ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Kick off April in ATLRetro! Come see all the swell shenanigans we’ve found for you!

Monday, April 2

Groove on down to City Winery as Ray Howard pays tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 17-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!

Tuesday, April 3

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema challenges death as they kick of their new Classics Series with a screening of Ingmar Bergman’s THE SEVENTH SEAL (1958) at 7pm! Casey Abrams dishes out a night of rockin’ blues ‘n’ jazz at Eddie’s Attic! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, April 4

Catch a screening of Charles Walters’ classic, EASTER PARADE (1948) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Rock out with A Very Loud Death, Eddie Rascal and Monk Tesh at The Star Bar! The Bill Frisell Trio dishes out a night of folk jazz at City Winery! Get jazzy with the Sal Gentile Trio at the Elliott Street Pub! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) presents a screening of Elia Kazan’s classic EAST OF EDEN (1955) at 7:15pm! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, April 5

ATL Collective featuring Booker T. Jones brings the Funk to the People at the Buckhead Theatre, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of James Brown’s historic 1968 Boston concert! Get your Americana fix with Max Gomez at Eddie’s Attic! The Ladies of ‘60s Soul Keisha and Kourtney Jackson get down at Venkman’s! Rock out with PLS PLS, the Bygods and The Boy Jones at The Star Bar! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so hula on down for a night of rockin’ island tunes and killer island cocktails! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, April 6

Led Zepplified performs “The Led Zeppelin Radio Hits” at Avondale Towne Cinema! Experience STOMP, the “International Sensation” at the Fox Theatre through April 7! Bit Brigade geeks it up and performs The Legend of Zelda with The Bronzed Chorus and Double Ferrari at The Earl! Get some soul with Bob Sima at Eddie’s Attic! Get rocked with Wishbone Ash at City Winery! Rock out with the White Animals at Smith’s Olde Bar! The Dark Star Orchestra pays tribute to the Grateful Dead at the Buckhead Theatre! Get your Tim Curry fix at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with their screening of Jonathan Lynn’s CLUE (1985) at 8pm! Jackie Venson dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at The Drunken Unicorn! The Electromatics dish out a night of Chicago/West Coast blues at Elliott Street Pub! Get cozy with Mountain Heart at Venkman’s! Or get the blues with the Sugarray Rayford Band at The Vista Room! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets the rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern! Time-Warp it up 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, April 7

The BadAsh AllStar Team brings you A Night of Prog Rock Live #3 at Avondale Towne Cinema! Dweezil Zappa brings his “Choice Cuts!” World Tour 2018 to the Variety Playhouse! For Sale performs The Replacement’s LIVE AT MAXWELL’S at 529 with ‘Kool Kat Adam McIntyre and The Pinx! A night of hilarity ensues as The Plaza Theater warlords it up with Cineprov’s screening/riffing of Terry Marcel’s PRISONERS OF THE LOST UNIVERSE (1983) at 9:30pm! Folk it up with Collins Drive, The Brookses and Lindsay Petsch at the Red Light Café! Get the hip-swingin’ blues with Curtis Harding at The Earl! Rockabilly it up with Roxie Watson at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with Kenny Lattimore at City Winery! Funk it up at Smith’s Olde Bar with GuruFish, Zangaro and FunkCake! The Dark Star Orchestra pays an encore tribute to the Grateful Dead at the Buckhead Theatre! Folk it up with Kim Richey and The Skipperdees at the Red Clay Theatre! The Strand Ole Opry brings you The Music of Bob Dylan at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Pop on down to The Drunken Unicorn for a night with the StarBenders! Carlin Taylor pays tribute to Marvin Gaye at Venkman’s! Boogie on down to The Vista Room for a night with Joe Krown and Marcia Ball! Blues it up with Little Joey Hoegger followed by Cody Matlock at the Northside Tavern! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 8

The James Hunter Six dish out a night of blue-eyed soul at City Winery! Goth it up in Hell at the Masquerade with Sirenia, Threat Signal, Valinor Excelsior, Niviane and Paladin! Boogie down with a screening of John Badham’s SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Or hang out with the Pink Ladies as TCM Classics presents a 4oth Anniversary screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth/Marietta); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Folk rock out with Dave Hause at Eddie’s Attic! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22!

The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get sprung in ATLRetro This Week and come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you!

Monday, March 26

Surf on down to City Winery for a night with Al Jardine! Travel the yellow brick road to the The Earl Smith Strand Theatre as they present the West Side Elementary Drama Club’s rendition of THE WIZARD OF OZ! Spend the night with The Buttertones at the Masquerade! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!” Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Get the blues with Ron Roper at Blind Willies! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack as they dish out The Pork Bellys and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, March 27

Make your way to SCADShow for the 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows featuring the best in animated shorts from the world’s most renowned animation festivals at 6:30pm! Get your ‘70s vintage rock fix with Thelma & The Sleaze, the Craig Brown Band and Nikki & The Phantom Callers at The Earl! Bluegrass it up with Jim Lauderdale at Eddie’s Attic! Rock on down to The Roxy for a night with Brian Fallon & The Howling Weather and Rushton Kelly! Get your ‘70s prog rock fix with Happy Lemmy and The Warsaw Clinic at Smith’s Olde Bar! Gray & The Bad Boys get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Stomp on down to Blind Willies for a night with the BooHoo Ramblers! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, March 28

Spook on down to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their GraveDigger’s Event: HBICs (Historic Broads in Charge) of Oakland at 6pm! Catch a screening of Jim Henson’s classic, THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Get your R&B soul fix with Silk at the Cobb Energy Center! Spend a riotous night with Caroline Rose and WASI at The Earl! Jazz it up with Jennifer Hartswick and Nick Cassarino at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with The Boy Jones at The Star Bar! The Drunken Unicorn dishes out a night of honkytonk punk with Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires!  Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) presents a screening of Elia Kazan’s classic A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) at 7:15pm! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Blues Hearts at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Cody Matlock gets down at Blind Willies! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, March 29

Get really retro and make your way to the 9th Annual 18th Century Market Faire at Fort Yago State Park in Winder, through April 1! Rock out with Agent Orange, The Atom Age, and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists at The Earl! Get down and dirty at the Clermont Lounge for Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley’s EASY, SLEAZY AND GREAZY CD Release Party! Get down with Walter Salas-Humara (The Silos), Bark and The Skylarks at 529! Glam it up with Butch Walker at Center Stage! Get countrified with Charlie Worsham and Lee Ann Womack at City Winery! Get down and dirty with the North Mississippi Allstars at Eddie’s Attic! Folk rock it up with Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn at the Variety Playhouse! Rock out with Cinema Novo, Yams Club, BKGD and Fun Isn’t Fair at The Star Bar! Folk it up with Timber Timbre at The Drunken Unicorn! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so get down with The Sundogs and some killer island cocktails! Blues it up with Nick Moss at Blind Willies! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 30

Get your Special Agent fix during the first ever SPY-CON 2018 spying it up at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta through April 1 featuring exciting operatives (Lana Wood, Trina Parks, Kool Kat Mark Maddox, Victoria Price and more!), thrilling panels and “Spy School,” all celebrating espionage and Spy Fiction. Come on out for Day One featuring Dinner with the Bond Girls, panels and screenings of Mario Caiano’s SPIES STRIKE SILENTLY (1966), Paolo Bianchini’s SUPERAGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS (1968), and episodes of THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, THE QUESTOR TAPES, MANIMAL and more! Shimmy on down to the Elliott Street Pub for Kool Kat Talloolah Love’s Candy Box Revue Burlesque! Catch a screening of William Wyler’s epic BEN-HUR (1959) at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 8pm! Boogie down dinosaur-style to the Fernbank Museum’s Adult Prom: A Prehistoric Night to Remember! Rock on down to The Basement for night one of Hammerhead Fest 7 featuring Beitthemeans, The Vaginas, Hellrad, Duell, Spray Tan and CANOPY! New Wave it up with The Swimming Pool Q’s and Mitch Easter at The Vista Room! Or make your way to the Variety Playhouse as Yacht Rock Revue performs the Talking Heads’ STOP MAKING SENSE! Departure pays tribute to Journey at the Dixie Tavern! Time travel it up at SCADShow for a screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) at 7pm! Get country rocked with The Mavericks at the Buckhead Theatre! Or get countrified with Lee Ann Womack at City Winery! Sludge on down to The Earl for a night with EYEHATEGOD, Cro-Mags, and Buzzov-en! Get down and dirty with the North Mississippi Allstars at Eddie’s Attic! Pretty Vacant pays tribute to the Sex Pistols at MadLife Stage & Studios! DJ Kahle brings down the house with an ‘80s Dance Party at The Star Bar! Surf on down to The Drunken Unicorn for a night with The Antarcticats! Groove on down to Aisle 5 for a night with Cosmic Charlie! Interstellar Echoes pay tribute to Pink Floyd at Venkman’s! Stomp on down to the Northside Tavern for a night with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Atlanta Horns! Blind Willies celebrates 32 years with a rockin’ party featuring Sparky & Rhonda Fuller, Steve James and The Shadows! Time-Warp it up 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, March 31

