ATLRetro

Peek into the magical world of Hogwarts in immersive exhibits such as the entrancing Divination chamber at Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Photo by Randi Tucker.

Review by Randi Tucker
Contributing Writer

For adults who loved the Harry Potter books in the 1990s and were spellbound by the movies in the 2000s (and for their kids who are getting to know them now), HARRY POTTER: THE EXHIBITION is a must-see-and-do experience in Atlanta. But hurry, the magic only happens through February 28, and starting January 17, take advantage of buy-one, get-one-free tickets on Tuesdays.

Billed as “a groundbreaking touring exhibition that celebrates the iconic moments, characters, settings, and beasts as seen in the Harry Potter™ film series and the Wizarding World,” HARRY POTTER THE EXHIBITION was even more magical than this reviewer imagined. Equal parts museum (original costumes and props from the Harry Potter and FANTASTIC BEASTS movies, as well as the HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD play, are on display behind glass cases) and interactive technological experience, the exhibition offers fun for both longtime Harry Potter fans and newer generation guests.

Upon entry, choose your favorite house, wand, and patronus, and enter your identification information to go with it. This will all be important later, so don’t skip this step! A guide takes you into the exhibit and begins the experience with a brief quiz. Here you get a chance to see your name on the Marauder’s Map. Mischief Managed!

Next, take a self-guided tour of the remainder of the exhibit. There are rooms and rooms and more rooms (did I mention many rooms?) of artifacts, information and interactive activities to see and do. Just when you think you’ve come to an end, you turn a corner and the exhibit keeps on going. Conservatively, I’d say you need a few hours to really experience everything. As a huge Harry Potter fan myself, I seriously could have used a half-day here, but my family had other ideas.

Great Hall at Hogwarts in Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Photo by Randi Tucker.

For an extra fee, an audio tour is available as a complement to signs posted throughout the exhibit, and I recommend it for people who have time to linger in each room as it plays. For those who are time-crunched, much of the info can be read quickly on the posted signs.

The exhibit is filled with interesting details in every nook and cranny, so keep your eyes peeled for these details. Holes labeled “Look Here” are not to be looked over. Pro tip: look up and down, not just around (i.e. take note of the floors and ceilings). In addition to marveling at the movie memorabilia, you get a chance to earn points for your house when you practice spells, brew a potion, plant a mandrake, read your future in a crystal ball and hone your quidditch skills. Don’t miss any of these interactive experiences! They are hands-on fun for all ages.

Prepare to be spellbound at Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Photo by Randi Tucker.

Also, there are so many Instagram-able areas of the exhibition. Sit in Hagrid’s massive chair in his hut, perch behind Professor Umbridge’s desk in her puke-inducing pink office, pop out of Newt Scamander’s case of fantastic beasts, place a call in the Ministry of Magic telephone booth entrance and even lie back in Harry’s cramped cupboard under the stairs, for the picture-perfect pose. Take time to also make the magic happen with the elder wand and see yourself in the pensieve. You’ll need someone to capture these extra moments for you, as a selfie won’t do.

Definitely take a look at your professional photos that the staff took of your group at the entrance. Though you might not want to shell out extra dough for the photos on the spot, you will be instructed on how to view the photos later online, and you can also purchase them at that time. Remember that identification information I said would be important later? This is when you’ll need it.

Don’t miss the gift shop and café! In addition to limited-edition, exhibition-specific merchandise, the gift shop offers loads of fan-favorite merch and even bottled butter beer. The café is a great spot to sit a spell and sip on a signature drink (mocktails and cocktails available) and enjoy a meal or snack. There are fun things to read and see in the café as well, so don’t skip it, even if you aren’t hungry or thirsty.

Sip on magical mocktails at Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Photo by Randi Tucker.

Suffice it to say, visiting HARRY POTTER THE EXHIBITION made this muggle’s day!

HARRY POTTER: THE EXHIBITION is located in the 200 Peachtree Building at 155 Carnegie Way NW. More information and tickets are available here. Choose general admission, VIP or flextime tickets for adults, children and groups, based on the day and time of your visit. Prices will vary; and starting January 17, take advantage of buy-one, get-one-free tickets on Tuesdays.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

No clue what holiday shindigs to attend this year? We at ATLRetro are here to help with a list chock-full of merry tidings and Xmas tree rockin’ to help you have a super swell retro holiday season! Check out all the shakin’ shenanigans and classic fun we’ve dug up just for you!

ROCK AROUND THE XMAS TREE: Stomp on over to Napoleon’s for Michelle Malone & The Hot Toddies Holiday Show (Dec. 5), or catch Yacht Rock Schooner’s Ugly Sweater Holiday Show (Dec. 9)! Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer continues one of Atlanta’s favorite retro holiday traditions with his Charlie Brown XMas at The Earl (Dec. 10, 11, 12)! Boogie down dino-style at Fernbank After Dark: Holiday Party (Dec. 10)! Dance the night away at Mary’s during their Naughty is Nice! Holiday Dance Party (Dec. 11)! Get hellaciously rocked during ELZIG’s Christmas Spectacular Variety Show at Little Tree Studio in Avondale (Dec. 18)! Eddie’s Attic brings you a rockin’ line-up this season with Ed Roland’s Annual Winter Wonder Bash with Collective Soul (Dec. 6/7); the Third Annual Burchfield Family Christmas (Dec. 9); Lauren Morrow’s Christmas Extravaganza (Dec. 10) and more! Get countrified at Strand Ole Opry’s Country Christmas (Dec. 16)! Have an Earl XMas with Brother Hawk and more (Dec. 25)! 

