ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Calling all ghouls and gals! Come see why we think you should raise hell in ATLRetro this Halloween season!

1. HEAD ROLLING TUNES. Get sinister for All Hallows Eve with a helluva lot of raucous rock ‘n roll across ATLRetro! Raise a hellacious ruckus during the Clermont Lounge’s Halloween 2017 Bash featuring Kool Kats the Casket Creatures, Captain & Maybelle, ELZIG and Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters (Oct. 26)! Or horror punk it up with Kool Kats the Casket Creatures at Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville (Oct. 28)! The Georgia Players Guild pays tribute to Meatloaf and the Rocky Horror Picture Show at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre (Oct. 28)! The Star Bar dishes out a hellacious Halloween Bash with Dinos Boys, Paralyzer, Bad Spell and Black Cat Rising (Oct. 28)! It’s Halloween Tribute Night at The Earl with Nameless Nameless (Nirvana) and Rusty Cage (Soundgarden) (Oct. 27)!

2. FANGTASTIC FILMS.  Have a bloody good time during Kennesaw Friday Night Frights – Vincent Price Night, featuring a monstrous double-feature of William Castle’s HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) and Crane Wilbur’s THE BAT (1959) at 7:30pm, hosted by Carnival of Doom (Oct. 27)! Spook it up with The Earl Smith Strand Theatre’s diabolique double feature of Harold Lloyd’s HAUNTED SPOOKS (1920) and F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU (1922) at 3pm (Oct. 29)! Get horrorfied at The Plaza Theater with screenings of John Carpenter’s CHRISTINE (1983) and George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) (Oct. 26), THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (Oct. 27-28, 31); and Alexandre O. Philippe’s 78/52 (2017), an in-depth documentary about PSYCHO’s iconic shower scene (Oct. 27-31)! Get freakishly bizarre at Videodrome’s (JavaDrome) screening of Chester Novelle Turner’s TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE (1987) at 8pm (Oct. 27)! Landmark Midtown Art Cinema continues their killer “A Dish Best Served Cold” Classics Series with a screening of David Hartman’s PHANTASM (1979) at 7pm (Oct. 31)! Avondale Towne Cinema continues their Throwback Thursday Cinema event with a devilish double feature of Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986), followed by a screening of George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), starting at 8:30pm (Oct. 26)! Catch screenings of Tim Burton’s A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; and Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford)] (Oct. 27)! Get witchy during Atlantic Station’s Spooky Film Festival’s screening of Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) at dusk (Oct. 27)! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)] (Oct. 27-28)! Murder, mayhem and blood-thirsty plants invade Atlanta with screenings of Frank Oz’ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986), The Director’s Cut 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)] (Oct. 29 & 31)!

3. BOOGIE WITH THE DEAD. Get hellacious with the Fox Theatre’s Atlanta Horror Story Halloween Party (Oct. 28)! Or stagger on over to Ponce City Roof for their Day of the Dead Halloween Party (Oct. 28)! Tromp on down to Virginia Highlands for their Halloween in the Highlands Block Party from 6pm-2am (Oct. 28)! It’s a night of creepy clowns, carnival food and more during Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s’s Fright Night Halloween Party, dripping with devilish drinks, costume contests and more (Oct. 27)! Boogie down ‘80s-style at Tin Roof Cantina’s ‘80s Prom Halloween Party (Oct. 28)! Spend the night in the Upside Down during A Stranger Halloween Party at Live! At the Battery Atlanta (Oct. 28)! Rock on down to the Center Stage for their 8th Annual Boos & Brews Halloween Party (Oct. 28)! Geek it up with Radio Cult during their spooky all-ages Halloween Party at Galactic Quest in Lawrenceville (Oct. 26)! Do the Monster Mash at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s annual Halloween Dance Party (10/28)!  Put on those dancin’ shoes and groove like a ghoul ‘90s-style at The Basement as they get down during their ‘90s Halloween Dance Party (10/28)! Eighties it up at Venkman’s with their Back to the Future Halloween Bash featuring Members Only (Oct. 26)! It’s a night of goo-core punk at Criminal Records Halloween Party with The Manx (Oct. 28)! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade deliver a rockin’ ‘80s Halloween Party at the Wild Wing Café in Dunwoody (Oct. 27)!

4. TERRORIFIC TOURS. Get ghastly during the Historic Oakland Cemetery’s annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Ghost Tours, featuring music, a fortune teller and more! Come on out and tiptoe through the graves, make a few new spirited friends and hear the hallowed tales of some of their eternal residents, through Oct. 29! The Fox Theatre dishes out a spooktacular time as they haunt it up during their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, chilling your bones through Oct. 31! Dead men tell no tales, or so they say, but the Aurora Theatre begs to differ. Creep on down and see during their Lawrenceville GA Ghost Tours, every night during the month of October. Stone Mountain Park gets ghastly with A Tour of Southern Ghosts, through Oct. 29!

5. GOTHIC & GHASTLY. Haunt on down to Amsterdam Atlanta for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s COFFIN CLASSICS: Halloween Goth Industrial Music Video Dance Party featuring Goth, dark 80s and more (Oct. 28)! Get sinister with 1349 at The Earl (Oct. 28)! And experience Evanescence invading Chastain Park (Oct. 27)!

6. HORRIFYING HIKES & HAUNTS.  Nightmares are what this season’s all about! So get hellacious and creep on down to Six Flags’ Fright Fest and experience Kool Kat Shane Morton’s spooktacular haunted house, Madeline Mendoza’s Casa De Meurte, weekends through Oct. 31!  So, spook on down to Netherworld Haunted House and spook it up during their 21st and last season in the Norcross location, through Nov. 1 (7:30pm-10:30pm week days; 7pm-midnight weekends)! Get terrified at Sinister Suites Haunted Hotel in Griffin, GA, spooking through Oct. 31! A little blood splatter never hurt ya, so trek on down to Carrolton, GA for a helluva lot of haunted hillbillies ‘n’ dead rednecks at Camp Blood, horrifying through Oct. 31! Make your way to Lithia Springs for Containment Haunted House, a multi-media immersive theatrical horror experience, terrifying through Nov. 4! And 13 Stories Haunted House gores it up for another haunted season in Newnan!

7. THRILLING & CHILLING THEATRICS, FESTIVALS & PARADES.  Unleash ancient evil spirits with George Reinblatt’s EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL hosted by the Newnan Theatre Company, killing it Oct. 26-29! Make your way to Atlanta Symphony Hall as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents their live score to Tim Burton’s A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) at 8pm (Oct. 27 & 28)! Theatre Emory presents Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN; OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at 3pm (10/29)! Get chilled to the bone with The Ghastly Dreadfuls at Center For Puppetry Arts, spooking through Oct. 28! Spook it up during the Owl-O-Ween Hot Air Balloon Festival in Kennesaw (Oct. 27)! Boogie on down to Hellbender Harley Davidson’s (Marietta) Monster Mash Anniversary Bash, featuring live music, freak shows, zombie pin-up contests, car/bike show, costume contests and more (Oct. 28)! Spend the night with Clownvis Presley at 529 (Oct. 28)! Spook on down to the Fall Fest & Haunted Trail at the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve, featuring a bonfire, s’mores, games and more (Oct. 28)! Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim and get your bones chilled at Serenbe Playhouse’s thrilling presentation of their immersive spooky attraction and show, THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 5! Spook on down to the Buford Highway Halloween Parade and Pop-Up, from 5-8pm (Oct. 29)! Make your way to the Atlanta History Center for the Day of the Dead Festival featuring traditional dance, crafts, authentic Mexican food and more (Oct. 29)!

8. TRICKS, TREATS & A WITCHIN’ GOOD TIME. Make a trick or treat trek to North Dekalb Mall (Decatur) for their Halloween Bash (Oct. 28)! Get weird ‘n’ geeky during My Parents’ Basement’s October Bizarre Bazaar, from 12p – 5p (Oct. 29)! Get ghoulish and make your way to Halloween at Krog Street Market, with trick-or-treating and costume contests (Oct. 31)! Spook on down to Callanwolde Fine Arts Center for their Halloween Night on Callanwolde Mountain family-friendly party featuring trick-or-treating, live music with the Callanwolde Concert Band featuring Matthew Kaminski, costume contests and more (10/27)!

9. BOOLESQUE.  Get your spine tingled during the 3rd Annual Spookeasy Electro Swing Atlanta with Kool Kat Talloola Love, DJ Doctor Q, Nikki Nuke’m and more at the Red Light Café (Oct. 28)! Or chill your bones during Scarendipity ATL’s 12th Annual Halloween Bash: The Vaudeville Edition, featuring live tunes with Mayhayley’s Grave, Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics and more (Oct. 28)! City Winery transforms into Studio 54 during Clubesque’s Halloween Show (10/31)!

10. UNHOLY & UNDEAD. ATL Collective delivers an evening of rotting flesh as they raise the dead with their performance of Michael Jackson’s Halloween classic, “Thriller” at Aisle 5 (10/27 & 28)! Spend the weekend with the undead during the 5th Annual Walker Stalker Con at the Georgia World Congress Center (Oct. 27- 29)!

Photo credit: Evan McKnight.

By Geoff Slade
Contributing Writer

The Liza Colby Sound has been playing loud, driving guitar rock with a groove since 2009, but they will perform in Atlanta for the first time on Thurs. Oct. 26 at Star Bar.

Think The Black Keys on Prozac (they seem to be enjoying themselves). In addition to Liza, the “Sound” also includes Tom McCaffrey on guitar, Alec Morton on bass and C.P. Roth on drums (original guitarist Adam Roth passed away in 2015). And between them they boast an eclectic and pedigreed resume that includes working with Ozzy, Jim Carroll, Joey Ramone, Gloria Gaynor and as Denis Leary’s backing band. They are awesome and fun and if you don’t love the music they make, well, then you don’t like rock ‘n’ roll.

