ATLRetro

Yoko Ono and John Lennon Montreal Bed-In, 1969 Photo by Ivor Sharp ©Yoko Ono.

Get started early at 7 PM for  “Smile John,” a a rare chance to see two intimate portrait short films featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Plaza Theatre and the first of five local screenings in a series called Yoko Ono: Reality Dreams. Then make it an Ono-Lennon double feature evening with a second set, Sky Bed Peace at 9 PM. The event is presented by Film Love founded and curated by Andy Ditzler, this week’s Kool Kat.

Don’t be late for a very important date! Most imaginative event of the night goes to the ALICE IN WONDERLAND-themed Va-Va Voom – We’re All Mad Here Burlesque Show, produced by one of Atlanta’s biggest Retro Revival heroes Mon Cherie and featuring such local Burlesque stars as recent Kool Kat Torchy Taboo, The Chameleon Queen, Katherine Lashe (Syrens of the South), and Talloolah Love who will serve up a sneak peak of her competition number for upcoming Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekend. The mad antics take place atThe Shelter, and cover is a bargain 5 bucks so you’ll have plenty left to support Talloolah’s Vegas venture by buying $3 Talloolah Love Potion shots.

Can she talk? We’d guess yes since eternal comedienne Joan Rivers has a gig for her one-woman show tonight at Symphony Hall. At Doo Gallery, a few folks may hear you scream at Shriek Movie Night‘s screening of ALIEN Ridley Scott’s space-age ultimate haunted house movie.

Fabrefaction Theatre opens a three-week run of THE MUSIC MAN, the iconic all-American musical about a con man posing as a boys’ band organizer. Derryl Rivers & the Flying Circus display daring acts of blues, jazz and slight bits of funk at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX.  T. Grease Johnson dishes out this Friday’s serving of blues at Fatt Matt’s Rib Shack, while Mudcat is on the blues menu at Northside Tavern.

Saturday March 12

Film Love presents the third installment of Yoko Ono: Reality Dreams, at 8 PM in White Hall Room 206 at Emory University. Admission is free to A FALLING POSITION, which includes CUT PIECE (1965) which follows a performance art piece by Ono which explores vulnerability as audience members literally cut away her clothes and FILM NO. 5 (RAPE) (1969), an intense exploration of voyeurism and control directed by Ono in which a cameraman follows a woman on the street until she is literally in a falling position.

Forget the Jason Statham non-remake. The zany folks who bring you Splatter Cinema unleash another Splatterday Night Live featuring one of the craziest, best black comedy cult movies of all time DEATH RACE 2000 at the Plaza Theatre, along with a gory and sure-to-be politically incorrect preshow. Come on! David Carradine as a race car driver called Frankenstein! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL’s Mary Woronov! Sly Stallone! Read why Mark Arson thinks it’s a better ’70s SF/action flick than STAR WARS here.

Experience all the romance of fin-de-siecle Paris without leaving Atlanta during “Dans Le Moment” tonight at the High Museum of Art featuring a Talloolah Love-produced burlesque cabaret called“Rue de Paradis”; Parisian street food; art talks about the museum’s two current special exhibitions spotlighting French artists Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Cartier-Bresson (see ongoing events below); photo ops in can-can clothes; mesmerizing music performances; and more.

Surprises surely will happen as the always original Blair Crimmins & the Hookers raise up some ’20s ragtime at Star Bar. Read ATLRetro’s recent interview with Blair here. Sana Blues is at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Better Than The Beatles pays tribute to the Fab Four at Jerry Farber’s Side Door. DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno.

Sunday March 27

Described by Creative Loafing as “vintage Chicago blues with a New Orleans accent,” Spanky & the Love Handles serves up blues “dunch” between 1 and 4 PM at The Earl. The Susi French Connection gives ’70s rock, pop and disco some serious love at Eddie’s Attic.

Ongoing

KOOL KAT Emily Yetter stars as a precocious, politically incorrect Tinkerbell in J.M. BARRIE’S PETER PAN under the big tent at Pemberton Place, next to the World of Coca-Cola.  Performances have been extended through April 10.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec died in 1901, but it’s not a stretch to say that his vibrant posters and prints of showgirls, nightclub stars and the café culture influenced the 20th century romantic view of Paris and still inspire today’s burlesque performers. The High Museum of Art’sdynamic new special exhibition, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND FRIENDS: THE IRENE AND HOWARD STEIN COLLECTION, runs through May 1. Also at the High through May29 is the MOMA-organized HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: THE MODERN CENTURY, another blockbuster exhibit showcasing a photographer and photojournalist who captured on film many of the seminal moments  of the 20th century from World War II to the assassination of Ghandi, China’s cultural revolution to civil rights and consumer culture in America.

Tune back in on Monday for THIS WEEK IN RETRO ATLANTA. If you know of a cool happening, send suggestions to ATLRetro@gmail.com.