MERRY MORSELS, SPIRITS & MORE: Miracle on Monroe Holiday Pop-Ups unwraps its sixth season in the city returning to the Midtown Promenade restaurant Tapa Tapa and Bon Ton will once again get into Mele Kalikimaka spirit as it hosts Sippin’ Santa, a Christmas-themed tiki takeover. Both locations offer special holiday cocktails, a fun festive staff, and enough cheer for everyone through the month of December! Make your way to Napoleon’s for a festive Christmas brunch and enjoy a live performance of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas (Dec. 12)!

FESTIVE FILMS: Spend the holidays at the Plaza Theatre and catch screenings of John Carpenter’s THE THING (1982) in 35mm (Dec. 11, 12 & 16); Jeremiah S. Chechik’s NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) (starting Dec. 11); John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) (starting Dec. 17) and Frank Capra’s classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) in 35mm (Dec. 18 & 19)! Or throw on your pajamas and head to Strand Marietta’s Christmas Eve marathon of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) (Dec. 24)! Regal Atlantic Station screens Joe Dante’s GREMLINS  (1984) (Dec. 4); Jon Favraeu’s ELF (2003) (Dec. 11); and NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Dec. 18)! 

MAGIC ON STAGE: It’s the most wonderful time of year as Aurora Theatre presents their annual Christmas Canteen revue now through Dec. 23, and the kiddies will not want to miss their ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Puppet Show (Dec. 4)! Atlanta Ballet brings you their classic presentation of The Nutcracker at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, through the month of December! The Center for Puppetry Arts brings back a classic family tradition, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer running through Jan. 2! Get down with the Grinch with Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical at the Fox Theatre (Dec. 7-12)! Boogie down to Strand Marietta for A Christmas Tradition (Dec. 10-23)! Scrooge it up and catch the Alliance Theatre’s presentation of A Christmas Carol through Dec. 24!

KRAMPUS SIGHTINGS  & SPOOKY FUN (in-person): Hey kiddies! Get beasty during Wreck the Halls: The Little 5 Points Krampus Krawl (Dec. 4)! Creep on over to Junkman’s Daughter in L5P for Family Portraits with Krampus, 1pm – 5pm (Dec. 5)! NETHERWORLD closes out its 25th year with two ho-ho-holiday horror events: A Lights on Tour returns Dec. 11, and A Haunted Holiday returns Dec. 18 featuring a performance of RISE OF THE NETHERSPAWN with a yuletide twist! 

VINTAGE & VIRTUAL: Catch the Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve & Other Stories online at 3pm (Dec. 5)! Hometown to Hollywood, LLC presents their online event, Scrooge Through the Years at 7pm (Dec. 9), or catch A Classic Hollywood Christmas online event at 7:30pm (Dec. 21)! Bizarre it up with Blackwell’s Xmas Oddities Auction online at 8pm (Dec. 10)! Catch a spooky online lecture, The Krampus & The Old, Dark Christmas at 3pm (Dec. 12)! Or catch A Charlie Brown Christmas Live On-Stage online at 6pm (Dec. 12)! Catch a sighting of Santa Live from The North Pole online at 11am (Dec. 19)! Get bewitched during the Cabot Kent Hermetic Temple’s online Yule Ritual at 4:30pm (Dec. 19)!

HO-HO-HOLIDAY SHOPPING: The Masquerade is gettin’ into the holiday spirit with BOGO concert tickets Dec. 3! Cryptid Creatives Collective presents their Winter Gift Marketplace in EAV featuring local vendors (including The Cryptid Cannery), artists and more (12pm – 6pm, Dec. 4)! Or make your way to Indie Craft Experience: Holiday Market (Dec. 4)! Head on over to Kirkwood for an Empire Arts Gallery Outdoor Holiday Pop-Up Market (Dec. 4)! Catch Bizarre Bazaar’s Holiday Market at the Imperial (Dec. 12), and don’t miss out on their Little Five Points Last Minute Holiday Extravaganza (Dec. 22)! Make your way to the Winter Solstice Market at the Park (Dec. 18)!

SANTA GETS CLASSY: Spend Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Dec. 9 & Dec. 11), or get Baroque and experience Handel’s Messiah with the ASO (Dec. 17 & 18)! Catch the spirit of the holidays at the Fox Theatre during Sarah Brightman – A Christmas Symphony (Dec. 13)! Ansley Stewart and Friends gift you with A Very Vintage Christmas at Napoleon’s (Dec. 16)! StewartGet retro ‘n’ royal during Strand Marietta’s Christmas Royal Tea and Grand Yuletide Ball (Dec. 18-22)! Spend the holidays with Joe Gransden [Swing on by Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (Dec. 4); or croon on over to Cigar Cellar in Kennesaw for A Crooner Christmas with Joe & Josh Sirten (Dec. 6); you won’t want to miss The Joe Gransden Christmas Quintet at Napoleon’s (Dec. 12); or make your way to Eddie’s Attic for Joe’s Big Band Holiday Show with Robin Lattimore (Dec. 20 & 23)! 

TREE LIGHTINGS, SPARKLY LIGHTS & FESTIVITIES: The annual Vinings Jubilee Christmas Tree Lighting, Vinings’ oldest holiday tradition including 40s-style carolers singing all the classics (Dec. 2)! Callaway Gardens’s Fantasy in Lights runs the entire month of December! There are more than two million twinkling lights ablaze at Stone Mountain Christmas! The Lighting at Colony Square is making Midtown merry and bright (Dec. 4)! Get artsy and make your way to Hapeville for their #FreeArtHapeville Holiday Event (Dec. 4)! Avondale Estates gets down with Santa during their Winter Wonderland event (Dec. 4)!

