Where to GO this week!

Friday

Aug. 29

Thriller

Michael it’s your birthday, happy birthday, Michael! The King of Pop would have turned 56 today (if not for his untimely death in 2009), so celebrate his life and work at the Morbid Anatomy Museum’s Michael Jackson Karaoke Birthday Party. In addition to the aforementioned singing, Brooklyn photographer Shannon Taggart will give a talk on “the curious afterlife of Michael Jackson.”

8 pm at the Morbid Anatomy Museum [424A Third Ave. at the corner of Seventh Street in Gowanus, www.morbi‌danat‌omy.blogs‌pot.com). $20.

68 reasons this reading will blow your mind: BuzzFeed, the internet’s premier source of list-based journalism, is putting on a live reading at the Bell House on Sept. 4.

Associated Press / William B. Plowman / Invision for BuzzFeed

Saturday

Aug. 30

Grand slamming

Why go to Queens to watch the U.S. Open with the masses, when you can catch it in comfort right here in the borough of Kings? Brooklyn’s front lawn is showing all the matches on a big screen, and on weekends, the first 500 attendees to arrive will also receive a special picnic basket filled with edible goodies. Advantage Brooklyn!

11 am at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 [Old Fulton and Furman streets in Brooklyn Heights, www.brook‌lynbr‌idgep‌ark.org]. Free.

Monday

Sept. 1

Carnival cruise

It is Labor Day in Brooklyn, which means a sea of feathers and steel drums down Eastern Parkway. Yes, it is the annual West Indian Day Parade, celebrating the city’s Caribbean communities and culture via a huge street party through Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. Get in early to get a good view.

Man in the mirror: Sing happy birthday to Michael Jackson at the Michael Jackson Karaoke Birthday Party on Aug. 29.

Associated Press / Cliff Schiappa

11 am–6 pm on Eastern Parkway (Between Schenectady Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights, www.wiadc‌acarn‌ival.org). Free.

Wednesday

Sept. 3

Through his eyes

In its latest film series, the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrates the work of legendary documentarian Les Blank, who captured some of America’s most idiosyncratic musicians and subcultures in his almost 50-year career. Today, you can catch a doubleheader of 1995’s “Sworn to the Drum,” about Cuban jazz musician Francisco Aguabella, and 1973’s “Hot Pepper,” about Clifton Chenier — also known as the “King of Zydeco.”

5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm at BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, (718) 636–4100, www.bam.org]. $14.

Don’t miss a shot: Catch Venus Williams at the 2014 U.S. Open on the big screen at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Associated Press / Elise Amendola

Thursday

Sept. 4

Viral inflections

Will this be LOL or WTF? BuzzFeed, the website everyone loves to hate, and the Toast, the website everyone just loves, are teaming up for “BuzzFeed Live,” a reading event featuring writers from both sites as well as author and transgender activist Janet Mock.

7 pm at the Bell House [149 Seventh St. between Second and Third avenues, (718) 643–6510, www.thebe‌llhou‌seny.com]. $10.

Blank slate: “Hot Pepper,” a documentary on Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier screens at the BAM Rose Cinemas as part of its retrospective of documentarian Les Blank.

Flower Films / Photofest