ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you Kool Kats and Kittens! It’s Geeks ‘n’ Glory this week as Dragon Con 2015 invades our city! We’ve got all the sci-fi geekery your hearts could desire! We’ve got a whole lotta honky-tonk shenanigans, sci-fi film classics and more in film this week! And you won’t want to miss all the blues, punk and rock ‘n’ roll mischief! So, get out and get Retro!

Monday, August 31

Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Get down with Domino, featuring Greg Hester at Blind Willie’s! 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! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, with a different theme every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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, September 1

It’s sci-fi madness at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema’s “Tuesday Sci-Fi Classics” series, so get intergalactic with Stanley Kubrick and his classic, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) at 7pm! Or get adventurous with the Dread Pirate Roberts at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Rob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! The Earl rocks out and mixes it up with the rockin’ country jazz of Earth and Holy Sons! Or get your psych fix with The Space Merchants and Weird Sin at 529! It’s Americana Open Mic Night at the Red Light Café, so stomp on down as Beedle Andrews dishes out a night of bluegrass, folk, blues, jazz and more! It’s a night of trivia and corndogs at Pallookaville, with their “Trivial Matters” event! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their ‘80s Dance Night! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, September 2

Sinister side-show shenanigans ensue at the Lefont Theatre with a one-time screening of Darren Lynn Bousman’s ALLELUIA! THE DEVIL’S CARNIVAL (2015) at 8pm, with pre-show fun with the filmmakers, burly-q, clowns and more! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! It’s your last chance to adventurous with the Dread Pirate Roberts at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Rob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! It’s maniacal mayhem at the Alliance Theatre as they present ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, running through Sept. 20! 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! Make your way to the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) for a screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) at 7:30pm! Get funky with The Georgia Flood’s rockin’ blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! Rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, September 3

Kick off Dragon*Con 2015 with the rockin’ gypsy cabaret duo, Kool Kat Frenchy & the Punk, along with Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands and Good Co. at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta at 8:30pm! 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! Get ‘yer medieval geek on at the The New American Shakespeare Tavern as they host their Much Ado About Nerddom III: A Geeky Variety Show, featuring Three Quarter Ale, Scene Missing Magazine, the Imperial OPA Circus, a magic show by Matt Felten and bawdy burlesque by the Hysteria Machines, Musee du Coeur and more! Get your gothabilly and old-time bluegrass fix at The Earl with Slim Cessna’s Auto Club and Cold Heart Canyon! Honkytonk on down to The Star Bar for a night with West End Motel, James Leg (Black Diamond Heavies) and Chance McColl! Angie Aparo gets folksy at Eddie’s Attic! Man Man and Shilpa Ray dish out a night of experimental garage ‘n’ bluesy rock at Aisle 5! Get old-timey and stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Jericho Woods! 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! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! 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, September 4

Get your uber geek on, starting today, as the 29th Annual premier sci-fi convention, Dragon*Con 2015, kicks off, running through Sept. 6! It’ll be an event chock full of rockin’ retro shenanigans, including a comic/pop artist alley featuring a special art exhibit celebrating 75 years of Marvel Comics, a special signing of MARCH: VOLUME II by Congressman John Lewis, sci-fi classics, alternative history, comics, pop-art, fantasy, horror, paranormal, sci-fi literature, Star Wars, Tolkien, Star Trek and more!

The Red Light Café delivers a night of rockin’ blues with Katharine Cole, Humdinger and Daniel Morrow! Get some soul with Marcus Miller at the Variety Playhouse! Make your way to Decatur Square for the Decatur Book Festival featuring lectures, book signings and over 600 national and local authors, running through Sept. 6! Jazz it up with Randy Skinner & the Skin-Tones at Stagga’ Lee’s Goodtime Emporium! Blues it up with the Men in Blues at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! John Sosebee delivers a night of hillbilly and old-time blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the blues with Lola at the Northside Tavern! Stomp on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night with the Texas KGB! 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, September 5

It’s day 2 of Dragon*Con 2015! So, sci-fi it up with a whole lotta retro goodies! You won’t want to miss the Dragon*Con Parade at 10 am; Kool Kat Talloolah Love’s Glamour Geek Review; Lips Down on Dixie’s largest ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW event; a screening of Kool Kat Ricky Hess’ HORROR HOTEL episode, ALIENS STOLE MY BOYFRIEND; a performance from Kool Kat Frenchy & the Punk; the Hero’s & Villains Ball and so much more!

Punk out surf-style with Kool Kat Kate Jan and SEX BBQ, with their “Sex Noir City” album release party at 529, with New Junk City, Hello Cobra, Louie Louie and The Imperial OPA Circus! Or get your swampy gypsy rag-time sideshow fix at The Star Bar with Mayhaley’s Grave, Captain & Maybelle and Bonemeal Baker! Get geeky while glamming it up at Mary’s during their Dungeons & Drag Queens event, featuring demons, intergalactic divas, 8-bit video game heroes and more! Boogie on down to the Variety Playhouse for “Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical”, celebrating the life and music of Sylvester, the original ‘70s “Queen of Disco”! Get some rockabilly blues with Atomic Boogie at Good ‘ol Days Bar & Grill! The Red Light Café delivers a night with Justin Hylton, Jordan Igoe and Jason Waller! Make your way to the Aurora Cineplex for their screening of Les Blank’s A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON (1974) at 7pm! Get bluesy with Willy Jackson at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of rockin’ blues with the Larry Mitchell Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Blues it up and celebrate with Randy Chapman’s Birthday Bash at the Northside Tavern! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, September 6

It’s day 3 of Dragon*Con 2015, so sci-fi it up and get geek-filled with a whole lotta shenanigans, including another performance from Kool Kat Frenchy & the Punk; the Mechanical Masquerade; Kool Kat Daniel Griffith/Ballyhoo Motion Pictures’ event, MST3K Wars: The Network Strikes Back, a late night puppet slam and so much more! Get groovy as Swami Gone Bananas gets down at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Get your stompin’ Americana fix at Kavarna with Blackfoot Daisy! Blues it up with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Rock on down to the Crimson Moon Café for their Boomers Gone Wild event, delivering a night of ‘60s and ‘70s covers!And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Alliance Theatre presents ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, running through Sept. 20!

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

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

The Star Bar delivers Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, every Tuesday!

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.