TINSELED TUNES (Albums/Singles, etc.): The Aquadolls cover The Waitresses’ holiday classic “Xmas Wrapping” featuring Angelo Moore of Fishbone and El Jefe of NOFX! New Found Glory celebrates their favorite holiday songs in their new single, “Holiday Records” on their new album, DECEMBER’S HERE out Dec. 3! 

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

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 8th annual Monsterama Convention: The Tomb of Monsterama coupled with Spy Con 2, invading the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta and haunting all your senses this weekend (Oct. 8-10)! From legendary actors to spook shows to monstrous sightings, here are our top reasons to get your classic monster fix at MONSTERAMA 2021!

1) 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 terrify with a live spook show, followed by a monstrous screening of Don Taylor’s ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (1971) on 16mm Scope, Saturday beginning at 4pm!

2) FANGTASTIC FILM. It’s monster movie madness with screenings of hellacious classics (most screening in 16mm) including a Nightmare Theatre Screening of Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959); Jimmy Sangster’s LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971); W.D. Richter’s THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (1984); Eugenio Martin’s HORROR EXPRESS (1972); Mario Bava’s DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968); a Paul Naschy Film Festival (Hosted by Rodney Barnett of the NaschyCast) with screenings of Leon Klimovsky’s DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF (1972), THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN (1972), Javier Aguirre’s COUNT DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE (1973); and so much more!

3) GHOULISH GUESTS. Catch some killer guests including Trina Parks (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER; THE BLUES BROTHERS); Elizabeth Shepherd [TOMB OF LIGEIA, POLTERGEIST: THE LEGACY, HELL BOATS]; Marta Kristen [LOST IN SPACE, TERMINAL ISLAND]; Clayton Landey [THE BLOB; A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3]; Kool Kat Madeline Brumby [DEAR GOD NO!, SPRING BREAK ZOMBIE MASSACRE, FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS]; Tiffany Grant [ONIGIRI; CHIVALRY OF A FAILED KNIGHT] and more!

4) MONSTER MAKE-UPS & MORE. Get ‘gore’gous with monster make-up galore as part of this year’s Makers Track! Pick up a brush and learn the basics of Horror Painting with Shane Morton; learn “Makeup secrets and surprises from The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone” with Clay Sayre & Kevin Meaux; check out “Foam Fabrication for your Monster Room!” with Clay Sayre and Steve Bugg; catch a “Skulls and Epoxy! A fiendish Demo” with Sawyer Gosnell; or a demo with FACE OFF’s Roy Wooley and his monster-making tips and tricks. Stick around for a creeping cornucopia of frightful faces and monster masks!

5) EERIE EDUCATION.  There will be one helluva line-up of screamtastic and informative panels this year, so stick around and learn a little! You won’t want to miss Shane Morton and Jim Stacy’s “History of Haunted Attractions;” the Nightmare Theatre Crew’s “Horror Hosting for Dummies;”, “From The Wicker Man to Midsommar: Witchcraft in Horror Films” with Marlena Frank, Dr. Dea Mozingo-Gorman, Jessa Phillips, and Kelley M. Frank; “Demons of the Crossroads/Origins of Crossroads Demon Lore” with Dr. Dea Mozingo-Gorman; and more!

6) WARPED WRITERS & HAUNTED ARTISTS. Writers make the monstrous world go ‘round, so check out guest authors including Kool Kat Nancy A. Collins [SONJA BLUE Series; VAMPIRELLA; SWAMP THING]; [; Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew [DRACUL; DRACULA THE UN-DEAD], and more! And without killer artists there would be no monsters to love! So come on out and get your fill with the creaturific Kool Kat Mark Maddox; Ed Godziszewski; and more!

7) KILLER KAIJU. Have a monstrous good time with Monsterama’s debut Kaiju Programming Track! If you’re a fan of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Ultraman, Gamera, and other Japanese monster and sci-fi movies and television, get ready to spend your weekend here! Noted author, expert, and collector Sean Linkenback is whipping up a weekend-long slate of panels and programs just for you.

 8) 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!

9) MONSTER PROM. Hey all you boils and ghouls, get frightfully funky at this year’s Monster Prom, Saturday at 8pm! 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 with DJ Mike Ensley!

MONSTERAMA main con hours are Fri. Oct. 8 from 2 to 12 a.m.; Sat. Oct. 9 from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.; and Sun. Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, visit the MONSTERAMA official website here.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get to roarin’ and ring in a much-needed vintage New Year with ATLRetro! Help us safely welcome with open arms 2021 while kicking 2020 to the curb! Start the New Year off with a bang with all the hoppin’ virtual and socially distanced shindigs we’ve dug up just for you!

1. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ & ALL THAT JAZZ. Celebrate the New Year in style! Flap on over to Red Phone Booth’s annual Roaring 20s NYE Party featuring a full band with Yacht Rock Schooner and more! Gatsby it up at Ventanas during their Gatsby Penthouse NYE Party at 8:30pm! Jazz it up during Pink Martini’s NYE Good Riddance 2020! online concert at 3pm! Get jazzy and live stream the Gordon Vernick Quartet hosted by the Red Light Café at 9pm (12/30)!

2. BLUES, SOUL & FUNK, OH MY. Funk it up this NYE! Head on down to the bayou for a virtual Mudcat New Year’s Eve at 11:30pm! Get down and funk it up with Lola at the Northside Tavern’s NYE Party)! Raise a Ruckus with Eddie 9V & His Big Band at Blind Willie’s this NYE! $40/Doors at 7pm. Get some soul with Davis & The Love at Park Tavern’s Goodbye 2020 NYE Party! Funk it up with The Orange Constant at Best End Brewing Co.!

3. HEY! HO! LET’S GO! Hey all you miscreants, why not rock into the New Year! Brotherhood pays tribute to The Doobie Brothers livestreaming this NYE hosted by Eddie Owens Presents – Red Clay Theatre! Nightrain rocks out and pays tribute to Guns ‘n’ Roses at 37 Main Avondale Estates at 9pm!

4. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: MONSTERS, MADNESS & WITCHY FUN. Battle & Brew gets mad during their Mad Hatter’s NYE Tea Party featuring free console gaming all night, photo booth, complimentary champagne at midnight and more! $30/Doors at 7pm!

5. RAISE A ROCKABILLY/FOLKSY/ROOTSY RUCKUS. Raise a ruckus and have a helluva NYE with Kool Kat Hot Rod Waltand the Psycho-DeVillesat The Social Goat Tavern in Covington! Folk rock it up with The Avett Brothers during their Virtual NYE Concert at 8pm! For a New Year’s Eve filled with foot stompin’ Americana, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, make your way to Eddie’s Attic for two hoppin’ helpings of the sultry Michelle Malone Band and her 23rd annual New Year’s Eve Bash!

6. SMOOTH OPERATOR.  Get your soft rock fix at MadLife Stage & Studios as On the Border pays tribute to The Eagles with two NYE shows (8pm and 10:30pm)!

7. LIFE’S A BEACH. Hula on down and spend the holidays at The S.O.S. Tiki Bar in Decatur during their NYE Celebration beginning at 5pm (reservations required)!

8. THE CURE FOR BANANARAMA. Electric Avenuerings in the New Year with a night of MTV-era rockin’ online here at 10pm and can be viewed through Jan. 3! Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finchwith Denim Arcade at Del Rio Mexican Grill in Dacula at 9:30pm!

9. MASQUERADES AND GALAS GALORE. Get dressed to the nines and make your way to Dancing Skulls for their NYE Masquerade Party! $75 entry fee includes preset menu, a cocktail, and a champagne toast at midnight! Doors at 7:30pm! Hey all you lovers of glitz and glam! Shimmy on down to the NYE: Pink Elephant Cabaret virtual party at 1:30am!

10. SCI-FI IT UP & More.  Jumanji it up at My Sister’s Room during their socially distanced New Year’s Eve Party! Doors at 7:30pm! Spend NYE at Atlanta Botanical Gardens set against the glimmering backdrop of Garden Lights at 9:30pm! Get really retro during Shakespeare’s New Year’s Shakin’ Eve online at 9:30pm!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you dapper fellas and glitzy gals! Cupid got your tongue? “Be Mine” vintage-style this year and celebrate all that is vintage and Valentine’s in ATLRetro!

1. CROONERS, RED HOT JAZZ ‘N’ BLUES. Swoon on down to Atlanta Symphony Hall and spend the night with Tony Bennett and experience his I Left My Heart Tour, with special guest Antonia Bennett (Feb. 14)! Salsa it up this Valentine’s Day with Bandleader Gilberto Santa Rosa at The Roxy (Feb. 14)! The Vista Room gets jazzy with Joe Gransden’s Valentine’s Dinner Show with Robin Latimore at 8pm, featuring a Prix Fixe Menu (Feb. 16)! The Fox Theatre gets some soul and jazzes it up with Ken Ford and Stokley with their Valentine’s Celebration (Feb. 14)! Get funky and make your way to Suite Food Lounge for Michael Henderson’s Valentine’s Concert (Feb. 13)!  “Empress of the Blues” Sandra Hall & The Shadows bring you a special bluesy Valentine’s Day at Blind Willies (Feb 14)!

2. BLACKHEARTS ROCK ‘N’ HOOTENANNIES GALORE. Who needs chocolates and roses when you can get retro-rocked with Chrome Castle at The Earl during their Record Release Party with The Preakness and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists (Feb. 14)! Come feel the love with West End Motel and Sash the Bash at their Lonely Hearts Show at Boggs Social & Supply (Feb. 14)! Get romantic with Frankly Scarlett playing all your favorite Grateful Dead tunes at Smith’s Olde Bar (Feb. 14)! Yacht Rock Schooner and The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus bring you The Best Damn Queen Show Ever at the Variety Playhouse (Feb. 14)! Get your Americana fix at Waller’s Coffee Shop with Heart Hunters, Sarah Burton and Nerdkween (Feb. 14)! Experience the Aurora Theatre’s Valentine’s Cabaret: A Tribute to Heart at 8pm (Feb. 14)! The van must be a rockin’ cause Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club are gettin’ down at the Clermont Lounge during their Pre-Valentine’s Day Soiree (Feb. 13)! Scream the night away during The Highlander‘s Mad Love Skaryoke (Feb. 12)! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a countrified night with Wynn Varble and Gary Hannan (Feb. 14)!

3. OH LA LA! Shimmy it up with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South during Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Hearts & Heartbreakers at the Red Light Café (Feb. 11) ! Or get sinfully seductive with your best guy or gal at the Red Light Café for Ariel Allegro’s Sweet ‘n’ Sultry Valentine Burlesque Show (Feb. 14)!

4. MEDIEVAL & CLASSIC. For all you knights in shining armor, get really retro and romantic with the royal one in your life and joust on down to Medieval Times for their Valentine’s at the Castle event! $110 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, champagne in keepsake glasses and more (Feb. 3-17)!

5. GROOVIN’ UP SLOWLY. Groove on down with your favorite guy or gal to Venkman’s for two chances to catch Prince: Once Kiss at a Time at 6:30pm/9:30pm (Feb. 14)! Venkman’s presents a free Sade Acoustic Tribute featuring an intimate breakdown of her R&B classics (Feb. 15)! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at 7:30pm and 9:30pm at City Winery (Feb. 14)! Or be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Yacht Rock’s’s evening of smooth and silly love songs! It’ll be an evening of smooth 70s and 80s love songs, so put on your dancin’ shoes and come aboard (Feb. 15)!

