Friday night is stacked and free — the first-ever Bryant Park Brass Festival (New Breed Brass Band + Brass Queens), night 3 of the Met Opera HD Festival (I Puritani at 7:30), free Shakespeare night two in Astoria and free comedy at Shillelagh — plus Tales from the Hood tomorrow and School of Rock + Ralph Ellison jazz on Sunday. (West Indian Day Parade is still on for Monday.)
Live Music
- Bryant Park Picnic Performance: Brass Festival — New Breed Brass Band / Aberdeen / Brass Queens — TONIGHT 7–9:30pm, Bryant Park Lawn: free brass triple-bill closes the picnic season — New Orleans’ Grammy-nominated New Breed Brass Band (led by Jenard Andrews), Brooklyn’s Aberdeen, and all-female-horn Brass Queens.
- Piano in Bryant Park — TODAY 12:30–2:30pm, Upper Terrace: free lunchtime ragtime/stride/jazz — the daily weekday series runs through Oct 1.
- Jazz in the Park at Ralph Ellison — Sunday 9/6, 2–5pm, Ralph Ellison Plaza (Harlem): free community jazz — Berta Indeed’s “Let the Music Play” with local players, right in the neighborhood.
Festivals & Culture
- Met Opera Summer HD Festival — through Mon 9/7, Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center: TONIGHT at 7:30pm (earlier than the usual 8pm) it’s Bellini’s I Puritani, then Eugene Onegin Sat, El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Sun, La Bohème Mon; free, ~2,500 first-come seats a night.
Theater & Comedy
- Astoria Players — A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Weekend Two — tonight 6pm (night 2) and Sat/Sun 6pm, North Lawn under the Hellgate Bridge — free Shakespeare from the neighborhood troupe runs through Sun 9/6.
- Bomb Shelter — free comedy — TONIGHT 7pm, Shillelagh Tavern, Astoria: the no-cover comedy night (every Friday) with free drinks & swag — Queens edition of the 10-year Manhattan show, free RSVP.
Film & Screenings
- Free outdoor screening of Tales from the Hood — TOMORROW Sat 9/5, doors 8pm / film 8:30, The Tiny Cupboard, 10 Cooper St (Bushwick/Bed Stuy border, Chauncey J): the 1995 Black horror anthology on the patio — free, no RSVP, 21+.
- L Train Movie Club: School of Rock — Sun 9/6, hang 8:30 / film 9pm, Talon Bar, Bushwick: free — the recurring club’s Sunday edition.
All gathered items - what was cut and why (6)
- NYC to ban student AI tools in 2-K through 8th grade and limit classroom screen time - NEWS: policy explainer, not an event; r/nyc score 667 (plus r/Williamsburg copy) (r/nyc)
- Film Screening & Discussion: Bob Avakian for the Liberation of Black People and the Emancipation of All Humanity | Revolution Books - POLITICS: sectarian propaganda screening, not culture; 2nd run (r/Harlem)
- This Friday - String Orchestra concert feat. Tchaikovsky + 3 premieres by NYC composers - DEDUP: yesterday’s UNVERIFIABLE resolved — $22 ticketed via Live Music Project, while tonight’s music slots are all-free (r/UpperWestSide)
- Bluesky @cagedjock — Locktober chastity event announcement (NSFW content) - NSFW: hard exclusion, not digest material (Bluesky)
- Jazz tonight in Harlem! - EVENT_PAST: 9/2 show, already past (r/Harlem)
- NYC Dating 101, Therapist Talks at Millie’s Coffee Co - OFFTOPIC: self-promo seminar, 6th run (r/Astoria)