Whassup: Irish Week Edition

In one week, the Irish in everyone comes out to play—by which I mean, of course: green vomit! This week’s FIPS Whassup features a sufficient amount of green for the week preceding St. Paddy’s. But also, you know, other stuff that won’t involve people pinching you for the colors you wear (unless you’re into that):

Some cool Slope stuff for the green week:

* Saturday, March 12: FM Belfast, The Rock Shop: Ok, yes, they're not actually from Belfast, but the Pogues are actually from London and St. Patrick was actually from Rome, so stop splitting red hairs. An electro/electronica band from Reykjavik, FM Belfast gets the beat pounding Nordic style with an overabundance of drummers and names with an overabundance of accented vowels that will mangle your tongue. Start off Irish week by remembering the Troubles in Belfast--or just dancing your little leprechaun tuchus off. 8pm, $8-$10.

* Saturday, March 12: Making Brooklyn Bloom: Grown a GREEN thumb (see what I did there? Ok, yeah, I hate myself, too) at this annual collection of workshops on plant stewardship at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Experts from the garden, environmental groups and other vegetably organizations will get you all set for the spring bloom with talks on rooftop farming, caring for street trees, and, I don't know, salads. 10am-4pm, FREE!

* Monday, March 14: The Show & Tell Show: Irish Stories: Colleen Kane's storytelling series brings you the race famous for its tales. Irish writer Matthew Callan, comedians Sean Donnelly and Glennis McMurray, and story artist SM Shrake take on the month's theme of "love." So, you know, not a big one. 7:30pm, $5.

* Thursday, March 17: Rana Santacruz, Barbes: On El Dia de Clover, as it's known in Latin America (note: not actually true), Barbes does what Barbes does best: mixes folk and traditional styles into a mash of fun that is, at the very least, "interesting." Santacruz, they say, has been described as "Irish Mariachi." Sold! If only there were a Carolos O'Kelly's in Park Slope, you could make it a Mexi-Celtic theme night. 8pm, optional donations, as with all Barbes events.

* Thursday, March 17: Saint Patrick's Day for Sinners, Bell House: My personal pick for the day itself: Naked redheads and Slope-area country institution, Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion. The Bell House's Wasabassco Burlesque series features, this week, the flaming-tressed ones who look best in green clothes and even better with green clothes shed onstage around them. Alex Battles, band leader for the popular annual Johnny Cash Birthday Bash and Brooklyn Country Music Festival, brings his deep, Cash-worthy voice. If you've ever seen Battles leering (charmingly? sure, charmingly) at whatever woman he's sharing the stage with, you'll realize this is an inevitable paring. "Alex, we'll have a bunch of naked redhea--" "I'll be there." Be there, too!
    
* Other cool shit: Don't let the foregoing fool you: There's plenty of non-Irish stuff to do this week, too. Check it:

* Wednesday, March 16: Secret Science Club, Bell House: Because I am a nerd, I always look forward to these things. It's a great opportunity to learn about something other than sports and awkward flirting while getting drunk in a bar. It's also a great opportunity to feel less like a nerd. For serious, the Professor Frank voices run rampant at SSC--you'll feel like a fucking rock star by comparison. This month, SSC's Delicious Dish-sounding hosts (trust me, you'll notice it) present theoretical physicist Matt Strassler, speaking on the Large Hadron Collider. This is a ginormous machine that will tell us the secrets of the universe by blowing up matter with other matter (similar to how I felt about Contra as a teenager). Doors 7:30, FREE.

* Friday, March 18: Overflow Release Party, Boerum Hill: The Brooklyn magazine hosts a shindig to celebrate its Spring 2011 Issue. Expect beer, art, DJs and intelligent conversation and/or brilliant hipster dancing. Trek on over to the de Castellane Gallery Annex at 537 Atlantic Ave, just off the Atlantic/Pacific stop.

* COMING UP: March 21-31: Brooklyn Restaurant Week (aka, Dine in Brooklyn): Start making those reservations, 'cuz the popular spots are sure to get swamped. Check out a list of participating feasteries.