ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor/Contributing Writer

Hey all you Kool Kats and Kittens! Jump, jive and wail in Retro Atlanta this week! We’ve got all the sci-fi geekery your hearts could desire! We’ve got a whole lotta honky-tonk shenanigans! We’ve got film noir, horror gore and ‘80s mishaps 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 25

Punk on down to 529, for a rockin’ night with the Crocodiles, Sisu and Shantih Shantih! It’s a bloodbath at The Plaza Theater during their screening of the 40th Anniversary Edition of Tobe Hooper’s infamous horror thriller, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974), through Aug. 28! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste ofBumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Barrelhouse BobPage!Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and some finger lickin’ BBQ! And come on down to Petite Auberge as they serve up some specialties through Aug. 28 in celebration of their 40th Anniversary! (see our Happy Hour & Supper Club Review of Petite Auberge here)!

Tuesday, August 26

The Clean delivers a night of ‘70s New Zealand punk at The Earl with the Boogarins! Get your retro rock and ‘50s and ‘60s pop fix at 529 with Sonny & The Sunsets, Cheap Time and Landline! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with the Atlanta Bluegrass All Stars! Blind Willie’s delivers a night of the blues with Timo Arthur! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Ed Roland & the Sweet Tea Project! Make your way to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! The Bob Page Trio delivers a night of rockin’ blues at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Boogie on down to The Star Barand get groovy at The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale featuring DJ Quasi Mandisco every Tuesday! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern. The Northlake Festival Movie Tavern delivers a night of ‘80s comedy with Eddie Murphy as they screen Martin Brests’, BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) during their ‘80s Flashback series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, August 27

Get fatally vintage at Emory Cinematheque’s 35mm screening of Arthur Ripley’s film noir classic, THE CHASE (1946) at White Hall! For a night of surf, traditional and garage rock, make your way to The Earl for Sol Cat, Concord America and Lowbanks! Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with Frankie’s Blues Mission! Stomp on down for a hootenanny and a half tonight at The Star Bar as they get smokin’ during their Slim Chicken Honky-tonk Extravaganza,featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Alex Gordon Hi-Fi delivers his smooth retro tunes at the Elliott Street Pub! Juke joint it up at Blind Willie’s for a night of hill country blues with John Sosebee! TheMike Veal Band gets funky and rocks out at the Tin Roof Cantina! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, August 28

Get ‘yer medieval geek on at the The New American Shakespeare Tavern as they host their Much Ado About Nerddom II: A Geeky Variety Show, featuring Three Quarter Ale, Ninja Puppet Productions, a magic show by Matt Felten and bawdy burlesque by Musee du Coeur! Or get bizarre, David Lynch-style, with pie and coffee at Mary’s during their Twin Peaks Prom, promising haunting doo-wop melodies, costume contests and dramatic readings of Laura Palmer’s secret diary! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for a night with Cute Boots, Joe Smith & the Going Concern and The Greater Vavoom! Or make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a whole lotta Americana with Jackson County Line! Or get your bluegrass fix at the Red Light Café with the Sweetwater Creek Bluegrass Band! It’s a Smithereens Tribute at Smith’s Olde Bar in the Atlanta Room with Nine Times Blue! Or make your way to the Music Room for a retro rockin’ good time with Autumn Attics and Sodajerk! Aerosmith invades Philips Arena with their classic rock! The Rockaholics rock out blues and soul-style at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a night with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band,Tonga Hiti and a couple Mai Tais! Punk out with Kool Kats, The Joy Kills at the Clermont Lounge! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Delifor 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 Shadows get bluesy at Blind Willie’s! 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 it’s your last chance to get your Detroit detective fix at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Martin Brests’, BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) during their ‘80s Flashback series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, August 29

Get your uber geek on, starting today, as the 28th Annual premier sci-fi convention, Dragon*Con, kicks off, running through Sept. 1! It’ll be an event chock full of rockin’ retro shenanigans, including sci-fi classics, alternative history, comics, pop-art, fantasy, horror, paranormal, sci-fi literature, Star Wars, Tolkien, Star Trek and more! Tonight’s events include, but are not limitedto,‘Ye Medieval Boogaloo: Return of MST3K Night, Part II The Sequel’, hosted by Kool Kat Daniel Griffith and MST3K creator, Joel Hodgson; an Inter-galactic Military Ball, a Pin-Ups by the Pool Party, a Vintage Vogue Fashion Show and so much more!

