ATLRetro

Tuesday July 5

Grab your horn and head to Twain’s in Decatur for a Joe Gransden jazz jam session starting at 9 PM. JT Speed is at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Notorious DJ Romeo Cologne spins the best ‘70s funk and disco at 10 High in Virginia-Highland. Catch Tuesday Retro in the Metro nights at Midtown’s Deadwood Saloon, featuring live video mixes of ’80s, ’90s, and 2Ks hits.

Wednesday  July 6

The Psychedelic Furs prove they aren’t just “Pretty in Pink” by playing a double-set at The Masquerade tonight, starting with their entire raw, into-you-like-a-train second album TALK TALK TALK followed by a hits compilation. Don’t miss our preview by contributing blogger Philip Nutman on why you don’t want to miss this show whether you have you encountered the Furs early or late. ATLRetro hopes the Butler brothers (John Ashton is no longer with the band) will be back to perform their debut album and FOREVER NOW in their entirety (UK versions please!) next year.

Get ready to rumba, cha-cha and jitterbug at the weekly Swing Night at Graveyard Tavern. Deacon Brandon  Reeves bring a little soul to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck blues it down at Northside Tavern respectively. Dance to ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s hits during Retro in the Metro Wednesdays presented by Godiva Vodka, at Pub 71 in Brookhaven.

Thursday July 7

Athens-based High Strung String Band bring their cowboy folk-grass twang at Kathmandu Restaurant & Grill in Clarkston. The Hot Rod Walt Trio, the acoustic side to the Psycho-Devilles, plays with The Serenaders, making it a rockabilly night at The 5 Spot. Read last week’s Kool Kat on Hot Rod Walt here. All Thursday shows at the Asian restaurant are free and all-ages. Go vintage Polynesian to Tongo Hiti’s luxurious live lounge sounds, as well as some trippy takes on iconic pop songs, just about every Thursday night at Trader Vic’s. Party ‘70s style with DJ Romeo Cologne at Aurum Lounge. Breeze Kings and Chickenshack bring on the blues respectively at Northside Tavern & Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.Bluegrass Thursday at Red Light Cafe features The Red Light All-Stars Band.

Friday, July 8

Purchase a cool drink from a glamorous gal and support local animal shelters and rescue nonprofits when Pin-Up Girl Cosmetics in Grant Park sets up Ernie’s Lemonade Stand between 2-9 p.m. Delectable owner Kellyn Willey is this week’s Kool Kat. Blair Crimmins & The Hookers take their ’20s ragtime sound OTP to the 1935 art-deco Earl Smith Strand Theatre in Marietta. Catch an IMAX movie and swing the night away under dinosaur bones with sultry gypsy jazzy The Bonaventure Quartet(featuring Amy Pike of The Lost Continentals) at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX.

Come on and get swanky tonight with Las Vegas surf trio Thee Swank Bastards at Mon Cherie’s Rockabilly Lounge in Purgatory at Masquerade. Also live on stage are burlesque beauties The Chameleon Queen, Stormy Knight, New Orleans Jon, Scarlett Page, Hollie De Veaux and Kittie Katrina, plus as usual Rev. Andy spinning Psychobilly Freakout, free jello shots, vendors and a Ragin’ Rockabilly Raffle. Indigo Girls plays under the stars at Atlanta Botanical Garden (We guess they’re kind of getting Retro by now). Take your tambourine to the park as the Classic Chastain series teams the  Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with ABBA tribute band The Arrival to perform the hits of Swedish ’70s super-group.

Saturday July 9

The Mystery Men? seek to hypnotize audiences with their energetic surf sounds at 529. Surf compadrees eL fOSSIL and drive-in horror movie-inspired Kill Baby Kill from Alabama open. The Hot Rod Walt Trio is at the Jailhouse Brewing Company in Hampton. Blues pianist extraordinaire Ike Stubblefield tickles the ivories at Northside Tavern. Indigo Girls do a second night at Atlanta Botanical Garden. And of course, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours.

Sunday July 3

Nineties Hip hop/rap duo Tag Team return to headline blues “dunch” between 1 and 4 PM at The Earl. Return to the glory days of ’80s hair metal at Lakewood Amphitheatre with Motley Crue and Poison, with oddly and appropriately what’s left of the New York Dolls opening to screw with audience’s heads.

Ongoing

At the High, RADCLIFFE BAILEY: MEMORY AS MEDICINE, the most comprehensive exhibition of the Atlanta artist’s works to date, opened last Sunday June 26 and runs through Sept. 11. Read more about the artist and this powerful exhibition that in this Kool Kat.

JOHN MARIN’S WATERCOLORS: A MEDIUM FOR MODERNISM, a companion exhibit also at the High this summer through Sept. 11, surveys the work of the man named America’s number one artist in a 1948 LOOK magazine survey. While his name is not a household one today, this exhibition reminds us of his important place in the modernist movement and why watercolors became such a powerful instrument for avante-garde art in the hands of him and other artists in the Stieglitz Circle, including Georgia O’Keefe.

MODERN BY DESIGN, the High‘s other Retro exhibition, celebrates three key moments in modern design and also the Museum of Modern Art, New York‘s (MOMA) collection history. The works on loan from MOMA cover “Machine Art” (1934), “Good Design” (1950-55) and “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” (1972), with the latter addressing modernism in the context of 1960s and ’70s counterculture.

The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA)‘s newest exhibit WaterDream: The Evolution of Bathroom Design, runs through Sept. 24 in the dynamic new Midtown space. Displays take visitors through a four-part journey into the bathroom from the birth of minimalist aesthetics in 20th century design to current concepts.

Get a rare chance to view original manuscript pages from the last four chapters of ATLANTA’S BOOK: THE LOST GONE WITH THE WINDMANUSCRIPTat the Atlanta History Center. The new exhibit, which opens today and runs through Sept. 5, is part of a series of activities celebrating the 75th anniversary of the publication of the international bestseller and also includes foreign and first edition copies, the desk Margaret Mitchell used while writing it and select images.

Tune back in on Friday for Weekend Update. If you know of a cool happening that we’ve missed, send suggestions to ATLRetro@gmail.com.