ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you Kool Kats and Kittens! Come see what’s on the menu this week in Retro Atlanta! We promise it’s the bees knees and that’ll we’ll have you boogyin’ the night away! We’ve got Big Band and Rockabilly and Horrific Monsters, Oh My! We’ve got all the cinema of yore you’ve been craving and don’t forget about our tried and true Blues and Jazz that’ll keep you on your toes! So, get off that couch and rock out Retro-style!

Monday, February 2

Let the geeky guys and debaucherous dolls of Blast-Off Burlesque start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Hey all you rude boys and girls! Skank on down to the Masquerade for a night with Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake and Authority Zero! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! Make your way to the Gresham Library for their screening of Edward Zwick’s GLORY (1989) at 2pm. Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, February 3

Get geeky and delve into the comic book panic of the ‘50s at the Onyx Theatre in Kennesaw with their world premiere performance of “Bloody Pulp: Crisis in the American Comic Book!”, running through Feb. 8! Or get your fill of dark humor and satirical shenanigans at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Mel Brooks’, BLAZING SADDLES (1974), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up at Blind Willie’s! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, followed by ‘80s Dance Night! The Crosstown All Stars dish out a night of stompin’ rock ‘n’ blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, February 4

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets bluesy at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! It’s your last chance to laugh it up at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Mel Brooks’, BLAZING SADDLES (1974), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Stomp down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Mendingwall, Crash Dragon and Lebo & the Rattler! Get funky with Josh Hoyer & the Shadowboxers at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Boogie on down to 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 down and dirty with The Cazanovas at Blind Willie’s! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar as they get smokin’ during their Slim Chicken Honky-tonk Extravaganza, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! Blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, February 5

Kool Kat Spike Fullerton with Ghost Riders Car Club delivers a night of rockin’ shenanigans at the Clermont Lounge! Get your ‘70s power pop ‘n’ rock fix at The Earl with The Head, A. Sinclair and Tedo Stone! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s, so hula on down for a night of rockin’ island tunes! Folk it up at the Red Light Café with Rye Baby and Tara Mills! Bluegrass it up with Jim White and The Packway Handle Band at Eddie’s Attic! It’s a rockin’ night of Americana at Smith’s Olde Bar with Jordan Igoe, Alex Commins & Todd Prusin and Humdinger! Get down and dirty with Lola at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Spend the evening with As of Yet at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! 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! And as always, get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, February 6

Get traumatized and HORROR-fied this weekend as the Days of the Dead Convention takes over the Sheraton Atlanta hotel for three days of ghastly gore-filled events, running through Feb. 8! You won’t want to miss terrifying vendors, including Kool Kat Chris Hamer of UrbnPop, Chambers of Horror, Noel Saabye’s Monster Pin-Ups and more; monstrous celebrity guests Butch Patrick, masked menace Kane Hodder of FRIDAY THE 13TH fame, Tony Todd, a HELLRAISER Reunion with Valentina Vargas, Doug Bradley and more; and a hell raisin’ Friday night party featuring Circus Envy & the Deadly Sins and Captain & Maybelle at midnight! So, get your fill of the blood-bath that is, Days of the Dead!

Rev it up with Kool Kat Reverend Andy Hawley of Garage71 Radio and EAV Radio at the Diesel Filling Station as he spins a night of hellacious ‘billy and old-school punk and metal, during his “Reverend Andy Meets the Belligerent Monkey” event! Or let Dale Watson fill yer ears with some old-time country at Smith’s Olde Bar, with special guests JD Wilkes & the Dirt Daubers! Get your second helping of Jim White and The Packway Handle Band at Eddie’s Attic! Shimmy on down to Center Stage for this month’s Clubesque: A Modern Cabaret event! Get eclectic with a rockin’ cello at the Red Clay Theatre with Montana Skies! Folk it up with MIPSO at the Crimson Moon Café! It’s a Valentine’s Cabaret at the Atlanta Lyric Theatre in Marietta with their presentation of “That Thing Called Love” at 7pm! Bluegrass it up with the Yonder Mountain String Band at the Variety Playhouse! Let Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles fire you up at Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville! Get your retro rock fix at The Earl with Radio Birds, Stonerider and Melodime! Blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Blues it up with Ted Bauman at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of vintage folk and Americana at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Little Country Giants and Steve Baskin! Get funky under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX with Secondhand Swagger! Grant Green, Jr dishes up some rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern! Sandra Hall & the Shadows get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Jeff Jensen gets bluesy at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! 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, February 7

