BIG SHOES TO FILL
Some find them funny, many think they’re terrifying, and most everyone can agree they use too much eyeliner. At least 100 clowns from eight countries will be attending the New York Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn for performances, competitions, symposiums and more, through Oct. 28. The clowning around begins today at 4:30 with the “Clown Subway Parade,” starting at Union Square and making its way to Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg via the L train, followed by a march to 575 Metropolitan Ave., between Union and Lorimer streets, for a public pie fight and cabaret performances. (Why they can’t all cram into a Volkswagen, we don’t know.) For tickets and show schedules, go to bricktheater.com.
WAKING THE DEAD
Harps, shmarps – Dance Theatre Etcetera’s “Angels and Accordions” takes visitors on a site-specific dance and musical “tour” through Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Utilizing the statues, lakes, gardens and graves of this 478-acre burial ground, 30 dancing “angels” lead the living through the resting places of Horace Greeley, Boss Tweed, Leonard Bernstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat with 10 squeezebox players and a classic music ensemble in the background. Tours are free tomorrow at noon and 3:30 p.m. at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn; (718) 788-7850, dancetheatre-etcetera.org. (Same times Sunday should it rain.)
ALL THAT JAZZ
The Brooklyn Museum’s monthly “First Saturday” features free films, dance, readings, music and a deejay party. Tomorrow pianist Arturo O’Farrill and his septet Riza Negro blend Latin and American funk (6 p.m., 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn; [718] 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org). Like what you hear? Then see O’Farrill and his oversize Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra at their new home at Symphony Space, Oct. 16 to 18. Visit symphonyspace.org for more info.
– Mary Huhn
BACK TO THE FUTURE
With obvious exceptions like “Battlefield Earth” and “Howard the Duck,” science fiction often loses some integrity with age. Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner: The Final Cut,” however, will still seem futuristic when a newly cut version with four minutes of never before seen footage screens at the Ziegfeld tonight, where it plays daily until Oct. 18. Fittingly, this “overbudget,” nearly $30 million flick starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah wasn’t fully understood by audiences and critics when it came out a quarter-century ago. Now it’s a classic. Ziegfeld Theater, 141 W 54th St.; (212) 307-1862.
THE TWO BOOTS TWO-STEP
“Amy Greenfield turns erotic dance into a female-empowering cinema of desire, longing, energy, anguish and joy.” So goes the description of “Club Midnight,” a mix of cutting-edge film and raw performance art unfolding today and tomorrow at midnight at the Two Boots Pioneer. The program includes music by Philip Glass and poetry read by Dennis Hopper. And in case you have any questions, Greenfield – a poet and filmmaker – will be present to answer them. The Pioneer is at Avenue A and Third Street in the East Village (twoboots.com/pioneer).
– V.A. Musetto
CZECH IT OUT
Bengas, Lenka Dusilova and Support Lesbiens all on one stage? You read it right. From 1 to 7 p.m. tomorrow, New York City’s Ninth Czech Independence Day celebration brings free Prague rock and folk music to 83rd Street between Madison and Park avenues, where food, music and drawings for a round-trip ticket to the Czech Republic are among the offerings. The after-party at SoHo’s Don Hill’s features the same bands and DJs plus gratis Pilsner Urquell, for a $20 cover ($25 at the door). For ticket info: czechcenter.com, or call Czech Center New York at (212) 288-0830, ext.100.
HOUSE PARTY
The fifth annual openhousenewyork, said to be the nation’s largest architectural and design event, expects more that 100,000 New Yorkers to take advantage of free tours being offered tomorrow and Sunday exploring landmarks in all five boroughs. Everything from the roof gardens at Rockefeller Center to an MTA substation are included, as are walks along works in progress like the new High Line park area and construction at 7 World Trade Center. Events are 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and participating sites can be found at ohny.org.