Photo courtesy of BPACC
Music by the Lake, BPACC
Enjoy music by the Memphis Ukelele Band and the River Bluff Clan, food trucks, and family fun.
Music by the Lake
Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, 3663 Appling
Friday, May 21, 6 p.m.
Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center (BPACC) has ended its performance season. Now it is time for the annual outdoor concert series featuring free, family-friendly entertainment, food trucks, and live music from local musicians to celebrate the last season and welcome the next.
The first event will be Friday with music by the Memphis Ukelele Band and the River Bluff Clan. Ukuleles and bluegrass make everyone happy.
But wait, there’s more.
Get your happy dance ready for the second in the series on June 11 featuring Star & Micey and the Reba Russell Band.
Collins Food Truck, Donna’s Kettlecorn, and Mempops will be at both concerts. Bring a chair or blanket and a picnic and join the fun around the lake.
In Real Life
Opera Memphis, 6745 Wolf River
Friday-Saturday, May 21-22, 8 p.m.
Meet up in the Opera Memphis parking lot in real life to experience In Real Life, a collection of operatic monologues about 12 characters who struggle to find love in the digital age. Soprano, baritone, and a chamber ensemble by Robert Paterson and David Cote will make this experience unique and captivating.
Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Opera Memphis favorites Jake Stamatis, Marcus King, and Tracy Thomas will be joined by Tess Altiveros in her company debut. Conductor Steven Osgood (Metropolitan Opera, Chautauqua Opera Company) returns to Memphis for this funny, sad, and full of hope performance highlighting the power of the human voice.
Audiences are encouraged to arrive early to tailgate and enjoy the pre-show entertainment.
Liberace and Friends Cabaret and Dinner
Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extended
Friday, May 21, 6-9 p.m.
Theater is back along with a 100th-anniversary celebration for Theatre Memphis.
It’s a sold-out performance for Thursday night. Lucky you if you haven’t already gotten your ticket; there is an added performance on Friday due to overwhelming demand. The added evening will not include dinner but will include an open bar, cupcakes, and a cabaret performance. Both evenings will include Gary Beard as Liberace and a host of other performers from Theatre Memphis shows singing their biggest hits from past productions.
Still not ready to go out but more than ready to be entertained? Playhouse on the Square’s The Taming opens on stage Friday, May 21, 7 p.m. and streams live every Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m. and Sunday, 2 p.m. through May 30. This political farce inspired by Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew is about a beauty pageant contestant who aims to revolutionize the structure of American government.
It’s your patriotic duty to support theater, from home or live and in-person — so go enjoy a show.
“The Black Fin’s Lair” by Roger Allan Cleaves, 2020. Oil on canvas; 38 x 48 inches 2020. Oil on canvas
Opening lecture for "Memphis 2021," online from Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Opening lecture for “Memphis2021”
Online from The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, dixon.org
Sunday, May 23, 3 p.m.
Join Julie Pierotti via Zoom as she discusses each artist in this newly opened exhibition that celebrates artists working in a variety of media throughout our city. Learn how their work is helping to shape Memphis’ cultural landscape.
On Saturday, explore the carved wooden shapes that exist somewhere between painting and sculpture by Robert Rector at David Lusk Gallery, 97 Tillman. The exhibition “Dream Machines” will close on May 29; the artist reception will be held on from noon-3 p.m.
Later on Saturday, Andrew Meers, Tributaries artist for the “Amalgamation” exhibition at the Metal Museum, will discuss his latest work, a departure from the restraints of conventional knife making via Zoom. Work by metalsmith and bladesmith Meers will be on exhibit through July 17.
Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash
Mushroom Festival Kickoff Pop Up and Chef's Tasting
With in-person pop-up and online tasting, join the kickoff celebrating mushrooms.
Mushroom Fest Kickoff: Chef’s Tasting and Outdoor Pop Up Shop
Chef’s Tasting: Buy tickets online for location reveal, memphismushroomfest.com, Saturday, May 22, 1-6 p.m.
Pop Up Shop, 673 N. Auburndale, Saturday-Sunday, May 22-23, 7 p.m.
Help kick off the Memphis Mushroom Festival during a day of live chef demonstrations and tastings from an outdoor studio kitchen.
Chefs will showcase these gifts of nature in an assortment of mushroom-centric bites with craft cocktails, local brews, and culinary activities. Local favorite chefs Keith Potter (Cimas), Kunal Jadhav (Cooking for a Cause), Russell Casey (Bounty), Brown Burch (private executive chef), Nick Scott (Salt/Soy), and Kathleen Barth (901 Thyme Catering) will be creating special dishes featuring your favorite fungi and maybe some you've never tried.
Food will be paired with craft cocktails and locally brewed beers while Studio 8 documents this grand affair to create promo footage for the festival and get opinions about all things outdoors, cooking, natural, and shroomy.
For the next two days, you can also celebrate the wild and wonderful world of mushrooms at a fundraiser for the October Memphis Mushroom Fest right next to the Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline. You’ll find all sorts of new, quirky, and practical nature-related goodies and gifts for sale including camping supplies, T-shirts, psychedelic hoodies, mushroom pattern handbags, outdoor cooking and chef supplies, foraging supplies, tinctures, spore prints, mycology supplies, mushroom stickers, mushroom jewelry, mushroom plushies, and more.
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.
