ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Get spooked in Retro Atlanta this week! As the days creep closer and closer to that most haunted pinnacle of fright and terror, Retro Atlanta shows you where to find the shock and horror you’re lusting! Atlanta gets Retro this week with monsters and spooks and martians, oh my! And don’t forget, Retro Atlanta always offers a retro-rockin’ good time! So, don’t be a scaredy cat and come on out and play! We can’t promise you’ll make it home alive, but we can promise you a horrifying good time!  

Monday, October 14

Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and forget all about the Monday Blues with the soulful vocals with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And get yer rockin’ blues and soul fix with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! 

Tuesday, October 15

If you’re craving some old-school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for the BB King and Ray Charles sounds coming from Timo Arthur! Mosey on down to Steve’s Live Music for their Bluegrass pickin’ and Folk Sing-a-long, led by Hank Weisman! 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. Do you believe in the boogey man? Sleepwalk on down to Elm Street and get haunted in your dreams as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern terrifies in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presentation of Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) at 7:30 pm!

Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics

Wednesday, October 16

Get ready to roll on the floor and laugh out loud as Emory’s Cinematheque pulls all the punches in their American Comedy Classics series and catch their screening of Leo McCarey’s THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) starring Cary Grant at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! Put on your dancin’ shoes and skip on over to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month (schedule will be back to normal in November), promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie with the Savoy Kings! The Star Bar is ready to feed your ears with the rockin’ sounds of Rodney “The Pie Guy” Henry of the Glenwood Popes and t.v. superstar pie maker along with special guests, VITO ROMEO featuring members of The Booze, Sharp Dressed Lads and Don Dupree! Or make a trip to the Tabernacle for a night of 50’s and 60’s soul and R&B presented by the groovin’ Kool Kats Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics!  Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some straight out blues and rock and roll with the foot stompin’ sounds of Andrew Black!  Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. Whatever you do…don’t fall asleep! Because you won’t want to miss a single terrifying second as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presents Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) in their matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, October 17

Hey all you dapper little children! Are you ready for a zoot suit riot!? What about that rockin’ devilish swing your mama warned you about?  Get rebellious! Put on your dancin’ shoes and hop on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night of maniacal swing from the one and only Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, kings of the 90s swing revival and King Daddy Pole Cats, that will leave you breathless and begging for more! Former member of The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds headline at The Star Bar, so come on and rock out! Head on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Get chipper and head on down to The Plaza Theater for a taste of The Coen Brothers’ FARGO (1996) during their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern presents the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings. Get whiskey-soaked and foot stomped with the Americana and blues wailings of Heather Luttrell & The Possum Den at Blind Willie’s while Donna Hopkins spreads her swampy funk with a dash of John Lee Hooker at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! It’s a night of jazzy swing with a taste of Ella at the Red Clay Theatre as Annie Sellick’s Quartet takes the stage at 8 pm! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. And it’s your last chance to get fatally up close (if you dare!) to that horrifying dream master himself, Freddy Kreuger, as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series presents Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) at 7:30!

Friday, October 18

Get spooked as the Oakland Cemetery captures the spirit of Oakland in their Halloween Tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark, so come on out and make new ghostly pals and maybe even a kindred spirit! Tours begin at 5:30 pm! Ferst Center for the Arts hosts The Hot Club of San Francisco, a jazzy gypsy ensemble, as they present “Cinema Vivant”, an evening of vintage silent films accompanied by the sounds of Django Reinhardt’s gypsy swing and 1920s Paris at 8 pm!

If you’re craving something a little more sinister, a little more over-the-top, spend an evening in Hell at the Masquerade with ‘Dracula’s nasty little brother’ and carnival barker better known (or maybe not) as Unknown Hinson, adding a little psycho overdrive to that ‘billy music of the 50s and 60s!  Or head on down to the Star Bar for a rockin’ night out with Stallion, preceded by a guzzlin’ good time with Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters of the ‘late scumbag revival’ beltin’ out those rockabilly tunes as well as Banned in ATL, a tribute to the 80s punk-core band Bad Brains! Get a taste of the Rockaholics and their bluesy renditions at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Blind Willie’s hosts House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows! Steve’s Live Music gets jazzy with the rockin’ folky blues of Randall Bramblett! Cha-cha on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and dance the night away at their Salsa Dance Night featuring the Salsambo Dance Studio!

Get comfy and cozy with the creatures of the night at The Plaza Theater for their October Fright Fest featuring the horror films of yesteryear and a frightening good time! Get horrified as you view the German expressionistic film, directed by F.W. Murnau, NOSFERATU (1922) releasing the darkly morbid, blood-sucking beast, Vampire Count Orlok to the masses, James Whale of Universal Pictures’ FRANKENSTEIN (1931) starring Boris Karloff as The Monster, the Halperin Brothers’ WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) featuring Bela Legosi, James Whale’s THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) starring Claude Rains and Herk Harvey’s film that inspired the wickedly disturbed mind of David Lynch, CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962). It’s an evening of shock and terror you won’t want to miss!