Day Two of SPY-CON 2018 brings you adventurous panels, spytastic guests, screenings of John Huston’s CASINO ROYALE (1967), Jean Delannoy’s ONLY THE COOL (1970), Fritz Lang’s THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE (1960), and don’t forget to live it up at Casino Night in the Ballroom! Rock on down to The Basement for night two of Hammerhead Fest 7 featuring Black Tusk, Ectovoid, Kool Kats SHEHEHE, Steel Bearing Hand, Old Thrones and Useless Against! Make your way to The Earl for the Midnight Larks’ LP Release Party with reverends and Twisty Cats! Skank on down to The Highlander for SOULd OUT, a soul and reggae dance party! SCADShow presents a time-travelling double feature with screenings of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE II (1989) and BACK TO THE FUTURE III (1990) beginning at 12pm! ATL Collective relives Prince’s SIGN O’ THE TIMES at the Buckhead Theatre! It’s a night of Persian pop with Sattar at Center Stage! Folk it up with Peter Mulvey at the Red Light Café! Kavarna dishes out a night of old-school country western with Back in the Saddle, the Swingin’ Saddle Cats and Marla Feeney! Americolor Opera Alliance presents The Gershwins’’ PORGY AND BESS at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 8pm! Get smooth with Yacht Rock Schooner at The Vista Room! Departure pays tribute to Journey at City Winery! Get folksy at Eddie’s Attic with Margaret Glaspy and Cody Marlowe! Get to the root of it all with Garrett Collins at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Heart Breaker pays tribute to Heart at MadLife Stage & Studios! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & the Atlanta Horns get down at the Northside Tavern! Blind Willies celebrates 32 years with a rockin’ party featuring Sparky & Rhonda Fuller, Steve James and The Shadows! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 1

Brunch it up with the Coley High Trio at Venkman’s! And it’s your last chance to spy it up during Day Three of SPY-CON 2018 featuring panels, a performance by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company and more! Spend the night with Mike Martin & The Beautiful Mess at Smith’s Olde Bar! Catch a screening of Charles Walters’ classic, EASTER PARADE (1948) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28! (LAST CHANCE!)

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22!

The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Spring into ATLRetro This Week and come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you!

Monday, March 19

Make your way to Emory Arts’ Q&A with Michael Ironside (SCANNERS/VISITING HOURS/TOTAL RECALL) at 5pm! Indie rock it up with The Wedding Present and Terry de Castro at The Earl! Travel the yellow brick road to the The Earl Smith Strand Theatre as they present the West Side Elementary Drama Club’s rendition of THE WIZARD OF OZ, through March 22! Get the rockin’ blues with Marty O’Reilly & The Old Soul Orchestra at Smith’s Olde Bar! Rock out with VOWWS at 529! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 17-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month!  The Center for Puppetry Arts brings you their Strings, Rods, Hands and Heels: Women in Puppetry event! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Get the blues with Bill Sheffield at Blind Willies! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack as they dish out The Pork Bellys and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, March 20

Get groovy with Bumpin the Mango at City Winery! Get artsy and make your way to Battle & Brew for the opening of their ‘90s Art Show! Make your way to the Red Light Café for a night with The Laymen, Velvet Caviar and Marla Feeney! Gray & The Bad Boys get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blind Willies gets the blues with Frankie’s Blues Mission! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, March 21

The Strypes dish out a Mod revival at The Earl! Funk it up with Me’shell N’degeocello at Terminal West! Or spend the night with Pip the Pansy at Eddie’s Attic! Roots rock on down to The Star Bar for a night with Migrant Worker, The Singing Butcher, Kool Kat Caleb Warren and Brian Revels! Catch a screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! TCM Big Screen Classics celebrates the 60th Anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958) with screenings at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Get some old school soul with Rudy Currence at City Winery! Spend the night with Chuck McDowell, Wyatt Easterling, David Robert King and Brian Perry at the Red Clay Theatre! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Blues Hearts at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get the Chicago/West Coast blues with The Electromatics at Blind Willies! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, March 22

Get glitterfied and rocked cabaret-style with Sadie Hawkins and her Electric Glitterland at The Star Bar!  The Red Light Café gets funky with their Prince Jam hosted by the BadAsh Allstar Team! Boogie on down to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Electric Boogieland Studio 54 Dance Party! Arts at Emory brings you a screening of Kenneth Branagh’s MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN (1994) at 7pm! Glam it up with Kyle Craft and Drew Beskin at The Earl! Rock out at The Highlander with Howiestein and Mister Wilson’s Over the Edge Record Party! Get psyche rocked with A Drug Called Tradition and Small Reactions at 529! The Vista Room dishes out a night of bayou Americana with the Honey Island Swamp Band! Jazz it up with Eric Darius at Suite Food Lounge! Spend the night with Neal Morse at Eddie’s Attic! Sleaze on down to the Clermont Lounge for a rockin’ night with Metal McDonald, The Buzzards of Fuzz, Twin Criminal and LUST! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so funk it up with The Mar-tans and some killer island cocktails! Sweet Betty & The Shadows get down at Blind Willies! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 23

Rock out at The Star Bar with Boy Toy, Shantih Shantih and Black Cat Rising! Shimmy on down to City Winery for a night with Wasabassco Burlesque! Funk it up New Orleans-style with Kermit Ruffins & The Barbeque Swingers at Venkman’s! It’s a night of burlesque, boylesque and ballyhoo at the Red Light Café with Tainted Cabaret! The Capitol City Opera Company presents LA TRAVIATA at Conant Performing Arts Center at Oglethorpe University! Get countrified with Patrick Davis & His Midnight Choir at Eddie’s Attic! Get your old school black metal fix in Hell with Watain, Nexus, and Destroyer 666 at the Masquerade! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola! Get down with Damon Fowler at Blind Willies! Blues it up with Sana Blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, March 24

Get your tail to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night of retro rock with The Billygoats, Kool Kat Caroline & the Ramblers and The Mystery Men?! Rock on down to the Buckhead Theatre for a night with Mike & The Mechanics! Spend a killer evening with The Living Deads and The Sideburners at The Star Bar! Get some soul with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics during their album release party with Greyhounds at Terminal West! Spend the night with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Russian Roulette Band with Skye Paige at Elliott Street Pub! Boogie woogie on down to the Northside Tavern’s Chicken Raid 2018 featuring Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, Bill Sheffield, Steve “The Blues Dude”, Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & the Atlanta Horns, Robert Lee Coleman, Wasted Potential Brass Band, Roy Lee Johnson, Essie Mae Brooks, Frankie’s Blues Mission, Skye Paige, Ross Pead, Little G. Weevil, The Rainmen, Lola, Cool John Ferguson, Albert White and more! Garage rock on down to 529 for a night with Plastic Pinks, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, SKIN JOBS and Nikki & The Phantom Callers! Spend the night with Lisa Lampanelli at Center Stage! ATL Collective relives Billy Joel’s THE STRANGER at City Winery! Get down with Michelle Malone at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with the Vega String Quartet at Emory’s Schwartz Center ! Funk it up New Orleans-style with Kermit Ruffins & The Barbeque Swingers at Venkman’s! The Georgia Player’s Guild pays tribute to Huey Lewis and Hall & Oates at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Make your way to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their Malts & Vaults event! Afro-Pop it up with Tal National at Smith’s Olde Bar! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & The Psycho Devilles at the Dixie Tavern! Sandra Hall & The Shadows dish out a night of the blues at Blind Willies! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, March 25

Rock on down to The Earl for a night of mischief with Kool Kat Ray Dafrico, Dead Boys and Gunpowder Gray! Boogie on down to The Vista Room for Joe Gransden’s Big Band Sunday Dance Party! March on down to the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center and catch the Callanwolde Concert Band! Get your jazz fusion fix with Stanley Clarke (Return to Forever) at City Winery! Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Robbie Fulks and Front Country! Day 2 of the Northside Tavern’s Chicken Raid 2018 gets down with Essie Mae Brooks, the Radio Ramblers, Swami Gone Bananas, Eddie Tigner, The Rockaholics, Uncle Sugar, Cody Matlock, Little Joey’s Jumpin’ Jive, Dr. Dixon & Francois Blues and more! Jazz it up with Eileen Howard at the Red Light Café! Catch a screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s KING OF KINGS (1927) at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 3pm! Catch a screening of Jim Henson’s classic, THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Rock out with 10,000 Pontiacs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Make your way to Out Front Theatre Company for their performance of BUYER AND CELLAR, running through March 22! (LAST CHANCE!)

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22!

The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Shake it up in ATLRetro This Week and check out all the shenanigans we’ve found just for you!