Surf on down to The Earl for a rockin’ night with The Blasters, The Forty-Fives and Grinder Nova! It’s a night of surf punk and garage rock at the Basement with Sex BBQ, Dirty Lungs and Imagination Head! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night of old-time Americana with Mr. Blue Sky, Battlefield Collective and The Ain’t Sisters! It’s a night of tributes at Smith’s Olde Bar with The Last Waltz Ensemble and Convoy! Blues it up at Eddie’s Attic with Rocco Deluca! Pick on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a night with Smokey’s Farmland Band! Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month! Stomp on down to The Loft for a night with the Kudzu Kings, The Sundogs and TheHoly Ghost Electric Show! Father Murphy delivers a night of psychedelic rock doom at Eyedrum! Swing on by the Atlanta Botanical Garden for a night with Lyle Lovett & His Large Band! Get psychedelic at the Northside Tavern with Swami Gone Bananas! Tony Levitas delivers a night of retro rock at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Or blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and get mischievous with The Unusual Suspects! Sandra Hall & the Shadows deliver a night of low-down and dirty blues at Blind Willie’s! It’s Salsa Dance Night at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event, so cha-cha under the dinosaurs with the Salsambo Dance Studio while sippin’ a few cocktails! Get your fill of your favorite MTV videos with Kool Kat VJ Anthony at his ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night invading Famous Pub every Friday night at 10 pm! 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, August 30

It’s day 2 of the 28th Annual Dragon*Con! So, sci-fi it up with a whole lotta retro goodies! You won’t want to miss the Dragon*Con Parade at 10 am; the Late Night Sci-Fi Theatre’s presentation of Andrew Jordan’s classic horror flick, THINGS (1989) and a 25^th Anniversary Party; Kool Kat Talloolah Love’s Glamour Geek Review; Lips Down on Dixie’s largest Rocky Horror Picture Show event; the Hero’s & Villains Ball and so much more!

The Star Bar’s Labor Day Weekend Beat BBQ Blowout is tonight, featuring a whole lotta retro rock, with The Woggles, Muck & the Mires and The Mystery Men?! Kool Kat Eva “Torchy Taboo” Warren and many more get bawdy tonight at The Goat Farm Arts Center during Nayeli Belly Dance Troupe’s presentation of A GROWN AND SEXY AFFAIR: SOME LIKE IT HOT! It’s a night of glam rock at 529 as the Wham Bam Bowie Band rocks out with their David Bowie tribute! Kool Kat Colonel Bruce Hampton gets absurd at the Red Light Café with the Madrid Express! The Northside Tavern delivers a night of the blues with the Randy Chapman Trio! Rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with The Western Sizzlers and The El Caminos! Put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and more at The Basement for Electric Western’s Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! Get southern-fried at the Crimson Moon Café with EG Kight! The Strand presents “The Color Purple the Musical,” the Broadway musical based on Alice Walker’s classic novel! The Hollidays deliver their rhythm and soul at The Family Dog! It’s a night of Dixie blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with Seminole Jackson! Blues it up at Blind Willie’s with House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! 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, August 31

It’s day 3 of the 28th Annual Dragon*Con, so sci-fi it up and get geek-filled with a whole lotta shenanigans, including a Zombie Prom, radio theatre, a Masquerade and so much more! Get psychedelic at The Earl with the Mood Rings, Part Time and Sea Lions! It’s a night of Django-Reinhardt gypsy swing as Annie Sellick & the Hot Club of Nashville invades Eddie’s Attic! Big Tex has their Bluegrass Brunch with Rye Baby! Blues it up at The Family Dog with Bill Sheffield! Make your way to theCrimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s! And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Fat Back Deluxe!

Ongoing

The High Museum gets revved during their ‘Dream Cars; Innovative Design, Visionary Dreams’ exhibit, featuring forward-thinking auto designs from 1932 to the present, running through September 7!

Nerd Film Mafiascreenings at theDiesel Fueling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the month!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pikeand the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month.

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW(1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast ofLips 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.