What to Do in Astoria This Week: Haunted Astoria, Free Booze, Live Music, and More

Each week we bring you highlights and ideas for what to do in Astoria for the week through our What to Do This Week Series.  Got suggestions of your own? Share in the comments! Our Ultimate List of Things to Do in Astoria post is still packed with fun ideas as summer turns to fall.

Want your event included? Submit it here: weheartastoria.com/share-a-scoop

NOVEMBER 1 to 7 – Good All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days to our observant readers.
Did you also know Tuesday, November 3 is the General Election? It’s time to vote for the judges—go here for more info.

GOOD LUCK NYC MARATHONERS!!!
Best place to watch is in LIC, no lie! Here’s the Marathon’s spectator guide.
We recommend watching along Crescent Street just south of Queensboro Plaza.

November 1 is also when we “fall back” from Daylight Saving to Standard Time. Did you remember to turn your clocks back?

Halloween Lecture Series: Ghosts of the Boroughs

Boroughs of the Dead Tour Guide Marie Carter is thrilled to present “Ghosts of the Boroughs” on Day of the Dead. In this spooky illustrated lecture you will learn about the haunted mansions of the boroughs, “The House of Death,” the small pox hospital, former insane asylums, and grisly murders, among others. And you will learn about the ghosts that haunt your own backyard in Astoria.

Sunday, November 1, 4-5pm
Q.E.D. | 27-16 23rd Ave
$10

Learn more, here.

Noguchi Talks | Poet Kay Ryan reading from her new Book ‘Erratic Facts’ and talking about rocks

‘Erratic’ is a geological term of art for boulders carried and deposited by glaciers–in manners and places so surprising as to have helped give rise to science itself. Kay Ryan’s erratic facts, it may follow, are not stray pieces of trivia but displaced chunks of reality: momentous mysteries, with a rock-like solidity, capable of inspiring a sublimely productive wonder. Kay Ryan is a former United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner who lives and writes in Northern California. Her reading at The Noguchi Museum is being co-presented with the James Merrill House.

Monday, November 2, 6:30-8pm (doors will open at 5:45pm)
Noguchi Museum | 9-01 33rd Road (at Vernon Boulevard)
Free with museum admission

Learn more, here.

Book Trivia

Queens literature lovers are gearing up for the second annual Book Trivia Night in Astoria. The event will test teams’ knowledge of categories such as “Books You Should Have Read in High School,” film adaptations, translations, and mysteries. Proceeds will benefit Newtown Literary, the nonprofit journal that publishes Queens writers and poets.

Monday, November 2, doors open at 7pm, with trivia beginning at 7:30pm
Break Bar and Billiards | 32-04 Broadway
Advance tickets are available on Eventbrite for $8, and teams of 4‐6 players that register in advance are eligible for a free mulligan. Individuals or groups smaller than four will be placed with additional teammates when Attendees are encouraged to Tweet about the event using the Twitter hashtag #NewtownTrivia.

Learn more, here.

The Big Quiz Thing

The Big Quiz Thing is a live, interactive trivia game show currently in residency at Q.E.D. in Astoria on the first Tuesday of every month. Featuring the Lightning Round, the Text Message Challenge, the climactic Buzzertastic Finale, Smart-Ass Points for wrong but funny answers, and the greatest “figureoutable” trivia questions anywhere, BQT truly delivers a fully produced evening of multimedia team-quiz fun with incredible prizes.

Tuesday, November 3, 7:30-9:30pm
Q.E.D. | 27-16 23rd Ave
$8

Learn more, here.

Martin Kelley & Affinity Live Jazz

Live music at Alobar by local Jazz band Martin Kelley and Affinity.

Tuesday, November 3, 7-10pm
Alobar | 46-42 Vernon Blvd

Learn more, here.

RAR Bar Turns 8

We are turning 8 and celebrating all who helped us get here over the years!

Thursday, November 5, 7-11pm
Rest-au-Rant | 30-01 35th Ave
Free

Learn more, here.