Monday, March 12

The Center for Puppetry Arts brings you puppets and science with their Atlanta Science Festival: Puppets + STEM = Science in Motion event! Get weird with a screening of Kool Kat Philip Gelatt’s THEY REMAIN (2018) at The Plaza Theater, through March 15! Folk it up with Keith Harkin at the Red Light Café! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!” Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up at Blind Willies! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack as they dish out The Pork Bellys and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, March 13

Get saucy and let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your evening with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Spring Fling event, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café, featuring Phoenix Midnight and Jadynn Starr! Make your way to the Fox Theatre for their presentation of A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER, running through March 18! Psyche rock it up with MGMT at The Roxy! Battle & Brew Brings you their Call for Art – 90s Art Show event! Or rock out folk-style with Alex Guthrie and Jacks River Band at City Winery! Get countrified with Stacia Watkins and Derrick Dove at Eddie’s Attic! Get your ‘80s new wave MTV synthpop fix with Electric Avenue at MadLife Stage & Studios! Synth-pop it up with Little Dragon at Terminal West! Gray & The Bad Boys get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blind Willies gets the blues with the Redstone Ramblers! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, March 14

The Star Bar dishes out a night of ‘70s street punk with Dirty Fences, Fast Eddie and Fixed Faces! Catch a screening of John Ford’s classic, THE QUIET MAN (1952) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Rock out with Pop Evil at the Buckhead Theatre! Get the rockin’ Texas blues with Los Lonely Boys and Lisa Morales at City Winery! Get doomed in Hell with a night of SepticFlesh, Dark Funeral, The Antichrist and Prime Mover at the Masquerade! WUSSY MAG presents 7pm and 10pm screenings of Bob Spiers’ SPICE WORLD (1997) at The Plaza Theater! Rock out with Portland’s Soft Kill and Choir Boy at The Earl! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Blues Hearts at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet and Long Horn! Get down with The Crawdaddy’s at Blind Willies! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, March 15

Videodrome and The Plaza Theater kick off their wickedly bizarre Plazadrome Cult Film Series with a screening of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s killer HAUSU (1977) at 9:30pm! Get rocked and old-school with Robin Trower and Eli Cook at Center Stage! Get folksy with Joshua Radin and William Fitzsimmons at City Winery! Sleaze on down to the Clermont Lounge for a night with the Parlyzers, Hot Wives and Piss Shy! Departure pays tribute to Journey at MadLife Stage & Studios! Get some soul with Angie Stone and more at the Variety Playhouse! Get down to The Earl for a night with Ben Trickey & Burnt Sky, W8ing4UFOs and US Prisms! Spend the night with Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Buckhead Theatre! Yee haw it up with Theo Katzman at Eddie’s Attic! Bluegrass it up with The Page Turners and Control Burn at the Red Light Café! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so get groovy with The Knotty Boys and some killer island cocktails! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Blind Willies! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 16

Get rocked with The Zombies at City Winery! Jessica Lea Mayfield dishes out a night of alt-country with T. Hardy Morris at The Earl! Get indie with Charlie Mars at Eddie’s Attic! The High Museum gets jazzy with Paul Stevens during their monthly Friday Jazz event! Night Fever pays tribute to The Bee Gees at MadLife Stage & Studios! Or make your way to the Red Clay Theatre as the Chi-Town Transit Authority pays tribute to Chicago! Get experimental with Deantoni Parks at the Red Light Café! Or cross the pond and make your way to the Variety Playhouse for a night with The Fab Four! Power pop on down to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with Space Giants, The SOOGS and The Indicators! Get the rockin’ blues at The Vista Room as Randall Bramblett celebrates 70 years! Rock on down Janis Joplin-style for a night with Pearl & The Kozmic Blues at Venkman’s! Get the rockin’ blues with George Hughley & The Shadows at Blind Willies! Get the blues with Stoney Brooks at the Northside Tavern! Courtney Daly & The Daly Grind dish out a night of classic soul at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, March 17

Get intergalactic as the Atlanta Science Festival hosts Kool Kat Shane Morton, a.k.a. ghost host with the most, Prof. Morte and his Silver Scream Spook Show’s special spooky SCIENCE version at The Plaza Theater with a screening of Jack Arnold’s horror/sci-fi classic IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) at 1pm and 12am! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & The Psycho Devilles at Irish Bred Pub in Douglasville! Orchestra Noir presents The Wakanda Fest at the Loft at Castleberry Hill! Spend the night with Tipsy in Chelsea and the Skylarks at Kavarna! Get some rock ‘n’ soul with Kitten Fontaine at Avondale Towne Cinema! Rumble on down to Big Tex in Decatur for a night with Kitty Rose & The Rattlers! Tribute dishes out a night of Allman Brothers favorites at City Winery! Get your Scottish folk fix with Jamie Laval at Crimson Moon Café! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Nameless Nameless (Nirvana tribute), Pretty Please and DeLorean! Funk it up with AJ Ghent and the Buddy O’Reilly Band at Eddie’s Attic! The Highlander rocks out with a night of tributes featuring The Kings of Queens (Ramones), The Cherry Bomb (Joan Jett) and more! Spend the night with Above & Beyond at The Roxy! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Get down with Ozomatli at the Variety Playhouse! Jet Black Alley Cat rocks out at Vinyl with Natalie Claro! Catch a screening of Rob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Jill Rock Jones delivers a musical tribute to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone at Venkman’s! Make your way to the Masquerade for a night with The Expanders! Blind Willies gets down with their St. Patty’s Party! Get down with Albert White and Chickens & Pigs at Northside Tavern! Get the blues with Willy Jackson 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 and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, March 18

You won’t want to miss the Atlanta Science Festival’s celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus with a screening of James Whale’s BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), followed by a discussion on science and ethics at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History at 4pm! Get to the rockin’ root of it all with Webb Wilder and Stevie Monce at Eddie’s Attic! Get retro and make your way to 97 Estoria for Georgia Vintage Goods’ Vintage & Handmade Pop-Up, from 12-6pm! Catch a screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! TCM Big Screen Classics celebrates the 60th Anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958) with screenings at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! The Buckhead Theatre Celebrates David Bowie! Get your Americana fix with Wyatt Espalin at the Crimson Moon Café! Spend the night with the Noh-wave prog collective Yamantaka/Sonic Titan, CHEW and Shouldies at The Earl! Boogie down with Band X at Johnny’s Hideaway! Spend the night with Yacht Rock Revue UNPLUGGED at Venkman’s! Rock out with 10,000 Pontiacs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Make your way to Out Front Theatre Company for their performance of BUYER AND CELLAR, running through March 22!

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22!

The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

Director/Screenwriter Philip Gelatt.

Indie horror movies typically don’t get theatrical runs, but THEY REMAIN (2018), opening at the Plaza Theatre on Friday March 9 at 9:30 p.m., is that rarer bird in that it’s arriving with some serious critical buzz from media outlets as The Daily Beast and The New York Times. It’s based on the novella –30– by Laird Barron, an author at the head of the pack of a mounting Weird literary movement that’s been steadily creeping onto the little and big screens from TRUE DETECTIVE to ANNIHILATION (2018, in theaters now), adapted from the best-selling novel by Jeff VanderMeer. And even its leads, really its two characters, are risk-taking—a black man (William Jackson Harper of  THE GOOD PLACE TV series) and a woman (Rebecca Henderson, APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR [2014] ).

The plot is simple and increasingly unsettling. Keith and Jessica, who once were romantically involved,  are assigned to investigate some strange animal behavior on land which once was the stomping ground of a Manson-style family cult. Isolated together in a compound reminiscent of PHASE IV (1974)—yes, there’s some eerie insect action, too—their sanity seems to be increasingly on edge. A festival circuit hit, THEY REMAIN premiered at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon last October to a packed house and thunderous applause.

We caught up with THEY REMAIN Director/Screenwriter Philip Gelatt, no stranger to intelligent Sci-Fi Weird with the film EUROPA REPORT (2013) also under his belt, to find out more.

ATLRetro: What’s the secret origin story behind THEY REMAIN? Why did you want to adapt -30- and how did the project get off the ground?

Philip Gelatt: The secret origin story is basically that at the time I optioned the story, I was coming off the back of a string of failed screenplays. Things I’d written for producers who then just abandoned the projects and generally treated both the material and my work on it with a kind of Hollywood-ish disrespect. So I was feeling a bit pissed off, I guess. Both at screenwriting as a pursuit and craft, and at the industry as a whole.

So I went looking for something that I could do that would let me break all of my most hated rules of screenwriting. I also wanted something that fit my intrinsic tastes, which are a bit esoteric and cantankerous. -30- fit that bill perfectly. It’s a Weird story and a weird story. It’s elliptical and ambiguous and difficult, in the best way. I read the story a few times, just to be sure that I really wanted to try to tackle it. Then I sent it over to the producers who had worked with me on my first feature,THE BLEEDING HOUSE (2011). They read it and immediately saw the potential in it. And things just moved from there.

William Jackson Harper in THEY REMAIN (2018).

