ATLRetro

Monday April 25

It’s pretty quiet for Retro activities tonight, but those boys in French Horn Rebellion at Masquerade kinda make me think of Duran Duran-style ’80s synth pop meets ’70s disco. Northside Tavern hosts its weekly Blues Jam.

Tuesday April 26

Grab your horn and head to Twain’s in Decatur for a Joe Gransden jazz jam session starting at 9 PM. J.T. Speed plays the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Notorious DJ Romeo Cologne spins the best ‘70s funk and disco at 10 High in Virginia-Highland. Catch Tuesday Retro in the Metro nights at Midtown’s Deadwood Saloon, featuring live video mixes of ’80s, ’90s, and 2Ks hits.

Wednesday April 27

This week’s Kool Kat, Atlanta-based filmmaker Blake Myers, presents BLOOD, GUTS AND ROBOTS, a retrospective of his super-8 and 16 mm horror shorts in a preamble to the world premiere of his feature-length documentary, DISABLED BUT ABLE TO ROCK next Wed. Both screenings are at the Plaza Theatre and the latter is part of the Atlanta Film Festival (April 28-May 7).

What’s up musically tonight, Pussycat? Well, Sir Tom Jones croons like the lounge legend he is at Cobb Energy Center. Get ready to rumba, cha-cha and jitterbug at the weekly Swing Night at Graveyard Tavern. Deacon Brandon Reeves and Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck bring on the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and Northside Tavern respectively. Dance to ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s hits during Retro in the Metro Wednesdays presented by Godiva Vodka, at Pub 71 in Brookhaven.

Thursday April 28

"Big Mike" Geier of Tongo Hiti with two of the lovely Dames Aflame.

British blues rocker John Mayall plays Variety Playhouse. BareKnuckle Betties serve up “High Heel Stomp Honky Tonk” at Atlanta’s tastiest new concert venue, Kathmandu Kitchen and Grill, formerly Pho Truc, in Clarkston from 8-10 PM. The Murder Junkies, former backing band to punk rocker G.G. Allin, are at the Clermont Lounge. Listen to Tongo Hiti’s luxurious live lounge sounds, as well as some trippy takes on iconic pop songs, just about every Thursday night at Trader Vic’s. Mario Ciaccio (alto saxophone) and Simone Miotto (piano) perform Italian music and Richard Brandeis gives a gallery talk on the ins, outs and scandalous gossip behind the history of Italian motorcycles in conjunction with the special exhibit PASSIONE ITALIANA: DESIGN OF THE ITALIAN MOTORCYCLE

'64 MV Agusta 500cc is one of 11 vintage and contemporary Italian motorcycles on display at MoDA. Photo courtesy of Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

during MODA‘s Thursday night Drink in Design from 6-8 PM. Read ATLRetro’s Kool Kat piece on curator Joe Remling here. Party ‘70s style with DJ Romeo Cologne at Aurum Lounge. Dine to Joe Gransden jazz at Tantra. Breeze Kings and Chickenshack bring on the blues respectively at Northside Tavern and Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Luther’s Mountain is on the bill for Bluegrass Thursday at Red Light Cafe.

Friday, April 29

Inman Park Festival launches from noon to 4 PM with day one of its Tour of Homes, quite possibly Atlanta’s oldest ongoing annual peek behind the doors of private residences. The fun of this tour is not just the historic Craftsman and Victorian structures but the interior decor which often reflects that quirky artsy character of the neighborhood’s residents. Also launching today is the Druid Hills Tour of Homes (10 AM to 5 PM) which this year features houses built from 1918 to 1955 in the city’s first driving suburb originally designed by legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

Flashback to the ’80s with Brazilian heavy metal/death metal band Sepultura at Masquerade. Wauchope Krewe plays a mix of New Orleans funk and R&B, along with blues, jazz, Latin and original music, at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX. Joe Gransden and Kenny Banks jazz up The Mansion on Peachtree. Little G Weevil brings the blues to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, and Electromatics fuse blues, jazz and soul at Northside Tavern.

Saturday April 30

Blair Crimmins.

The Inman Park and Druid Hills Home Tours continue, and the Inman Park Festival shows why it’s Atlanta’s most creative street festival from a bodacious artist and vendors market through the Victorian neighborhood to a one-of-a-kind parade at 2 PM. Plenty of live music, too, with today’s Retro highlights including Zydeco T at 1 PM, crime-fightin superhero Falcon Lords at 4:45 PM, 17-piece big band Usual Suspects at 5:30 PM, and ’20s ragtime-inspired Blair Crimmins & the Hookers at 6:45 PM.

In an extra terror-ific treat, Professor Morte and the guys and ghouls of the Silver Scream Spookshow screen the 1958 Ray Harryhausen monsterpiece THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD at the Plaza Theatre with a kids matinee at 1 PM and adult show at 10 PM. Read the review by Mark Arson here. Reviving another type of vintage performance, the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company presents Thomas Fuller‘s THE DANCER IN THE DARK, inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft mythos spawned in the 1920s and ’30s with a flavoring of New Mexico, at 2:30 PM at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates.

It’s Rockabilly/Redneck Underground heaven as Southern Culture on the Skids headlines the Star Bar with Ghost Riders Car Club opening. Brush up on your GRCC with ATLRetro’s Kool Kat interview with Spike Fullerton from back in February. The Blues Barons play Fat Matt’s. DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno.

Sunday May 1

The Inman Park Festival offers up a final day of fun, including old-time-Western-inspired Cowboy Envy at 2:15 PM and Whole Lotta Dixie, a traditional Dixieland band with a knack for applying that sound to  ’60s and ’70s hits, at 3:30 PM. Six-piece string band The Groundhawgs fuses bluegrass, old-time, jazz and swing, poetry and blues, classic country and a little bit of Southern rock during “dunch” between 1 and 4 PM at The Earl.

Ongoing

Leave it to the mad geniuses at Dad’s Garage to transform a beloved children’s classic into a bloody puppet musical. SCARLETT’S WEB features all your favorite characters from Wilbur the pig to Templeton the rat but adds some splattery special effects. Never mind, it’s all in fun though, they say, and definitely recommended only for anyone old enough to appreciate adult humor. Thurs., Fri. and Sat. nights at 8 p.m. through May 7.

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 20thcentury romantic view of Paris and still inspire today’s burlesque performers. The High Museum of Art’s dynamic new special exhibition, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND FRIENDS: THE IRENE AND HOWARD STEIN COLLECTION, runs through May 1. Also at the High through May 29 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.

For more weekend fun, tune back in on Friday for ATLRetro Weekend Update. If you know of a cool happening we’ve missed, send suggestions to ATLRetro@gmail.com.