ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Come see what’s shakin’ in Retro Atlanta this week! Rev it up, rock it out and get hep to the jive with a rockin’ menu of Atlanta’s pre-21st century shenanigans dug up just for you!

Monday, June 20

Get mischievous and surf on down to The Earl for a night with Fiend Without a Face, The Birth Defects and Bad Spell! Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library and catch a screening of Frank Capra’s classic, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944) at 10:30am! 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! Rock out and honkytonk it up with John Doe (X) and Jesse Dayton at City Winery! Fire it up with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck at Blind Willie’s! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies!

Tuesday, June 21

Get your weird “Avant Garage” fix with Pere Ubu delivering his “Coed Jail!” Tour (Songs from 1975-1982) at The Earl! Get some soul with Thunder Gypsy at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get revived post-punk style with The Wombats at Center Stage! Or let Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonk you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ! Catch a screening of Howard Hawks’ MAN’S FAVORITE SPORT (1964) at the Decatur Library! Get your retro fix at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! The Fox Theatre presents “The Wizard of Oz” through June 26, and keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview soon! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Spend the night with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah in the Little Vinyl Lounge! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Get the blues with Atlanta Boogie at Blind Willie’s! Rock out with Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project at Eddie’s Attic! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 22

It’s a night of surf noir ‘n’ garage with Midnight Larks, Stonefield and Lightnin’ Ray at The Earl! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Kool Kat Brooks Mason with The Georgia Flood get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or 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! Blues it up with Kool Kat Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo at Blind Willie’s! Bluegrass it up with Shawn Spencer at Venkman’s! Rock out again with Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project at Eddie’s Attic! Get your retro fix for another night at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! 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, June 23

Rock out with Kool Kats The Joy Kills, SheHeHe, Ganges Phalanges and Mea Culpa at the Clermont Lounge! Get adventurous and catch Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) at Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series at 8pm. It’s a night of retro soul and folk rock at The Earl with Chelsea Shag, Von Grey and Man Up, Yancey! Eddie’s Attic delivers a rockin’ night with Kevn Kinney! Make your way to Cabbagetown Park for a screening of Tony Scott’s TOP GUN (1986) at 6:30pm! Or catch a screening of Roland Emmerich’s INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) playing at AMC Phipps Plaza 14 and Carmike Cinemas Movies ATL at 5pm! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Get Rhythm & Soul in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! Blues it up with Kristin & The Honeybadgers at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, June 24

Get mystical with DJ Doctor Q’s Mythic Electro Swing Atlanta event at the Red Light Café! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles’ CD release party at Motorheads in McDonough! Get mischievous with Magoo’s Heros, The Winks and Squadron at the Highlander! The Buckhead Theatre delivers a rockin’ night with The Jayhawks! The Way Back Band dishes out a night of ‘50s-‘70s hits at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with the Randall Bramblett band at Eddie’s Attic! Experience Journey with Scarab at Venkman’s! Stomp on down to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with the Joe McGuiness Trio and Cicada Rhythm! Five Eight rocks out at Smith’s Olde Bar! Jerry Garcia’s Symphonic Celebration featuring Warren Haynes and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra invades Chastain Park! Jazz it up with Joe Gransden at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s “Jazz on the Lawn” event! Make your way to Lakewood Amphitheatre for a night with The Cure! Make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! The Stella Vees get down at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Sandra Hall & The Shadows get the blues at Blind Willie’s! Boogie down with Platinum Band Atlanta under the dinosaurs 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, June 25

Get your garage rock ‘n’ blues fix with Young Antiques, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and Highriders at The Star Bar! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1993) at 10am and Hayao Myazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988) at 1pm! Rev on down to Mableton for the Bel Air Car Show & Pin-Ups event! Stagger on over to Club Famous for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s Dark 80s: The Cure Edition Music Video Dance Party! Celebrate 40 years of Cedar Hill at the Red Light Café! Blues it up with Willy Jackson at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or get down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Blind Willie’s! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at the Dallas Pub House! Stomp on down to Venkman’s for a night with The Lowhills! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of bleus ‘n’ soul with Truett Lollis! Make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up again with his rockin’ blues!  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, June 26

If you’ve got a sweet tooth you’ll want to catch TCM’s Big Screen Classic screening of Mel Stuart’s WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) screening at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); and Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan)]! Kool Kat Gringo Star rocks out at Park Tavern! Spend the night with Steely Dan and Steve Winwood at Chastain Park! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1993) at 10am and Hayao Myazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988) at 1pm! My Parent’s Basement delivers their June Bizarre Bazaar! Funk it up with the Atlanta Funk Society at the Elliott Street Pub! Venkman’s delivers a Yacht Rock Revue unplugged! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And blues it up with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 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! (On hiatus as of May 16 until further notice)

Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonks you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ!

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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

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.