Saturday, October 19

Today is the day all you ghosts and goblins have been waiting for! Little Five Points business district hosts its 13th annual Little Five Points Halloween Festival & Parade!  So, come on out dressed to the nines in your spookiest Halloween costume and get haunted! Get fed! Get rocked! And get your flesh to the best Halloween parade in the south!  The event wakes from the dead at noon and haunts until 11 pm, with an artists’ market, food venders including Palookaville, the Naked Donut Company and many more as well as two stages for live entertainment, The Jagermeister Stage, located in Findley Plaza and the Wrecking Bar Brewpub Stage located in the The Star Bar’s parking lot.  The spooktacular parade of horror runs from 4 to 6 pm and promises to spook even the bravest of the brave, so pick a spot and hold on tight!  Get your faces rocked off with Kool Kats galore and more at the Jagermeister Stage! Mercury Orkestar, a spitfire gypsy brass band will have you boogyin’ at 1 pm. Grim Rooster with Kool Kat Phil Stair gets down and dirty with that high energy rockin’ rockabilly at 2 pm.  Kool Kat Julea Thomerson & Her Dear Johns goes on at 3 pm, with their banjo’n foot stompin’ honkytonk while Cletus & His City Cousins will keep you dancin’ with that rockin’ big rig honkytonk at 6 pm! Kool Kat Caroline Hull Engel and her band The Ramblers will have you up and dancin’ with some heated classic rockabilly at 7 pm!  For some ‘gypsy punk garage grass’, Strung Like A Horse promises to deliver at 8 pm followed by The Higher Choir beltin’ out that roots rock and soul at 9 pm.  Head on over to the Wrecking Bar Brewpub Stage for a deadly good time as Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures wake you from the dead with their horror punk from the unknown at 2 pm.  Walk From the Gallows will keep you rockin’ with their retro-inspired rock/country at 3 pm.  After the parade surf on back to catch up with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and Andrew & the Disapyramids as they throw an unforgettable Halloween beach party at 6 pm! The Biters will get a taste of your flesh at 7 pm followed by Stonerider and their bitchin’ retro rock at 8pm!  The Locksmyth, reminiscent of Tom Waits and The Kinks will have you on your toes at 9 pm followed by Jungol gettin’ David Lynch-y and rockin’ you at 10 pm! You won’t want to miss out on the best Halloween festival around, so drag your warm bodies out of bed and head on down to Euclid Avenue!

Andrew & the Disapyramids.

Tonight is 80s night at the Variety Playhouse as the Yacht Rock Review performs their ghoulish October tradition of performing Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, in its zombified horrific entirety, followed by their MTV Party to Go! where you can embrace your inner neon child and dance the night away to the dance music of ’87 to ‘92 at 7:30 pm!  If you need a little more hard-core 80s, rock on over to the Drunken Unicorn for a  night of Guitar Wolf, those rockers from Japan who’ll leave you begging for more of their Ramones and rockabilly sounds! Watch out ladies! If you want his body, and you think he’s sexy, come out and spend the night with Rod Stewart as he takes over Atlanta at Philips Arena with Steve Winwood!  If you need something a little on the mellow side, check out Audience Wanted: An Eclectic Evening of Dance presented by the Georgia Ballet with dance accompanied by the music of Nat King Cole and other jazz legends at the Marietta Performing Arts Center.  The Bitteroots’ tangy, soulful funk can be found at Big Tex while The Boohoo Ramblers will make you boogie-woogie on down at The Family Dog.  Fat Matt’s Rib Shack offers their ‘retro rock repertoire’ with The Tone Prophets while Francine Reed gets intimate and bluesy wild at Blind Willie’s.  For some countrified blues, head on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the Tom Lennon Band! And to get a taste of some true ‘punk grass’ bluesy Texas swing, boogie on over to the Red Clay Theater to spend an evening with Grace & Tory, The Wicks and Penny & Sparrow at 8 pm! 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, October 20

Witness the truth and come celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the most horrific broadcast of the 20th century, Orson Welles’ 1938 War of The World broadcast that terrified the nation, presented by the Atlanta Radio Theater Company at the Morris & Rae Frank Theater’s production of WAR OF THE WORLD: THE UNTOLD STORY in Dunwoody! Find out what really transpired on this one day only event where you learn about the martian invasion that began it all and how the extermination of humanity was really averted! You won’t want to miss this truly momentous revelation with only two showings at 2:30 and 7:30 pm!

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Decatur Bluegrass Association at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Get a sneak peak of the choreography of Gathering Wild Dance Company’s newest creation, Circa 50, in their free event at Dance 101, ‘Party Like it’s 1955’ throwing a 1950’s style party from 4 to 6 pm!  Get funky at The Earl with Grupo Fantasma’s Latin Funk Orchestra and Heavy Chevy!  The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Fatback Deluxe belts out their retro blues, soul and jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!  The Appleseed Collective offers a little of their ragtime, sweaty soul at Smith’s Olde Bar while Poor Old Shine gets down and dirty with some foot stompin’ Americana at Eddie’s Attic! Blues it on down to the Northside Tavern for the sounds of Uncle Sugar or come out and experience the Joni Mitchell Tribute Dinner Show at 6 pm, featuring Margo Bernstein, Kim Chamberlain and more at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! And it’s your last chance to find out what really happened in the Coen Brothers’ FARGO (1996) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series!

Ongoing

Atlanta Zombie Apocolypse runs from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2. 

Netherworld haunts from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2.

Six Flags’ Fright Fest spooks every weekend from Oct. 5 through Oct. 27.

Oakland Cemetery’s Halloween Tours haunt  Thursday & Sundays 5:30 – 9:30, Friday & Saturdays – 5:30 – 10:30, so, come on out for their spooky one-hour ghost tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark! Runs Oct. 18 through Oct. 27.

Center for Puppetry Arts’s THE WIZARD OF OZ follows the yellow brick road until Oct 20. (W-F 10 & 11:30, Sat 12 & 2 and Sun 1 & 3 pm) (LAST CHANCE!)

Serenbe Playhouse’s THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE chills and thrills from Oct. 10 through Oct. 31

The Stage Door Players’ presentation of THE ANDREW BROTHERS: A MADCAP MUSICAL SALUTE TO THE SWINGING 40s swings from Oct. 10 through Oct. 20. (LAST CHANCE!)

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

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.