A mechanical bull at Grind City, two Michael Jacksons in one night, and 70 degrees after dark

Hey Memphis 👋 It's Friday. Sunny and 92 — and then it drops to 70 overnight, which is the first time in about a month you can sit outside after dark without negotiating with the weather. One caveat before you make outdoor plans: there's a Code Orange ozone alert up until 5:30 PM, so if the air gets to you, the back half of the day is the better half.

The weekend we mapped out yesterday actually starts tonight. Thursday's guide has the whole three-day plan if you missed it — and a few things have moved since we sent it. WISEACRE finally said who's playing its birthday. Vince Gill's Saturday is still gone and Sunday is still there. And two days out, the city still hasn't posted a start time for Sunday on Beale — though somebody else has. More on that below.

☀️ Today in Memphis

901 Weekend Kickoff at Trolley Night — South Main, 5–10 PM. Creative mixer at the Halloran Centre 5–7, then the kickoff concert at the National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry, 7–10. KIRBY and Jad Tariq got added to the bill since yesterday, alongside DJ Brilli, Lana J, PreauXX and Iris Collective, with Kia Shine and Zaire Love hosting. The Shell hauls its mobile stage down for it. Details

For the Girls Market: Disco Cowboy — Grind City Brewing, 76 Waterworks Ave., 4:30–9:30 PM. A brewery yard full of women-owned Memphis businesses, a disco-cowboy dress code nobody is going to enforce, and — the organizers' words, not ours — a mechanical bull. This one is on no calendar anywhere; it lives entirely on their feed. Details

Carriage After Dark — The Center Green, Carriage Crossing, Collierville, 6:30–10 PM. A short ceremony for the renovation, light refreshments, a dance performance from LYE Academy that they are insisting is a surprise, and then Michael on the lawn. Details

MICHAEL: A JussPlay LIVE Experience — The Green Room at Crosstown Arts, doors 7, show 7:30–9:30 PM, $20 advance / $25 general / $30 at the door. Which makes two Michael Jacksons in one night at opposite ends of the metro: the movie on a Collierville lawn, or a live band working the catalog in Crosstown. Pick an end. Details

Vincent Bohanon & SOV — New Salem Baptist Church, 2237 South Parkway East, doors 6, show 6:30–10 PM, $15, all ages. A Stellar Award-winning bishop bringing a full praise-and-worship night to a South Memphis sanctuary, with vendors, food, mocktails and a DJ built around it. Free parking, and the kind of Friday night that never reaches a calendar. Details

Jacquees & K Camp — Graceland Soundstage, 7:30 PM, $64.25 general admission, fees included. The Us Over Dem tour lands in Whitehaven the same night everybody else is downtown for Trolley Night, so pick a side of the city and commit. Details

👶 With the kids

Reading Rhythms — Beale Street Landing, 251 Riverside Dr., 10–11:30 AM, free, ages 2–5. Cossitt Library reads Thank You, Omu!, the Orpheum Theatre Group runs a movement class after it, and there are Mempops and crafts at the end. Riverfront, indoors, done before the heat. Details

Trolley Night Family Fun Zone — Slider Inn Downtown, 363 Mulberry St., 5–7 PM. South Main carves out a kid zone inside Trolley Night, two hours before the concert crowd takes the street. It is the part of tonight that never reaches a calendar. Details

Want the whole verified list, updated daily? It lives at heymemphis.co/events.

📰 The Rundown

Two days out, the city still has not published a start time for Sunday on Beale. Its 901 Weekend page walks through all five zones and never names a clock. The Downtown Memphis Commission's lineup card does: Beale runs 11 AM to 6 PM, the Ida B. Wells main stage 11 to 5:30, Handy Park 11 to 4, and the Tay Keith remembrance and David Porter tribute land at 4. Those are the Commission's numbers, not the city's — plan around them, then check again Sunday morning. (via City of Memphis — times via the Downtown Memphis Commission)

The Tigers open the season tomorrow night at UNLV — 9 PM Central, on FOX. It is a Week Zero game, which is why it feels a week early and why kickoff is roughly bedtime. Grind City is running a pregame show at 7 if you would rather not wait it out alone. (via University of Memphis Athletics)

Two weekends of splash pad left. All seven city pads are free and open 10 AM to 7:45 PM, and the season ends September 7 — so it is this weekend, Labor Day weekend, and that's the year. (via Memphis Parks)

🍽️ Food & Drink

The lager amnesty has rules now. WISEACRE's Sky Dog Swapportunity — hand over a six-pack of any domestic, import or light lager, walk out with a six-pack of Sky Dog — runs 1 to 8 tomorrow, one swap per person, and they will take a partial six-pack if that is genuinely what is in your fridge. Whatever you hand over gets disposed of responsibly and off the premises, which is a very polite way to put it. The birthday lineup landed too: Melinda, Ibex Clone, Optic Sink and a Goner Records DJ on the Shell's mobile stage. Free, 1 PM to midnight, 2783 Broad Ave. Details

🎟️ Looking Ahead

Taste of the District presale closes Monday — the Memphis Medical District's food night is Tuesday, October 6, 4 to 6 at Medical District Park: samples from dozens of local kitchens, and the Shell's mobile stage out yet again. Presale pricing ends August 31. Details

The Cooper-Young 4-Miler wants volunteers — the race is Friday, September 18, and the neighborhood association is signing people up now. Trestlefest afterward: pizza, beer, and yacht rock. Details

🏡 Community Corner

You answered the chainsaw question. Tuesday we asked who showed up on your street after Saturday's storm. A reader wrote back about a Berclair congregation that stopped for a quick moment to ask anyone with freezer space to raise a hand and take somebody else's food before it turned — and by the end of the weekend, a quarter of that church had showered, eaten or slept at another member's house. The reader's own power was out only a couple of hours. Friends over on Janice Circle called them and their four kids for dinner and a movie anyway. That's the part of a storm week that never makes a press release, and it's why we asked.

And your 901 Day replies are landing. We asked yesterday what your corner of town is doing for Tuesday the 1st — the city is leaving that day to the neighborhoods on purpose. We're running the best of them Monday morning, so Sunday night is the cutoff. If your bar, shop, church or block is planning something, hit reply.

The tip line never closes — a pop-up, a band, a Sunday afternoon we missed — no gatekeeping — send it to hey@heymemphis.co.

That's it from us — the planning's done, the fun part's yours. See you Monday at 6.

— Josh