What were your greatest challenges in getting THEY REMAIN to the screen? Fundraising is always difficult for filmmakers, but was it harder raising funding for a Weird horror film?

We had myriad challenges, as almost all films of any level do. And yeah, fundraising was one of them. We sent the script out to various financiers, almost all of them passed. The typical story, y’know. In that process, we got responses that asked for the script to be changed in order to fit a more standard horror film. But to do that would have been to remove the very things that make it special and those notes didn’t come with a guarantee of financing. I was lucky in that the lead producers on the film had a bit of money; we were hoping we could get the budget up higher by bringing outside financiers on, but, in the end, we weren’t able to and we had to shoot with what we knew we had.

Can you talk a little about casting the film and working with William Jackson Harper and Rebecca Henderson? 

Absolutely. I don’t like the auditioning process. I find it awkward and un-useful. It feels like you’re bringing actors in and putting them in front of a firing squad and I hate that.  So, instead, I had prospective actors read the script and then I brought them in to have a conversation about the material and the characters. Ultimately, what I was looking for was people that had strongly engaged with the script, people who had ideas about the story, and people with whom I thought I could collaborate closely.

Filmmaking, despite what auteur theory might lead a person to think, really is all about choosing the right collaborators. Especially on this budget level. You need people you get along with and people who will challenge you and people who are dedicated to the film. Auditioning won’t let you see if an actor can be those things.

We cast both Will and Rebecca through that process. I then made the rather bold—and potentially stupid—decision to not really rehearse prior to shooting. My thinking was basically that by dropping the actors in on day one and just going, it would put them in the same mindset as the characters. Rehearsals would have given them a chance to grow comfortable with the material and each other… I figured better to try to keep it a little more raw than that.

I can’t say enough great things about both them. They handled every weird twist of that script with absolute professionalism.

Jessica (Rebecca Henderson) leans over Keith (William Jackson Harper) in THEY REMAIN (2018)

The film’s visuals are key to building the mounting set of dread, so it works upon the audience as much as the characters. Can you talk a little about the look you wanted to achieve, connecting ambiance and lighting with mood, and cinematographer Sean Kirby, who has a strong background in documentary filmmaking?

 This is, above everything else, a film about a certain mood and tone. The idea was to place the audience in the same position as the characters, so that as the film progressed they were grappling with the same frustrations and the same growing sense of dread.

There was a running visual idea that shots should always be slightly off. Sean called it “leaving room for the other in the frame.” Often that meant framing such that the human character is minimized or off center or, occasionally, almost completely hidden.

One of my favorite moments in the film comes fairly early, it is a shot with tree in focus in the middle of frame and, in the near distance behind it, out of focus, Keith is sitting and watching. It’s a rather long shot. We never rack-focus to Keith or highlight that he’s there. But he is. That to me is the essence of the film: you’re being asked to look closer.

Sound also is integral to the effect. What instructions did you give composer Tom Keohane and how did you both collaborate?

Tom and I worked pretty closely throughout the whole process of the film beginning in pre-production. I had him read the script and the story and compose music just based on those. This was before we’d shot anything. I wanted his initial musical response to the story. And some of that music lasted all the way to the final cut. It certainly helped inform the way editing process.

In terms of the actual scoring process once the film was shot, we had pretty long conversations about what might or might not work. For a time, we were trying a sound that was almost like Vangelis’s work on Blade Runner (1982). Very science-fiction and very big.

We pursued that awhile but ended up finding that it was misleading… it made the film feel too much like it was going to end up having robots or spaceships or something. And of course, it doesn’t have those things. So we pulled back and started investigating sonic textures for interior spaces and exterior spaces, and musical themes for each of the characters in the film. So much of the film is off-screen; we thought it was important to have certain musical cues as to what unseen element might be at play in any given moment. I’m very happy with how it turned out. For those interested, Tom will be putting the soundtrack up on Bandcamp.

The domed compound in THEY REMAIN (2018).

Film and the written word are different media with different demands and strengths. The original story was set in a California desert, but you’ve re-set it to the woods—both of which can be very isolating locales. Some readers may wonder about the reason why you made this shift?  

 The basic reason we shifted it is a very boring one: budget. We knew pretty early that we weren’t going to be able to mount a production in the high desert. And we also knew that we had access to a sizable piece of land in upstate New York.

At first, I was a bit disappointed that we needed to make that change. I certainly started out picturing the story in the desert. But once I’d spent some time on the land where we were going to shoot, I got used to the idea and even started seeing some of the advantages in it in terms of color. A lot more hues and tones in the forest than the desert. And Sean and I did our damnedest to make that forest feel as strange and isolating as we possibly could.

Horror film is known for its jump-cuts and sudden scares, but THEY REMAIN’s horror is embedded in subtle unsettling moments. Do you have a favorite—or one that has been particularly gratifying to see the audience response to, without giving away too many spoilers?

 Oh I’m pretty proud of a lot of moments in the film. I’ll list a few.

There are two times in the film that Keith wakes up and finds Jessica standing next to his bed. The first time it happens is one of my favorite moments in the film. Her performance there gives me chills.

Speaking of Jessica, the careful viewer will notice that she looks directly into the camera a few times over the course of the film. It’s quick but I think, even if you don’t pick up on it consciously, you do register that something strange has just happened.

Then there are a few sound details that I love. Early in the film, there’s a moment where we cut to black. And then the sound of two knocks brings us out of the black and into a new scene. That knocking sound is, of course, the sound of knocking on the hatch, something that becomes significant later in the film.

Interwoven, ominous details like that are the thing I most wanted to play with in constructing this film.

Maybe we’re a little partial because we know artist Jeanne D’Angelo’s work, but that’s also one hell of a movie poster—leaves surrounding a voyeuristic eye. Did you make suggestions to Jeanne, or how did that evolve?

 I love Jeanne’s work so much. Like with Tom, I actually approached Jeanne before we shot the film and hired her to do a piece of concept art that featured the skull and the horn and the forest.

So when the film was completed, she seemed like the obvious person to approach about doing a poster. I don’t remember making initial suggestions to her; instead she started doing sketches with her ideas for how it might look. And eventually we settled on the leaves and the eye and subtle details.

That poster feels so much like the film to me. She did an amazing job.

How do you feel about a theatrical release? Was it always a goal, or did you think this was just going to be festival circuit to DVD/streaming—the usual fate of many indie horror films?

 It was always the goal. Sean shot the film to be seen big. And I wanted to make a movie that would benefit from the theater-going experience where viewers aren’t so tempted to check their phones or computers or get distracted. It’s a film in which you’re supposed to get lost… much easier to do that in a theater. I’m so grateful that we’re getting even a limited theatrical release.

The genuinely Weird movie is a rarity. What are a few Weird films that inspired you or are personal favorites and why?

 I have a tendency to detect The Weird in the nooks and crannies of films that might not be commonly seen that way. So, for example, I believe THE SHINING (1980) to be a Weird film. Yes, it’s a haunted house film, but the ways in which the details of the story don’t add up, the way in which it frustrates interpretation, the psychology of it… those things feel deeply Weird to me.

I think Polanski’s film THE TENANT (1976) is a Weird film in the way it plays with identity and indulges in a very unsettling sense of the surreal. There’s no cosmicism in it but Polanski does kind of construct a twisted pantheon of god-like humans who destroy his character’s life. And then there’s the matter of the hieroglyphics on the bathroom wall…

Oh and here’s another outside-the-box pick: Peter Greenaway’s THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT (1982). It’s a movie I adore… and on its face it is basically a period piece murder mystery. But there is also this living statue that haunts the edges of the frames, never really acknowledged by any of the characters.

Is there any question no one has asked you yet about THEY REMAIN that you’re surprised by or would particularly love to answer? And what is the answer?

 Hmmm… to their credit, people have avoided asking me questions like “what does the film mean?” Or “what’s real in the film?” Of course, I think it’d be really boring of me to answer those questions. Engaging with those things is part of the fun of the film. Which is my roundabout way of saying: this is the type of film that should leave you a little perplexed. My hope is that it will spark debate about just what has happened and just what it might all mean.

What’s next for you as a filmmaker?

In terms of what I’m going to direct next, I have two projects that I’m developing currently. But I’m not sure when—or even if—either one of them will come to fruition. I have been doing a good deal of screenwriting for other directors recently. Mostly science-fiction material. Nothing I’m allowed to say much about but keep your eyes peeled.

I’ve also been working on a hand-animated, rotoscoped, psychedelic, sword and sorcery fantasy film. It’s titled THE SPINE OF NIGHT. I co-directed that with the lead animator on the project, Morgan King.

We shot the live action bits of it years ago and since then a team of animators has been working hard on it. It should, finally, be completed sometime late this year. That’s one for fans of FIRE & ICE (1983), HEAVY METAL (both the magazine and the film) and old school Conan. It is a really distinctive and amazing project and I can’t wait for it to get out there.

