ALL FIRED UP
Get ready for the Rapture. Not the religious kind. We mean the self-proclaimed hottest natural sauce in the world. It’s got a satanically sizzling 66.6 percent chili content. And the adventurous can sample it Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 21st annual Chile Pepper Fiesta.
That’s where chiliheads will gather for an afternoon of free tastes and live entertainment, including flamethrowing MCs Robbins and Ringold. The “Feel the Burn” marketplace will offer spicy takes on sweet and savory treats — from kimchi and pickles to chocolate and honey.
“Chili peppers have an important place in cultures around the world,” says Anita Jacobs, director of public programs at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “They remind people of the wonderful meals they’ve shared with friends and family.”
Anyone with a hot green thumb can buy pepper plants to bring home. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue, Brooklyn; bbg.org. $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, free for kids under 12. — Lindsay Putnam
DIVE IN
“Empire Drive-In,” which opens today at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, aims to invoke the drive-ins of yesteryear, with movies on a 40-foot screen, watched from cars. It’s no re-creation, though: Built by Brooklyn artists Todd Chandler and Jeff Stark, it’s an art installation that “reflects on car culture, technological obsolescence, creative reuse and sensory-based nostalgia.” More specifically, the artists have built a screen and concession stand from salvaged materials, and hauled in 60 junked cars for sitting in or on. Any personal items the owners left in the cars are kept in place, “so each car’s like a personal memory chest,” says Stark. People can visit whenever the museum’s open; there’s also a schedule of screenings. These are “really festive — not at all like a multiplex experience,” says Stark. And might visitors turn to the venerable drive-in practice of making out? “They better,” he says. “That’s what the drive-in is for.”
Until Oct. 20. Screenings are $15, 47-01 111th St., Corona. Info: nysci.org. — Chris Erikson
OFF THE PAGE
The Yankees’ season may have ended in September but a Murderer’s Row of thinkers is about to step up to the plate at this year’s annual New Yorker Festival.
Who else to bat cleanup but superstar New Yorker writer-guru Malcolm Gladwell? The author of “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants” will be talking about taking down the high and mighty Sunday morning in Chelsea.
Other artists, New Yorker scribes and their subjects who will be appearing around town Friday through Sunday include double Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, Paul Simon, junior fashionista Tavi Gevinson and Pulitzer Prize winners Michael Chabon and Jennifer Egan. As for one-of-a-kind fun, consider a whiskey tasting pegged to the story about the Scottish distillery Bruichladdich, a performance of the New Burlesque and Calvin Trillin’s famed gastronomic walking tour of the Village and Chinatown. (Tag along behind! It’s a free country!) Many events are sold out but returns are often available at the box offices. Details at festival.newyorker.com. — Kyle Smith
ART’S BURDEN
Don’t try this at home! That should have been Chris Burden’s motto in the ’70s, when — in the name of performance art — he crawled over glass, had himself shot and “crucified” on a VW Bug, though not all at once. Burden’s since moved on to safer things — making miniaturized bridges, oversized police uniforms and amassing $4 million in 32-ounce gold bricks (for 1985’s “Tower of Power”) — but his targets remain the same: power, control, repression. The Boston-born, LA-based artist’s having his first NY retrospective in 25 years, “Chris Burden: Extreme Measures,” occupying five floors of the New Museum, including its façade, where Burden’s 30-foot-long “Ghost Ship” dangles like a lifeboat at the ready. Don’t miss “Porsche with Meteorite,” a giant teeter-totter with a car on one end, a 390-pound space rock on the other. 235 Bowery at Prince; newmuseum.org. — Barbara Hoffman
FOUNTAIN TOPS
As Fountains of Wayne will tell you, having a huge hit can be both a blessing and a curse. The New Yorkers hit the charts in a big way in 2003 with “Stacy’s Mom” and since then, their fans have been split.
“It’s halfway down the middle,” explains singer Chris Collingwood. “Half our fans know us for ‘Stacy’s Mom.’ The other half are people who know every word to every song. I think there’s some animosity between those two groups. Sometimes I egg them on!” Tomorrow night at Webster Hall, you’ll get to see both sides fight it out as the band plays alongside fellow indie rockers Soul Asylum and Evan Dando from the Lemonheads. $32. Saturday, 6 p.m., at 125 E. 11th St.; 212-353-1600, websterhall.com. — Hardeep Phull