Five Things To Do This Weekend in Memphis: July 29th-31st

The pitter-Potter of fans running for a Memphis weekend of magical, musical events will pull on your harp strings.

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Booksigning by Angela Kay Austin

South Main Book Juggler, 548 S. Main

Fri., July 29, 6-9 p.m.

Alex Haley met Anne Rice and they wrote a novel. Well, not exactly. But Angela Kay Austin did write a novel about a brother and a sister, Freedom and Triumph, who escape bondage and run for freedom during the American Civil War. Then there is a third character, Watson Brown. You know, the vampire who shows up in every struggle for freedom novel. Well, not exactly. But he does show up in Angela Kay Austin’s paranormal historical fiction novel, Run for Freedom. I was caught by surprise to find there is a supernatural twist. What a novel idea — quite literally. And since this is the last Friday of the month, sink your teeth into some other artistic offerings on South Main during Art Trolley Tour.

Silent Disco Wizard's Ball

Rec Room, 3000 Broad

Fri., July 29, 10 p.m.

Should you be under the impression that Harry Potter is just for kids, think again. Aspiring wizards and sorcerers of all ages are celebrating the release of a new book this weekend, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Friday boasts a 21+ Wizard’s Ball at the Rec Room where adult potions will be brewed at the bar. On Saturday and Sunday Flourish and Blotts type local bookstores are floo networking for family friendly Fizzing Whizzbees wonderful fun Potter parties. There will be no Mudbloods allowed at The Booksellers of Laurelwood Midnight Release Party, Barnes and Noble Midnight Release Party and Celebration, or Potterfest for poltergeists. Come in costume for an extra-wizardly fun time.

A Mid-Summer Renaissance Night at the Academy

Howard Vance Guitar Academy, 978 Reddoch

Fri., July 29, 5-8 p.m.

Come in costume to fully appreciate a sampling of Renaissance music in anticipation of the second annual Mid-South Renaissance Faire scheduled for the last two weekends in August. Lee Cagel will be playing the dulcimer while Paul Masinelli strums the mandolin. Beverly Vance and Sarah Ding play a variety of flutes. Other instruments and artists will be showcased while Karen Cooper and Hope Howard contribute the lyrical sounds of song. Perchance these troubadours might amuse ye.

Music Man, Jr.

Germantown Community Theatre, 3037 Forest Hill-Irene

Sundays, 2:30 p.m. and Fridays, Saturdays, 7 p.m. Continues through Aug. 7

This show is one of my favorites. Nothing is dull when master showman Harold Hill is in town—especially for Marian, the upright, uptight town librarian. I won't tell you if she can resist his allure in this junior production. If I were you, I wouldn't resist the allure to make it a family fun day activity. It's Hill-arious.

Opening lecture by Robert Flynn Johnson: "Fan Male”

The Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park

Sun., July 31, 2 p.m.

Two new exhibitions are opening at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens this weekend. This lecture opens "Henri Guérard and the Phenomenon of the Artist’s Fan in France, 1875 –1900." Guérard was a French artist born in mid-nineteenth century Paris. You can read more about this exhibition and the artist here. Closer to home, Memphian Charlotte Stout Hooker passed away in March of last year. Her legacy lives on in a collection of English and Continental ceramics gifted to the Galley in 2009. A collection of eighteenth-century German porcelain was also gifted to the Galley by Hooker’s mother, Warda Stevens Stout, in 1985. The tribute exhibition, “Everyday English: The Charlotte Stout Hooker Collection of English and Continental Ceramics” coincides with the publication of a catalogue of the collection, The Charlotte Stout Hooker Collection of English and Continental Ceramics.

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.