Well, it’s January already, so that means it’s time to start thinking about the summer concert season. The first major announcement of 2010 comes from our friends at Celebrate Brooklyn! who will be hosting Boston’s Passion Pit and Newmarket Ontario’s Tokyo Police Club on June 29, 2010 at the Prospect Park Bandshell (Buy Tickets | Jan 30, 2010). Also appearing at Celebrate Brooklyn! this summer (but not officially announced yet) is jazz legend Allen Toussaint who will be playing the Prospect Park on June 12, 2010 (no word yet on whether this will be a free show or a paid event). The opening night gala for Celebrate Brooklyn! will take place on June 9, 2010— no headliner has been announced for this yet either, but it will be hard to top last year.

BRIC Arts Media, the organization that runs Celebrate Brooklyn!, is putting on a few “warm up” performing arts events before this year’s season gets rolling. Here’s what they’ve got planned so far:

01/26/10 A Special Screening of Still Featuring Bill Withers
02/03/10 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (the Hood Opera)
02/04/10 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (the Hood Opera)
02/27/10 Winter Warm Up: Comedy with Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends

You can check out the full BRIC Arts Media calendar over here. You can view a trailer for Still Bill and more details on all of the BRIC Arts winter performing arts events after the jump.

b-side presents in collaboration with the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival a special screening of Still Bill featuring Bill Withers
January 26th at 7:30 pm
Tickets $15
Pavilion Park Slope at 188 Prospect Park West
(btw 14th and 15th streets)

BUY TICKETS

Filmed in part at Celebrate Brooklyn! during the Hal Willner’s Bill Withers Project on August 9, 2008, Still Bill is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean On Me, Lovely Day, Grandma’s Hands and Just the Two of Us.

Immediately following the film will be a post-screening discussion with Bill Withers, filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Flack, moderated by Jack Walsh, Director of Performing Arts, Executive Producer, Celebrate Brooklyn!.

Melvin Van Peebles & Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber in residence at BRICstudio
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (the Hood Opera)
A Work-In-Progress Preview
February 3rd and February 4th at 8pm
Tickets $10

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Join us at BRICstudio for an unforgettable evening with legendary artist and director Melvin Van Peebles as he directs Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber and a large cast of actors and singers in a musical stage adaptation of his groundbreaking 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song! Experience a work-in-progress preview of Sweet Sweetback ahead of its international premiere at the 2010 Sons d’hiver Festival in Paris, followed by a post-performance discussion with the artists.

FRIENDS OF CELEBRATE BROOKLYN PRESENT
Winter Warm Up: Comedy with Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends
Including Kristen Schaal and Michael Showalter

Saturday, February 27th, doors 8pm
The Bellhouse
Tickets $10
Tickets on sale Thursday, January 24th

To kick-off the 2010 Friends of Celebrate Brooklyn membership campaign, Brooklyn Resident Eugene Mirman will be hosting an evening of comedy and music with fellow comedians Kristen Schaal, Michael Showalter and some other pretty good friends. Eugene was recently named Best New York Comedian by The Village Voice in 2009 and has appeared in his own half hour special on Comedy Central, as well as appearing on Conan O’Brien, HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, MTV, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force to name a few. Eugene also hosts a monthly show at Union Hall in Park Slope and will be performing in the Celebrate Brooklyn 2010 summer season!

Kristen Schaal, a Brooklyn resident, writer and comedienne, is best known for her role as the stalker-fan Mel in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords and as a contributor on The Daily Show.

Michael Showalter, also a Brooklyn resident, is a founding member of the sketch comedy troupe The State which ran for three seasons on MTV. He is a member of the comedy trio Stella, and can currently be seen with fellow Stella member Michael Ian Black on their Comedy Central series Michael and Michael Have Issues.

Become a Friend of Celebrate Brooklyn! at the show and enter a chance to win some great prizes!