6. LOVIN’ ON THE SILVER SCREEN. TCM Big Screen Classics presents a screening of Arthur Hiller’s LOVE STORY (1970) at theatres across Atlanta at 7pm [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Perimeter Pointe 10; Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal Mall of Georgia Stadium (Buford); AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming); Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Movie Tavern (Tucker)] (Feb. 12)! Wussy Wednesdays (WUSSY MAG) return to The Plaza Theater with a screening of Baz Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE (2001) at 8pm, including lobby shenanigans, prizes and more (Feb. 12)! Catch a Legacy Series screening of Gene Kelly’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) at SCADShow at 7pm (Feb. 14)! Catch a screening of James Cameron’s TITANIC (1997) at theatres across Atlanta [Northlake Festival Movie Tavern (Tucker); GTC Merchant’s Walk Cinemas (Marietta); Movie Tavern at Horizon Village (Suwannee); and The Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Sandy Springs) (Feb. 12)! “Here’s looking at you kid!” Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style with a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at The Earl Smith Strand Theater at 8pm, featuring a live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ at 7:30pm! Or if you’re lookin’ for a little late-night rendezvous with a few transsexual aliens, stick around and catch The Strand’s screening of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 11:55pm (Feb. 15)!

7. CUPID’S CULINARY DELIGHTS & VINTAGE VENDING.  Got last minute shopping to do? Why not shop local for your loveys and make your way to the Valentine’s EAV Maker’s Market from 5pm – 10pm (Feb. 14)! The French are known for their romantic gestures, so get romantic at Petite Violette (formerly Petite Auberge) for their special 5-course Valentine’s Day Menu beginning at 5pm, featuring live entertainment and more for $79.95/person (Feb. 14)!

8. WE GOTH YOU COVERED.  Spend the night with the Green Fairy as RITUAL brings you a bloody fantastic time during their Moulin Rouge Gothic Valentine Party going down at Heretic, at 10pm (Feb. 14)! Want something a little spookier this season of love? Why not spook on down to Netherworld for their Scream in the Dark event at 6:30pm (Feb. 15)! The Highlander brings you NOCTURNIA: My Gothic Valentine, Atlanta’s Premier Goth/Industrial Dance Party at 10pm (Feb. 14)!

 9. DECADENT DECADES. Dance through 80 years of romance at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Enjoy themed music, tasty bites and more! Twist the night way at a fabulous ‘50s sock-hop, slide into the ‘60s with a groovy love-in packed with flower power, then take a turn on a ‘70s disco dance floor! Flash back to big hair with live music at a totally tubular ‘80s prom, then swing through the ‘90s with vintage snacks and live tunes by Boy Band Cover Band! Admission is $50 per person, $45 per person for Garden members. (Feb. 14).

10. COMEDY, THEATRE, ART & SCIENCE, OH MY! Be a matchmaker and skedaddle on over to the Fox Theatre for their presentation  HELLO DOLLY at 8pm (Feb. 14)! Experience The 2020 LXXX You Awards: A Valentine’s Day Soiree, hosted by Videodrome, The Bakery, Mammal Gallery and more, at 8pm (Feb. 14)! Fernbank After Dark: It’s Electric geeks it up with sultry  science and some killer ‘80s tunes with Electric Avenue (Feb. 14)! Be a pair of star-crossed lovers at the Shakespeare Tavern’s 20th Anniversary Valentine’s performance of ROMEO & JULIET at 7:30pm (Feb. 14)!

By Rebecca Perry
Contributing Writer

Get traumatized and HORRORfied this weekend as the Days of the Dead Convention kills it at the Sheraton Atlanta hotel for three days of ghastly gore-filled events, running February 7-9, 2020! Here are our Top 10 Terrifying Retro Reasons not to miss this years’ spooky shindig:

1) THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON! Don’t miss one helluva opportunity to meet the last surviving Universal Monsters icon – Ricou Browning! Ricou portrayed the title character in 1954’s THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE RETURN OF THE CREATURE and THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US. In addition to photo-ops and autograph signings, you can hear Ricou talk about his Creature days on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

2) TELEVISION’S ADAMS FAMILY ALUM! Get spooky with Lisa Loring, television’s Wednesday Adams! You won’t want to miss The Adams Family Panel featuring Lisa with Felix Silla, a.k.a. Cousin Itt, Friday night at 7pm!

3) GHOULISH GUESTS! This year’s DotD is playing host to a monsterific guest list! Richard Dreyfuss (JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND), Kathleen Turner (SERIAL MOM, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?), John Cusack (THE RAVEN, BETTER OFF DEAD), Tony Todd (CANDYMAN, WISHMASTER), Michael Biehn (THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS), Doug Jones (HELLBOY, PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE SHAPE OF WATER) and Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST) are just a few of the stars you can expect to see this weekend.

4) RETRO REUNIONS! Not only are we getting a SLEEPAWAY CAMP franchise reunion featuring cast members Jarret Beal, Heather Binton, Kendall Bran, Carol Chambers, Amy Fields, Kyle Holman, Mark Oliver and Jill Terashita, but we’re ALSO getting a NIGHT OF THE DEMONS reunion featuring director Kevin Tenney, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Hal Havins, Jill Terashita and Lance Fenton. PLUS Rob Zombie‘s HALLOWEEN reunion featuring Tyler Mane, Danielle Harris, Kristina Klebe and Scout Taylor Compton!

5) EVIL EVENTS! Besides all the great guests this weekend, there are a lot of evil events to enjoy, including a Friday Fright Night pre-party featuring SKARYOKEE!, a Makeup Challenge, That Damn Tattoo Contest, Hell Night Prom After Party dance party and the Chaostume Contest. Check the DotD schedule here for a full listing of events.

