ATLRetro

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Monday, June 10

Swing back to the golden age of jazz at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month for Big Band Night with Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra. Northside Tavern hosts its weekly Blues Jam featuring blues and southern soul singer Lola Gulley. Enjoy your BBQ with a side of Dry White Toast at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.

Tuesday, June 11

It’s Tease Tuesday at the Shelter as Syrens of the South (headed by Kool Kat Katherine Lashe) host a monthly fundraiser for Southern Fried Burlesque Fest! Legends of death metal Cannibal Corpse and grindcore pioneers Napalm Death take the stage alongside veteran NY death merchants Immolation as the Decibel Magazine Tour hits the Masquerade! Splatter Cinema brings the mind-twisting insanity of Paul Verhoeven’s TOTAL RECALL (1990) to the Plaza Theatre (read our Retro Review here)! E.T. (1982) comes home to the big screen at Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as the its June retro cinema classic series of Classic Summer Blockbusters continues! Kool Kat Calu Cordeira mixes tiki libations during Mai Tai Tahitian Tuesday starting at 9 p.m. at the Dark Horse Tavern. Grab your horn and head over to Twain’s in Decatur for a Joe Gransden jazz jam session. Blues it down with Nathan Nelson & Entertainment Crackers at Northside Tavern. It’s blues Burning Time at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs hosts a weekly Bluegrass Jam with The Night Travelers and Jason Koornick & Hank Weisman. Ursula Undress teaches Beginner’s Burlesque at Studio Burlesque at 8:30 p.m!

Wednesday, June 12

Up from the West Texas town of El Paso, it’s the Dirty River Boys, bringing their raucous brand of folk, rock and country to Smith’s Olde Bar! Get schooled by two of Atlanta’s burlesque finest, Katherine Lashe or Kool Kat Talloolah Love in Beginning Burlesque classes at Studio Burlesque. Old enough to feel Retro? It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck brings the Piedmont blues to Northside Tavern, and the blues rain down in a Georgia Flood at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Greet the day the E.T. way with an 11:30 a.m. matinee in Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema series this week!

Thursday, June 13

It’s a burlesque revue so hot it’ll be murder! Minette Magnifique brings the criminal element to The Warren City Club with Minette’s Murder Mystery! It’s a garage-fueled Free For Y’all event at the Star Bar featuring JBros, Stonerider, Eel Pie and Ghost Bikini! Kick the dust off your boots as the hot country sounds of Ghost Riders Car Club and the soul-shaking music of the Hollidays take the stage at the Clermont Lounge! Need more country? Check out The Railers as they hit Smith’s Olde Bar! Relax with a cocktail while listening to the groovy island sounds of Tongo Hiti featuring Big Mike Geier at vintage tiki bar, Trader Vic’s. Go to Northside Tavern to hear the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings. Get on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack to hear the honkytonkin’ blues of  Chickenshack. It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter.  Rebecca Frazier and the Hit & Run Bluegrass Band take the stage at Red Light Cafe‘s weekly Bluegrass Thursday. If you didn’t get the chance to go to Studio Burlesque this week, you have another chance to try out Beginning Burlesque with Ursula Undress at 6:30 p.m. and enjoy live burlesque in the Performance Track Series at 9:30 p.m. And it’s your last chance to turn on your heart light with E.T. at Northlake Festival Movie Tavern this week!

Friday, June 14

Spend the evening at Candler Park and enjoy the 2013 Red Stripe Midsummer Music & Food Festival. Or take in the funky jazz-pop of Cooper Tisdale (with special vocal guest Octavia Jones Samba) under the dinosaurs at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX. Ike Stubblefield and Friends lay down some soulful R&B and jazz at Callanwolde Art Center’s Jazz on the Lawn series. It’s a full (K)night of alt.country at Smith’s Olde Bar as Chris Knight shares the stage with Ben Knight and the Welldiggers! Johnny Scales delivers down and dirty blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Stoney Brooks brings on the blues at Northside Tavern. And watch as Indiana Jones fends off Nazis, snakes, hostile native tribes, snakes, Karen Allen and more snakes when Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) lights up the screen at the Fox Theatre! (And read our Retro Review here!)

Saturday, June 15

Kick off the day with a festival of Saturday Morning Cartoons at the fabulous Fox Theatre! The second day of the 2013 Red Stripe Midsummer Music & Food Festival is an all-day event, but make sure to check out the stomping “Pogues go old time Nashville” stylings of the Whiskey Gentry (featuring Kool Kat Lauren Staley Morrow)! Take a dip with the legendary Swimming Pool Q’s as they celebrate their 35th anniversary (and the release of the double-CD reissue of their LP, THE A&M YEARS) with Big Mike Geier at Smith’s Olde Bar! The stirring and beautiful folk of Indigo Girls and Joan Baez will fill the air at Chastain Park! Celebrate the music of Frank Zappa when Zappa vocalist Ike Willis joins forces with UglyRadioRebellion at Elliott Street Pub! Head over to Studio Burlesque to check out the Debut-tease Ball, the studio’s first ever student and teacher showcase! Take in the Chicago blues of The Breeze Kings at Northside Tavern.  Mr. Chapman’s Quarterly Revue will be examining the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. As usual, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, June 16

Cineprov takes a trip to the jungle to poke fun at The Wild Women of Wongo (1958) at The Plaza Theater. Snake Legs bring on the blues at Fatt Matt’s  Rib Shack. Banjolicious serves up a heaping helping of pickin’ with a side of grinnin’ at brunch at Big Tex starting at noon. Get a spoonful of blues courtesy of Uncle Sugar at Northside Tavern.

Ongoing

EXTREME MAMMALS from sabertooth tiger skulls and wooly mammoth fur to contemporary creatures such as the duck-billed platypus invade Fernbank Museum of Natural History through August 18.

Learn about  a different side to the third American president and Constitution author in the Really Retro special exhibition Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: How the Word is Passed Down at the Atlanta History Center through July 7.

Every Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Thursday night is Retro Cinema at Movie Tavern.