Whassup: Embrace the Heat! Edition

Well everyone, yesterday the solstice arrived...wielding a flame thrower. Summer! Brownouts! Yay? Well, before we crap all over this newly arrived season, let's all take a moment to think about much more awesome free stuff outside is than slipping on icy subway steps and worrying about CO poisoning. Welcome to Whassup: Embrace the Heat! Edition:

* Ongoing: NEW Courses, BK Brainery: The Brainery announced a new slate of summer learning yesterday, with new sessions on fortune-telling, Scotch, oral sex (taught by two Babeland sexperts) -- and a topic near and terrifying to FiPS' heart: bed bugs. Get your grey matter on! Various times, most $25-$60.

* Thursday, June 21: Cringe, Freddy's: The monthly parade of delightfully mortifying teenage scribblings returns to Freddy's Backroom. Melodrama never felt so good. 7:30pm, FREE.

* Thursday, June 21-Friday, June 22: Make Music, Fifth Ave.: The annual "Make Music" lines Fifth Ave. with bands performing on street corners from Dean to 18th St. Get ready for some adorable father-dances-with-toddler-while-drunks-cheer-from-the-Gate sights! 7-9pm (both nights), FREE.

* Friday, June 22: Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Union Hall: That roots sound is big these days, with every indie band naming itself after a woodland creature and finding a spot for some slide guitar. But, mayhaps that's because that kind of sound is timeless when done right. Holy Ghost mixes up the rootsy banjo instrumentation with brass jazz in a five-person strong band. Opening is Osei Essed, he of the gravelly voice behind equally rootsy The Woes. 8pm, $10.

* Saturday, June 23: Mermaid Parade, Coney Island: Yup, it's summer in Brooklyn, so that means the mermaids will be parading. And the parade is turning 30, which means it should be feeling nostalgic for its childhood and wondering why it's not married yet. Should be fun! 2pm, FREE.

* Sunday, June 24: MJ Sing-a-long, Union Hall: If there's a dance floor nearby, I'm not sure there's anything more universally joy inducing than a Michael Jackson song. That's some pop that lasts. Sing along, whilst moonwalking, grabbing your crotch, etc. 8:30pm, $8.

* Wednesday, June 27: Big Splash! Opening, McCarren Park Pool: The former site of Williamsburg summer concerts is returning to its original aquatic form on the 28th -- BUT, if you have some extra spendin' dimes burning a hole in your swim trunks, plunk down for the VIP special opening. If GoogaMooga taught us anything, it's that people will pay a shit-ton for exclusivity. 7:30pm, $150+.

* Thursday, June 28: Dale Radio Podcast Season Finale, Live at Film Biz Recycling: Join "Vaguely Canadian" host Dale Seever as he hosts the season finale of his Gowanus Canal-based premier arts & culture podcast, with guests Michael Crane (White Collar, Damages) Nao Bustamante (artist, Bravo's Work of Art) and FiPS's own Duchess of Brooklyn Storytelling Kerri Doherty, with music by Sweet Soubrette. There will be pre-show beer, which we all love 'round these parts, courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery. 7:30PM, Free (with suggested donation of $5).