ATLRetro

Retro Atlanta gets old school and rockin’ this holiday season, promising to keep you warm and hoppin’!  So, come out and see what we have in store for you! Whether you’re lookin’ to boogie-woogie or take in some old school blues, Retro Atlanta’s where it’s at!     

Monday, December 2

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!  Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, December 3

Smith’s Olde Bar rocks out tonight with former guitarist and singer of the English punk group, The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell while getting bluesy with Jetsam in The Noose! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Drive By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood & The Downtown Ramblers!  Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots or hit up Blind Willie’s for some 60s soul and rock n roll with the The Hollidays! 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! For a night of bluegrass pickin’, stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a taste of the Georgia Crackers! For a night of fantasy, head on down to the Midtown Art Cinema as they screen Wim Wenders’ epic WINGS OF DESIRE (1987).  And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern gets 90s holiday retro as they screen Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 4

Take a trip to Purgatory where every day is Halloween, as the Masquerade horrifies with a night of sci-fi horror punk with The Koffin Kats, The Stitches and Fifty Two Ways! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some straight out blues and rock and roll with the foot stompin’ sounds of Andrew Black! Or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! 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, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings!  Spend an evening with the kings of 90’s comedy, The Farrelly Brothers, as Emory’s Cinematheque screens their gross-out comedy, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm!  And don’t’ forget to get left behind 90’s holiday-style at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 5

The Masquerade gets 70’s bluesy with the retro rock sounds of Monster Magnet, Royal Thunder, Anti-Mortem and Demonaut!  Shimmy on down to the Elliott Street Pub and spend the evening with Kool Kat Talloolah Love et al. as the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Society hosts their monthly meeting for all interested in the ultra spicy art of Burlesque at 8 pm! It’s Bluegrass Thursday at the Red Light Café, so come on down for a foot stompin’ evening with Blackbird Revival and The Matchsellers! Or make your way 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. For a little blues, rock and soul, make your way to the Clermont Lounge for a rockin’ evening with Tom Hill & The Midnight Suns! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Heather Luttrell offers up some bluegrass and Americana at Blind Willie’s! 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 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Heckle on down to The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s John McTiernan’s Christmas classic, DIE HARD (1988) at 7:30!  And it’s your last chance to catch the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s ultra 90s family holiday flick as they screen Chris Columbus’ HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 6

Get old-timey retro and boogie on down to the Variety Playhouse for an evening filled with 20s and 30s-inspired jazz with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the boogie-woogie 40’s sounds of Bombadil! For some Tom Waits-inspired dark soul and gothic pop, rock on down to The Earl for an evening with The Locksmyth, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Leopold & His Fiction and Lightnin’ Ray & The Mystics!

For an evening of magical retro-holiday goodness, make your way to the Fox Theater as they kick off their annual Holiday Tours which run until December 29, where you’ll enjoy an exclusive meet-n-greet with the cast members of The Atlanta Ballet’s THE NUTCRACKER, a magic show with Drew Thomas, some tasty treats and family pics and will have a chance to mingle with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978!  For more classic holiday fun, head on over to The Strand Theater as they kick off their ‘A Christmas Tradition’ song and dance review which runs until December 22, featuring holiday classics and a pre-show sing-a-long with Ron Carter on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ!

The Plaza Theater gets rockin’ retro-style as they screen Sini Anderson’s documentary about badass punk rocker and femme fatale riot girl, Kathleen Hanna who fronted Bikini Kill and Le Tigre in their screening of THE PUNK SINGER (2013)! And you won’t want to miss The Plaza Theater’s screening of Frank Capra’s ultra holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)! Get psychedelic at The Family Dog with Trucks, Herring, Feltman and Graham or make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar for a little Louisiana roots with Tab Benoit! The Northside Tavern gets bluesy with The Breeze Kings! Rumble on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an evening of blues, rock and soul with Rumblefish! Or get funky at Blind Willie’s with the rockin’ soul of Nick Moss!  And Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets funky with the blues sounds of Motor City Josh!

Saturday, December 7

Rev on over to Buford as Grease Inc. Magazine and Garage Seventy One as they  host their Holiday Open House & Art Show from 11 am to 7 pm, in conjunction with the North Georgia Art Ramble!  Hang out with builder, Jeff Watts of Kilowatts Kustoms and Creations and Curt Green of Bare Bones Leather as they show their eclectic collection of one-of-a-kind creations!  Come for the art and stay for the rockin’est music on air during the Rockabilly Christmas after party!  It’s an event you won’t want to miss this holiday season!

For a super rockin’ beach party, surf on over to The Star Bar and spend an evening with Kool Kat Joshua Longino of Andrew & the Disapyramids while taking in the garage blues surf punk of Deaf Poets, Eel Pie and Koko Beware!  For a little ragtime and toe-tapping bluegrass punk, make your way to the Variety Playhouse for their 5^th Annual Merry Y’all Tide Celebration featuring Whiskey Gentry and Blair Crimmins & The Hookers! Roll on over to the House of Rock as The Jagged Stones, deliver a rockin’ tribute to the Rolling Stones at their Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree Christmas Party at 7 pm! Smith’s Olde Bar gets rockin’ with the 80’s retro sounds of the White Animals and their British invasion-inspired 60’s garage punk with The Head opening with a little kitschy retro 60’s and 70’s rock in The Music Room while Hot Sauce & Honey delivers their old-school saucy burlesque rock in The Atlanta Room!  Get rocked mountain folk and Deliverance country style with Pioneer Chick’n Stand at The Family Dog!   Or stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a little rockabilly, bluegrass and Americana with Bluebilly Grit! Or get bluesy and rock on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs has Heather Luttrell while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern to catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm! Or get terminated in a bloody rampage as the Cinefest screens H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) at 7 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, December 8

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Georgia Mountain Stringband at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  Or swing on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a Jazz Lunch with the (Little) Big Band and their classic jazz, mambo, madcap swing, 30s and 40’s tunes! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ old timey country blues with Georgia Slim and The Stovetop Ramblers! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Snake Legs and you won’t want to miss the ABS Holiday Party from 2 to 7 pm at Blind Willie’s! And it’s your last chance to experience H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) and her killing spree at the Cinefest at 7 pm!

Ongoing

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22!

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29! 

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.