But once the show starts, they could turn into lizard people, and I doubt anyone would notice. Liza Colby is the type of performer adjectives like “soulful and sultry” were put together to describe in the first place. She sounds like Aretha and moves with Mick’s menacing sexuality (Without Jagger’s goofiness. You know what I’m talking about). A sweaty, sexy cross between Tina and Prince, maybe?

And if it’s sexist to describe women in these terms nowadays (and it probably is), I apologize, but check this out. Better yet, in her own words: “When I sing, I want it to be badass, feminine, empowering, and ooze sexuality.” She nails it across the board.

This is not to say this band coasts on the seductive charisma of its eponymous front(wo)man. Their songs are pure hard rocking soul treasures. Singable, danceable, and definitely memorable. Check them out Thursday, and tell your friends about your new favorite band on Friday.

A consummate Kool Kat, Liza herself took some time last week to talk with us about music, her band, and why she does what she does.

ATLRetro: First off, I saw an INTERVIEW in which you said Tina Turner and Iggy Pop were huge influences for you. Could Tina have fronted The Stooges? Would that be anything like The Liza Colby Sound?

Liza Colby: I’m sure she could have. But the two are such radical, powerful forces unto themselves that the separation is what’s so inspiring. The contrast rather than the composite. What’s similar is the intense, high energy, shows. They were both a spectacle. And if people see from our live performance the punk rock rawness, and chaos of Iggy and the Stooges and the soul, femininity and bad ass-ness of Tina that I have pulled as my influence then I’m stoked.

It looks like you are in the middle of a tour. Are you on the road a lot?

We are! Not nearly enough. I love being on the road! We played Philly last night and we’re headed to Pittsburgh now. I am literally writing this in the van. It’s taking me a titsch longer than usual because I get car sick.

I know New York City is home now, but is that where you are from originally? How about the rest of the band?

Born in Mass, Raised in CT. Alec Morton (Bass) DC, Charly (Drums) Philly, grew up in Princeton, NJ, Tom (Guitar) Philly. Northeast band through and through. 

Does being based there influence the music you make?

Absolutely. The common thread is the grit, toughness and tightness that comes with the east coast. Maybe it’s the brutally cold winters mixed with the sweltering summers. The extremes. The convenience and accessibility of getting around the Northeast. The attitude. Leather jackets. The come in, kick ass, and leave mentality. And the pride of being a NYC band.

How did you come together with such a kickass band? Seriously, these guys have worked with everybody!

My husband was a friend of our original guitarist, Adam Roth. Adam brought in his brother Charly and bassist Alec who had already been working together as a unit in various bands and projects. And we just clicked. Yeah all of them had amazing resumes but this was just all our vibes lining up.

Tragically Adam passed almost two years ago and it was a terrible year trying to recover. Charly and Alec brought in guitarist Robbie Mangano (Ghost of a Sabre Toothed Tiger, Band From Utopia) who really helped us find our footing again. And then Charly found Tom McCaffery and he just completed the sound, fit us to a tee. The well of talent in NYC is so deep, but still we’re very lucky to have gotten through this.

Which song should we link to right here for anyone unfamiliar with The Liza Colby Sound? Why this song?

Our new single “Cryin'” off our soon to be released EP DRAW (November 17) It hits hard and get’s right to the point. It’s a blues-based rocker with soul for days and a killer riff.

Photo credit: Johan Vipper Delancey.

You’re playing Star Bar this Thursday. Are Atlanta crowds any different from rock fans elsewhere?

We are indeed! And the show is FREE! Soooooo you’re basically losing money if you don’t come. First time playing in Atlanta and we’ll be there with our soul mates/pharmacists The Sweet Things who booked the show with their label Spaghetty Town Records. So many of the best bands these days are coming out of ATL so they must be doing something right down there. Also anyone who knows anything tells me that Star Bar is the coolest spot in town, so we’re totally stoked.

Did you grow up performing music?

I did. My mom, dad, brother and I are all professional musicians. Performing and music are the foundation of my existence. My mom tells this story of me at a pre-verbal age performing on the coffee table in front of her and my dad to jazz a la mode. Musta been a trip.

What is your favorite thing about performing live?

Live music presents a shared moment that exists purely on the energy that the audience, and performer have at that specific time, good or bad and then it’s gone. If you weren’t there, sorry, you missed it. There is something really special about that. And a great performance is one of the highest highs you’ll ever feel. 

When did you first realize you wanted to do this for a living?

I was around 16, I had been writing and really enjoyed the process. By 18 when I went to college not for music (get ready cause this was actually my major) but for recreation and leisure, I realized that I had ventured too far off the reservation. Music was the only thing I wanted to do and that has been the focus ever since.

Photo credit: James Hartley.

When did you first realize you COULD do this for a living?

It was always a feasible option thanks to watching my parents. My brother and I saw that it was possible. And it’s a long hard road. But my mom at one point said something along the lines of:

This is a really hard business and road to take. But if you can’t live without it then you have to go for it.

Your confidence radiates from the stage. What advice would you give young musicians regarding owning their sound and style?

Keep on doing it. Put in the time (the amount is open-ended) and that is both simultaneously daunting and exciting. Be true to yourself no matter how uncomfortable it may feel. I have always liked what I like, when I like it, and sometimes I feel like I’m alone. It’s all subjective. The practice is to block out the noise and comparisons, and if you can develop a forget mechanism, you are nice. You are not as good as your best day and you’re not as bad as your worst. And create, and create, and create. 

Which is more important to you as a musician, creating or performing?

Those two are not exclusive. I don’t think you can have one without the other. The objective is to create an immersive experience for an audience. Make a space out of a non space.

Photo credit: James Hartley.

You seem to enjoy your work (the entire band does), but it is clearly work. How do you and the others bring such fresh energy and excitement to your shows after the better part of a decade?

It all takes work. Doesn’t matter what you do. We love what we do. We love music and rock and each other. Luck of the draw and we got lucky. The shows are the easy part, we are all gig whores!

Are you working on anything new?

Oh yeah, always! I love the hustle and grind. We are in the process of recording and writing our next record that will be out in 2018. I’m finishing up the sophomore EP for my other project The Gold Setting. And I have a few more seeds planted and pots on the stove. I have been in creative overdrive! 

And finally, I read that your voice has appeared on SESAME STREET! How did that come about?

Charly Roth (drummer) has been working with them for years and asked me to be the voice for the letter “Q” song. Not gonna lie SO MUCH FUN!

Thanks, Liza! We’ll see you Thursday at Star Bar with The Sweet Things and Night Terrors. And like she said, it’s a free show, so get there early! Doors at 7, show starts at 8.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Spook it up in ATLRetro this week! Come see what sinister shenanigans we’ve dug up just for you!

Monday, October 23

Kick off the week with a hellacious good time with the Nekromantix and The Brains in Hell, and get post-industrial with Lords of Acid in Heaven at the Masquerade! King Crimson rocks out at Center Stage! It’s a night of scares at The Plaza Theater with screenings of John Carpenter’s CHRISTINE (1983) and Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS (1963)! Lynette Skynyrd rocks out and pays tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd at City Winery! Rock out with Andrew W.K. at Terminal West! Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18 dishes out a monstrous double feature with screenings of Paul Schrader’s CAT PEOPLE (1982) and David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME (1983) at 7pm! Catch a screening of James L. Brooks’ TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) at the Alpharetta Branch Library at 10:30am! 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!” Blues it up with Bill Sheffield 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 night with Larry Griffith!

Tuesday, October 24

Landmark Midtown Art Cinema kicks off their killer “A Dish Best Served Cold” Classics Series with Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) at 7pm!  Rock out with Kool Kat Noelle Shuck with SHEHEHE at 529! Or catch Fifth Third Bank Broadway’s presentation of Alice Walker’s THE COLOR PURPLE at the Fox Theatre, through Oct. 29! The Plaza Theater delivers a night of John Carpenter’s IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994), through Oct. 25! Make your way to The Earl for a night with Protomartyr, Flasher and Glare! King Crimson rocks out with an encore show at Center Stage! Get the jump blues with Max Weinberg at City Winery! Folk it up with Angie Aparo at Eddie’s Attic! Get your Americana fix with Justin Hylton at Smith’s Olde Bar! Spend the night with Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band and Good Old War at Variety Playhouse! Have a creaturific good time at Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18’s screenings of Steven Speilberg’s JAWS (1975) at 7pm/10pm! Get down with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Spend the night with Paul Sprawl at Blind Willie’s! 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 Downtown Tuesday Night 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, October 25

Raise a ruckus with Black Pistol Fire and Kool Kats Blackfoot Gypsies at The Earl! Get revived with Benjamin Booker and She Keeps Bees at The Loft! Rock out with Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and Ian Sweet at the Masquerade! It’s a night of hellacious rock ‘n’ roll with HOT RAM, Long Live the GOAT, Spore Lord and Hot Wives at The Star Bar! Get reanimated with a rebroadcast of RiffTrax’s deadly night of hilarity with George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) at theatres across Atlanta at 7:30pm [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)]! Make your way to City Winery for a night with Howie Day! Dance on down to Atlanta Symphony Hall as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra scores LA LA LAND, with an encore screening Oct. 26! The Electromatics dish out a night Chicago/West Coast blues at Blind Willie’s! Emory Cinematheque continues their Resist Fascism Series with a screening of Bernardo Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST (1970) at 7:30pm! Or catch a screening of William Wyler’s BEN-HUR (1959) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:15pm! Get the blues with Michael Preston at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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 with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, October 26

