Shopping: Buying local is all the rage in Brooklyn, but the enthusiasm has yet to extend to wines. But that’s about to change now that the Red Hook Winery is selling its first vintage. Comments (2).

Here’s a resolution you can keep: You will not spend too much this New Year’s

By Andy Campbell

The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan

It’s New Year’s Eve and you know the drill: Fork over $100 for a couple of drinks, two wilted hors-d’oeuvres, and a grim resolution to not spend a dime until your next paycheck. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Comments (2).

Brooklyn Women of Distinction

Where to GO: Editors’ Picks

Saucy salsa

Saturday, December 26: Pick up the post-Christmas lull with a little Cuban salsa at BAM Café. Featuring an all-star world music ensemble, Brooklyn’s Charanga Soleil will be jamming with a mix of Cuban, Congolese and Haitian music that’s sure to get you moving. Bar opens at 8 pm, so you can light up the dance floor at 9.

9 pm. Charanga Soleil at BAM Café [30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place in Fort Greene, (718) 230-4100]. Free. For info, visit www.bam.org.

Pop some bubbly

Tuesday, December 29: The last thing you want to do is go into New Year’s with cheap Champagne. So preview your New Year’s Eve bubbly with a tasting at The Greene Grape. With real Champagne from France and an array of “sparkling wines” from the U.S. and Spain, you’ll have 11 chances to help envision your perfect countdown.

5-7 pm. Sparkling wine tasting at The Green Grape [765 Fulton St. between S. Oxford and S. Portland streets in Fort Greene, (917) 412-5901]. Free. For info, visit brooklyn.greengrape.com.

Banjo-kazooie

Wednesday, December 30: We always enjoy the weekly “Roots and Ruckus” American music jamboree at Jalopy every Wednesday. But this week’s show, led by the always interesting Feral Foster, will pay special homage to the kazoo with folk, blues, and old-time music guaranteed to get your toe tapping in rhythm. BYO washboard.

9 pm. Roots and Ruckus at Jalopy [315 Columbia St. between Hamilton and Woodhull in Cobble Hill, (718) 395-3214], $5. For info, visit www.jalopy.biz.

At last, a new year!

Thursday, December 31: Finally, we get to bid farewell to 2009 — the year of the economic malaise, the health care debacle, another late-season collapse by the Cyclones and too many other disasters to list here. Let’s drum this lousy year out with one last (low cost) party: Borough President Markowitz’s free (but cold) fireworks in Grand Army Plaza.

New Year’s Eve fireworks in Grand Army Plaza [Union Street between Prospect Park West and Flatbush Avenue, (718) 965-8999].

Resolve to be funnier

Friday, January 1: Got all your resolutions made? Then hit up the Brooklyn Lyceum for some more jokes. Improv troupe Sidecar and its female counterparts M.A.D. will host their first “Gentrify Brooklyn!” show of the year. Don’t worry; the comics are in on the joke (they all live in Brooklyn anyway).

10 pm. “Gentrify Brooklyn!” at the Brooklyn Lyceum [227 Fourth Ave. between Union and President streets in Park Slope, (718) 857-4816]. Tickets, $5.

View the full nightlife and events calendars.

Bridge-and-tunnel crowd ruins our columnist’s night at Brooklyn Bowl

By Andy Campbell

Campbell’s Soup: All he wanted was a filthy, freaky, nasty Brooklyn dance party, but all he got was a bunch of Manhattanites drinking Haterade. Comments (14).

Monday, Dec. 21, 2009

Not so ‘Brief’! St. Ann’s Warehouse extends hit show

By Barry Shifrin

Theater: One of the most successful shows in the history of St. Ann’s Warehouse has been extended. Comments (1).

Pedulla Tile

Ring in the new year with Melissa’s gingerbread spice cake

By Melissa Murphy

Shopping: I have loved gingerbread since I was a little girl, when I made it for my dad, served warm and topped simply with fresh whipped cream. Just the smell of it baking makes you warm and toasty all over. Comments (5).

Dar Williams returns for her annual post-Xmas gig

By Meredith Deliso

Music: Along with the Christmas trees hawked on street corners and vacant lots, decorations on main drags, competing versions of “The Nutcracker,” one thing that’s come to be expected each holiday season is a post-Christmas show at Southpaw from Dar Williams. Comments (1).

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