MUSIC: High Places, Ecstatic Sunshine (pictured), Cex and Evangelista raid and rock the Harket Motel tonight. The DIY venue is sure to be hot following such a sunny day, so leave the jacket at home and get ready to dance...or stand disaffectedly. Friday // 9:30 p.m. // Harket Motel [1142 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn] // $8 FAIR: Spring has sprung and Earth Day is just around the corner. To celebrate, "the 6th annual EarthFair will......

EVENT: Tonight the Brooklyn Art Project and BAM present Connected Unconscious, "a collaborative exhibition celebrating the creative possibilities of our web 2.0 connected world." 15 original pieces of art will be on display from artists worldwide, as well as video and music remixes. Bonus: free cocktails courtesy of BAM. 6 to 8 p.m. // BAM Natman Room [30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn] // Free MUSIC: Dan Deacon and The Ed Schrader Show hold court at......

MUSIC: Lead-Decemberist Colin Meloy is in Brooklyn tonight, ready to weave tales of the high seas and lost loves. Laura Gibson opens the show...and tickets are still on sale! Hopefully he'll find the venue, when we interviewed him back in 2005 he noted, "I've ridden on many of the world's metro systems and I have to say that the NYC subway makes the least amount of sense." 7 p.m. // Music Hall of Williamsburg......

EVENT: Everyone's favorite members of the Top Chef judges table will be at Barnes & Noble tonight signing the series' new book. Get up close and personal with Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio (pictured); be sure to bring them a Waldorf Salad and get your cookbook signed. 7 p.m. // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St] // Free PARTY: The weather is warming up so it's time to cool down, yes? Head over......

MUSIC: While you're in Park Slope checking out Jukebox the Ghost at Southpaw tonight, make a detour at nearby Union Hall for a bill fit for Marla Hansen (pictured). The Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter will be sharing the stage with Cat Martino and Sharon Van Etten for an early show. 6:30 p.m. // Union Hall [702 Union St, Park Slope] // $7 SHOW: It's time to channel your inner-elementary-schooler and join in on a Show and......

DISCUSSION: The New York Public Library invites Pico Iyer, Time correspondent, friend of the Dalai Lama and author of The Open Road: The Global Journey of the XIV Dalai Lama, to sit amongst the books tonight. The conversation is to cover the latest news on Tibet and the Dalai Lama's complicated involvement in the struggle. Friday // 7 p.m. // Humanities and Social Sciences Library [5th Ave and 42nd St] // $15 MUSIC: AIDS......

ART: Get up close and personal with the B&T; crowd tonight as Tom Birkner opens his Jersey Girls exhibit. The Garden Stater explores his Jersey landscape through paintings of tailgating, the Shore, cruising, etc. Pictured: Tina! 6 to 8 p.m. // DFN Gallery [210 11th Ave, 6th Floor] // Free EVENT: At tonight's "Upstairs in the Square'' you'll get a serving of Min Jin Lee and her debut novel, "Free Food for Millionaires,'' as......

TRIBUTE: "The Random House Publishing Group and the family of Norman Mailer (pictured) will present The Time of His Time: A Celebration of Life of Norman Mailer" today at Carnegie Hall. Charlie Rose will serve as the Master of Ceremonies, and the speakers will include Joan Didion, Don DeLillo, William Kennedy, Lonnie Ali, Tina Brown, and Sean Penn. His nine children, wife and sister will also be on hand. The event is open to......

READING: Tobias Wolff (pictured), Stanford professor and PEN/Faulkner Award recipient, will be at Barnes & Noble tonight to read...just for you. He'll be reading from his latest, Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories. 7 p.m. // Barnes & Noble [2289 Broadway] // Free MUSIC: Tapes n' Tapes, coming down from their Best New Music climax, have released their sophomore album and will be at the Virgin Megastore tonight performing some tunes from it.......

FILM: The Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library is running a little free film series out of their basement. Expect to see some old 16mm prints of short films ranging from sci-fi to 1970's educational films. One librarian at the branch tells us, "we're kind of recreating that feeling of school back in the day, when the a/v dude would roll in the movie projector on a cart, and you'd get......