Rock out with a twist of soul at The Star Bar with Night Terrors, The Sweet Thing, The Liza Colby Sound (keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview with Liza Colby), The Scotch Bonnets and Southern Ska Syndicate (Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley)! Raise a hellacious ruckus with Kool Kats the Casket Creatures, Captain & Maybelle, ELZIG and Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters at the Clermont Lounge! Get horrorfied at The Plaza Theater with screenings of John Carpenter’s CHRISTINE (1983) and George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)! It’s a night of rockin’ psychedelia at The Earl with King Buffalo and Elder! Catch Caroline Spence and Caleb Caudle at Eddie’s Attic! Jackie Venson rocks out at the Red Light Café! Funk it up with Backup Planet and Lagoons at Smith’s Olde Bar! Avondale Towne Cinema continues their Throwback Thursday Cinema event with a devilish double feature of Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986), followed by a screening of George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), starting at 8:30pm! Spend the night with the Toadies at the Masquerade! Kristen & The Honeybadgers get down at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so hula on down for some rockin’ island tunes and a couple of cocktails! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! 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, October 27

Get freakishly bizarre at Videodrome’s (JavaDrome) screening of Chester Novelle Turner’s TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE (1987) at 8pm! Have a bloody fangtastic time during Kennesaw Friday Night Frights – Vincent Price Night, featuring a monstrous double-feature of William Castle’s HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) and Crane Wilbur’s THE BAT (1959) at 7:30pm, hosted by Carnival of Doom! Or spend the weekend with the undead during the 5th Annual Walker Stalker Con at the Georgia World Congress Center, through Oct. 29! Spook it up during the Owl-O-Ween Hot Air Balloon Festival in Kennesaw! Make your way to Atlanta Symphony Hall as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents their live score to Tim Burton’s A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) at 8pm, or catch a screening at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; and Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford)]! Get witchy during Atlantic Station’s Spooky Film Festival’s screening of Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) at dusk! Get your old-school rock ‘n’ roll fix with The Rainmen and Cover to Cover at Avondale Towne Cinema! It’s Halloween Tribute Night at The Earl with Nameless Nameless (Nirvana) and Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)! Evanescence invades Chastain Park! Average White Band dishes out a night of blue-eyed soul at City Winery! Get some old-school country soul with Andrew Sheppard, Will Ridge and Amigo the Devil at The Drunken Unicorn! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Grant Lee Phillips and Caroline Herring! Get sludgie and rock out with Guantanamo Baywatch, Metal McDonald and JJ & The Hustlers at The Star Bar! Make your way to Venkman’s for a night with Rapture – The Ultimate Blondie Experience with Weezer tribute, El Scorcho! Get the traditional country blues with Collins Drive, The Brookses and Emily Backus at the Red Light Café! Rock out with the Andy T Band at Blind Willie’s! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & The Atlanta Horns boogie down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Northside Tavern! Raise a ruckus with Cody Matlock at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)], and as usual The Plaza Theater continues 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, October 28

Make a trick or treat trek to North Dekalb Mall (Decatur) for their Halloween Bash! Boogie on down to Hellbender Harley Davidson’s (Marietta) Monster Mash Anniversary Bash, featuring live music, freak shows, zombie pin-up contests, car/bike show, costume contests and more! Spend the night in the Upside Down during A Stranger Halloween Party at Live! at the Battery! Get sinister with 1349 at The Earl! Get hellacious with the Fox Theatre’s Atlanta Horror Story Halloween Party! The Georgia Players Guild pays tribute to Meatloaf and the Rocky Horror Picture Show at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Boogie down ‘80s-style at Tin Roof Cantina’s ‘80s Prom Halloween Party! Make your way to Ponce City Roof for their Day of the Dead Halloween Party! Horror punk it up with Kool Kats the Casket Creatures at Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville! Get your spine tingled during the 3rd Annual Spookeasy Electro Swing Atlanta with Kool Kat Talloola Love, DJ Doctor Q, Nikki Nuke’m and more at the Red Light Café! The Star Bar dishes out a hellacious Halloween Bash with Dinos Boys, Paralyzer, Bad Spell and Black Cat Rising! Spend the night with Clownvis Presley at 529! Haunt on down to Amsterdam Atlanta for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s COFFIN CLASSICS: Halloween Goth Industrial Music Video Dance Party featuring Goth, dark 80s and more! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & The Psycho Devilles revs it up at Porterdale Bar & Grille! Get retro rocked with DK & The Hoop Snakes at Avondale Towne Cinema! Bluegrass it up with Sam Bush and Danny Burns at City Winery! Rev it up with Roxie Watson at Eddie’s Attic! Jazz it up with Akpe Motion at the Red Clay Theatre! Get countrified with The Turnpike Troubadours and Charley Crockett at the Variety Playhouse! Get jangled with Coyote Anyway at Venkman’s! House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows get down at Blind Willie’s! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)]! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & The Atlanta Horns boogie down at Northside Tavern! Mike Lowry dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, October 29

Murder, mayhem and blood-thirsty plants invade Atlanta with screenings of Frank Oz’ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986), The Director’s Cut 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)]! Spook it up with The Earl Smith Strand Theatre’s diabolique double feature of Harold Lloyd’s HAUNTED SPOOKS (1920) and F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU (1922) at 3pm! Get weird ‘n’ geeky during My Parents’ Basement’s October Bizarre Bazaar, from 12p – 5p! Honkytonk it up gyspy-style with Velvet Caravan at Eddie’s Attic! GKids Presents Studio Ghibli Fest 2017 with a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s SPIRITED AWAY (2001) at theatres across Atlanta at 12:55pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford); Studio Movie Grill (Duluth); and AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow)]! Get jazzy with Trio Deluxe at Venkman’s! Blues it up with Fat Back Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Get chilled to the bone with The Ghastly Dreadfuls at Center For Puppetry Arts, spooking through Oct. 28! (LAST CHANCE!)

Unleash ancient evil spirits with George Reinblatt’s EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL hosted by the Newnan Theatre Company, killing it through Oct. 29! (LAST CHANCE!)

Get ghastly during the Historic Oakland Cemetery’s annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Ghost Tours, spooking it up through Oct. 29! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Fox Theatre dishes out a spooktacular time as they haunt it up during their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, bone chilling through Oct. 31!

Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1!

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

ATLRetro massacres this spooky season with all the haunting and bone-chilling madness your little black hearts desire! We’ve got horror flicks! We’ve got sinister seduction and the unruly undead! We’ve got ghosts and goblins and monsters, oh my! Check out all the spooktacular shenanigans we’ve dug up just for you!

Monday, October 16

Spook on down to Aurora Theatre for ghost stories and cocktails during their Spirits & Spirits event! Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18 dishes out a monstrous double feature with screenings of Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG (1933) and Gordon Douglas’ THEM! (1954) at 7pm! Make your way to Terminal West for a night with Samantha Fish and John Nemeth! Funk it up with Bumpin the Mango 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! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves 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 night with Larry Griffith!

Tuesday, October 17

The Fox Theatre dishes out a spooktacular time as they haunt it up during their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, bone chilling through Oct. 31! Jazz it up with Herbie Hancock at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Get chilled and really retro with the walking dead at The Plaza Theater’s screening of Victor Halperin’s WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)! Get your nostalgic intergalactic fix with Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) during their Retro Cinema series at 7:30pm! Have a bloody good time at Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18’s screenings of Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) at 7pm/10pm! Rock out with The Rocketboys and Kool Kat Brooks Mason with The Georgia Flood at The Earl! Get countrified with BlackHawk at Eddie’s Attic! Rock out with The Red Planet at the Red Light Café! Blind Willie’s gets down with the Boo Hoo 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 Downtown Tuesday Night 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, October 18

Get spellbound with a screening of Andrew Fleming’s THE CRAFT (1996) at The Plaza Theater! Bike on down to Woodruff Park for a free screening of Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) at 8pm! Get folksy with Cicada Rhythm and Christian Lopez at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the night with The California Honeydrops and The Steady 45s at Terminal West! Get your nostalgic intergalactic fix with Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s encore screening of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) during their Retro Cinema series at 7:30pm! Shimmy down and get craftsy with Layna D’Luna during her Beelzaboob event at Metropolitan Studios! Get your Dread Pirate Roberts fix with a screening of Rob Reiner’s classic, THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) 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); Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth); Atlantic Station; Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Barrelhouse Bob Page gets down at Blind Willie’s! Emory Cinematheque continues their Resist Fascism Series with a screening of Jean-Pierre Melville’s ARMY OF SHADOWS (1969) at 7:30pm! Or get your classic Western fix with a screening of Clint Eastwood’s THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:15pm! Get the blues with Michael Preston at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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 with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, October 19

Get horrorified during the 2017 Atlanta Horror Film Festival at Synchronicity Theatre through Oct. 22! Unleash ancient evil spirits with George Reinblatt’s EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL hosted by the Newnan Theatre Company, killing it through Oct. 29! Make your way to the Little Vinyl Lounge (The Star Bar) for Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s ANT LODGE Vol. 3 starring Kool Kat Sen. Artie Mondello, Antic Clay (Nick Cave tunes), 3 Way Mirror and more! Avondale Towne Cinema kicks off their Throwback Thursday Cinema event with a screening of Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER (1969) at 8:30pm! Or get sinister and catch a screening of Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA (1977) at The Plaza Theater! Catch Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits) at City Winery! Folk it up with Charlie Mars, David Borne and Tommy Castro & The Painkillers at Eddie’s Attic! Get jazzy with Tim Bowman at Suite Food Lounge! Spend the night with Dr. Frank n Furter during Out Front Theatre Company’s presentation of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, through Oct. 22! The Badash Allstar Team pays tribute with their Tom Petty Jam at the Red Light Café! Get the blues with House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s so hula on down and swank it up with Bogey & The Viceroy! Geek it up and get really retro while experiencing STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS as a Shakespeare play with Ian Doescher’s THE FORCE DOTH AWAKEN at FoxTales Book Shop at 6:30pm! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get the folksy blues with Alex Guthrie, Chelsea Shag, Baby Rose and D’angelo Miles at Smith’s Olde Bar! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! 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, October 20

Get smokin’ with Garage 71 Radio (Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley) and Grease Inc. Magazine’s 9th annual Hell on Wheels Vintage Drag Race revvin’ it up at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce through Oct. 22, featuring vintage/classic cars, pin-ups, carnies, venders, classic film screenings and more! Catch some rockin’ tunes/entertainment with Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley, Jason Lee Wilson, Back South: The Dirt Yard Choir and Kitty Rose, with drive-in style screenings of Hal Needham’s SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977), George Lucas’ AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973), and Francis Ford Coppola’s THE OUTSIDERS (1983)!

