ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Baby, it’s gettin’ cold outside! But no worries! Retro Atlanta promises to get you warm and toasty with a week of rockin’ good times, filled to the brim with nostalgic holiday goodness! So get hep to the jive and come on out to see what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!

Monday, December 7

Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic and start your week with Oxford American Magazine’s annual Southern Music Issue Launch Party featuring Kool Kat Col. Bruce Hampton & the Madrid Express, Robert Lee Coleman and more! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for a screening of Henry Koster’s THE BISHOP’S WIFE (1947), running through Dec. 10! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Get funky and 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!’ Blues it up with Bill Sheffield at Blind Willie’s! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta!

Tuesday, December 8

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema dishes out classic cinema with a screening of Elia Kazan’s classic, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), screening in 35mm at 7pm! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café as Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South present their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Naughty or Nice event! Have a slapstick holiday at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Jeremiah S. Chechik’s NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Catch Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) at 7pm! The Charles D. Switzer Public Library presents Anthony Mann’s THE NAKED SPUR (1953) at 12pm! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! 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, December 9

Psychobilly on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with The Living Deads, Southern Ska Syndicate and Cadillac Junkies! Catch a second screening of Jeremiah S. Chechik’s NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Or make your way to the Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; and AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville for a 25th Anniversary screening of Chris Cameron’s HOME ALONE (1990) at 7:3opm! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! 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, December 10

It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and The Disapyramids! 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! 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, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, December 11

Geek it up at Diesel Filling Station for their 4th Annual Atlanta Bar Wars: The Crawl Awakens event! Shake a tail feather at the Red Light Café for DJ Doctor Q’s Speakeasy Electro Swing Year End Birthday Bash, featuring Kool Kat Talloolah Love and more! Dance on over to the Fox Theatre for the Atlanta Ballet’s opening performance of THE NUTCRACKER, running through Dec. 27! Blues it up with Sandra Hall at Blind Willie’s! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with the Atlanta Rhythm Section! Rev out with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt as he goes solo and acoustic in the Little Vinyl Lounge! Blues it up under the dinosaurs with The Electromatics at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! 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, December 12

Spend the night with The King at the Variety Playhouse as Kool Kat “Big” Mike Geier delivers his annual Kingsized Holiday Jubilee & Toy Drive with Dames Aflame! Or slum it up at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club for their 9th Annual Gingerbread Trailer Park event! Surf on down, holiday-style, to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp holiday event featuring Chad Shivers & the Silent Knights, The One & Only Bill Davis and The Home Alones, dishing out The Ventures and The Beach Boys’ Christmas albums! Get legendary at The Earl as Stax Records legend William Bell gets some soul! Celebrate 100 years of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” at the Lefont Theatre as they screen Lewis Milestone’s OCEAN’S 11 (1960) at 10:30am! Blues it up with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at the Northside Tavern! Get jazzy with Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Ferst Center! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles fire it up at Deep South Deli & Pub in McDonough! 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, December 13

Spend the night with the “King of Kink” John Waters, at the Variety Playhouse and get Holier & Dirtier! Sing along holiday-style at Pallookaville with Mr. Puddles, Mr. Bigfoot, Matthew Kaminski and more (7pm/9:30pm)! Catch a screening of Chris Columbus’ holiday classic, HOME ALONE (1990) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) at 2pm! Get old-timey with Dr. Ralph Stanley at Eddie’s Attic! Make your way to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club for their annual Lovecrafts: Treasures From the Deep local artists’ sale and more, from 2-6pm! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The Shakespeare Tavern presents Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” through Dec. 23!

The Alliance Theatre presents Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol”, running through Dec. 24!

Center for Puppetry Arts presents their annual puppet adaptation of Larry Roemer’s holiday classic RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964), sleighing through Dec. 27!

Atlanta Ballet presents THE NUTCRACKER at the Fox Theatre, running through Dec. 27!

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.