MUSIC: Word was spreading that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be playing a free downtown show today as part of...Tartan Week. Clearly, the Red Hot Chili PIPERS would be a better fit for the event -- and so, the lesser known Pipers will actually be the ones entertaining the tartan-clad today. Friday // 5:30 p.m. // Hanover Square (directions) // Free THEATER: A dream team of hip theatrical innovators have joined forces, hopefully......

ART: Last summer, photographer and friend of Dash Snow, Ryan McGinley shot 4,000 rolls of film all over the U.S. with a troupe photogenic friends (and presumably no one brought clothes on this roadtrip). Tonight, 50 of those images (one is pictured) will be revealed at the opening of his "I Know Where the Summer Goes" show. 6 p.m. // Team Gallery [83 Grand St] // Free EVENT: We've often recommended going to Nerd......

THEATER: Everything’s coming up roses for Patti LuPone, whose sensational turn in a short run of Gypsy at City Center last year drew enough accolades to fuel a Broadway production, which has now opened to rave reviews. You might think the 1959 musical, composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, has been done to death by now – Bernadette Peters starred in the last Broadway rendition;......

THEATER: Theatrical innovators The Civilians, who you may remember for Gone Missing, their funny reportage play about stuff people lost, is giving people a taste of their forthcoming production, Paris Commune. The cabaret-style show is inspired by the actual events that took place in Paris during the 1871 working class revolution in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war; the full production will be presented next month at the Public Theater. The one-night-only preview tonight......

MOVIE: Was there a West Coast Factory scene paralleling Warhol's? Morgan Neville's new documentary, The Cool School, argues that there was. In it, he explores those who transformed LA into more than just a celebrity-driven town, and taught its residents to love modern art. Various Times // Cinema Village [22 E 12th St] // $10 THEATER: Kevin Augustine’s astonishing new show at P.S. 122 is wowing critics and audiences alike, so act fast on......

EVENT: Artist space is quickly diminishing in the city, and tonight a talk about the crisis is going down in Williamsburg -- home of the recently shuttered 475 Kent lofts. Panelists include John Jasperse and Jonah Bokaer (Founders for the Center for Performance Research, a new affordable space in Williamsburg for rehearsal and performance); Guy Buckles (Founder & President of the Art Building a new company dedicated to real estate solutions for artists); and......

EVENT: All you hipsters with money burning holes in your tight jean pockets, it's time for another lesson on how to buy a home. Home Buying For Hipsters will bring you together with Licensed Real Estate agents, Mortgage Brokers and Real Estate Attorneys -- all there to teach you how to stretch your dime. This lesson in money management takes place at a bar, so bring some extra cash for booze. 6 p.m. //......

EVENT: Some of the 33 1/3 writers will be gathered round at Housing Works tonight. The series of short books brings fans of music together with their favorite albums, through writing. This evening join in on a conversation with authors Kim Cooper (Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea), Andrew Hultkrans (Love's Forever Changes), Amanda Petrusich (Nick Drake's Pink Moon), and Kate Schatz (PJ Harvey's Rid of Me). With Q& A, signing......

EVENT: Do you just wanna dance, dance, dance? Well find out why tonight, as Columbia University neuroscientist Dave Sulzer and the university's Motor Performance Laboratory co-director, John Krakauer, make some sense out of the urge to shake it. They'll discuss brain activity and conduct a live experiment of sound manipulation. 6:30 p.m. // CUNY Grad Center [365 5th Ave] // Free MUSIC: DC's Le Loup join New Zealand's The Ruby Sons (pictured) at Union......

FASHION: Forget the Bryant Park tents, this weekend Brooklyn owns the fashion world. Brooklyn Underground Fashion Rocks! is a full weekend filled with looks from emerging Williamsburg fashion designers. The festivities kick off early tonight with a live performance by the Rozz Nash Band, a VIP cocktail open bar and, of course, a whole lotta fashion. By 8 p.m. you'll be at the VIP after-party at the Northside Pier, with a whole new outlook......