6) HOUSE OF INDIE HORROR! There’s a full schedule of panels focusing on the ins and outs of movie making; everything from screenwriting to monster makeup! Catch Kool Kat and exploitation extraordinaire, James Bickert (DEAR GOD NO!, FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS) and more on the Independent Filmmaker Panel, Saturday at 2:30pm! And you won’t want to miss killer women in horror, Kool Kats Dayna Noffke (“Under the Bed,” “Teaser”) with co-founder of the Women in Horror Film Festival, Vanessa Ionta Wright (“Rainy Season”) amongst others, on the How to Make Your First Horror Movie panel on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.!

7) Reels of the Dead Film Festival! Not only can you learn how to make your own horror flick, you can spend the weekend watching some great spooky cinema. Support Independent Horror, including the Etheria Film Night with Stacy Pippi, celebrating the best women directed genre films!

8) DotD Pre-party! Kick off things early with a rockin’ pre-party at the Clermont Lounge featuring Captain & Maybelle and Beitthemeans, on Thursday, Feb. 6!

9) Spooktacular Shopping! The dealers room is a great place to support independent artists and pick up something creepy cool. Art, jewelry, clothing, DVDs and anything else your monstrous little heart could desire!

10) In-Costume Photo-Ops! Where else could you get a photo with CANDYMAN Tony Todd or HALLOWEEN‘s Danielle Harris wearing their iconic costumes? Book ahead of time as these do tend to sell out fast.

For tickets, hotel information, and more please check out the Days of the Dead Atlanta website. Be there or be scared!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get to roarin’ and ring in a vintage New Year and new decade with ATLRetro! Come celebrate what once was in 2019 and welcome with open arms what will be in 2020! Start the New Year off with a bang with all the hoppin’ shindigs we’ve dug up just for you!

1. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ ROARIN’ ‘20s STYLE. Celebrate the New Year in style! Grab your favorite guy or gal, get dressed to the nines and shimmy on down to the Red Light Café as Kool Kat Johnny Pine hosts a Roarin’ Twenties Burlesque Dance Party, featuring a variety show, a Burly-Q feast for the eyes and so much more! Doors at 8pm/$25/$60 VIP. Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar (Marietta) rings in the New Year with a Roaring Twenties themed fun-filled extravaganza complete with Prohibition-era cocktails, a photo booth, balloon drop and champagne toast! They are featuring a $79 four course menu with optional wine pairings for $29 additional, plus tax and gratuity, starting at 3pm. Get gangster and flap on down to My Sister’s Room for their Roaring 20s NYE Party, featuring the Hellfire Harlots! Doors at 7:30pm! Or flap on down to McCray’s Tavern for their Roarin’ 20s NYE Party, featuring vintage libations, a midnight buffet and more! Party like it’s 1920 at Lawrenceville’s Slow Pour Brewing Company’s Roaring 20s NYE Party, featuring food trucks, libations and more! End Prohibition at Fado Irish Pub and celebrate the New Year, Irish-style, with a complimentary champagne toast and more! Flap it up at Battle & Brew during their NYE The Roarin’ 2020’s Party! Special prizes for the best cosplay! Doors at 7pm!

2. BLUES, SOUL & FUNK, OH MY. Funk it up this NYE! Psychofunk it up into the new year with Voodoo Visionary and The Iceman Special at Aisle 5! Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics dish out a helluva night of rockin’ ‘50s and ‘60s Georgia soul at Venkman’s! For some classic blues and jazz, make your way to Blind Willie’s for a night with “The Empress of the Blues” Sandra Hall! Doors at 7pm and $60 gets you guaranteed seating, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight! Fire up the blues at the Northside Tavern with Lola, the Atlanta Horns, Albert White and more! Spend NYE at the Crimson Moon Café with the EG Kight Trio!

3. HEY! HO! LET’S GO! Rock into the New Year! Eat, drink and rock out at The Highlander’s Punk Rock Dance Party! Or boogie on down to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Suck It 2019 NYE Dance Party, featuring DJs, party favors and a free champagne toast at midnight! Hey all you miscreants! Get rebellious and rock into the New Year with The Coathangers for two nights at The Earl (12/30 & 12/31)! Doors at 8:30pm. The Georgia Players Guild delivers a rockin’ NYE Show: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin & Queen at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre, at 9pm. $40 cover. The Fox Theatre continues their 30+ year tradition and jams into the New Year with Widespread Panic! Raise a rockin’ Rolling Stones ruckus with Kool Kat Rich Desantis  and the Street Fightin’ Band at the Red Clay Theatre!

4. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: MONSTERS, MADNESS & WITCHY FUN. It’s a night of monsters, poets and madmen at the Highland Inn Ballroom & Lounge during Frankenstein’s Ball, an immersive experience, at 7:30pm! It’s a night of haunted cabaret rock ‘n’ roll at the Masquerade with Sarah & The Safe Word, The Superelevators, The Keepsake, ozello, Ghost Moths, City Playgrounds and more!

5. RAISE A ROCKABILLY/FOLKSY/ROOTSY RUCKUS.  Stomp on down to The Star Bar and spend NYE with Gringo Star (Kool Kats Nick and Peter Furgiuele), Reverend Bro Diddly & The Hips, Nikki & The Phantom Callers, Ladrones, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and more! Doors at 8pm/$13 cover. Americana it up with Railroad Earth for two foot-stompin’ nights at the Variety Playhouse (12/30 and 12/31)! Have a helluva NYE with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles at Smokin’ Cues in Stockbridge! For a New Year’s Eve filled with foot stompin’ Americana, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, make your way to Eddie’s Attic for two hoppin’ helpings of the sultry Michelle Malone Band and her 22st annual New Year’s Eve Bash!

