

Courtesy of Night Club 101

Friday, October 9

Psychic Reader Film Festival @ Film Noir Cinema
6 p.m.

This festival is celebrating horror films from Indonesia. The Forbidden Door (Pintu Terlarang) from Joko Anwar will be screening. But the highlight for those in the know will be the 1980 film Satan’s Slave (Pengabdi Setan), directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra and long recognized as a classic. 

BUFFALO’ED by Jeannie Barroga, a play reading + dialog @ Hi-ARTS at L-10 Arts & Cultural Center
6:30 p.m.

BUFFALO’ED is a play that is about African American Buffalo Soldiers in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. It’s a thorny, complicated history, which is why this reading is followed by a conversation between historian Michael Salgarolo and scholar Cynthia Marasigan. Barroga is currently fighting cancer, and you can contribute to the cost of her treatment here.

FOR THE LIVING, THE MARTYRS, AND THE LAND: Documenting 3 Years of Genocide @ MAS Youth Center
7:30 p.m.

The NYC chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement and Brooklyn’s Muslim American Society Youth Center are teaming up to introduce a recently launched program to document Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Ticket donations will go to the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance and the Gaza Soup Kitchen.

Armin van Buuren @ Brooklyn Storehouse
10 p.m.

The veteran Dutch DJ is back in town to perform an extended set. And we do mean extended (the night goes until 4 a.m.), with Hannah Laing and Ruben de Ronde opening up. 

Send It Up: A DJ Rashad Tribute @ Night Club 101
10 p.m.

Under normal circumstances, the only good reason to make the multiple-transfer-trek to the East Village is the unbridled joy of securing a merguez, egg, and cheese from C&B and consuming it quickly, either on the bakery’s sidewalk patio or across the street in Tompkins Square Park, before darting back to wherever you came from. But a tribute to DJ Rashad, the late Ghettotech pioneer, is a close second, should you choose to dedicate a trip to getting your footwork fix, or linger for a good while post-sandwich and withstand the barrage of boozed-up NYU undergrads roaming the park’s borders.

Courtesy of Dead Letter No. 9

Saturday, October 10

G-Spots Food Crawl @ Various Locations
All day

Wen Wen chef Eric Sze is celebrating the release of his new cookbook Taiwanese? with a neighborhood-wide crawl of Greenpoint’s many great eateries, including Radio Bakery, Kirbee’s, Chrissy’s Pizza, and Border Town. Each will serve a dish inspired by Taiwan (and on the country’s birthday, no less), all steps from, as the name suggests, the G train.

Sumac & Smoke’s 1-Year Celebration @ Prospect Park
1 p.m.

You’ll want to line up early for this first-year anniversary bash for the Sumac & Smoke popup in Prospect Park. Free food and drinks will be served on a first-come basis (RSVP strongly encouraged), and the event doubles as a Kickstarter launch for sister project Bibi Bakery’s crowdfunding campaign to finally build a proper brick-and-mortar.

Brooklyn Craft Beer Fest @ Industry City
1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Who doesn’t love beer, especially when it’s actually good? This festival promises unlimited craft beer (and cider) samples, along with food, games, and live entertainment.

ZyxxCon II: The Wrath of Con @ Pine Box Rock Shop
2 p.m.

Mission to Zyxx is a popular and very funny improvised science fiction podcast. So popular, in fact, it has its own prequel miniseries. Now, fans and cast members will meet up for a day that includes a Q&A, trivia, a talent show, a cosplay contest, and a mixer. 

Dead Letter No. 9’s Three-Year Anniversary @ Dead Letter No. 9
6:30 p.m.

In the midst of a months-long closing ceremony, the multi-room Williamsburg club will be taking a moment on Saturday to celebrate its three great years on Grand and the time it has left. The lineup for the night is stacked—at least 11-DJs-deep, by our count—and it all starts nice and early at 6:30, with a free set in the Foyer from Tony Flow and Vereda INTL.

EXOPOCALYPSE TOUR feat. RAV, Teller Bank$, and Fatboi Sharif @ Littlefield
7:30 p.m.

A who’s-who of underground hip-hop is on tap tonight. EXOCIETY founder Rav is headlining and bringing along two incredible openers, Teller Bank$ and New Jersey’s own Fatboi Sharif. VIP packages with all sorts of merch and meet-and-greet extras are available.

Don Omar: The Last King World Tour @ Barclays Center
8 p.m.

The reggaeton superstar is in town for a tour that comes 20 years after his breakthrough 2006 album King of Kings. Come by and celebrate the fact that reggaeton itself appears to be on the verge of surviving a serious legal threat.

Courtesy of Good Life Garden

Sunday, October 11

Made in Bed-Stuy Block Party @ Fulton Street between New York Avenue and Brooklyn Avenue
Noon

Show up to support this brand new festival celebrating everything Bedford-Stuyvesant. Live music, DJs, local vendors, activities for the kids, and more will be on hand.

Second Sundays @ Pioneer Works
Noon

Second Sundays return this weekend with a reliable, but not typical, program of workshops, open studios, sky-looking, film-watching, and artists talking. Of particular note is the last couple hours of the day-long event, featuring a discussion with Jamaican author and New York Times bestseller Marlon James (fresh off the release of what some are calling the novel of the decade) and a DJ set from Neon Christina.

Halloween Art Crawl and The Oracle’s Quest @ The Little Bookshop
1 p.m.

Check out art all around East Williamsburg while visiting local businesses. And if you want to go further down the rabbit hole, you can also participate in the Oracle’s Quest, a tarot-inspired scavenger hunt that runs alongside the main event.

The Garden Dance @ Good Life Garden
2 p.m.

Pull up for an afternoon of free music and improvisational dance workshops at a community garden just over the Bed-Stuy/Bushwick border. The all-ages event will feature six DJs and a “live special guest” booming out of a four-point sound system.

Bushwick Film Festival Awards Reception @ Lovejoys
6:30 p.m.

The Bushwick Film Festival runs most of this week, beginning with an opening night celebration on Wednesday, October 7. It continues through multiple screenings of shorts and features, docs and narratives, panels and happy hours, and even filmmaker PowerPoint presentations. It all culminates in tonight’s awards reception.

Hewa Rwanda’s Letter to the absent @ BAM Fisher
3 p.m.

Hewa Rwanda is Dorcy Rugamba’s musicalization of his memoir. It serves as a tribute to his family, who were killed during Rwanda’s genocide against the Tutsi. He will be joined by Senegalese multi-instrumentalist and singer Majnun.