ART: Honey Space, the unstaffed Chelsea gallery that recently opened, will be holding a closing party tonight for their inaugural exhibition. This is your last chance to see Adam Standforth's work on the walls, but hopefully there will be plenty more shows to see there in the future. The party will also feature musical performances by two nameless Cantonese fisherman discovered in the subway. 6 to 9 p.m. // Honey Space [148 11th Ave]......

READING: Cup and Pen Small Press Reading Series is back at Think Coffee tonight and presents: Emerged Writers from the Center for Book Arts letterpress workshop. Enjoy readings by Rebecca Alvarez, Emily Blair, Erika Jo Brown and many more. The series touts itself as being the place where "brainy readers discover new presses and emerging writers discover discerning publishers." 8 to 10 p.m. // Think Coffee [248 Mercer St] // Free BENEFIT: On February......

REMINDER: The elephant walk is tonight. Inform yourself before cheering on this act of cruelty -- here's a video of 10 other cruel things Ringling Bros. does to their elephants. DRINK: A free “grand tasting” of fine Spanish wines is happening tonight in a spacious outdoor tent at the Hudson River Cafe. Participating wineries include Boedgas Del Cenit, Finca Allende, Vina Nora, Jorge Ordonez & Co., and Bodegas Llopart. The tasting is a warm-up......

PARADE: The St. Patrick's Day Parade will kick the day off in a wash of green, starting before noon. Grab some green bagels, some green eggs and ham and some green beer before joining a rowdy crew in the festivities. The streets are alive with the sounds of bagpipes! 11 a.m. // starts at 44th St and 5th Ave, ends at 86th St // Free PARADE PROTEST: As the parade moves forward on 44th......

READING: If topics like space exploration and underwater archeology get your pulse racing, stop into McNally Robinson tonight when Explorers Club Fellow Jason Schoonover celebrates the publication of his new book Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives. Astronauts, scientists, and adventurers are among the 120 extraordinary individuals whose inspiring tales are chronicled in the volume. – Celeste Sunderland Friday // 7:00 p.m. // McNally Robinson [52 Prince St.] // Free EVENT: When The Voluptuous Horror of......

POETRY: The Poetry Brothel puts a twist on traditional literature. Poets play whores, patrons play...patrons, and instead of s-e-x they get one on one poetry readings. Hot! A portrait painter, tarot card reader, blackjack table and bordello music will also fill the debaucherous room. 6 p.m. to midnight // Jonathan Shorr Gallery [109 Crosby St] // $10 suggested donation EVENT: Angels & Kings invites in the geeks tonight for another Nerd Nite. Sharpen your......

CRAFT: The Sewing Circle of the olden days has been recreated for a new generation of crafters. Come join in on the gossip and the crafting at Stitch and Bitch. Cheap drinks will ensure you're nice and chatty. 6 to 9 p.m. // Southside Speakeasy [245 South 1st St, Williamsburg] // Free SPORTS: Ignite your balls of fury at the monthly Padl Batl event tonight (held every 3rd Wednesday). Held in the basement of......

MUSIC: Jose Gonzalez (pictured) is playing two shows at the Highline Ballroom tonight. He won over music fan's hearts with his rendition of The Knife song "Heartbeats" (watch the amazing Bravia commercial it was featured in here), and he continues to enchant audiences with his own tunes. 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. // Highline Ballroom [431 West 16th St] // $25.50 BIKE RACE: To raise funds for the 1st annual Tour de Queens Bike......

MUSIC: The Black Lips didn't have a street team promoting the show before their Bowery show tonight...so here's a heads up: the band will be dropping into Other Music for a free, after-work performance this evening. Get there early, it'll be intimate...to say the least. 6:30 p.m. // Other Music [15 E 14th St] // Free The Oya Festival (straight out of Oslo) teams up with Oh My Rockness tonight to take over the......

DRINK: Beer 101: The Domestic Crafts -- You might keel over if you tried to taste all of the varieties of beer in the world in one night, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Beer expert Gregg Glaser will guide you through ten of the classic styles, all brewed by U.S. craft breweries, as well as through the history of beer from the dawn of civilization to the present. Now that covers a......