Raise a ruckus at The Star Bar’s Pre-Halloween Parade Party with Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters, Zodiac Panthers and We Want Blood! Get gussied up for The Earl Smith Strand Theatre’s Ghouls & Glamour Gala at 7pm! Rock out with The BoDeans at City Winery! The Plaza Theater delivers two John Carpenter classics through Oct. 26 [IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994) and CHRISTINE (1983)]! It’s a night of funk psychedelia at The Earl with Mild High Club and Anemone! If ghastly things are your preference, haunt on down to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Ghost Tours, spooking it up through Oct. 29! Get your fill of ghosts and goblins during the 2017 Grant Park Halloween Lantern Parade featuring the Black Sheep Ensemble, the Wasted Potential Brass Band and more! It’s a night of fancy and fright during the Atlanta History Center’s Haunted Halloween event! Yacht Rock Revue wakes the dead as they pay homage to Michael Jackson’s THRILLER at the Variety Playhouse! Get old-timey with Old Crow Medicine Show at Atlanta Symphony Hall! It’s a night of gypsy brass circus rock with the Dirty Bourbon River Show at Venkman’s! Get intergalactic with Man or Astro Man? at 529! Get deadly during Atlantic Station’s Spooky Film Festival’s screening of Gore Verbinski’s THE RING (2002) at dusk! Kristy Lee dishes out a dirt road revival at Eddie’s Attic! Jazz it up with Nelson Ramos at the High Museum! Spend the night with The Eagles at Philips Arena! Sadie Hawkins presents a Burlesque Improv Showdown, Last Pasties Standing: ‘80s Rock and Metal at the Red Light Café! George Hughley & The Shadows get bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Get the blues with Stoney Brooks at Northside Tavern! Raise a ruckus with the Rockaholics at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)], and as usual The Plaza Theater continues 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, October 21

Today is the day all you ghosts and goblins have been waiting for! Little 5 Points business district hosts its annual L5P Halloween Festival & Parade! So, come on out dressed to the bloody nines in your spookiest Halloween costume and get horrorifically haunted! Get fed! Get rocked! And get your flesh to the biggest Halloween parade in the south! The event wakes from the dead at noon and haunts until 11 pm, with an artists’ market, food venders, as well as two stages for live entertainment, featuring tunes by Kool Kat Sen. Artie Mondello with The Delusionaires, ELZIG, The Dirty Doors, Night Terrors, Kool Kats The Casket Creatures, AM Gold, DJ Romeo Cologne and more! The spooktacular parade of horror runs from 4 to 6 pm on Euclid and Moreland and promises to spook even the bravest of the brave, so pick a spot and hold on tight!  Get your faces rocked off with Kool Kats galore and more!

Get diabolique with Posman Books Atlanta’s double-headed monster with book signings by Kool Kat Michael Wehunt (GREENER PASTURES) and one of our favorite wicked weird sisters Kristi DeMeester (BENEATH) from 1-3pm! Rock out with Descendents at the Masquerade! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at Dixie Tavern in Marietta! Get intergalactic with and encore of Man or Astro Man? at 529! Folk rock it up with Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) at the Buckhead Theatre! Make your way to Chastain Park for a Three Dog Night and The Whiskey Gentry! It’s a rockin’ encore with The BoDeans at City Winery! Make your way to The Earl for a night with Pylon Reenactment Society, Five Eight and Small Reactions! Spend a second night with The Eagles at Philips Arena! Make your way to Venkman’s for a night with Sailing to Denver, Water Seed and Huntertones! Get down with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Make your way to Stone Mountain for Day 1 of the 45th Annual Highland Games! Funk it up with Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s FASCINATED: Electro Disco Freestyle Funk Video Dance Party at Amsterdam Atlanta! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)]! The Northside Tavern dishes out the rockin’ blues with The Cazanovas! Little G. Weevil dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, October 22

Get your rockin’ art fix at the Little Five Arts Alive: Artist and Maker Market, featuring Kool Kat Amber Taylor of The Sexual Side Effects, and so much more! Rock out with Against Me!, Bleached and The Dirty Nil at Center Stage! Get the sleazy rockin’ blues with Gunpowder Gray at Gaja Korean Bar! Folk it up with Barnaby Bright at Serenbe! Get your Americana fix with Driftwood at Smith’s Olde Bar! Spend the night with Michael McDonald at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Psyche it up with Chicano Batman at Terminal West! Get down with Shatka Jazz at Venkman’s! Make your way to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for a theatrical tribute to Billie Holiday, IN ALL MY HAZE – A BILLIE STORY! Blues it up with Fat Back Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Get chilled to the bone with The Ghastly Dreadfuls at Center For Puppetry Arts, spooking through Oct. 28!

Unleash ancient evil spirits with George Reinblatt’s EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL hosted by the Newnan Theatre Company, killing it through Oct. 29!

Get ghastly during the Historic Oakland Cemetery’s annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Ghost Tours, spooking it up through Oct. 29!

The Fox Theatre dishes out a spooktacular time as they haunt it up during their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, bone chilling through Oct. 31!

Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1!

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

Become one with the creatures of the night kiddies! Rock out and come see what spooktacular shenanigans we’ve dug up just for you This Week in ATLRetro!

Monday, October 9

Get funky and acid jazz it up with Incognito at City Winery! Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18 dishes out a deadly double feature with screenings of David Cronenberg’s THE DEAD ZONE (1983) and Mary Lambert’s PET SEMATARY (1989) at 7pm! Head on down to The Earl for a night with Book Club, An English Place and Ben Trickey! Get your bloody fill of John Carpenter at The Plaza Theater with screenings of THE THING (1982), through Oct. 11! Rock out with Breaking Benjamin at the Buckhead Theatre! Smith’s Olde Bar dishes out a rock ‘n’ roll cabaret with Electric Glitterland! Grab the kiddies and spook down to the Atlanta History Center for their Magic Monday: Historic Halloween event! 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 night with Larry Griffith!

Tuesday, October 10

Monster mash it up at Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18’s screenings of Fred Dekker’s classic, THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987) at 7pm/10pm! Or get sinister and shake it up with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South during their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Boolesque Spooktacular event, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café! Get fangy and catch a screening of John Carpenter’s VAMPIRES (1998) at The Plaza Theater (and Oct. 12)! Bluegrass it up with Andrew Vickery & Friends and The Dryes Avondale Towne Cinema! Funk it up with an encore of Incognito at City Winery! Rock out with Black Guayaba at Smith’s Olde Bar! JT Speed gets down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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 Downtown Tuesday Night 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, October 11

Get bizarre with Video Video Nasty and The Atlanta Film Society as they bring you The Eyeslicer Roadshow in Smell-O-Vision at The Plaza Theater! Get the Desert Blues with Songhoy Blues at City Winery! Get industrial German-style with KMFDM at the Masquerade! It’s a night of good ‘ole American rock ‘n’ roll with Folk Family Revival, Watching for Foxes, and Taylor Chaffin at Smith’s Olde Bar! Or rock on down to The Star Bar for a night with Five Eight, The Pauses and the World is Watching! Catch a screening of Tim Burton’s BEETLEJUICE (1988) at the Happy Tabby Cat Café at 7pm! Get your Gothic folksy rock fix with Chelsea Wolfe at Aisle 5! Get chilled to the bone with The Ghastly Dreadfuls at Center For Puppetry Arts, spooking through Oct. 28! Emory Cinematheque continues their Resist Fascism Series with a screening of Frank Beyer’s NAKED AMONG WOLVES (1963) at 7:30pm! Or get your classic Western fix with a screening of Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH (1969) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:15pm! Get the blues with Michael Preston at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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 with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, October 12

Honkytonk on down to The Earl for a night with Banditos, Midnight Larks and Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley! Or get down with The Woolly Bushmen and Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah at The Star Bar! Get sinister with a screening of Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS (1985) at The Plaza Theater! Dance with the dead and Party With the Past at the Historic Oakland Cemetery!  Make your way to City Winery for The Jerry Douglas Band! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! 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, October 13

It’s Friday the 13th Kool Kiddies! So boogie down in ATLRetro and see what sinister goodies we’ve found for you! Get spooked ’80s-style during the Diesel Filling Station’s Stranger Than The 80s Pub Crawl! Or get horrorfied during the 7th Annual HorrorQuest Film Festival, killing it through Oct. 15 at GSU’s Cinefest (100% free)! Or make your way to Stone Mountain Park for their Tour of Southern Ghosts! Get your old-school monster fix during Kennesaw Friday Night Frights – The Undead Night, featuring a monstrous double-feature of George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and Joseph Green’s THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (1962) at 7:30pm, hosted by Carnival of Doom! Let 1UP Comedy tickle your funny bone with THE ROAST OF STRANGER THINGS at The Highland Inn & Ballroom Lounge! Get freaky with Kool Kat Shane Morton, ghost host with the most, a.k.a. Professor Morte, and the Ghoul Ghoul gals during the Silver Scream Spook Show’s screening of Brad Grinter’s BLOOD FREAKS (1972), presented by the Y’allywood Film Festival at 7 Stages at 9pm! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)]!