SquareWine’s New York State Fall Harvest Tasting Event

SquareWine & Spirits has always been strong supporters of New York State Wine & Spirits. To pay homage to our love of local goods we’re going to host a special event that exclusively showcases wine, spirits, ciders and baked good from Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, Long Island and Long Island City! This FREE walk around tasting will feature these amazing folks:

• Warwick Gin
• Black Dirt Bourbon
• Black Dirt Applejack
• Doc’s Hard Ciders
• American Fruits Fine Brandies and Liqueurs
• Palmer Vineyards (Long Island)
• Fox Run Vineyards (Finger Lakes)
• The Pie Lady (e-space, LIC)
• Edesserts (e-space, LIC)

Friday, November 6, 7-9pm
SquareWine & Spirits | 24-20 Jackson Avenue
Free

Learn more, here.

Family Art Workshop

First Saturdays are a new series of fun Family Art Workshops in our new multi-purpose space! Artists will lead these practical sessions suitable for the whole family. In the first workshop textile designer Addison Walz will lead an exploration of the basics of weaving on a back strap loom. Using a variety of different fibers and experimenting with color, we will transform yarn into a band of woven fabric on a loom of ancient origins. The bands, in turn, can be sewn into jewelry, cuffs, headbands, pouches or simply be works of art. Suitable for children ages 6–11.

Saturday, November 7, 10am-noon
Sculpture Center | 44-19 Purves St.
Free

Learn more, here.

New York Road Runners Open Run: Run for Life – Astoria Park

Open Run is a new community-based initiative that launched in St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx on National Running Day, June 3, 2015. Through this initiative, New York Road Runners is empowering local volunteers to bring free weekly runs to local neighborhood parks all over NYC.

All runs are directed by volunteers and are free to all participants. The finish line is open until the last person is done. The courses vary based on park, but they are between 2.5-3 miles. Participants are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes before the start of the run and to leave their valuables at home – bag check is not provided. No need to do anything before the run, just show up. Open to all ages, experience levels, walkers, strollers, dogs: All are welcome!

Saturday, November 7, 8-9am
Astoria Park, between running track and comfort station
Free

Learn more, here.

Leaf Fest

The leaves are falling! Autumn is a gorgeous time in Astoria Park with the leaves changing – grab a rake and join us as we prepare the park for winter. For 3 Saturdays in November, we will rake and collect leaves to be made into compost. Astoria Park Alliance will provide gloves, tools, and training. Please come in closed-toe shoes, ready to work outdoors!

Saturday, November 7, 10am-noon
Astoria Park Field House near Astoria Park Track
Free

Learn more, here.

Noguchi Talks | Another Land: Noguchi and Imaging Space in the Anthropocene with Leah Raintree

In a collaborative program between The Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park, artist Leah Raintree discusses her photographic series Another Land, a body of work that takes as its point of departure a 1968 sculpture of the same name by Isamu Noguchi. During the summer of 2015, Raintree responded to Noguchi’s sculptural works in stone with a site-specific installation at Socrates Sculpture Park, followed by a series of photographs in reaction to the Museum’s collection, treating Noguchi works as distant celestial objects. In her talk, Raintree will consider the evolution of space-imaging technology alongside increased understanding of human impact on the earth and how these lines of inquiry influence artistic production.

The talk will be followed by a viewing of Another Land at Socrates Sculpture Park, part of the Emerging Artist Fellowship (EAF) Exhibition 2015.

Saturday, November 7, 1-2pm
Noguchi Museum | 9-01 33rd Road (at Vernon Boulevard)
Free with museum admission

Learn more, here.

Random Access Music Season Opening Concert

Join us for our season opening concert as we celebrate 10 years of RAM! The event will showcase enduring trios & duos for winds, strings, piano, and electronics by RAM composers Guy Barash, David Fetherolf, Gilbert Galindo, David Schober, & B. Allen Schulz and performances of music by Edward Schocker and Asha Srinivasan. Performing on the program are the brilliant and energetic RAM Players, this time featuring Laura Falzon on flute, Thomas Piercy on clarinet, Kate Dillingham on cello, and Amir Khosrowpour on piano with special guest violinist Sabina Torosjan. You can now purchase advanced single tickets or season tickets. So come out and celebrate with us!

Saturday, November 7, 8pm
Broom Tree Theatre | 23-35 Broadway
$15

Learn more, here.