ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

It may be April Fools, but it’s no joke that Retro Atlanta is hot, hot, hot ‘This Week’! Come on out and see what’s on the menu this week! We’ve got all the ‘billy your little ‘ole hearts could desire! We’ve got cosmic rock! We’ve got 80s dance night! We’ve got swing and blues and jazz, Oh My! And we’ve got all the retro flicks you’ve been craving! So, leave the cold behind, get off that couch and get Retro!!

Monday, March 31

Get your little black hearts crammed full of horror rock and psychobilly at 529 with Calabrese, Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures, Crypt 24 and Radio Cult!  Or get vintage at Eddie’s Attic with Pokey LeFarge delivering some swingin’ old-time jazz, ragtime, country blues and Western swing! Owner of the Sun and The Working Effective rock out Americana and bluegrass-style at Smith’s Olde Bar! Or relive the glory days at the Morris & Rae Frank Theater as they present ‘Glory Days: The Music You Grew Up With’ celebrating the 50s and 60s with Motown, Broadway, doo-wop performances and more! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month.   Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for Marshall Ruffin! Blues it up at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack  for an extra helping of the blues with The Pork Bellies and some finger lickin’ BBQ! And get jazzy, mobster and bootlegger-style at the Woodruff Arts Center as the Alliance Theater presents Francis Ford Coppola’s star-studded ‘30s gangster flick, THE COTTON CLUB (1984) at 7:30 pm!

Tuesday, April 1

529 delivers a night of horror-billy and rockin’ bluegrass Americana with Cute Boots, The Pine Box Boys, Battlefield Collective and Blood on the Harp! Tonight indie-rock alumn Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta) rocks out with the Boogarins at The Earl! Stomp on down to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern.  Get the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with the J.T. Speed Band! City Mouse gets folksy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! It’s a night of corruption and law enforcement at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And the Midtown Art Cinema screens Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963) at 7 pm!

Wednesday, April 2

It’s a night of art punk and new-wave at the Variety Playhouse as Television deliver a little rowdy NYC rock! Maryline Blackburn gets old school and jazzy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Ryan Whitehead! Get mischievous and skank on down to the Masquerade for a night of devilish Ska and punk with Mephiskapheles, The Taj Motel Trio, and Hermits of Suburbia! Swing on by East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings! Get funky at Terminal West with Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band and the Georgia Soul Council! Get some soul at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Hollidays! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  And get criminal at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, April 3

It’s a night of soul and dance pop at Vinyl with The Mowgli’s, Misterwives and Baby Bee! Rock on down to The Earl for a screening of BREADCRUMB TRAIL (2014), Lance Bang’s documentary of post-rock pioneers, Slint and the Louisville music underground where they emerged! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a couple Mai Tais and some music by Alex Gordon Hi-Fi featuring Marshall Ruffin! And it’s your last chance to get a taste of some dirty cops at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Friday, April 4

Get cosmic and rock on down to The Star Bar and help celebrate the music of Gram Parsons, featuring Slim Chance & The Convicts, Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers, I Want Whiskey, Blake Rainey & His Demons and Rolling Nowhere! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt gets acoustic and wildly solo at the Buck Creek Tavern in High Falls! 529 delivers a night of delta psych and garage rock with Bipolaroid, Tiger! Tiger! and Kool Kat Joshua Longino with Andrew & the Disapyramids! The Strand Theater delivers a night of Bond, James Bond, as they screen Guy Hamilton’s classic spy flick, GOLDFINGER (1964) starring the one and only, Sean Connery at 8 pm, with a pre-show variety pops show at 7:30! DJ Anthony’s ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night gets rockin’ with the Lost Boys Edition at Famous Pub, and don’t miss out every Friday night with a different theme (Keep your eyes peeled for DJ Anthony’s Kool Kat interview soon!)! It’s a night of soul with The Hollidays at Big Tex! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for David Peterson of 1946 delivering some high-energy bluegrass! Swagger on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of Kansas City Blues with Atlanta Boogie! The Sweet & Salty Blues Band gets down and dirty at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Stomp on down to the Variety Playhouse for Railroad Earth and the Dead Winter Carpenters!  Webb Wilder and Gibson Wilbanks get rootsy Americana-style at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! It’s a night of Chicago and West Coast blues under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Electromatics! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of down and dirty blues with the Cody Matlock Band!  It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ at 8 pm through April 20^th!  And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, April 5

Shimmy on down to Elliott Street Pub as Kool Kat Kitty Love presents Cheeky Belles Burlesque ‘Flashbacks’ featuring music from the past eight decades and performances by Angelica Vice, Salvador Charli, Monique LaMystique, Sunshine Divine, JudyAnne Foxe, Kitty Love and so much more!  Or, get geeky and throw on your cape and get villainous at Markster Con’s Super Hero Pub Crawl beginning at the Diesel Filling Station in Virginia Highlands from 4 to 10 pm! So, come on out and save the world one drink at a time followed by costume contests and two after-parties!

The madness and absurdity that is, Kool Kat Colonel Bruce Hampton slings over 50 years worth of his funky, jazz-infused rhythm with special guest Eric Norman (Sightless Fish) at the Red Light Café!  It’s night two of Railroad Earth’s rockin’ Americana and bluegrass at the Variety Playhouse with Have Gun Will Travel! Rev on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the Charlie Sheets Band and Boomfox! For a little gutter-billy and punk, rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for The Goddamn Gallows, The Vaginas and Holy Quit! Rock on down to the Masquerade for a night of 70s/80s Canadian metal with Anvil with Leaving Babylon in Hell! Or get a taste of the 60s, greasers and drive-ins at The Strand Theater as they present Francis Ford Coppola’s classic, AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) at 8 pm with a variety pops pre-show at 7:30 pm! The Family Dog rocks out and gets some soul with The Hollidays! For a little punk-spiked bluegrass and country, rock on down to Terminal West for The Whiskey Gentry, Radiolucent and The Defibulators! Ron Cooley gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Cazanovas get bluesy at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 6

It’s a bluegrass brunch at Big Tex with Cedar Hill! Or maybe get jazzy at Steve’s Live Music with Deb Bowman during their jazz brunch at 12:30 pm!  Get retro, VHS-style at The Earl during their Found Footage Festival showcasing videos found at garage sales, thrift stores and the like, with a ‘guided tour’ by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher as they present their latest and greatest finds! And make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and get rockin’ with Fatback Deluxe!

Ongoing

It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ through April 20^th!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every other Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.