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, descends upon Atlanta at the Fox Theatre! Rock out with the Legendary Shack Shakers, Bloodshot Bill and Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley at The Star Bar! Gypsy jazz it up with Kool Kat Amy Pike and The Bonaventure Quartet at Eddie’s Attic! Spend the evening with twang-y crooner Chris Isaak at Atlanta Symphony Hall! New Wave it up with Yacht Rock Revue as they perform Talking Heads’ STOP MAKING SENSE at Venkman’s! Raise a ruckus at Avondale Towne Cinema with The Skylarks, The Todd Prusin Experience and Bad Friend! Get countrified at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center with Travis Tritt! It’s a night of Strange Science and rock ‘n’ roll with Dangfly! at Fernbank’s After Dark event! Space rock on down to The Highlander for a night with Yawning Man, We Are the Asteroid, The Buzzards of Fuzz and Gnomonaut! Get the blues with Bill Sheffield at Northside Tavern! Spend the night with The Growlers at the Variety Playhouse! Raise a ruckus with Thunder Gyspy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Catch a screening of Joe Pytka’s SPACE JAM (1996) at SCADShow at 7pm! And as always, time-warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, October 14

Start your day old-school style with Y’allywood Film Festival’s free 16mm Saturday Morning Madness at 7 Stages! Rock out with the Legendary Shack Shakers, Bloodshot Bill and Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley for a second time at The Star Bar! Make your way to Oakhurst Porchfest featuring a helluva lot of rockin’ retro tunes across the neighborhood, from 12-7pm!  Get your classic country fix with Willie Nelson & Family at Chastain Park! Kool Kat Chad Shivers presents his Southern Surf Stomp featuring the Indicators, Nuclear Juarez, and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer at Kavarna! Glam it up at the Little Vinyl Lounge (The Star Bar) during the Cult Candy Exploding Plastic Inevitable with Black Cat Rising and more! Shimmy down with Kool Kat Kitty Love’s Cheeky Belles Burlesque: Glamour Goddess Revue at Tighten Up Rehearsal Studios! Rock on down and rev it up with The Sideburners, the Screamin’ Demons and The Breaks at The Highlander! Boogie down ‘80s-style with Kool Kat VJ Anthony during his 80s New Wave Music Video Dance Party: Atlanta Pride 2017 at Amsterdam Atlanta! Rock out and funk it up during the AFROPUNK FEST 2017 featuring Flatbush Zombies, Blood Plums, Adia Victoria, Lonely Horse, Zuluzuluu, The TXLIPS and more, through Oct. 15! Time-Warp it up at theatres across Atlanta with screenings of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 10pm [AMC Classic North Dekalb 16; AMC Classic Snellville 12; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Classic Mansell Crossing 14 (Alpharetta)]! Avondale Towne Cinema dishes out an Allman Brothers Jam! Rock out with Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers at City Winery! Bluegrass it up with Sierra Hull at Eddie’s Attic! The Northside Tavern dishes out a blues rockin’ time with Lola and Eddie Tigner! Folk it up with The Heartstring Hunters at the Red Light Café! Make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar for a rockin’ night with the Ballbreakers, Streetfighting Band and The Vinyl Sun! Rock out with The Wild Hares at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Make your way to the Record-CD Fundraiser Sale and add that missing album to your collection for a good cause! Celebrate the season and make your way to the Fall Festival on Ponce 2017, featuring live music, an artists’ market, tasty food and more! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, October 15

Truck on down to 7 Stages for Y’allywood Film Festival’s free screening of Hal Needham’s SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977) at 4:30pm! Get chilled and really retro with the walking dead at The Plaza Theater’s

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screening of Victor Halperin’s WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)! Get your Dread Pirate Roberts fix with a screening of Rob Reiner’s classic, THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) 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); Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth); Atlantic Station; Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18; and AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming)]! Nineties it up with 10,000 Maniacs at City Winery! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & The Atlanta Horns boogie down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Eddie’s Attic! Rock out with Band X at Johnny’s Hideaway! Get your gyspy western swing fix with Django Earnhardt at Venkman’s! Catch Pete Yorn at Vinyl! Blues it up with Fat Back Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar with Eddie Tigner!

Ongoing

Get chilled to the bone with The Ghastly Dreadfuls at Center For Puppetry Arts, spooking through Oct. 28!

Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1!

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

Come see what’s shakin’ in ATLRetro This Week!

Tuesday, October 3

Monster rock it up with Rob Zombie at the Coca-Cola Roxy! Or get your garage rock fix with Reigning Sound and Tiger! Tiger! at The Earl! It’s a night of neo-psychedelia occult shenanigans at The Drunken Unicorn with MOON DUO and Birds of Avalon! The Plaza Theater gets hell-bent and screens Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND (1981), through Oct. 4! Spend the night with The Dude at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) during their Retro Cinema series at 7:30pm! 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 Downtown Tuesday Night 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, October 4

Eliminate Replicants at theatres across Atlanta with a screening of Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT (1982) at 7pm (AMC Phipps Plaza 14; AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow))! The Vibrators invade The Star Bar with a fury for all you rockin’ miscreants, with Rockett 77 and Bad Spell! Or surf on down to The Basement for a rip roarin’ night with Daikaiju, The Mystery Men? (with Kool Kat Chad Shivers), The Pinx (Kool Kat Adam McIntyre) and Zruda! Get your spooky geek on at Battle & Brew’s Halloween Geek Trivia sponsored by the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Ghastly Dreadfuls! Celebrate this bloody season with a screening of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) at The Plaza Theater, through Oct. 5! Spend the night with The Dude at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s encore screening of the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) during their Retro Cinema series at 7:30pm! Emory Cinematheque continues their Resist Fascism Series with a screening of Orson Welles’ THE STRANGER (1946) at 7:30pm! Or get your classic Western fix with a screening of John Huston’s THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:15pm! Swing on by the Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings! 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 with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, October 5

Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt gets acoustic and rocks out at Porterdale Bar & Grill! Satan’s canine minion is man’s best friend, so join in on the fun as CINEPROV riff’s Curtis Harrington’s DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL (1978) at The Plaza Theater at 7:00pm! Film Love and Kool Kat Andy Ditzler presents The American Music Show #2: Early Years at Whitespace Gallery! You won’t want to miss the hootenanny that is Hog Heaven: A Magical Tribute to Hee Haw at Smith’s Olde Bar, featuring Cherokee Ragtime Pals, The Waymore’s, Kenneth Johnson & Friends, Rodeo Twister, Atomic Boogie, Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley, and more! Rock out with the Hard Working Americans at the Variety Playhouse! Haunt on down to The Highlander for Something Wicked This Way Comes III, a multi-media art show! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so hula on down to Trader Vic’s for some cool island tunes and a couple cocktails! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! 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, October 6

Get your bloody fill of John Carpenter at The Plaza Theater with screenings of THE THING (1982) and VAMPIRES (1998), through Oct. 8 (this week)! Get your kaiju fix during Kennesaw Friday Night Frights – Japanese Monster Night, featuring a monstrous double-feature of Jun Fukuda’s GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) and Noriaki Yuasa’s GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE (1966) at 7:30pm, hosted by Carnival of Doom! Make your way to the annual AfroFuturism Festival, celebrating black sci-fi, fantasy and horror, through Oct. 7, at Atlanta Technical College’s Dennard Center and GSU’s Cinefest, hosted by Urban Mediamakers! Get to the root of it all reggae style with The Wailers at Center Stage! Rock out with the Georgia Players Guild as they pay tribute to Chicago and Boston at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Make your way to The Vista Room for a night with Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers! Funk it up with Freekbass at Venkman’s! Get freaky at the High Museum’s First Friday, featuring performances by Serenbe Playhouse, “Thriller” dance lessons, caramel apples and more! Rock out with The Muckers at the Masquerade! The Fox Theatre gets sludgy and rocks out with Mastadon! Spend the night with Kevin Smith at Center Stage! Electric Avenue performs Duran Duran’s Greatest Hits and other ‘80s tunes at Smith’s Olde Bar! Catch a screening of BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993) at SCADShow at 7pm! And as always, time-warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, October 7

Project Pabst 2017 rocks out with Iggy Pop, Dinosaur Jr., The Coathangers, Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, The Difference Machine, The Powder Room, RMBLR, A Drug Called Tradition and more! It’s a Chicken Picken’ Brunch with Dusty Roads at Venkman’s! Skank on down to City Winery for a night with Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley and Southern Ska Syndicate! Kick off the Halloween season with a Ghastly Gathering at Center for Puppetry Arts! Spend the night with Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band at the Infinite Energy Center! ATL Collective relives Portishead’s DUMMY at Venkman’s! Skate on down to Piedmont Park for the Atlanta Roller Girls: Running of the Bulls event! Electric Avenue performs Tears for Fears’ Greatest Hits and other ‘80s tunes at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get gussied up and make your way to the Fernbank Museum’s Time After Timeless Gala After Party! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, October 8

Geek it up at the Atlanta Comic Convention 2017, at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center, from 11am – 5pm, hosted by Atlanta Comic News! Catch a screening of HAROLD LLOYD’S SAFETY LAST (1923) at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 3pm! Get your rockin’ art fix at the Little Five Arts Alive: Artist and Maker Market, featuring Kool Kat Amber Taylor of The Sexual Side Effects, and so much more! Rock out with Wilco at the Fox Theatre! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Get intergalactic with Wicket: The Musical at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, geeking it up through Oct. 7! (LAST CHANCE!)

Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1!

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

Illustration by Monsterama guest Kat Hudson

What are you up to this weekend? We’re monster mashing it up with a helluva killer Kool Kat extravaganza and more at the 4rd Annual MONSTERAMA CONVENTION, creeping and crawling into town this Friday-Sunday, Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta! From legendary actors to ghastly séances, here are our top reasons to get your classic monster fix at MONSTERAMA!

1)  THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI SCORED LIVE. Valentine Wolfe is back for another year, providing an eerie auditory experience as they accompany Robert Wiene’s 1920 classic silent horror film, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, Saturday at 1pm!

