Photo by Flickr user Tourism Victoria
Bring back the eighties with a Dirty Dance.
The Orpheum, 203 S. Main
Sept. 13-18
This movie came out when I was able to dirty dance. These days, dirty dancing probably means the tennis balls on my walker will get stuck in the mud. Okay. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little. But since I was supposed to attend opening night and my plans got derailed, I’m a little bitter—Baby. So I looked up some of my friends’ reviews who did attend. One friend said, “Thanks to the Orpheum for bringing Dirty Dancing to Memphis. All I can say is that the women are really into this play.” I really didn’t know what to make of this review until I saw another friend’s assessment, “I'm not sure what we saw tonight—interactive theatre, camp classic—but there was an audience full of folks having a good ol' 1987 flashback. Strange show. Not really a musical. Not really a play. But we sure laughed a lot. There was one lady who kept chiming in, whistling, giving an "amen," it really was like seeing Rocky Horror.” And, well, there you have it. Who wants to Dirty Dance?
Opening reception for "Home of Future Things”
Photo courtesy of Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art
Yesterday's Future Home is today's art.
Sue Johnson exhibition brings home the future.
Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art, University of Memphis, 3715 Central
Fri., Sept. 16, 5-7:30 p.m.
I just barely missed the era of the black and white TV and the colorful kitchen. Clean lines and atomic shapes. Oh, but now we don't have to miss anything. Artist Sue Johnson brings to life an era coming off WWII when the economy was thriving and people were confident and ready for innovative approaches to life and style. Breakthroughs in science, like traveling to space, were heavily influential on design. The wave of the future had made a moon landing in the American home. Johnson brings it all home in this campy and artful "Home of Future Things."
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry
Fri., Sept. 16, 6-9 p.m.
Bring your runts and nerds along with the kids to the lawn of Memphis Botanic Garden for a screening of the sweet classic movie from 1971. Celebrate the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl who wrote the book upon which the movie is based and the life of Gene Wilder who made Willy Wonka a golden ticket to fun. In the words of Wonka, "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
Art Paired: Fine-Craft & Finely-Crafted Libations
Art Paired is best shared.
Racquet Club of Memphis, 5111 Sanderlin
Sat., Sept. 17, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sun., Sept. 18, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Dualities. Dichotomies. Polarities. J & B. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Indoor art fair and tastings of wine and distilled spirits. Please and thank you.
2nd Annual International Tea & Fashion Show
The Arc Mid-South International Tea and Fashion Show
Sample food, enjoy performances, see fashion, and bid on auction items for the empowerment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve their full potential.
Hotel Memphis, 2625 Thousand Oaks
Sat., Sept. 17, 2-4 p.m.
I’ve been on more rivers than I can count in a motor boat, canoe, or raft. Kayaking never was an option for me, as I consider boating a group sport. It’s more fun floating in a vessel of more than one or two people. A river has two parts. There are those parts that are deep waters. While the current is still there, the surface is calm. In the shallow parts, water dances over rocks in a rushing roar. I had the pleasure to work with three amazing champions for advocacy of people with mental and physical disabilities. We lost all three champions within the span of a year. First we lost Deborah Cunningham in June of 2015. Cunningham was like the shallow waters of the river rushing over rocks. I always experienced her in motion. Though her body was bound to a wheelchair, she was not one to sit still. Betty Jean Anderson passed in March of this year. Anderson was like the rocks in the river that tumbled the waters. My first encounter with her, I said the “h” word. She set me straight immediately. “It’s disabled. Not handicapped.” She knew how to stir the waters. Finally June Mann Averyt lost her battle with cancer last April. Averyt possessed deep waters of knowledge and understanding. I’ve heard that she was not sweetness and light as she appeared. But I always felt her spirit as calm and simultaneously unsettling. The calmness, I feel, came from a vast knowledge. The unsettling, perhaps knowing her work would never be done. Consider helping to continue the work of advocacy as The Arc Mid-South ramps up for the 21st Annual Awards and Benefit Gala in October by celebrating at the 2nd Annual International Tea & Fashion Show.
For a full list of what’s happening this weekend in and around Memphis, check out our calendar of events. Also, be sure to tag your favorite Instagram photos of Memphis while you are out and about with the #memphismagazine hashtag. I hope you have a great weekend.
