Compiled by sarah norris
Festival
THE CRAIC FEST
Now in its tenth year, The CRAIC Festival’s annual presentation of Irish cinematic and musical culture is short lived — but packs a whallop. Sure to be a festival highlight, CRAIC screens the 2008 Cannes Film Festival award-winner “Hunger.” Based on the life of the IRA’s Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strike, you may need a drink by the time the tale’s been told. Happy to accommodate, Irish whiskey baron Tullamore Dew sponsors the after party at Bar 13 (35 E. 13th Street). $15 gets you into both events. The film screens Thursday, March 12, 7 p.m., at Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th Street. For information on all CRAIC film & music events, www.thecraicfest.com.
Talk
DARREN ARONOFSKY
The Rubin Museum of Art’s second annual BRAINWAVE event gives deep thought a good name. Through April 23, its nearly fifty films, discussions and performances explore the murky, co-dependent relationship between mind and matter. The panel discussions feature some of the world’s premiere artists and neuroscientists. Thursday, March 19, “Pi” and “The Wrestler” director Darren Aronofsky chats with Stony Brook University’s Patrick Grim about the themes of Aronofsky’s film “The Fountain.” Show up to find out if humanity’s fruitless quest for everlasting life is just a dog and pony show to distract us from our fear of death. March 19, 7pm. 150 W. 17 Street. $20. 212-620-5000 or www.rmanyc.org/brainwave.
Cabaret
TONIGHT: LOLA BLAU
NYC Cabaret can be, and is, more than a boozy midtown crooner going to town on Sondheim while you down your two-drink minimum. Written by Georg Kreisler in 1971, the U.S. premiere of “Blau” features Anna Krämer as Lola — a charismatic, rising cabaret singer who escapes Austria & the Holocaust, winds up on Tin Pan Alley, and goes into survival mode until her sensational return home after the war. Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm; Sundays at 5:30pm. Through March 22. $15. The Club at La MaMa. 212-475-7710. www.lamama.org.
Tours
MERCHANT’S HOUSE MUSEUM
Living history meets Irish cuisine in this culturally rich alternative to getting smashed on St. Patrick’s Day. The Tredwell family, longtime tenants of what’s now the Merchant’s House Museum, was kept well fed by Irish cook Bridget Murphy. Tonight, travel back to 1855 and sample Murphy’s famous green tea punch as you tour the seldom-seen fourth-floor servants quarters. Will the traditional Celtic bagpiper’s melancholy rendition of “The Famine Song” manage to scare up an appearance from the Museum’s well-documented ghosts? Tuesday, March 17, 6-8p.m. $30 for members, $15 for non-members. 212-777-1089. www.merchantshouse.org.
Storytelling
TOLD
This free story telling event is hosted by Seth Lind (production manager for “This American Life” and member of the improv comedy troupe Thank You, Robot). Each week, Lind welcomes a multitude of NYC creative types who put a hipster spin on the once-popular and thrilling format of. . .talking. On this week’s bill are Margot Leitman, PJ Vogt and master tarot reader Janet Horton. They all weigh in on March’s theme: “The Crystal Ball.” Expect stories of fortune telling, premonitions, and garden variety hopes for a better future. Mondays, 7p.m., at Under St. Mark’s (94 St. Mark’s Place). www.horsetrade.info.