All photos courtesy of Philip Gelatt and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Spring into ATLRetro and come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve dug up just for you!

Monday, March 5

Dan Call of The Villains gets acoustic at Eddie’s Attic! Get bizarre and catch a screening of Masaaki Yuasa’s cult classic MIND GAME (2004) at The Plaza Theater through March 8! Get down with Clark Ashton at Blind Willies! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 17-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! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack as they dish out The Pork Bellys and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, March 6

Universal Pictures Presents a screening of Jim Henson/Frank Oz’ THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford); AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Folk rock it up with Graham Nash at City Winery! Get New Orleans jazzy with Ben Jaffe (Preservation Hall Jazz Band) and Jake Decker at Eddie’s Attic! Gray & The Bad Boys get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blind Willies gets the blues with Bill Sheffield! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more, with a salute to Stevie Wonder! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, March 7

The Dropkick Murphys get mischievous at The Roxy! Get criminal and familial with a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER (1972) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! KOLARS dish out a night of space blues and glamabilly with Escondido at Aisle 5! Spend the night with John Foreman at Center Stage! Fiddle on down to the Red Clay Theatre for The Mark O’Connor Band! Get trippy with Bonobo at the Variety Playhouse! Zeshan B dishes out a night of soul at Vinyl! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for the Todd Prusin Experience with special guests Suspended Animation! Jazz it up with the Sal Gentile Trio at the Elliott Street Pub! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Blues Hearts at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet and Long Horn! Blues it up with Bob Page at Blind Willies! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, March 8

Get your ‘80s punk fix with a special screening of Ian McFarland’s documentary, THE GODFATHERS OF HARDCORE (2017) followed by a Q&A with Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma (Agnostic Front) with Director Ian McFarland at 7pm!  Make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for their Brickyard Blues Pre-Party! Beyond the Pale dishes out a night of funky Klezmer bluegrass ‘n’ reggae at City Winery!  Rev on down to the Clermont Lounge for a night with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club! Folk it up with Trout Steak Revival and Billy Strings at Eddie’s Attic! Slippery When Wet pays tribute to Bon Jovi at MadLife Stage & Studios! Get creepy and kooky and celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Jerry’s Habima Theatre with their presentation of THE ADAMS FAMILY, through March 11! Get folk jazzy with George Winston at the Variety Playhouse! The “Ladies of ‘60s Soul” Keisha and Kourtney Jackson get down at Venkman’s! Get your rock ‘n’ roll fix with Vista Kicks, Camera Box and Youth as Gold at Vinyl! Spend the night with Elohim at the Masquerade! ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22! Or make your way to Out Front Theatre Company for their performance of BUYER AND CELLAR, running through March 22! Make your way to The Star Bar for a night with The Ain’t Sisters, The Titos, Moloq and the Dround Hounds! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so get groovy with Coast Guard and some killer island cocktails! Larry Griffith gets down at Blind Willies! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 9

Get jazzy and shimmy on down to the Red Light Café as Speakeasy Electro Swing brings you The Royal Court of Jazz, paying tribute to the Jazz legends of history, featuring Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kook Kat Lola LeSoleil and more! Rock out with Timmy James & The Blue Flames, The Scragglers and Dang Dang Dang at The Star Bar! Spend the night with Tom Green at City Winery! Get to the root of it all Texas-style with Lee Roy Parnell at the Crimson Moon Café! Celtic rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Enter the Haggis and Eliot Bronson! Make your way to the Fernbank Museum’s Fernbank After Dark: Microbes & Microbrews event featuring live tunes by Chelsea Shag! Slippery When Wet pays tribute to Bon Jovi for a second night at MadLife Stage & Studios! Folk it up with Shawn Mullins at the Red Clay Theatre! It’s a night of hellacious ‘90s goth with Nightwish at the Tabernacle! Spend the night with Little Tybee and The Reign of Kindo at Terminal West! Spend the night with Bianca Del Rio at the Variety Playhouse! Groove on down to Venkman’s for a night with the Good Times Brass Band and Moontower! The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22! Get folksy celtic-style with Celtic Woman Homecoming at the Fox Theatre! Boogie on down to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with Lisa Von Osch and their Women’s Disco Night! Or learn a move or two during the Brickyard Blues 2018 blues dance workshop! Get the rockin’ blues with House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows at Blind Willies! Get the blues with Bill Sheffield at the Northside Tavern! Get the blues with Sly Dog at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, March 10

Get nostalgic and make your way to the Atlanta Marriott Century Center for Toylanta 2018! Get some rockin’ soul with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and The Gartrells, Bad Spell and The Whips at The Star Bar! Make your way to the West Community Café and delve into works of Creative Resistance featuring Heroic Black Imagery in all forms of art with Kool Kat Balogun Ojetade during his From the Black Panthers to Black Panther event! Get Afro-funked at Venkman’s during their Tribute to Hugh Masekela! Get nostalgic with Public Access T.V., Honduras and Willie Bleeding at The Earl! Blacksmith it up during the Iron & Anvil Artist’s Alley at Ironmonger Brewing Company in Marietta! Experience Kat Cunning in the raw at Center Stage! Make your way to Get Scene Studios for the 2018 Essential Theatre Celebration, celebrating their 20th Anniversary! Get groovy with W8ing4UFOs and The Artifactual String Unit at Kavarna! Stomp on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night with Heather Luttrell! Rock out with Tommy Stinson (The Replacements) and Chip Roberts at 529! City Winery gets folksy with Marc Cohn! Get stoner-rocked with Dead Meadow at The Drunken Unicorn! For a rockin’ night of the bizarre catch That 1 Guy and Eliot Bronson at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with Kaki King at the Ferst Center! Rock out with Darling Machine, Stonefist and Still Warning at The Highlander! Almost Billy Joel pays tribute at MadLife Stage & Studios! Thrash on down to the Masquerade for a night with Exodus, Municipal Waste, and Death of Kings! Folk it up with Shawn Mullins at the Red Clay Theatre! Tony Levitas & The Levitations dish out a night of retro rock at Tin Roof Cantina! Get classically rocked with PARADOCS at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Spend the night with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willies! Blues it up with Sammy Blue and Nate Nelson at the Northside Tavern! Get some soul with Herman Hitson 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 and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, March 11

Get retro and make your way to 97 Estoria for Georgia Vintage Goods’ Vintage & Handmade Pop-Up, from 12-6pm! Get down to the High Museum for their Free Second Sunday event! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt revs it up acoustic-style at Porterdale Bar! Get heavy with Sabaton and Kreator at the Buckhead Theatre! City Winery gets folksy with Marc Cohn! Spend the night with Mike Love at Eddie’s Attic! Rock out with Propagandhi at the Masquerade! Jam out with Tony B at the Red Light Café! Funk it up with the Atlanta Funk Society at the Elliott Street Pub! Rock out with 10,000 Pontiacs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Make your way to Out Front Theatre Company for their performance of BUYER AND CELLAR, running through March 22!

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

ABBA on down to the Aurora Theatre for their presentation of MAMMA MIA! Running through April 22!

The Horizon Theatre Company presents FREAKY FRIDAY: A NEW MUSICAL, through April 22!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Shake a tail feather in ATLRetro This Week and come see what we’ve dug up for you!

Monday, February 26

Get the old school blues with Rudy Currence at Eddie’s Attic! Atlanta musicians pay tribute to Jeff Porcaro at The Vista Room! Folk it up with Gordon Lightfoot at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!”  Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, February 27

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema presents a special screening of Stanley Kubrick’s BARRY LYNDON (1977) at 7pm! Clown it up with Tape Face at Center Stage! Get saxy with Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers at City Winery! Spend the night with John Oates & The Good Road Band at Eddie’s Attic! Reggae rock it up with The Expendables, Through the Roots and more at the Masquerade! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, February 28

Avant-garde it up with Benjamin Clementine at the Variety Playhouse! The Star Bar brings you their Candle-Lit Wednesday featuring Smyth & Jones (The Locksmyth), Book Club and Blake Rainey! Get rootsy with Caroline Aiken at The Vista Room! The Barack & Michelle Obama Academy presents The Black History Museum at 6pm! Catch a screening of David Leland’s music documentary CONCERT FOR GEORGE (2003) at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema at 7pm! Or join the manhunt and catch a screening of Henry Hathaway’s TRUE GRIT (1969) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm!  Emory Cinematheque continues their “Black Lives on the Small Screen” series with a screening of Ava DuVernay’s documentary, 13th (2016) at 7:30pm! Universal Pictures Presents a screening of Jim Henson/Frank Oz’ THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford); AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Spend the night with John Oates & The Good Road Band at Eddie’s Attic! Get your Americana fix with The Way Down Wanderers, The Barefoot Movement and Andy May at the Red Clay Theatre! Psyche rock it up with Noah Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at the Tabernacle! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! Catch a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7pm during their SMG Classic Romance series! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, March 1

