What To Do In NYC This Weekend
A rundown of NYC events happening this weekend, featuring premium food, concerts, exhibitions, and shows.
Jill Scott Returns Rejuvenated
Jilly from Philly, we love you, boo. Before Beyoncé minted her with the ultimate melodic co-sign this summer, Jill Scott’s songstress chops launched her to insurance jingle stardom. Her status is larger than even those outstanding alto-soprano notes she’s carried so sturdily for decades. The “Who Is Jill Scott? 2023 Tour” meets New York at a perfect time for longtime Scott fans and new initiates, spring. That long walk around the park? She marks fresh love’s timeless soundtrack.
Special NYC Events and Tributes
Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
Through June 11, 2023
New York Historical Society, Upper West Side
It’s one thing to be a world-renowned artist. Kara Walker’s stamped for life. It’s another to create a name synonymous with a style. Visit Walker’s exhibit for a look into the terrible irony of slave labor as told through signature silhouettes. Her work brings America’s shadowy past into full view without losing any of the asymmetrical detail.
Cost: From $22
Goodies’ 2000s Hip-Hop Night
Fri., Mar 24
Schimanski, Williamsburg
Remember swimming through the crowd while swimming in your 3X white tee? Goodies loads up a 2000s hip-hop selection with a peak sample historian DJ Svpply. The Lou, Atlanta, and Newport News, Virginia might’ve added the undercurrent the genre needed more of: stretchy, twangy bass. Relive it for free with RSVP. Definitely one of the best NYC events happening this week.
Cost: From $17.85, Free with RSVP
Quench with DJ Run P And Jersey Club God
Fri., Mar 24
Friends and Lovers, Crown Heights
Run P is a gift to Brooklyn nightlife because of his soul-preservationist aesthetic and prolific party pumping. The dance tradition lives through “Quench” and he’s included Jersey Club God to intro more house and drill morphs.
Cost: $10
Black Power to Black People: Branding the Black Panther Party
Through Sept. 10, 2023
Poster House, Gramercy
That iconic image of Huey P. Newton throned properly on bamboo and armed to the gills was actually an exercise in 21st-century marketing. Although the Black Panther Party was not yet fodder for movie iconography and Halloween costumes, their look-book had the feel of Ogilvy-level ad smarts. Color-coordinated strength in numbers never dies. Find its origins at Poster House.
Cost: Free with reservation or ID
Shows This Week
Who Is Jill Scott? Tour 2023
Thurs., Mar 23 and Fri., Mar 24
Kings Theatre, Flatbush
Jill Scott’s vocals feel like a walk in the park, but that’s because pros make light work of titanic skills. Enjoy her honey-soaked notes this weekend before she exits the tri-state.
Cost: From $147 – $198
Ari Lennox At Terminal 5
Weds., Mar 22
Terminal 5, West Side
Ari Lennox is the queen of incense R&B right now. She’s ascended there with a drama-free résumé while serving up sensual, conflicted, sumptuous, and reverent tunes. The Terminal 5 stage hosts her one-of-a–kind audience romp, at enough of a remove to make her star-like but not flashy.
Cost: $58 – $88
Date Nights
Cacao And Reiki
Weds., Mar 22
Gaia No Maya, Flatbush
Wellness is ever-shifting and way important in the era of the plague. To jog you out of feeling like *all of this* is happening to you in a vacuum, enter a cacao ceremony at Gaia No Maya, an energy and spiritual hygiene spot growing in Brooklyn popularity. The Reiki practitioners will reset your chakra, say some ‘ohms,’ and share in that crystal-influenced afterglow.
Cost: $44.34
Skaterobics Intro Class
Sat., Mar 25
215-10 Hempstead Avenue, Queens
We are in a roller skating moment unlike many others in that it’s lasted 3 years with no signs of letting up. But you can find true fundamental education from the Skaterobics crew who asks that you master the intro class (an intensive on basic “strokes”) before you move to the intermediate group (there’s spinning and twirling like crazy). But tickets run out fast! Grab them before the next season fills up too.
Cost: From $23.05
Clover Hill
Tues. through Sat., 6 – 10 p.m.
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
In a profile with Forbes, Executive Chef Charlie Mitchell, one of the few Black faces to head up a fine dining hub, remarks: “I’m focused on execution and creating a good product. If it’s not delicious, then it doesn’t matter.” That’s the endorsement from the source we needed to throw down a couple hundreds on a Michelin-starred experience just below the bridge.
Cost: From $135
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Andrew Ricketts is a writer from New York. He wants to tell the story you share with a friend.