It’s Day 2 to get spooked at the Days of the Dead Convention at the Sheraton Atlanta! Get your blood curdling fill of monstrous events including a HELLRAISER panel, Frog Brothers panel with Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander of THE LOST BOYS, Angus Scrimm, “Tall Man” in Don Coscarelli’s PHANTASM (1979) and don’t forget to haunt on over to the Monster Ball & Costume Contest that will have you rattlin’ your bones deep into the night!

Shenanigans ensue at The Star Bar because it’s HollyFest VII! Get your rockin’ fill with the music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper devilishly delivered by The Mystery Men?, Johnny McGowan, Kool Kat Caroline & the Ramblers, Cadillac Junkies, McPherson Struts, Rodeo Twister, Red Rocket Deluxe, The Tyler Nelson Experiment, Big Boss Man, The Cherry Bomb, The Side Burners, El Capitan and more! Or get rowdy with a bluegrass romp at the Red Light Café with Heyday Revival, Fuzz Face, wWAYLon and Brandon Gunter! Rock out ‘80s punk style with Evan Dando (Lemonheads) and Sara Johnston at The Earl! Delbert McClinton dishes out a night of stompin’ Americana at the Variety Playhouse! Geek it up at Atlantic Station during the Momo Con Presents: Cosplay & Ice Skating event! Boogie down to Smith’s Olde Bar for the Fare Thee Well Foundation’s 7th Annual Mardi Gras Ball featuring The Jugtime Ragband, Electric Codpiece, Hoodoo Moon and more! Get rootsy with Lindsay Loe & the Flat Bellys and Wild Ponies at the Red Clay Theatre! Blues it up with Larry Griffith at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern with the Rockaholics! Get your ‘80s fix at Kuzan’s in Suwannee with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! Blues it up with House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! The 24th Street Wailers deliver a night of Memphis soul and rockin’ swing 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, February 8

It’s Day 3 and your last chance to experience the rockin’ blood and horror fest, the Days of the Dead Convention! Today’s events include a panel covering Robert Hiltzick’s horror classic, SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983) featuring Felissa Rose and Jonathan Tiersten and you won’t want to miss Samurai Sunday with a screening of Jimmy Wang’s MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1976)! So, come on and check out all the swell and retro horror goodness while you can!

Get sweet and sinful at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club during The Baphomettes’ My Bloody Valentine Bake Sale, getting bloody with girls in horns, booze and baked goods galore, from 2 to 6pm! Or tease on down to 7 Stages for Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the Syrens of the South’s 8th Annual Vixens Valentease Vaudeville Variety Show, doors at 7:45pm! Get soulfully sentimental at the Fox Theatre’s 9th Annual Pre-Valentine “Lovers & Friends” Weekend, featuring Eric Benet, Johnny Gill and El Debarge! Get jazzy with Nat George (star of the “Sam Cooke Story”) at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Or jazz it up with Francine Reed at Eddie’s Attic! Jazz on down to Atlanta Symphony Hall for a night with Jamie Cullum! Bluegrass it up at Smith’s Olde Bar’s Bluegrass Brunch with Cedar Hill in the Bar Room! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And Stephen “The Blues Dude” gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

The Alliance Theatre presents the musical adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s “Tuck Everlasting”, running through Feb. 22!

The Marietta Museum of History gets Victorian as they present their “Peeling Back the Layers: Victorian Wedding Ensembles” exhibit through May 2, 2015!

William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum’s, “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendek in His Own Words and Pictures” getting wild through July 5!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm!

HepCat’s Hop gets swingin’ every second Wednesday of the month at the 57th Fighter Group Restaurant!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Fueling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the month!

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

The Star Bar delivers Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, followed by ‘80s Dance Night at 10pm, every Tuesday!

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.