6. SMOOTH OPERATOR. Sail on into 2020 with Yacht Rock Schooner as they get ‘70s and toasty at The Vista Room! Soft rock into the New Year for two nights at Smith’s Olde Bar (Music Room) with Rumours – A Fleetwood Mac Tribute and The Lobsters of Rock on night one (12/30), and with Runnin’ Down a Dream: A Tom Petty Revue on night two (12/31)! Corporate Therapy dishes out some smooth classic rock at Wild Wing Café in Dunwoody!

7. LIFE’S A BEACH. Tiki it up into 2019 at Trader Vic’s New Years Eve in Paradise featuring a special 4-course menu  and a night with Bogey & The Viceroy dishing out some soulful island tunes with a midnight champagne toast! Doors at 9pm! Spend the night with Coast Guard at City Winery for NYE!

8. THE CURE FOR BANANARAMA. Electric Avenue rings in the New Year with a night of MTV-era rockin’ shenanigans at Park Tavern in Piedmont Park, with NAKD! Doors 9pm. Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Gypsy Rose in Roswell at 9:30pm! Boogie on down to 529 for their New Wave Dance Party!

9. RAT PACKIN’ & ALL THAT JAZZ.  Swing into the New Year in style with Joe Gransden at the Waldorf Astoria Atlanta!

10. SCI-FI IT UP. The Plaza Theater gives you a futuristic start to the New Year with a screening of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS (1927)  at 7pm!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

This haunted holiday season is alive and kicking as the Buried Alive Film Festival (BAFF) kills it with another year of hellacious cinematic treats! BAFF is brought to you by Festival Director, Kool Kat Blake Myers and Event Director, Kool Kat Luke Godfrey and a helluva killer team of mad scientists working behind the scenes. Gore it up with five blood-filled days (November 13-17) of film terror, including 8 features, 51 short independent horror films from around the globe, and two extra special events, bringing its sinister shenanigans for a fourth year to 7 Stages Theatre in Little Five Points.

BAFF kicks off Wed. Nov. 13, at 8pm, with the ever-popular BAFF Sinema Challenge, giving local filmmakers the opportunity to bring to life a horror film in 13 days. Production starts on November 1 and films are screened on the festival’s opening night. The contest is judged by co-creator and exclusive programmer for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) weekly late-night cult movie showcase TCM Underground, Kool Kat Millie De Chirico and “Archer” animation director and Atlanta-based filmmaker, Marcus Rosentrater.

Thursday night kicks off with Shorts Program #1: First Shovel in the Grave is always the best!, which includes Ujicha’s [Director of BAFF 2018’s VIOLENCE VOYAGER] TEMPURA (Japan) about man’s best friend; David Bornstein’s UNHOLY MOLE, where selling one’s soul for guacamole is where it’s at; German Sancho’s FEARS (Spain), delving into a little girl’s frightening world; Miao’s I LEARNED TO DRIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD (China) and so many more! The Opening Night Feature is Michael Laicini and David Amito’s ANTRUM: THE DEADLIEST MOVIE EVER MADE (2018), a film about a cursed ‘70s film that finally has come to light. Watch if you dare!

Tricks ‘n’ treats abound as Friday brings you Shorts Program #2: Grave worm’s Finest, which includes Tyler Martin’s creepy crawly short, HATCH (USA); Jeon Jinkyu’s THE DEATH VENDOR (Korea), with death for sale; get exorcised with Steven Stull’s D IS FOR DEMON (USA); fight for your life with Kate Trefry’s HOW TO BE ALONE (USA) and more! Stick around for the 8pm Feature as punk mutants take on Vietnam vets in Joe Begos’s VFW (2019), preceded by James Sizemore and Tim Reis’s psychedelic short, BUDFOOT (USA/Local), shot at Kool Kat Shane Morton’s Silver Scream FX Lab! And of course no respectable horror film festival would be complete without screening a few horror classics, and ATLRetro loves all the special events chosen this year, including a special screening of Andrew Lemen’s 2005 silent film, THE CALL OF CTHULHU with a live soundtrack by Atlanta-based jazz group Samadha, followed by a special midnight grind-house screening of Ben Winston’s ‘70s-esque biker flick HELL BOUND (2018)!

The heads just keep rolling as Saturday brings you Shorts Program #3: Who Said Robbing Graves Wasn’t Fun! including Neal O’Bryan and Chad Thurman’s tasty TOE (USA); Jill Gevargizian getting twisted with ONE LAST MEAL (USA); Trevor Mirosh’s intergalactic EXHIBIT MAN (Canada); Tony Reames terrorizing the babysitter with PLAYTIME’S OVER (USA/Local); Stacey Palmer’s toothy gore, TOOTHACHE (USA/Local) and more followed by a 4pm Feature, dishing out sex education at its most sinister with Keola Racela’s PORNO (USA), preceded by Elwood Quincy Walker’s KISSED (USA). At 6pm, BAFF brings you Shorts Program #4: Dig the Grave Deep So They Can’t Crawl Out, featuring some #METOO horror with Yfke van Berkelaer’s LILI (Netherlands); Mia’kate Russel’s MAGGIE MAY (Australia); Ferris Wheels and strange creatures with Carlos Baena’s LA NORIA (Spain); Tomi Malkki’s SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET (Finland) and more! At 8pm get ready for another hellacious Feature with Brett and Drew Pierce’s boy vs. 1000-year old witch, THE WRETCHED (USA), preceded by Rich Ragsdale’s THE LOOP (USA)! And to top off the evening, BAFF offers a special treat at 10pm with a screening of Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz’s splatter classic, THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984), hosted by Atlanta’s award-winning Blast Off Burlesque, who will stage one of their signature TabooLaLa events including a performance inspired by the film before the screening! Last but not least is a midnight screening of local Tony Reams’ (et al) DEAD BY MIDNIGHT (USA).