2) HOUDINI SEÁNCE. You won’t want to miss MONSTERAMA’s first ever séance! And who better to raise your spiritual expectations with a conjuring of medium debunker and escape artist extraordinaire Harry Houdini, than ghoulish guests Kool Kat Shane Morton, Daniel Roebuck and Marcus Koch! Raise your spirits Friday at 11pm!

3) SILVER SCREAM SPOOK SHOW.  Kool Kat Shane Morton, a.k.a. ghost host with the most, Professor Morte and the Silver Scream Spook Show featuring the Go-Go Ghouls and guest, Dick Miller will terrify with a live spook show followed by a spook-tacular screening of Roger Corman’s THE TERROR (1963) on 16mm, Saturday beginning at 4pm!

4) FANGTASTIC FILM AND TWISTED TELEVISION.  It’s monster movie madness with screenings of horrorific classics (mostly screening in 16mm) including Charles B. Griffiths’s DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE (1980), featuring guest Dick Miller; Roman Polanski’s THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967); Lainie Miller’s 2014 documentary, THAT GUY DICK MILLER; Roy Ward Baker’s THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970); an unannounced Ballyhoo Motion Pictures documentary; and a special adults only (21+) screening of guest Brian K. Williams’ newly released SPACE BABES FROM OUTER SPACE with special guests Allison Maier and Ellie Church, and a slew of more slaying cinema! Or get terrified T.V.-style  throughout the weekend and catch screenings of THE OUTER LIMITS – “The Sixth Finger” and “The Architects of Fear”; STAR TREK – “Devil in the Dark” and “Mirror Mirror”; made for TV movie, THE QUESTOR TAPES (1974); and you won’t want to miss a super rare screening of Kolchak THE NIGHT STALKER and more!

5) CINEPROV RIFFS THE LOST WORLD. Madness, monsters and prehistoric creatures, OH MY! Hilarity ensues as New MST3K writer Larry Johnson and CINEPROV riffs Irwin Allen’s THE LOST WORLD (1960) Friday at 9pm!

6) SPOOKTACULAR GUESTS. Catch some killer guests, including Sybil Danning (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS); BarBara Luna (STAR TREK); Dick Miller (GREMLINS; ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL); visual effects expert Gene Warren Jr. (PET SEMATERY; ELIMINATORS); horror history expert and documentarian, Kool Kat Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures; creaturific artist Kool Kat Mark Maddox; Kool Kat Ricky Hess (HORROR HOTEL); filmmaker and set-dec dresser/buyer Kool Kat Dayna Noffke (“Under the Bed”); film score composer Tom Ashton (The March Violets); Kool Kat Shane Morton, ghost host with the most, a.k.a. Professor Morte; glamour ghoul Kool Kat Madeline Brumby, actress Allison Maier (FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS) and more!

7) MONSTER MAKEOVERS.  Get gore-gous with monster make-up galore as part of this year’s Makers Track! You won’t want to miss SSFXLAB’s “It’s Alive” event, creating Frankenstein’s monster in 3 different ways; SFX for the smallest creatures in your life, with the “Littlest Monster Maker,” event featuring mom/daughter duo, filmmaker Kool Kat Dayna Noffke and ultra spooky Vivi Vivian; and win some monstrous prizes with the annual FACE-ON make-up contest! And don’t forget to stick around for a creeping cornucopia of frightful faces and monster masks!

8) WARPED WRITERS & LITERARY PANELS. Writers make the monstrous world go ‘round, so check out guest authors, Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew (DRACULA THE UN-DEAD); John Farris (THE FURY); Sean Linkenback (THE ART OF JAPANESE MONSTERS); Charles Rutledge and vampire aficionado J. E. Browning (GRAPHIC HORROR: MOVIE MONSTER MEMORIES). And you won’t want to miss out on some wicked panels of the literary variety including “Our Favorite Trashy Horror Novels,” with Jeff Strand, Clay Gilbert and Eddie Coulter; “Dracula 120th Anniversary Spectacular,” with Dacre Stoker, J.E. Browning and Kool Kat Anthony Taylor; “Nevermore – A Poe Tribute,” with Kool Kat Mark Maddox and Mike Gordon, and so many more!

9) SCARE-TASTIC SHOPPING. Horror cons are the perfect place to stock up on both classic horror memorabilia, cult classics on DVD and creepy clothing, costumes and accessories. So come on down to the dealer’s room and check out all the toys, collectibles and monstrous goodies you can get your ghoulish little hands on!

10) MONSTER PROM. Hey all you boils and ghouls, get frightfully funky at this year’s Monster Prom, Saturday at 8:30pm! Dust off the old rat-infested tux, clear out the cobwebs, shine up your shoes and get ready to do the Monster Mash, and maybe even Time-Warp into the wee hours of the morning, hosted by Professor Morte and DJ Deathskiss!

MONSTERAMA main con hours are Fri. Sept. 29 from 4 to 12 a.m. (with screenings at noon and registration at 3pm); Sat. Sept. 30 from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.; and Sun. Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, visit the MONSTERAMA official website here.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Anthony Taylor, official Licensing & Brand Manager for the Bram Stoker Estate, author and one helluva monster-kid, co-chairs Atlanta’s favorite classic monster convention, MONSTERAMA, creeping into its fourth hellacious year at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta this weekend, Friday – Sunday, Sept. 29-Oct. 1!

Prepare for a ghastly three days of ghoulish proportions filled to the blood-curdling brim with old-school horror connoisseurs like Sybil Danning (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS); BarBara Luna (THE DEVIL AT 4 O’CLOCK; STAR TREK); Dick Miller (THE TERMINATOR; GREMLINS; ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL); visual effects expert Gene Warren Jr. (THE TERMINATOR; PET SEMATERY; ELIMINATORS); author John Farris (THE FURY); horror history expert and documentarian, Kool Kat Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures; creaturific artist Kool Kat Mark Maddox; Kool Kat Ricky Hess (HORROR HOTEL); filmmaker and set-dec dresser/buyer Kool Kat Dayna Noffke (“Under the Bed”); Victorian chamber metal musicians Valentine Wolfe; film score musician/composer Tom Ashton (The March Violets); Kool Kat Shane Morton, ghost host with the most, a.k.a. Professor Morte; glamour ghoul Kool Kat Madeline Brumby and so many more! Get wicked and haunt on down to MONSTERAMA for a weekend of monster madness!

In addition to his duties as MONSTERAMA’s “Monster Kid in Chief,” Taylor has authored THE FUTURE WAS F.A.B.: THE ART OF MIKE TRIM, released in 2014; ARCTIC ADVENTURE, an official THUNDERBIRDS novel released in 2012; VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: THE COMPLETE SERIES – VOL. 2, released in 2010, and more. He’s also penned hundreds of articles published in horror, sci-fi and film fandom publications such as SFX MAGAZINE, VIDEO WATCHDOG, FANGORIA, SCREEM MAGAZINE, HORRORHOUND MAGAZINE, FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and more!

ATLRetro caught up with Anthony Taylor for a quick interview about his monster kid memories; the importance of preserving film and classic popular culture; and this year’s maniacal MONSTERAMA madness!

Illustration by Monsterama guest Kat Hudson

ATLRetro: MONSTERAMA invades Atlanta once again and we couldn’t be more excited! As a life-long monster kid, can you fill us in on the creation of this labor of love and tell us what prompted you to bring a weekend full of classic monsters to the heart of Atlanta?

Anthony Taylor: I’ve attended conventions like Wonderfest in Louisville, KY, and Monster Bash in Mars, PA, for many years and enjoyed them immensely. I’d always wished there was a similar show here in Atlanta. I waited around for that to happen for so long that I finally decided to put it on myself, and Monsterama was born in 2014. Though predominantly focused on classic horror films, we embrace monsters of all genres and media, and try to provide a great weekend for people who like them.

Pop culture/sub-culture conventions, such as MONSTERAMA, are great ways to preserve film and television classics. Why do you think these types of events draw larger crowds year after year? In your role(s) as convention director/Co-Chair, are you seeing larger and larger turnouts at these types of events each year?

I’m not certain they are drawing significantly larger crowds every year; at least not the more focused ones. Dragon Con, absolutely; they appeal to multiple genres and generations. We have grown consistently since 2014, but I know some shows that report a shrinking fan base simply due to the age of the films and media they cover – the fans and those still into them are dying off.  That’s why I feel it’s important for conventions like Monsterama to keep the banner flying. If we don’t, sooner or later no one will care about these stories that we cherish. In my opinion, “millennials” just don’t seem to see film as an art form, by and large. It’s a way to waste two hours and then on to the next distraction to many of them. The films we celebrate are definitely art and deserve to be preserved.

The guests that have appeared at MONSTERAMA have been monsterific, from Ricou Browning to Lynn Lowry to Victoria Price to Caroline Munro to Zach Galligan and so many more. What can you tell our readers about this year’s guests? Anything exciting planned? And who are you hoping to snag for future conventions?

We’ve got FABULOUS guests this year! Dick Miller, the guy from every Roger Corman and Joe Dante movie ever made, will be with us, as will Sybil Danning from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and THE HOWLING 2, to name a few. Daniel Roebuck from LOST and Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN movies will be signing for free all weekend! We also have BarBara Luna from STAR TREK and the OUTER LIMITS, Academy Award™-winning special effects master Gene Warren, Jr., Lynn Lowry (as you mentioned), and so many more. The complete list is on our website here. Next year I’d love to get John Saxon, as I’ve enjoyed all of his performances.

Not only are you seasoned in the areas of classic film and television fandom from the behind-the-scenes running of conventions, but you’re also a published author (ARCTIC ADVENTURE, an official THUNDERBIRDS novel, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: THE COMPLETE SERIES – VOL. 2, along with articles published in several fandom magazines). What compels you to write? And what is it about classic pop culture that makes you want to share it with your readers?