David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) gets intimate with an acoustic set at Little Tree Art Studios with The Hot Place and James Hall! A night of hilarity invades The Plaza Theater as Cineprov screens/riffs Max Kleven’s BAIL OUT (1989), doors at 7:15pm! The Cadillac Three dish out a night of Southern Rock at the Buckhead Theatre! Get some soul with Jeff Bradshaw & Friends, featuring Algebra Blessett and Glenn Lewis at City Winery! Spend the night with the Julian Lage Trio at The Earl! Get countrified with Corb Lund at Eddie’s Attic! Rumours pay tribute to Fleetwood Mac at MadLife Stage & Studios in Woodstock! Metal core it up with Norma Jean, Greyhaven and more at the Masquerade! Get folksy with Brett Dennen and Dean Lewis at Terminal West! Rock out with Kevn Kinney at Venkman’s! The Band Benefield rocks out at the Clermont Lounge! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so get swanky with Bogey & The Viceroy and some killer island cocktails! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 2

The BadAsh Allstar Team celebrates 34 years of THIS IS SPINAL TAP and A MIGHTY WIND with a rockin’ Jam at Avondale Towne Cinema! Catch a screening of Masaaki Yuasa’s cult classic MIND GAME (2004) at The Plaza Theater at 7:20pm! Emory Arts presents a screening of Franchot Tone and John Goetz’ film adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic UNCLE VANYA (1958) at 6pm in White Hall 208! Make your way to the Buckhead Theatre for a night with Yacht Rock Revue! Get the blues with Tab Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Records Revue at City Winery! Bluegrass it up with Circus No. 9 at the Crimson Moon Café! Spend the night with Stephen Kellogg at Eddie’s Attic! Bluegrass it up with Railroad Earth and Roosevelt Collier at the Variety Playhouse! Rock out at The Star Bar with Gas Hound, The Stir, The Fill-Ins and Bleach Garden! Get old-timey with The VaudeVillains at Kavarna! Get down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at the Northside Tavern! Get down with The Rockaholics  at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, March 3

The Center for Puppetry Arts brings you “The Women of the Muppets” featuring Sonia Manzano (“Maria”/Sesame Street), Bonnie Erickson (designer/builder of Miss Piggy) and Fran Brill (first female puppeteer hired for Sesame Street)! Geek it up during the Atlanta Sci-Fi & Fantasy Expo at North Dekalb Mall, fulfilling your sci-fi fantasies through March 4! Get down to Atlantic Station for the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival featuring live tunes by Trial By Fire (tribute to Journey), Slippery When Wet (tribute to Bon Jovi) and more! Universal Pictures Presents a screening of Jim Henson/Frank Oz’ THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford); AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! The Dixie Dregs rock out at Center Stage! Folk it up with Over the Rhine at City Winery! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a night with Roxie Watson! Rock out with The Band of Heathens at Eddie’s Attic! Railroad Earth and Roosevelt Collier deliver a bluegrassy encore at the Variety Playhouse! Rev it up at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with the Kentucky Head Hunters and The Side Burners! Catch an encore screening of Masaaki Yuasa’s cult classic MIND GAME (2004) at The Plaza Theater at 1pm! Folk rock it up with The Mulligan Brothers and Korby Lenker at the Red Clay Theatre! Latin Pop it up with Ricardo Montaner at The Roxy! Funk it up with the Wasted Potential Brass Band and Ross Pead at the Northside Tavern! Get the Dixie blues with Seminole Jackson 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 and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, March 4

Rev it up at Park Tavern for the 3rd Annual Americana in the Park Festival featuring a rockin’ lineup with Kitty Rose & The Rattlers, Jackson County Line, Russ Still & The Moonshiners and Captain Trips & The Sunstroke Serenaders! Rock out with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, Katy Guillen & The Girls and Grinder Nova at Smith’s Olde Bar! Croon on down to Venkman’s for Joe Gransden: Sinatra & Friends! Get some soul with Howard Hewett at City Winery! The Crimson Moon Café gets down with their Boomers Go Wild event!  Folk it up with The Honey Dew Drops and Griffin House at Eddie’s Attic! American Nightmare gets hardcore at the Masquerade!  Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for The Van Ella Bordella! Get criminal and familial with a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER (1972) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Rock out with 10,000 Pontiacs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

The Fox Theatre presents the RENT 20th Anniversary Tour, through Feb. 28! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Historic Oakland Cemetery offers free guided tours of African American Grounds, throughout Black History Month!

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

This Week in ATLRetro is the bee’s knees! Come see all the retro shenanigans we’ve dug up for you!

Monday, February 19

Catch a screening of Mika Kaurismaki’s MAMA AFRICA: MIRIAM MAKEBA (2011) at The Plaza Theater, through Feb. 22! Bossa Nova it up with Bebel Gilberto at City Winery! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 17-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month! Blues it up with John Paul Barry at Blind Willie’s! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, February 20

Rattle & Roar with the Earls of Leicester and Early James & The Latest at City Winery! Get jazzy with Aubrey Logan and The Sabor! Brass Band at Eddie’s Attic! Make your way to the Red Light Café for a night with The Laymen, Marla Feeney and more! The Fox Theatre presents the RENT 20th Anniversary Tour, through Feb. 28! Get witchy at Fado Irish Pub during their Harry Potter TriWizard Pub Quiz at 8pm! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the BooHoo Ramblers! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, February 21

New Wave it up with Howard Jones and get haunted with Rachel Sage at City Winery! The Plaza Theater kills it with a screening of Lau Kar-leung’s 36th CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1979)! Catch a screening of Victor Fleming’s classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Emory Cinematheque continues their “Black Lives on the Small Screen” series with a screening of Marlon Riggs’s PBS documentary, BLACK IS…BLACK AIN’T (1995) at 7:30pm! Get countrified with Chris Knight at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with Chuck McDowell, Michelle Malone, John Cable and Julie Gribble at the Red Clay Theatre! Get retro-inspired with Elizabeth & The Catapult, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards and The Good Graces at Smith’s Olde Bar! Madame Company pays tribute to Bad Company while The Damn Truth relives the tunes of the past at The Vista Room! Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema! The Electromatics dish out a night of Chicago/West Coast blues at Blind Willie’s! Make your way to Turner Field for the UniverSoul Circus! TCM Big Screen Classics presents a screening of George Cukor’s THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Or blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, February 22

Get intergalactic as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivers their STAR WARS – A New Hope in Concert at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Rock out with KICK – The INXS Experience at City Winery! Tom Hill dishes out some rockin’ blues at the Clermont Lounge! Howiestein and Mister Wilson dish out their Over the Edge Record Party featuring punk, soul, ‘70s glam and more at The Highlander! Jazz it up with Kyshona Armstrong at Venkman’s! Get folksy with Josh Garrels and Wilder Adkins at Terminal West! Make your way to the Red Light Café for the BadAsh Allstar Team’s Eagles Jam! Get down and dirty with Sweet Betty & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Cody Matlock & the Mothership get down at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get countrified and rock out with Chris Knight and The Steel Woods at Eddie’s Attic! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so hula on down for a night of rockin’ tunes with the Knotty Boys and some killer island cocktails! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, February 23

Honkytonk it up at The Star Bar with The Wheel Knockers, Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers, Heather Luttrell, and Alan Shelton & Bar Community Stars! Kink it up with Kool Kats galore during CandyBox’ February Underground Burlesque Show at Elliot’s Street Pub with Kool Kat Roula Roulette, Kool Kat Talloolah Love and more! Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Wild Wing Café in Dunwoody! Interstellar Echoes pay tribute to Pink Floyd at The Vista Room! Rock out with a night of tributes at Smith’s Olde Bar featuring Freebird (Kool Kat Rich Desantis), Led Zeppelified, Back Yardbirds and Solar Lunartic! Rockabilly it up with Hillbilly Casino at Dixie Tavern! Modern folk meets old-school soul with Sam Burchfield, Nathan Angelo and Chris Ayer at Eddie’s Attic! Rock on down to Hell and get mischievous with The F@cking Pantera Cover Band at the Masquerade! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Brian Revels & The Heat Lightning, Five Shot Jack and Papa Jack Couch! Americana it up at the Tin Roof Cantina with The Ain’t Sisters! Rock out with Bas Clas at Avondale Towne Cinema! The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivers an intergalactic encore of their STAR WARS – A New Hope in Concert at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Geek it up with Dad’s Garage as they present Improvised Dungeons & Dragons! Spend the night with Zabadodat at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Andy T. Band with Alabama Mike gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with the Atlanta Horns at the Northside Tavern! Get down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, February 24

