ATLRetro

Friday, August 26

Nophest 2011 rocks 529, The Earl and Joe’s in East Atlanta tonight from 7 p.m. on, including plenty of garage, blues, alt and bands with cool Retro-inspired names like Swank Sinatra and MataHaris. All-female Elvis tribute band The Pelvis Breastlies, Japanese-monster-inspired garage group Gargantua, hard rockers Ledfoot Messiah and whiskey-fueled rock rebels The Six Shot Revival make for a sizzling pop culture-fueled Friday night at the Star Bar. It’s the popular Tango Nightat Callanwolde. Come at 8 p.m. for lessons with Tango Rio, or at 9 p.m., just for a dance party in the vintage mansion.  The Breeze Kings bring on the blues at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX. The Rockaholics play blues, classic rock and soul at Fat Matt’s. Whiskey Belt honky-tonks it up at Hottie Hawg’s. CineProv! trips up THE RUNNING MAN, the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner based on a Stephen King novel, at Relapse Theatre.

GSU’s Cinefest celebrates its 20th anniversary with special screenings of two ’90s cult classics with plenty of Retro spirit, PULP FICTION and TRAINSPOTTING. Friday showtimes are 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. respectively.  DOCTOR ZHIVAGO graces the big screen at art-deco Marietta movie palace, the Earl Smith Strand Theatre.

Whiskey Belt.

Saturday August 27

Get outdoors and enjoy live music, vendors, Corks and Forks – A Fine Food and Wine Event, a 5K run and kids’ activities in one of Atlanta’s oldest parks during the 9th Annual Grant Park Summer Shade Festival. Sat. band highlights include one-of-a-kind ’60s/’70s/’80s AOR tribute band AM Gold at 7 p.m. and one of our favorite local country duos Whiskey Belt at 5:30 p.m.

V.A.M.P. it up at the Vintage Apparel Marketplace, a vendors showcase organized by Pony Up! Vintage from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Scott Lowden Photography Studio in Poncey-Highland. Good Food Truck will provide tasty vittles, and Sweet Darlin’ Photography will take vintage photos. Watch for a Shop Around preview with co-hostess Jacqueline Stringham soon.

H.P. Lovecraft meets Boris Karloff in DIE, MONSTER, DIE (1965), this month’s Silver Scream Spookshowcreature feature at the Plaza Theatre. OK, it’s light on the Lovecraft but this mad scientist tale of a radioactive meteorite that mutates plant and animal life is fiendish fun and a cult classic. Plus it’s preceded by 30 minutes by another of Ghost Host with the Most Professor Morte‘s horror-ifically humorous pre-shows. Be there or be scared. Kids under 12 get in free to the 1 p.m. matinee (adults only $7) or stay up late for the 10 p.m. adult show. Tune back later this week for our Retro Review by long-time Fangoriawriter Philip Nutman. Also screening today is a rare 35 mm print of 1970 horror cult classic EQUINOX at 3 p.m. at Cinefest, along with more 20th anniversary screenings of PULP FICTION and TRAINSPOTTING. And it’s one enchanted evening with SOUTH PACIFIC on the big screen at 8 p.m. at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre.

Nophest 2011 continues to rock 529, The Earl, Joe’s, and Eastside Lounge in East Atlanta today from 3 p.m. on, with more garage, blues, alt and more, including ATLRetro retrobilly faves The Serenaders (Joe’s, 5 p.m.). You don’t have to wait till Drive Invasion next weekend to party with that event’s most notorious cocktail-hounds. Trailer Vic’s Beach Party promises a tiki hut, rug-cutting good time at The Earl with multiple musical acts spanning a variety of Retro-groovy sounds, including rock to the max from The Booze, Goth-Rockabilly Troubadour sounds from Dan Sartain, local garage favorites Ghost Bikini, all-star Astro-chimp superstars The Disasternauts, surf sounds from Grinder Nova, Os Ossos playing next to a pool with actual beach sand in the parking lot behind, and more. Oh yeah, there’ll be cocktails. Pool opens at 2 p.m., bands start at 3 p.m.

Mudcat plays Northside Tavern.  Cazanovas bring Chicago style blues to Hottie Hawg’s BBQ. And of course, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours.

Sunday August 28

Another great silent movie FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926), starring Greta Garbo in her first American screen appearance, plays at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre. While not as big and ornate as the Fox, the Strand, built in 1935, nevertheless is another stunning art deco venue to see a classic film with its own Mighty Allen Theatre Organ and Ron Carter providing the score live. In fact, for preserving a 1920s tradition, Ron is this week’s Kool Kat.

Meanwhile, over at the Fabulous Fox, the Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival closes out with a 70th anniversary screening of the Orson Welles classic CITIZEN KANE at 7:30 p.m.; arrive by 7 p.m. not to miss the Mighty Mo organ singalong, cartoon and classic newsreel. The 9th Annual Grant Park Summer Shade Festival continues with Ghost Riders Car Club hitting the festival stage at 2 p.m. Read ATLRetro’s Feb. Kool Kat with Spike Fullerton here. Lots of other great local bands, so be sure to check the Website for the complete schedule. Whiskey Belt plays blues “dunch” between 1-4 PM at The Earl. Watch for his interview soon. Kevn Kinney, of Drivin n Cryin, plays a solo gig at Park Tavern.  Tony Bryant reps four generations of Georgia blues at Fat Matt’s.

Ongoing

RADCLIFFE BAILEY: MEMORY AS MEDICINE, the most comprehensive exhibition of the Atlanta artist’s works to date, runs through Sept. 11 at the High Museum of Art. Read more about the artist and this powerful exhibition 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.

The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA)‘s current 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 WIND MANUSCRIPTat the Atlanta History Center. The exhibit runs through Sept. 5 and 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 Mitchellused 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.