by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor
Retro Atlanta is the Kat’s meow this week, kicking off the year with a whole lotta shakin’ shenanigans! Take a gander at all the Retro cinema! Come see what the Kat drug in and live la vida Retro!
Monday, January 4
Start the week off right and spend the day with the “Duke” at the Alpharetta Branch Library during their screening of Henry Hathaway’s TRUE GRIT (1969) at 10:30am! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! 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! 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! And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out a night of BBQ with a side of The Pork Bellys!
Tuesday, January 5
Get your time travel fix at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE III (1990), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! Blues it up with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 6
Eddie’s Attic delivers a night of garage rock revival with Parker Gispert, lead singer of The Whigs! Rock out folk, punk ‘n’ roots style with Possessed by Paul James at Smith’s Olde Bar! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with Curtis Jones & Primal Roots! 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! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! It’s your last chance to time travel to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE III (1990), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for 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! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 7
Celebrate “The King” as he invades Atlanta via screenings of Denis Sanders’ documentary ELVIS: THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (1970) at The Plaza Theater at 7:15pm/9:15pm and the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:30pm! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for their Bluegrass Pickin’ Party! Get jazzy with Pamela “The Saxtress” Williams at Suite Food Lounge! Yacht Rock Revue dishes out a night of rockin’ retro tunes at Venkman’s! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a night of cool island tunes and a couple Mai Tais! 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, January 8
Make your way to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for a good belly laugh as they screen Charles Lamont’s ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE KOPS (1955) at 8pm! Or catch the sequel that’s sweeping the underground, SAMURAI COP 2: DEADLY VENGEANCE (2015) at The Plaza Theater with a Q&A featuring actor Mark Frazer, moderated by local actor/filmmaker and Kool Kat Mike Malloy, screening through Jan. 14! Yacht Rock Schooner plays Steely Dan at Terminal West! Honkytonk it up at The Earl with Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, Midnight Larks and A Drug Called Tradition! Eighties it up at the Suburban Tap (Marietta) with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! SteamPunk on down to Famous Pub for RITUAL’s SteamPunk/Victorian Party! Get jazzy with the Kerry Hill Band at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Rock on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night with Deerhunter! Get folksy with Steve Forbert at the Red Light Café! Make your way to Steve’s Live Music for a night with Almost Billy Joel and the Allentown Band! Get your zydeco/funk fix with Zydefunk at the Northside Tavern! Get funky under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! Blues it up with J.J. Thames at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! 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, January 9
The Star Bar dishes out a hootenanny and a half with A Tribute to Buck Owens and Don Rich, featuring Ghost Riders Car Club with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton; Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles; Dave Weil (Blacktop Rockets); Willie Heath Neal & Kira Annalise; Mark Kirby; Dry Gulch and more! Surf on down to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp! featuring The Original Shake Charmers; Kool Kat Sen. Artie Mondello and Dick Dave & the Scavengers! Eddie’s Attic dishes out a night of gypsy jazz with Kool Kat Amy Pike with The Bonaventure Quartet! Yacht Rock Revue throws down with A Rock Fight between Led Zeppelin and The Who, featuring special guest Peter Stroud at Venkman’s! Blues it up with the AJ Ghent Band and Seth Winters at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get folksy with a tinge of the blues at Grocery on Home with Marshall Ruffin and Julia Haltigan! Pay tribute to the Allman Brothers with Live at the Fillmore at the Variety Playhouse! Folk it up with The Skipperdees, Megan Saunders & The Driftless and The Threadbare Skivvies at the Red Light Café! Get intergalactic and boogie on down to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club for their Post Holiday Dance Party! Make your way to Steve’s Live Music for a night with Russ Still & the Moonshiners! Blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 10
Start the day off right with Venkman’s Bottomless Mimosa Brunch with The Matthew Kaminski Trio! Get some soul and blues it up with Fatback Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get your second helping of Marshall Ruffin and Julia Haltigan at Grocery on Home! Get star-crossed at the Fox Theatre as The State Ballet Theatre of Russia presents Shakespeare’s classic, “Romeo and Juliet”! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!
Ongoing
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 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.