Rock, rock, rock ‘n’ roll high school on down to The Star Bar for the 3rd Annual Rock –N- Roll High School Tribute to the Ramones featuring Little Leslie & The Bloodshots, Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & The Psycho Devilles and more! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Gunpowder Gray, Silver Tongue Devils, Sash the Bash and Adam Anzio! Folk it up with The Indigo Girls at the Red Clay Theatre! Get intimate with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and the Kingsized 3 at The Vista Room! Mark Nelson & Friends present Songs in the Key of Stevie at Venkman’s! Get funky and spend the night with The Revolution at the Tabernacle! Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21! The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivers an intergalactic encore of their STAR WARS – A New Hope in Concert at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Kool Kat Rich Desantis and the Street Fighting Band pay tribute to The Rolling Stones at MadLife Stage & Studios in Woodstock! Smith’s Olde Bar dishes out another night of tributes with el scorcho (Weezer), Runnin’ Down a Dream (Tom Petty Revue) and M.E.R.M.E.R (REM)! The Rainmen dish out a night of ‘60s and ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with the Atlanta Horns and Ross Pead at the Northside Tavern! Get down with The Vipers at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Make your way to Blind Willie’s for a night with House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Kwasi Mandisco transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, February 25

Spend the night with funk granddaddy, George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic, at the Buckhead Theatre! Get old-timey with J.D. Wilkes, Nikki & The Phantom Callers, and The Waymores at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get some soul with Martin Sexton at City Winery! Universal Pictures Presents a screening of Jim Henson/Frank Oz’ THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford); AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Francine Reed! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for Super Happy Funtime, a live band burlesque circus troupe! Make your way to Venkman’s for Harrison 75, an acoustic tribute to George Harrison! Join the manhunt and catch a screening of Henry Hathaway’s TRUE GRIT (1969) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Get the blues with Garrett Collins at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

7 Stages presents THE FOLLOWERS: A RETELLING OF THE BACCHAE, running through Feb. 25! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Fox Theatre presents the RENT 20th Anniversary Tour, through Feb. 28!

The Historic Oakland Cemetery offers free guided tours of African American Grounds, throughout Black History Month!

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

Learn some history with the Gwinnett Parks Foundation’s Historic Walking Tours every Saturday through April 21!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Check out all the swell happenings we’ve found for you This Week in ATLRetro!

Monday, February 12

Get jazzy with the Emerald Empire Band at The Vista Room! Ukulele it up with Jake Shimabukuro at City Winery! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!” Catch a screening of Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM (2003) at The Plaza Theater! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, February 13

Get sinfully seductive at and let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your Valentine’s evening with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Hearts & Heartbreakers event, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café! Funk it up with The Squirrelheads at The Vista Room! Get your Barbara Streisand fix with Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s 50th Anniversary screening of William Wyler’s FUNNY GIRL (1968) at the Springs Cinema & Tap House at 7pm! Jake Shimabukuro dishes out an encore show at City Winery! Spend the night with Mary J. Blige at the Fox Theatre! Reggae it up with Roots of Creation and The Elovaters at Smith’s Olde Bar! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down with the Poverty Level Band! Catch a screening of Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM (2003) at The Plaza Theater! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! Celebrate Mardi Gras with The Crawdaddies at Blind Willie’s! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with DJ Quasi Mandisco’s Little 5 Points Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, February 14

It’s St. Valentine’s Day folks and you know what that means! We’ve dug up a variety of rockin’ vintage shindigs taking place tonight, that we know will get your blood pumping and all set for that shot to the heart! Croon on down to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for The Sam Cooke Experience, featuring Markell Williams dishing out a soulful revue of “Cupid” proportions at 8pm! Hillbilly it up at The Star Bar for a night with Scott H. Biram and The Hotten Hallers! Paula Cole dishes out a night of love songs at City Winery! Or swing on by Venkman’s for a romantic night featuring Vince Guaraldi’s classic BE MY VALENTINE CHARLIE BROWN, performed by Dave Ellington’s Peanut Gallery! The Vista Room gets jazzy with Joe Gransden’s Valentine’s Dinner Show! Let Sandra Hall & The Shadows show you where it’s at this Valentine’s Day at Blind Willie’s! Spend the night with Hello Ocho at The Earl dishing out a night of psyche-y Kraut rock featuring Adron, Mick Mayer and more! WUSSY MAG presents a 7pm Galentine’s Day event and screening of Hugh Wilson’s FIRST WIVES CLUB (1996) at The Plaza Theater! Swing on by the Cobb Energy Center for a night with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox! For all you knights in shining armor, get really retro and romantic with the royal one in your life and joust on down to Medieval Times for their Valentine’s Celebration! Spend Valentine’s Day with The Kennedys (Blue Moon Orchestra) at the Red Clay Theatre! Get romantic at the Aurora Cineplex in Roswell for a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at 7pm with special treats for the ladies, or catch this romantic classic during the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Hula on over to Trader Vic’s and escape into the island atmosphere of love with their 4-course Prix Fixe Menu! The French are known for their romantic gestures, so get romantic at Petite Violette (formerly Petite Auberge) for their special 5-course Valentine’s Day Menu! Be a pair of star-crossed lovers as the Shakespeare Tavern performs their special Valentine’s production of “Romeo & Juliet” at 7:30pm! Emory Cinematheque continues their “Black Lives on the Small Screen” series with a screening of Spike Lee’s 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997) at 7:30pm! Get mischievous during The Highlander’s Valentine’s Day Chaos featuring Rotten Stitches, Revolt, Moose Knuckle and Dernier Combat! Funk it up with the Mike Veal Band at Tin Roof Cantina! Rock out with Boygirlfriends, Cuntry and more at 529! Or blues it up with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get jazzy at the Red Light Café with The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up a night of acoustic 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, February 15

Rock out with The Othermen, the Reverends and Black Cat Rising at The Star Bar! Honkytonk on down to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with Dave & Stephen (Million Dollar Quartet) with special guest Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers! It’s a night of New Orleans funk with John “Papa” Gros and The Wasted Potential Brass Band at The Vista Room! Doyle Bramhall II dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at Eddie’s Attic! Get groovy at the Clermont Lounge with CHEW, A Drug Called Tradition and Day Tripper! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night with The Indigo Girls, The Bottle Rockets and Chuck Prophet! Catch a free screening of the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) at Venkman’s at 8pm! Garage rock out with Tiger! Tiger! at 529! House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows get down at Blind Willie’s! Cody Matlock & the Mothership get down at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Groove on down to Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s for a night with Coast Guard and a couple killer island cocktails! 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! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, February 16

For those who prefer alternate history to reality and fantasy, travel way back in time during this year’s 3-day event (Feb. 16-18), AnachroCon 2018 – The Viking Age, celebrating historical reenactments, Steampunk, science-fiction, classic horror, literature, fashion and a cornucopia of indulgences! Catch a longship to the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria, where you’ll catch Mistress of Ceremonies, author Lee Martindale, performances by Valhalla’s Vixens, Big Daddy Cool & The Bombshell Kittens, informative panels discussing the medieval era, Vikings, Steampunk, Victorian science-fiction, time travel, Gothic literature, vintage tales of terror (Lovecraft, Poe, Stoker), ghost stories and the classic monster flicks of Universal and Hammer and a vendors room chock full of goodies, including our pals at Horror in Clay (see our Shop Around feature here) and so much more!

Ragtime on down to The Earl for a little Prohibition pandemonium with Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & The Hookers! Rocksteady on down to The Star Bar for their Valentine’s Rock –N- Ska! event featuring Kitty Rose & The Rattlers and Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley with Southern Ska Syndicate! Spook on down to Folklore Haunted House in Acworth for their My Bloody Valentine haunt at 7:30pm! Get the blues with the Ghost Town Blues Band at The Vista Room! Catch a screening of Mika Kaurismaki’s MAMA AFRICA: MIRIAM MAKEBA (2011) at The Plaza Theater! Rock out with The Producers at City Winery! Get the blues with the Bridget Kelly Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Sabor Brass Band gets down at the High Museum! The Badash Allstar Team delivers their Fleetwood Mac Jam at the Red Light Café! Glam it up with James Hall’s Pleasure Club and Pls Pls at Smith’s Olde Bar! Spend the night with Tommy Emmanuel at the Variety Playhouse! Get funky with the Atlanta Funk Society at Venkman’s! Get down with Stoney Brooks at the Northside Tavern! Get down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Blind Willie’s! It’s a night of outlaw blues with Blue Roads at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up 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, February 17