I like sharing my joy in all things popular culture with other people. I don’t want to just share my own nostalgic vision on a lot of these subjects — I want to provide readers with context so they can enjoy art on a deeper level. A good example is the graphic novel WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. To anyone who picked it up after 1989, when the Berlin wall came down and glasnost pervaded Eastern Europe, it has a completely different meaning than to those of us who read it while still under the threat of nuclear war. Of course, now might be a good time for a re-read of Watchmen… I’ve written hundreds of articles and interviews for film magazines exposing what goes on behind the camera because that informs what goes on in front of it. Context makes you view art in a completely different light.

Which classic monster and/or movie would you say is the most neglected and what do you think makes them worthy of attention?

I’ve got a few lesser-known favorites, chief among them I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and CURSE OF THE DEMON. They both work to frighten or creep out the viewer on a very base level, and both are visually striking. They both create tension via a sort of poetic nomenclature and subvert the viewer’s expectations. I could recommend many films, but if you haven’t seen these two, add them to your list!

Can you tell us a little about some of your favorite monster kid memories?

The first monster I was ever fascinated by (like many) was King Kong. When I was six years old, I traded a few comic books for a gorgeous poster of angry Kong towering over New York City, Fay Wray in his hand– and it scared me so much that I couldn’t sleep with it on my wall! My mom had to re-hang it in my closet so it wouldn’t keep me up at night in terror.

We see that you’re a huge fan of classic toys and model kit building. Do you remember the first model kit? And more importantly, do you still have it?

Around the same age, I began to see ads on the back of comics for Aurora monster model kits and could barely contain my desire for the whole set. The first one I coveted was the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but the first one I actually bought and built was the Phantom of the Opera. I eventually got Frankenstein, Dracula, The Creature and a few more. Unfortunately, my originals do not survive, but I have re-issues of all of them now. Knowing they’re safe in my storage unit gives me a warm, completed feeling from time to time.

I’m sure all monster kids are dying to know — how does one become the licensing & brand manager for the Bram Stoker Estate? That’s got to be one big dream come true. Can you tell us some exciting things you’ve got planned regarding Stoker’s Estate?

I met Dacre Stoker, who runs the estate and is Bram Stoker’s great-grand nephew a few years ago and we get along well. After seeing his presentations on Bram and Dracula several times, I began to realize how much branding potential was being wasted by not having someone overseeing these matters. I spoke with Dacre and we eventually put together an agreement that made me Licensing & Brand manager for the estate. I’m working with companies in the retail mystery box realm, jewelry, tabletop gaming, and others to try and create products that will extend awareness of Stoker and his works. It’s going pretty well so far.

What was your first taste of monstrous terror, and which classic monsters are your favorites?

Aurora Classic Monster model kits

Kong! I also love the many creations of Ray Harryhausen, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Creature From The Black Lagoon. I used to be an indiscriminate collector of monster merchandise, but now I’ve narrowed things down to just a few favorites. I no longer feel the need to own everything ever made!

What about your favorite classic television series?

Gerry Anderson’s UFO – the only monsters in it are humans and humanoid aliens, but the protagonist is a bureaucrat, out on the watchtower keeping the Earth safe from invaders. He’s a hero with a briefcase, and the writing of the show made a big impression on me when I first viewed it. There are lots of great miniature effects and explosions, cute girls in silver cat suits, and groovy music, but it remains one of the most engaging and serious television programs I’ve ever seen.

Can you give us five things you’re into at the moment that we should be watching, reading or listening to right now— past or present, well-known or obscure?

I’m afraid my days of being cutting edge are long past! I mostly listen to’70s and ’80s punk and new wave, with a general leaning towards jangly guitar riffs by bands like The Church, or Crowded House. I haunt Netflix and Amazon Prime for new films and shows like THE OA or THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (also starring Monsterama guest Daniel Roebuck). I read a lot of bad speculative fiction but I’m genuinely amazed when something as good as Jeff VanderMeer’s BORNE comes along. I like Sirius radio now that I have it, but wish it were priced more reasonably. I’m a huge fan of Kazuo Ishiguro’s writing, especially THE REMAINS OF THE DAY and NEVER LET ME GO.

And back to one of our favorite classic monster conventions, MONSTERAMA – anything extra special in store for con attendees this year? Any special events planned we should put on our calendar? So many great things!

Friday we have a concert by our heavy Victorian metal house band, Valentine Wolfe, a tongue-in-cheek séance to raise the spirit of Harry Houdini, Cineprov will be riffing on Irwin Allen’s production of THE LOST WORLD, and we’re screening guest Brian K. Williams’ film SPACE BABES FROM OUTER SPACE, with stars Ellie Church and Alison Maier in attendance. Saturday is the Silver Scream Spook Show screening THE TERROR, which co-stars our guest Dick Miller, plus our annual Monster Prom where we have truly fabulous door prizes. Valentine Wolfe will also be providing a live, original musical score for the classic German film, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Dacre Stoker is bringing some of Bram Stoker’s personal effects to display as well. Sunday the Atlanta Radio Theater Company will be performing BRIDES OF DRACULA live onstage. All this plus many other panels, screenings, exhibits, contests, and demos all weekend long!

A. Taylor and Monsterama 2016 guest, Caroline Munro

And last but not least, what are you up to next? Can you give us some details on any other projects you’re currently working on or will be in the near future?

My partner and I are launching a new convention in Atlanta next Easter weekend called SPY CON. If you’re a James Bond, Kingsman, Man From UNCLE or other Spy-fi fan, you won’t want to miss it! We’re still early in the process, but details are available here. And of course, work has already begun on next year’s Monsterama, which will be classic Sci-Fi and space-horror themed, and is slated to take place at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta Oct. 5-7, 2018.

All photos courtesy of Anthony Taylor and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get spooked in ATLRetro this week! The days creep closer and closer to that most haunted pinnacle of fright and terror and we’ve dug up all the spooktacular events just for you! The ghosts and goblins have been let loose, so don’t be a fraidy cat; get out and get Retro!

Monday, September 25

The Hot Club of Atlanta gets old-timey at Hot Jam! Catch a screening of Disney’s MULAN (1998) at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/6pm [AMC Phipps Plaza 14; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Dine-In North Point Mall 12 (Alpharetta)] through Sept. 28! GKids presents a Studio Ghibli Fest 2017 screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984) at theatres across Atlanta at 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Studio Movie Grill’s (Duluth); and Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford)]! Get your psychedelic cowboy fix with The Echo Ohs, Leather and TorpedoeZ at 529! 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!” Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues 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 as they dish out The Pork Bellys and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, September 26

Rock out with The Cribs and PAWS at The Earl! It’s madness as Landmark Midtown Art Cinema continues their Classics Series with a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) at 7pm! Broadway in Atlanta brings you THE KING AND I at the Fox Theatre, running through Sun. Oct. 1! Rock out with The War On Drugs at the Tabernacle! Glam it up with Yesterday & Today at City Winery! Catch X Eye Blind at Eddie’s Attic! Go straight to hell for a night of glam horror punk with Kool Kats The Casket Creatures, Wednesday 13, Eyes Set to Kill, Repulsur and Death is a Dialogue at the Masquerade! Get down with the Poverty Level Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Rock out with The Redstone Ramblers at Blind Willie’s! 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 Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Get down and dirty with Gray & The Bad Boys at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And as always, groove on down with Swami Gone Bananas at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, September 27

Rock out with Kool Kat Amber Taylor and Ellen Meadows (The Sexual Side Effects) with Shawn Williams and Adelaide Tai at The Star Bar! Spend the night with The Indigo Girls with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Or folk it up with Father John Misty at the Tabernacle! The StarBenders rock out at 529’s Atlanta Goth Night! Get your psyche rock fix with King Grizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Nest Egg at Variety Playhouse! Life is fine with Paul Kelly and Jess Cornelius at City Winery! Emory Cinematheque continues their Resist Fascism Series with a screening of Fritz Lang’s adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s HANGMEN ALSO DIE (1943) at 7:30pm! Or get your classic Western fix with a screening of John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS (1956) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:15pm! GKids presents a Studio Ghibli Fest 2017 screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984) at theatres across Atlanta at 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); Studio Movie Grill’s (Duluth); and Regal Mall of Georgia 20 Plus Imax (Buford)]! Or make your way to Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville) and help celebrate 30 years of Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET (1987) at 2pm/7pm! Make your way to the Red Light Café and get traditional with Trio Da Kali and Derek Grippers African Strings Project! Get down with the Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas at Terminal West! Jam out with The McLovins and Captain and the Kid at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get the rockin’ blues with the Cazanovas at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Art Holliday, Inc. boogies down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get the old-school blues with Andrew Black at Blind Willie’s! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, September 28

The Clermont Lounge brings the doom with The Obsessed! Prog rock it up with Pinback at the Masquerade! Kenny Wayne Shepherd dishes out the blues at Center Stage! Rock out for a one night-only 7pm screening of Dick Carruthers’ documentary, BLACK SABBATH: THE END OF THE END (2017) at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema! Rock out with Wax Fang at The Star Bar! Make your way to Terminal West for Creative Loafing’s Best of Atlanta Celebration, featuring live tunes by ATL Collective, the Alex Guthrie Band, Chelsea Shag, OKcello and more! Get the blues with Norman Frank & The Ghost Dance at The Vista Room! Get the blues with the Cody Matlock Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get your funky ‘60s and ‘70s fix with Dyn-O-Mite at Smokebelly BBQ! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so get swanky with Bogey & The Viceroy at Trader Vic’s and grab a couple cocktails! Heather Luttrell dishes out a night of rockin’ Americana at Blind Willie’s! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! 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, September 29

The horror! The horror! Atlanta kicks off its Halloween celebrations with a bang! Spook up the weekend with a whole lotta horror classics by haunting on down to the fourth annual Monsterama Convention, “The Fall of the House of Monsterama 2017” invading the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta and haunting all your senses through Oct. 1! You won’t want to miss our Kool Kat interview with Monsterama Co-Chair, Anthony Taylor coming soon! Experience four horrorific tracks (Main, Literary, Maker and Film Screenings) while perusing the monsterific vender tables. Catch some killer guests including  Sybil Danning (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS; HERCULES); BarBara Luna (THE DEVIL AT 4 O’CLOCK; STAR TREK); Dick Miller (THE TERMINATOR; GREMLINS; ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL); visual effects expert Gene Warren Jr. (THE TERMINATOR; PET SEMATERY; ELIMINATORS); horror history expert and documentarian, Kool Kat Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures; creaturific artist Kool Kat Mark Maddox; Kool Kat Ricky Hess (HORROR HOTEL); filmmaker and set-dec dresser/buyer Kool Kat Dayna Noffke (“Under the Bed”); film score composer Tom Ashton (The March Violets); Kool Kat Shane Morton, ghost host with the most, a.k.a. Professor Morte; glamour ghoul Kool Kat Madeline Brumby and so much more! Tonight Cineprov riffs Irwin Allen’s THE LOST WORLD (1960) at 9pm! So, come on down for the horror that is Monsterama and get your classic horror fix!

