Go Out! Fun events this week

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Lead singer Larry Dodson leads Stax Records veterans The Bar-Kays on Saturday night in their Sunset Symphony performance alongside the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

FRIDAY

Smell the glove

The fine line between clever and stupid will be erased when this year's Orpheum Summer Movie Series begins with the 1984 rock "mockumentary" cult classic, "This Is Spinal Tap." In an attempt to kick the evening up to 11, the theater also is hosting a premovie attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "Largest Air Guitar Ensemble." (Current record, set in 2011 at a Highland, Calif., casino: 2,377 participants.) The attempt will be led by a live band fronted by guitarist Evan Leake of the 1970s Memphis rock combo Target.

203 S. Main. Doors: 6 p.m.; air guitar "concert," 6:30 p.m.; movie, 7:15 p.m. Admission: $7, or $5 for children 12 and under. Visit orpheum-memphis.com.

Activities begin 5:45 p.m. Friday with the first performance at 7 p.m. at the McCoy Theatre on the Rhodes College Campus, 2000 North Parkway. Saturday's festival is 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission is pay what you can. Call (901) 726-0800, or visit voicesofthesouth.org.

Christopher Guest stars in the 1985 rock "mockumentary" cult classic "This Is Spinal Tap," showing tonight at the Orpheum.

The 2011 Filipino drama "Halaw," showing Thursday at Studio on the Square, tells the story of a group of villagers who submit to a dangerous sea voyage in search of a better future.

Theater for kids

The annual Memphis Children's Theatre Festival kicks off Friday and continues all day Saturday on the campus of Rhodes College. This year's theme, "Fairy Tales Come to Life," features three stages of performances, workshops, musicians and numerous activities for children. Among the groups participating are Voices of the South, Theatre Memphis' ShoWagon, Chatterbox Audio Theatre, Children's Ballet Theatre and Delta Arts.

Walk the Zombie

Calling all revenants: The sixth annual "Memphis Zombie Massacre" -- a prowl-as-parade public spectacle for anybody who enjoys a lively event dedicated to the undead -- is set to begin at the corner of South Main and G.E. Patterson and end on Beale near FedExForum, unless rigor mortis sets in first. All would-be reanimated corpses are invited to participate in their best (worst) zombie makeup and attire. Although the participants will claim to eat only raw human flesh, the event is a benefit for the Memphis Food Bank.

6:30 p.m. Visit memphiszombies.com.

Supreme Team

Loosely based on the story of the Supremes, the hit musical "Dreamgirls" gets a new staging by Hattiloo Theatre. Squeezed into the black repertory company's intimate space, the production intends to pack a big musical punch with songs such as "One Night Only" and "I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going."

656 Marshall. Shows are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through June 17. Tickets: $22-$25. Call (901) 525-0009.

Playin' possum

Local jam rockers Copper Possum celebrate the release of their new CD with a show at the Young Avenue Deli. Beastfinger, featuring members of Copper Possum and Devil Train, opens.

10 p.m. Cover: $7. Call (901) 278-0034, or visit youngavenuedeli.com.

SATURDAY

Stax at Sunset

The AutoZone Sunset Symphony at Tom Lee Park features not only the Memphis Symphony Orchestra playing favorites like Copland's "Hoe-Down" and Sam Shoup's unique "Soulful 1812" arrangement, but also the Bar-Kays saluting Stax Records for a complete soul symphonic sensation. Blankets and picnics are welcome. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. with the musical group Company D and at 6 p.m. there's the Commemorative Air Force air show.

Tickets: $8 through ticketmaster.com or $9 at the gate; children 6 and under are free. Gates open at 2 p.m.; MSO and Bar-Kays play at 7:30 p.m., and fireworks at 9. More information: memphisinmay.org.

Stand up, Tunica

A veteran of "Def Comedy Jam," Comedy Central, and touring shows such as "The Maintenance Man" opposite Billy Dee Williams, Atlanta funny man Arnez J (short for Johnson) brings the laughs at Fitzgerald's Casino's Great Hall.

8 p.m. 711 Lucky Lane, Tunica Resorts, Miss. Tickets: $20 and $25, available at the gift shop or through ticketmaster.com. Call (800) 766-5825, or visit fitzgeraldstunica.com.

SUNDAY

The Academy Was ...

William Beckett, former lead singer for now-defunct Illinois emo-pop band The Academy Is, plays a solo show at the Hi-Tone Café. Beckett just released his first solo EP, Walk the Talk. New Jersey songstress Cara Salimando opens this early all-ages show.

6 p.m. $10 cover. For tickets or more information, go to hitonememphis.com, or call (901) 278-8663.

WEDNESDAY

Summer show

A summer group exhibition opens at David Perry Smith Gallery, focusing on new paintings by local and regional artists Greg Gustafson, Andy Reed, Janice Albertson, Martica Griffin, Alex Walter, Mitchell Gaudet, Rod Moorhead, Mary Long-Postal, Mark Acetelli, Melissa Payne Baker and John Sadowski. The art will be displayed through June 24. There will be a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. June 1.

703 New York; call (901) 606-9690.

THURSDAY

Asian gem

Described by Variety as a "skillfully crafted gem" with "seafaring shots of painterly beauty," "Halaw" (also known as "The Ways of the Sea") is a 2011 Filipino drama about a disparate group of economically desperate coastal villagers -- lost children, prostitutes, human traffickers -- who submit themselves to a dangerous voyage across the South China Sea in hopes of finding a better future. The movie is being screened in collaboration with the Memphis in May International Festival, which this year is saluting the Philippines.

7 p.m., Studio on the Square. Admission: $8, or $6 for Indie Memphis members.

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