ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you dapper fellas and glitzy gals! Cupid got your tongue? “Be Mine” vintage-style this year and celebrate all that is vintage and Valentine’s in ATLRetro!

1. CROONERS, RED HOT JAZZ ‘N’ BLUES. Swoon on down to Atlanta Symphony Hall and spend the night with Tony Bennett and experience his I Left My Heart Tour, with special guest Antonia Bennett (Feb. 14)! Salsa it up this Valentine’s Day with Bandleader Gilberto Santa Rosa at The Roxy (Feb. 14)! The Vista Room gets jazzy with Joe Gransden’s Valentine’s Dinner Show with Robin Latimore at 8pm, featuring a Prix Fixe Menu (Feb. 16)! The Fox Theatre gets some soul and jazzes it up with Ken Ford and Stokley with their Valentine’s Celebration (Feb. 14)! Get funky and make your way to Suite Food Lounge for Michael Henderson’s Valentine’s Concert (Feb. 13)!  “Empress of the Blues” Sandra Hall & The Shadows bring you a special bluesy Valentine’s Day at Blind Willies (Feb 14)!

2. BLACKHEARTS ROCK ‘N’ HOOTENANNIES GALORE. Who needs chocolates and roses when you can get retro-rocked with Chrome Castle at The Earl during their Record Release Party with The Preakness and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists (Feb. 14)! Come feel the love with West End Motel and Sash the Bash at their Lonely Hearts Show at Boggs Social & Supply (Feb. 14)! Get romantic with Frankly Scarlett playing all your favorite Grateful Dead tunes at Smith’s Olde Bar (Feb. 14)! Yacht Rock Schooner and The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus bring you The Best Damn Queen Show Ever at the Variety Playhouse (Feb. 14)! Get your Americana fix at Waller’s Coffee Shop with Heart Hunters, Sarah Burton and Nerdkween (Feb. 14)! Experience the Aurora Theatre’s Valentine’s Cabaret: A Tribute to Heart at 8pm (Feb. 14)! The van must be a rockin’ cause Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club are gettin’ down at the Clermont Lounge during their Pre-Valentine’s Day Soiree (Feb. 13)! Scream the night away during The Highlander‘s Mad Love Skaryoke (Feb. 12)! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a countrified night with Wynn Varble and Gary Hannan (Feb. 14)!

3. OH LA LA! Shimmy it up with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South during Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Hearts & Heartbreakers at the Red Light Café (Feb. 11) ! Or get sinfully seductive with your best guy or gal at the Red Light Café for Ariel Allegro’s Sweet ‘n’ Sultry Valentine Burlesque Show (Feb. 14)!

4. MEDIEVAL & CLASSIC. For all you knights in shining armor, get really retro and romantic with the royal one in your life and joust on down to Medieval Times for their Valentine’s at the Castle event! $110 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, champagne in keepsake glasses and more (Feb. 3-17)!

5. GROOVIN’ UP SLOWLY. Groove on down with your favorite guy or gal to Venkman’s for two chances to catch Prince: Once Kiss at a Time at 6:30pm/9:30pm (Feb. 14)! Venkman’s presents a free Sade Acoustic Tribute featuring an intimate breakdown of her R&B classics (Feb. 15)! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at 7:30pm and 9:30pm at City Winery (Feb. 14)! Or be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Yacht Rock’s’s evening of smooth and silly love songs! It’ll be an evening of smooth 70s and 80s love songs, so put on your dancin’ shoes and come aboard (Feb. 15)!

6. LOVIN’ ON THE SILVER SCREEN. TCM Big Screen Classics presents a screening of Arthur Hiller’s LOVE STORY (1970) at theatres across Atlanta at 7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Perimeter Pointe 10; Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia Stadium (Buford); AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming); Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Movie Tavern (Tucker)] (Feb. 12)! Wussy Wednesdays (WUSSY MAG) return to The Plaza Theater with a screening of Baz Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE (2001) at 8pm, including lobby shenanigans, prizes and more (Feb. 12)! Catch a Legacy Series screening of Gene Kelly’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) at SCADShow at 7pm (Feb. 14)! Catch a screening of James Cameron’s TITANIC (1997) at theatres across Atlanta [Northlake Festival Movie Tavern (Tucker); GTC Merchant’s Walk Cinemas (Marietta); Movie Tavern at Horizon Village (Suwannee); and The Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Sandy Springs) (Feb. 12)! “Here’s looking at you kid!” Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style with a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at The Earl Smith Strand Theater at 8pm, featuring a live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ at 7:30pm! Or if you’re lookin’ for a little late-night rendezvous with a few transsexual aliens, stick around and catch The Strand’s screening of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 11:55pm (Feb. 15)!

7. CUPID’S CULINARY DELIGHTS & VINTAGE VENDING.  Got last minute shopping to do? Why not shop local for your loveys and make your way to the Valentine’s EAV Maker’s Market from 5pm – 10pm (Feb. 14)! The French are known for their romantic gestures, so get romantic at Petite Violette (formerly Petite Auberge) for their special 5-course Valentine’s Day Menu beginning at 5pm, featuring live entertainment and more for $79.95/person (Feb. 14)!

8. WE GOTH YOU COVERED.  Spend the night with the Green Fairy as RITUAL brings you a bloody fantastic time during their Moulin Rouge Gothic Valentine Party going down at Heretic, at 10pm (Feb. 14)! Want something a little spookier this season of love? Why not spook on down to Netherworld for their Scream in the Dark event at 6:30pm (Feb. 15)! The Highlander brings you NOCTURNIA: My Gothic Valentine, Atlanta’s Premier Goth/Industrial Dance Party at 10pm (Feb. 14)!

 9. DECADENT DECADES. Dance through 80 years of romance at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Enjoy themed music, tasty bites and more! Twist the night way at a fabulous ‘50s sock-hop, slide into the ‘60s with a groovy love-in packed with flower power, then take a turn on a ‘70s disco dance floor! Flash back to big hair with live music at a totally tubular ‘80s prom, then swing through the ‘90s with vintage snacks and live tunes by Boy Band Cover Band! Admission is $50 per person, $45 per person for Garden members. (Feb. 14).

10. COMEDY, THEATRE, ART & SCIENCE, OH MY! Be a matchmaker and skedaddle on over to the Fox Theatre for their presentation  HELLO DOLLY at 8pm (Feb. 14)! Experience The 2020 LXXX You Awards: A Valentine’s Day Soiree, hosted by Videodrome, The Bakery, Mammal Gallery and more, at 8pm (Feb. 14)! Fernbank After Dark: It’s Electric geeks it up with sultry  science and some killer ‘80s tunes with Electric Avenue (Feb. 14)! Be a pair of star-crossed lovers at the Shakespeare Tavern’s 20th Anniversary Valentine’s performance of ROMEO & JULIET at 7:30pm (Feb. 14)!