Bay Ridge is rockin’ and strollin’!
This hard-drinking cartoonist — and your nightlife columnist for this week — likes booze as much as the next three guys, but for now the music gets equal billing.
Get started on Friday night with the second Summer Stroll on Third [Third Avenue between 68th and 80th streets]. Starting at 6 pm, the thoroughfare becomes a pedestrian plaza, where you can do some al fresco dining, check out local artists, and wander the streets with beer in hand until 10:30 pm. Make your first drink a Harp lager at Harp Bar [7710 Third Ave. between 77th and 78th streets], then rove outside to hear the pennywhistle and guitar — no harp, alas — of Irish folk band the Brooklyn Bards. When the band takes a break, just take a few steps to Greenhouse Cafe (7717 Third Ave. between 77th and 78th streets), where Mike McLaughlin and a trio of friends offer some acoustic tunes. For your final musical stop, stumble the length of the fest to Three Jolly Pigeons (6802 Third Ave. at 68th Street), where can you sit outside, order a meat pie and another beer, and listen to Australian-born now-local rocker Joe Varveri.
The forecast calls for rain on Saturday, so there are two options: If things get wet, you should return to Greenhouse Cafe at 10 pm and wet your whistle while rocking out to Uncle Jack, a cover band that has been pumping out party tunes for 40 years.
But if the skies stay dry, you’ll have the time of your life watching “Dirty Dancing” in Owl’s Head Park [enter at Colonial Road and 68th Street]. The outdoor screening of the ’80s classic starts at sundown, and it will have you dancing under the stars along with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Bring a blanket or a chair, but no booze allowed — so keep that under your jacket!
The Bay Ridge rock is not over when the weekend is! On Tuesday night, roll on down to Concerts in the Park (Shore Road at 79th Street) for an outdoor concert by Rolling Stones cover band Sha Doobie. The moves like Jagger start at 6 pm.
