Festivals in Maspeth

Undead Music Festival celebrates the eternal pioneers of New York's instrumental and jazz scene with four nights of artist-oriented concerts and events. The jubilee of jams kicks off with Wednesday night's marathon of concerts at Le Poisson Rouge. Audience members migrate as freely as birds with jetpacks between the three neighboring venues. Playing Le Poisson Rouge that night are Elysian Fields, where Jennifer Charles's sultry vocals breeze over dark instrumentals, and Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra with TK Wonder, whose vocals infuse the bare, layered trip-hop with a subdued intensity. Sullivan Hall features Stabbing Eastward, with Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio notoriety, and the Chicago Underground Duo grace Kenny's Castaways with a mature sound, rooted in jazz fusion.

The festival collects more than 60 independently produced films from across the globe, including a youth section promoting features created by middle and high school kids. Suffer shivers from the Swedish take on psychological horror found in Marianne, or unveil life lessons in the quirky, disguise-driven comedy Pluto, in which a young rock’s masquerade as a planet finally ends. The full film list delivers a variety of short- and full-length movies, while circus performances, Improv Nation shows, and standup comics provide a plethora of live entertainment to punctuate attendance. Local bands provide a live soundtrack to intermissions and a means to shake out sleepy legs after viewings.

When visiting New York, it can be difficult to really capture the feeling of being a New Yorker. At Sp & Big Apple-The New York Night Life, a group of professional event planners put together high-end tours of the part of the city that can be the hardest to navigate—the nightlife. Big Apple's staff believes "there's a good reason why NYC is called 'The City That Never Sleeps,'" and they aim to share that reason with out-of-towners. To accomplish that goal, they work with dozens of hotels, bars, restaurants, and clubs, such Pink Elephant or Kiss and Fly, to create thrilling late-evening tours and VIP packages.

As the flagship ensemble of the Astoria Music Society, the Astoria Symphony spearheads their mission of the musical enrichment of western Queens, bringing symphonic enlightenment to all, whether they like it or not. In the face of such unbeatable enjoyment, join them on October 1 for the "Magic of the Cinema" to absorb a healthy dose of the recommended auditory supplements. The soundtrack features a number of classical pieces, as well as some new cinematic favorites, including Strommen's Salute to the Cinema, Vivaldi's "Spring" from The Four Seasons, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, Ennio Morricone's unforgettable score from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Salute to John Williams, and more.

Barbecue ribs with a smoky rauchbier. A melon salad with a dark doppelbock. The folks behind Get Real Presents specialize in pairings like these, sharing the joys of craft beer and delicious, locally-sourced foods. In this spirit, its team of foodies and beer aficionados hosts festivals featuring more than 80 brews, as well as restaurant events that pair craft beer with regional foods. As unique as it sounds, they admit this isn't exactly a new idea—they take a page from other countries, such as Belgium, who actually anchor much of their cuisine around the effervescent beverage. Following this "cuisine a la biere" model, they aim to highlight all of the great things a freshly crafted brew can do to enhance an evening out on the town, such as highlighting the flavors of a complementary dish, spicing up a local chef's stew, or softening your dad to the idea of paying off all of your student loans.

Layers upon layers of press clippings — three from the New York Times, others from Ploughshares and Time Out — cling to The Poetry Society of New York, whose diverse projects and events in the named of poetic excellence can't help but attract attention. After all, this is the organization behind the New York City Poetry Festival, whose poets, poetry fans, craft vendors, and food gather annually on Governor's Island to cite verse, hone imaginations, and pole-vault using nothing but giant quill pens.

The Poetry Society of New York also pilots Brothel Books, a small publisher aiming to "[b]ring orange groves to New York City" by printing epic, affecting work. The society's other programs include an ongoing reading series that's hosted poets well-known and obscure since 1978, an immersive theatrical experience called The Poetry Brothel, and a video literary journal. It's all in support of the organization's mission statement, whose three-item list of goals concludes with a simple promise: "to never bore you."