It’s day 2 of AnachroCon 2018 – The Viking Age, dishing out anything and everything Viking, Victorian, Steampunk and more! A night of creaturific hilarity invades The Plaza Theater as Cineprov screens/riffs Dick Randall’s FRANKENSTEIN’S CASTLE OF FREAKS (1975) at 9pm! Get the roadhouse blues with Delbert McClinton at the Variety Playhouse! Rock out with Prowess, The Buzzards of Fuzz and The Dreaded Marco at The Star Bar! Ragtime on down to The Earl for a little Prohibition pandemonium encore with Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & The Hookers! Criminal Records hosts their free Black Panther Tribute Party featuring State of the Art Atlanta, Marcus Williams (Tuskegee Heirs) and Corey Davis (Jambalaya Mixtape) from 11am – 3pm! Get heavy and old-school with Junkyard and Enuff Z’nuff at 37 Main in Buford! Folk on down to the Red Light Café for their Bob Dylan Jam with Mark Michelson & Friends! Rock out at The Highlander for a night with The Breaks, The Reserves and DDC! Spend the night with Los Temararios at the Atlanta Coliseum in Duluth! The Producers dish out a rockin’ encore at City Winery! Get down with DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Kwasi Mandisco at the Clermont Lounge! Get down with Radar at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Gypsy jazz it up with The Gonzalo Bergara Quartet at Eddie’s Attic! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings and Little G Weevil! Get a second chance to glam it up with the Pleasure Club at Smith’s Olde Bar! The Earl Smith Strand Theatre dishes out a night of love and heartbreak with their Strand Ole Opry event! Dance Your Valentine Off with Susi French Connection at Avondale Towne Cinema at 9pm! It’s a bloody encore, so spook on down to Folklore Haunted House in Acworth for their My Bloody Valentine haunt at 7:30pm! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out an R –N- B Revue! Ghosts and love collide at the Historic Oakland Cemetery with their Love Stories of Oakland tours at 2:30pm, through Sunday! Ambassador of the Blues, James Armstrong, gets down at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, February 18

It’s day 3 and your last chance to experience alternate history at AnachroCon 2018 – The Viking Age! TCM Big Screen Classics presents a screening of George Cukor’s THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Get folksy with Al Stewart and The Empty Pockets at City Winery! Rock out with Sponge and Nobody’s Darlings at the Masquerade! Bluegrass it up with The Kruger Brothers at the Red Clay Theatre! Catch a screening of Victor Fleming’s classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm! Get the blues with Garrett Collins at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

7 Stages presents THE FOLLOWERS: A RETELLING OF THE BACCHAE, running through Feb. 25!

The Historic Oakland Cemetery offers free guided tours of African American Grounds, throughout Black History Month!

Get the blues with Ike Stubblefield at Avondale Towne Cinema, every Wednesday until March 28!

My Parents’ Basement goes old-school with their monthly Pinball Tournament, every firsts Wednesday of the month!

Geek it up and get to bowlin’ at The Comet Pub & Lanes’ Comet Cosplay, getting nerdy the first Monday of every month!

Dad’s Garage’s Big Boozy Nerdy Game Night brings out the kid in you, every first Monday of the month at 7pm! 

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

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!

Get your reggae fix with Rub-A-Dub gettin’ down at WildPitch Music Hall, every second Sunday of the month!

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.

by Claudia Dafrico
Contributing Writer

OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2018: ANIMATION & LIVE ACTION (2017);  Opens Friday, February 9 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

With awards season in full swing, cinema-loving Atlantans may be wondering where they can have a more personal experience with this year’s nominees. While Atlanta is now rivaling Los Angeles in terms of film production, the bulk of movie premieres and award ceremonies continue to take place in Hollywood. If you’ve already bought your Oscar party decorations and filled out your personal ballot but you’re still wanting more Academy goodness, Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema has got you covered. Starting Friday February 9, OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2018: ANIMATION & LIVE ACTION will be screening there. With 10 shorts total (five live action and five animated) that range from heart-wrenching tragedies to whimsical reveries, there are sure to be some new favorites for everyone.

Dekalb Elementary

Many of the entries in this year’s short film categories are inspired by or direct retellings of true events. This is certainly the case with Reed Van Dyk’s Dekalb Elementary, which recounts an incident on August 20, 2013 in which an armed man holed himself in the front office of an Atlanta elementary school with violent intent. Tarra Riggs shines in her role as the secretary who has the fate of hundreds on her shoulders when she is forced to negotiate with the gunman. The film is filled with tense moments, none of which feel unrealistic or nerve-wracking for their own sake. While it is very easy to exploit real life trauma for cheap thrills, Dekalb Elementary does no such thing, and instead chooses to showcase the immense emotional capacity of the actors to convey the many nuances of such a terrifying situation.

The Silent Child

It is not uncommon to see young children struggle with the transition of leaving their mother at home to start school for the first time. For the protagonist of The Silent Child, that transition is made even more difficult due to her deafness. When Libby’s parents hire a sign language proficient nanny, played by Rachel Shenton, to aid her in communication, the child’s difficult situation starts to become less of a burden. But while Libby’s signing skills begin to improve and the bond between the two strengthens, outside forces begin to inhibit Libby’s opportunities for growth. The Silent Child raises many questions regarding how a parent should handle the education of a deaf child, and the consequences that can arise from those decisions.

The Eleven O’Clock

If the comedy in The Eleven o’Clock can be described in any one word, that word would be “maddening.” The film starts off innocently enough: a psychiatrist arrives at his office at the start of the work day, whereupon he finds out his regular secretary has been replaced by a temp for the day, who reminds him that his 11:00 AM client is soon to arrive. The client’s ailment? He thinks he is a psychiatrist—more specifically a psychiatrist that practices in the very same office, who also has an 11:00 appointment with a client who believes he is a psychiatrist. What follows is a “who’s on first” routine that manages to be both hilarious and unsettling. As the two men quarrel over who’s who, the audience begins to question their own identities and perceptions.

Mose (L.B. Wiliams) in “Emmett Till”

The tragic, short life of Emmett Till has been taught, or at the very least mentioned, in many schools when discussing the roots of the Civil Rights movement in America. But it is rare to have the chance to experience his story through a medium as immersive as cinema. Kevin Wilson Jr.’s My Nephew Emmett seeks to provide that immersion by following Till’s uncle, Mose, in his struggle to protect Emmett from the violent hate-mongers seeking mob justice over an altercation between Emmett and a white woman that is still disputed to this day. L.B. Williams’ portrayal of Mose is nuanced and heartbreaking, and stands out in a piece that breathe new life into a piece of history worth re-examining.

Watu Wote

News coverage of international conflicts, specifically disputes rooted in religious and/or ideological differences, often have a tendency to rely upon the violence and cruelty occurring between the disparaging groups, as opposed to the bond that can be found between common citizens swept up in the strife. Watu Wote (Katja Benrath) illuminates the power of this bond with the story of a Christian woman’s journey through Kenya during a particularly violent period in the county’s Muslim-Christian dispute. She is initially wary of her fellow travelers (Muslims), but comes to learn that human goodness can transcend animosity. Real life acts of heroism are not accompanied by fanfare, nor do they always have a strictly “happy” ending. This is a film that celebrates these oft-neglected heroes.

LOU (Pixar)

Try, for a moment, to imagine a piece of media created by Pixar that lacks charm. It’s harder than you would think. Their 19th original animated short, Lou, is no exception to this rule. The film opens on an elementary school playground, where the viewer meets LOU, an anthropomorphized pile of children’s belongings that have become separated from their owners and made their way into the lost and found the bin one way or another. A schoolyard bully finds new joy in keeping the lost belongings for himself, and LOU takes it upon itself to deal out justice (in the wholesome, whimsical Pixar style, of course).

Garden Party.

Animal lovers and those with a flair for the mysterious will get a kick out of Garden Party, Florian Babikian and Vincent Bayoux’s beautifully animated short that follows a gaggle of frogs and toads on an adventure through an elegant mansion with some cryptic secrets. There is no dialogue outside of the croaks of the amphibians, but the directors are able to create a setting so lush and compelling that it allows the audience to create their own narrative; one that can be fanciful, deadly, or even a mix of both.

Revolting Rhymes.

The works of British author Roald Dahl are no stranger to the big screen. Revolting Rhymes, directed by Ian Lachauer and Jakob Schuh, is another entry into this particular echelon. As a modern take on classic fairytales, Revolting Rhymes brings characters like Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and all of their companions and foes together in one very meta story. In classic Dahl fashion, the innocence of a fairy tale is interlaced with dry wit and some fairly dark undertones, as well as some refreshingly self-sufficient heroines. This is a perfect short for the fanciful yet wry young one in your life.

Many parents have special rituals that they share with their children. This could be something as common as a tuck-in at bedtime, or, in the case of Negative Space, it can be something less common, like packing a suitcase. Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter craft breathtaking visuals that accompany the exploration of a relationship between a father and son, all centered around the process of packing one’s suitcase. Negative Space reminds us to appreciate even the most seemingly inconsequential moments in life, and explore the depth of when we are able to share these moments with others.

Dear Basketball.

One does not have to be a basketball fan, or even a sports fan period, to enjoy Dear Basketball. As Kobe Bryant professes his love of the game through his expressive narration, it is clear even to those who don’t or have never kept up with basketball to understand his reverence for it. Accompanied by magnificent pencil animation, Bryant recounts his childhood dreams of becoming a famous athlete, and the years of hard work that accompanied the fulfillment of that dream. The short has brief runtime, yet manages to capture years of passion and success. As Bryant’s professional career nears its conclusion, Dear Basketball feels like the perfect bookend to a long and fulfilling relationship between a man and his passion.