Celebrate 50 years of Jean Claude Van Itallie’s play, TV FROM AMERICA HURRAH, running through Sept. 30 at 7 Stages! Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1! It’s a night of rockin’ classic country at The Star Bar with their Glen Campbell/Jerry Reed Tribute! And make your way downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of bluegrass with City Hotel! Get down with The Urban Shakedancers at The Vista Room! Get experimental at Avondale Towne Cinema with FLAP, the Edgewood Saxophone Trio and Duet for Theramin & Lap Steel! Get funky at Venkman’s with an evening of Prince: The B-Sides! Folk it up with Cheryl Wheeler and Blue Dogs LIVE at Eddie’s Attic! Make your way to Center Stage for a night with Ani DiFranco! Spend the night with Trey Anistasio and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Get countrified with the Drive-By Truckers and Strand of Oaks at Variety Playhouse! Shimmy on down to the Elliot Street Pub and get down to the nitty gritty of it all with CandyBox’ Underground Burlesque Show! Rev on down to the Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville for a night with The Sideburners! It’s a night of flamenco, African-beat gypsy jazz at the Buckhead Theatre with Beats Antique! The Lauren Mitchell Band gets old-timey at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Catch a screening of Disney’s A GOOFY MOVIE (1995) at SCADShow at 7pm! Get down with Dani Mac & Company at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Make your way to Blind Willie’s for a night with the “Blues Empress” Sandra Hall & The Shadows! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck with the Atlanta Horns and Beverly “Guitar” Watkins tear it up at Northside Tavern! And as always, time-warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, September 30

Day 2 of the Monsterama Convention kills it with a screening of Robert Wiene’s THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) scored live by Valentine Wolfe at 1pm. Get haunted with cinematic and television history presented by Professor Morte’s Silver Scream Spook Show’s screening of Roger Corman’s THE TERROR (1963) on 16mm with special guest Dick Miller at 4pm. Monster Mash it up at the Monster Prom! Get witty and retro turn of the century London-style with Kool Kats Michael Stark and Terrell Garrett during their Wolverton Comic Book Release Party at My Parents’ Basement! Catch a screening of Jim Henson’s THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) at the Center for Puppetry Arts at 7pm! Or make your way to the EAV Farmer’s Market for their “Movies under the (EAV) Stars” screening of Richard Donner’s ‘80s adventure, THE GOONIES (1985) at 7:30pm! Get intergalactic and make your way to the 2nd Annual Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival, running through Oct. 1, brought to you by The Multi-Cultural Sci-Fi Organization! Stomp on down to City Winery for a night with Michelle Malone, Drag the River and The James Hall Trio! Get down with The Urban Shakedancers with Wild West Picture Show at The Vista Room! Get your ‘80s latin rock fix with Café Tacuba at the Masquerade! It’s a night of retro-tastic tunes on the Piedmont Park Promenade with the Wasted Potential Brass Band, The REMakes, Yacht Rock Schooner and Slippery When Wet! Get a countrified encore with the Drive-By Truckers and Strand of Oaks at Variety Playhouse! Spend the night with the Queen of Soul at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre’s NATURAL WOMAN – AN ARETHA STORY, a biographical musical revue! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Atlanta Horns tear it up at Northside Tavern! Get your ‘70s pop disco fix with the Susi French Connection at Eddie’s Attic! Get down with Little Joey’s Jumpin’ Jive at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Groove Rocket dishes out the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with House Rocker Johnson & The Shadwos at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night!

Sunday, October 1

Rock out with The Queers, The Ataris and The Sawed Offs at The Earl! It’s day 3 and your last chance to get your classic horror fix at the Monsterama Convention! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Get intergalactic with Wicket: The Musical at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, geeking it up through Oct. 7!

Haunt on down to Norcross for Netherworld Haunted House’s horrorific 21st season, gorrifying through Nov. 1!

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

The Women in Horror Film Festival kills it at Crowne Plaza Atlanta SW – Peachtree City this Thursday-Sunday Sept. 21-24. A showcase of creative kickass female minds behind every aspect of the horrorific cinematic and filmmaking experience, contemporary and retro alike, the festival has much to offer all the horror cinephiles in your life. From slasher gore-fests to comedic catastrophes, here are 10 of our top reasons to get your spine tingled at the WIHFF!

1) ELM STREET GORE-GALS HEATHER LANGENKAMP & AMANDA WYSS. These ladies won our horror hearts with their portrayals of nightmare-filled teens Nancy Thompson (Langenkamp) and Tina Grey (Wyss) in Wes Craven’s ‘80s classic spawning its own hellacious franchise, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984).

2) LYNN LOWRY. From Kathy in George Romero’s THE CRAZIES (1973) and Ruthie in Paul Schrader’s CAT PEOPLE (1982), Lowry’s a swell scream queen who’s been killing it since the ‘70s, and is going strong as ever with at least ninety on-camera titles to her name (some current titles are announced or are in pre-production).

3) TRINA PARKS. Best known for her role as Thumper in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971), Parks’ career spanned the ‘70s with appearances in an episode of Rod Serling’s NIGHT GALLERY (“The Phantom Farmhouse” – 1971); DARKTOWN STRUTTERS (1975); THE MUTHERS (1976) and more. She came back deadlier than ever in David DeCoteau’s IMMORTAL KISS: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (2012).

4) WIHFF CASKET OF TERROR. For all you gore-lovers and horror hounds, just purchasing a festival pass earns you the chance to win some pretty monsterific prizes in the Casket of Terror, which includes autographed memorabilia, DVDs and other horror goodies. Purchase a VIP Pass and you get 3 entries; a Weekend Pass earns you 2 entries; and a Day Pass will get you a single entry. Who doesn’t love terrifying treats?!

5) FRIGHTENING FILMS! The WIHFF has heads rolling with three days of non-stop action filled to the bloody brim with films galore! Friday’s (Sept. 22) schedule includes a Thriller Shorts Block, a Features Block (SHORT CUT, dir. Prano Bailey-Bond; MURDER MADE EASY, dir. Dave Palamaro), a Non-Competition Showcase Block and a Comedy Shorts Block. Saturday (Sept. 23) terrifies with a Horror Shorts Block, a Features Block (MARCO POLO, dir. Chelsea Peters; DEADTHIRSTY, dir. Jason Winn), an International Shorts Block, and a bonus Features Block (I SHOULD HAVE RUN, dir. Gabriela Staniszewska; 3, dir. Lou Simon). And Sunday (Sept. 24) gets gory and kicks off the day with a Features Block (STITCHED, dir. Heather Taylor; BUZZARD HOLLOW BEEF, dir. Joshua Johnson), a Student Shorts Block, a Southeast Block, and a second bonus Features Block (THE CHUTE, dir. Stacy Sherman; RUIN ME, dir. Preston DeFrancis). So, come on out and discover some new terrifying talent!

6) WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE SCREENING. You won’t want to miss a special screening of WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE (1994), followed by the Nightmare Panel with panelists Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss and Marianne Maddalena, Friday, Sept. 22 at 6:30pm.

7) TWISTED TWINS – THE SOSKA SISTERS. From DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK (2009) to AMERICAN MARY (2013), Jen and Sylvia Soska have soaked up the indie cult-classic limelight as writers, actors and directors, churning out homage after homage of grind-house filmmaking. Come on out and catch the twisted sisters during their panels “You Finished Your Film, Now What?” (Sept. 23, 3:45 pm); and “Whose Film is it Anyway?” with Amanda Wyss (Sept. 23, 8:30pm).

8) MANIACAL MAKE-UP. Nadine Al-Remaizan and Christine Ramirez of Ramirez FX demonstrate the madness that is monster make-up and SFX with their “Create Big Budget Looks on a Shoestring Budget” panel/demonstration (Sept. 23, 11am).

9) WARPED WRITERS. There wouldn’t be films without writers, and of so WIHFF offers up two highly acclaimed horror/thriller/suspense writers Mylo Carbia, a.k.a. Hollywood’s No. 1 horror film ghostwriter turned author (THE RAPING OF AVA DESANTIS / VIOLETS ARE RED) and Meg Hafdahl (“Dark Things” / TWISTED REVERIES: THIRTEEN TALES OF THE MACABRE series). Both will be selling and signing during the festival.

10) SCARE-TASTIC SHOPPING.  You won’t want to miss out on the horrorific wares the festival vendors have to offer, from handmade horrors, to gothic gifts. During your stay, why not stock up on macabre movie memorabilia, cult classics and creepy clothing, costumes, accessories and more. Vendors will be selling/meeting guests from 12pm – 8pm daily during the festival.

Women in Horror Film Festival main con hours are Fri. Sept. 22 from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.; Sat. Sept. 23 from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.; and Sun. Sept. 24 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.For more info, visit the Women in Horror Film Festival official website here.