For those early birds, Sunday kicks off with a 12pm feature of Kool Kat Bret Wood’s THOSE WHO DESERVE TO DIE (2019) [keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat of the Week, Producer Kendall Keeling coming soon], preceded by Joshua Giuliano’s IN SOUND WE LIVE FOREVER (USA), followed by a 2pm Feature screening of Sandy K. Boon’s documentary, J.R. “BOB” DOBBS AND THE CHURCH OF THE SUBGENIOUS (USA), exploring the phenomenon of two self-proclaimed weirdos from Ft. Worth who created their own cult following, preceded by Alastar Train’s ALL STRETCHED OUT (UK). At 4pm, BAFF treats you to another feature with Kool Kat Daniel Griffith’s creaturific documentary, MARK OF THE BEAST: THE LEGACY OF THE UNIVERSAL WEREWOLF (USA/Local), preceded by Josh Gould’s MEAT WAGON (USA). Shorts Program #5: The Toll of the Death Bell promises a monstrous good time with screenings of David Oesch and Remo Rickenbacher’s DEAD ANIMALS (Switzerland); Dante Vescio and Rodrigo Gaasparini’s DEAD TEENAGER SÉANCE (Brazil); Charles de Lauzirika’s LOVE BITE (USA), and more! And finally, the closing ceremonies and awards show begins at 8pm!

The 7 Stages Theatre is located at 1105 Euclid Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307. Individual program block tickets are $12, and five-day festival passes are just $120.

For more information and the complete Buried Alive Film Festival schedule, visit the website here. And view the official 2019 BAFF bumper here.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

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 sixth annual Monsterama Convention (Little Shoppe of Monsterama) invading the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta and haunting all your senses this weekend (Sept. 27-29)! From legendary actors to spook shows to monstrous sightings, here are our top reasons to get your classic monster fix at MONSTERAMA 2019!

1) 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 terrify with a live spook show, followed by a monstrous screening of Jack Arnold’s REVENGE OF THE CREATURE in 3D (1955) on 16mm, Saturday beginning at 4pm!

2) FANGTASTIC FILM. It’s monster movie madness with screenings of hellacious classics (most screening in 16mm) including Lucien Hubbard’s THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1929); Enrique Lopez Eguiluz’s FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR (1968); Leon Klimovsky’s DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF (1972); Denis Sanders’s INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS (1973); EDGAR ALLAN POE Shorts scored by Valentine Wolfe; Michael Reeves’s THE CONQUEROR WORM (1968); John Badham’s DRACULA (1979) in its original theatrical color; Russ Meyer’s BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970); Mario Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY (1960) and more!

3) GHOULISH GUESTS OF THE BIG SCREEN. Catch some killer guests including Jackie Joseph [LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS]; Ian Ogilvy [RETURN OF THE SAINT (78-79); DEATH BECOMES HER (1992); THE SORCERERS (1967)]; Jane Merrow [THE SAINT (1965); THE PRISONER (1967); THE AVENGERS (1967)]; Pauline Peart [THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1973); CUBA (1979)]; and so many more!

4) HAUNTED ARTISTS. Without killer artists there would be no monsters to love! Get your fill with the creaturific Kool Kat Mark Maddox; comic artist Craig Hamilton [AQUAMAN; GREEN LANTERN]; comics colorist Matt Webb[FLESH AND BLOOD]; and so many more!

5) MONSTER MAKE-UPS & MORE. Get goregous with monster make-up galore as part of this year’s Makers Track! Kevin Meaux delivers a monstrous “Painting Masks” panel, Fri. at 6pm, followed by Shane Morton’s “Grande Illusions – Special FX from Stage to Screen” panel at 8pm. On Sunday at 11:30am “Make Monsters” with FACE OFF’s Roy Wooley, and so much more monster make-up mayhem in between! Stick around for a creeping cornucopia of frightful faces and monster masks!

6) MONSTER ATTACK!  Award-winning illustrator, Mark Maddox teams up with jack-of-all creative trades, Jim Adams, Kool Kat Madeline Brumby and Clay Sayre letting loose upon the unsuspecting public a monstrous creation, their podcast MONSTER ATTACK! Maddox and Adams’s beastly baby aired its first episode on January 11, 2016, diving head first into the monster madness that started it all for these monster kids [William Castle’s spine-chilling, THE TINGLER (1959) and Douglas Hickox/Eugene Lourie’s THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959)]. Catch the Monster Attack! squad at 1pm on Sunday!

7) WARPED WRITERS. Writers make the monstrous world go ‘round, so check out guest authors including our Kool Kat of the Week Nancy A. Collins [SONJA BLUE Series; VAMPIRELLA; SWAMP THING]; Amanda Dewees [NOCTURNE FOR A WIDOW; A HAUNTING REPRISE]; Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew (DRACUL; DRACULA THE UN-DEAD); Charles Rutledge [DRACULA’S REVENGE]; Jeff Strand [EVERYTHING HAS TEETH; FEROCIOUS; BLISTER]; Neil Vokes [FRIGHT NIGHT; THE KEY ETERNAL]; John Horner Jacobs [SOUTHERN GODS; THIS DARK EARTH]; and vampire aficionado J. E. Browning [GRAPHIC HORROR: MOVIE MONSTER MEMORIES], and so many more!

8) 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!

9) MONSTER PROM. Hey all you boils and ghouls, get frightfully funky at this year’s Monster Prom, Saturday at 8pm! 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 with DJ Rebecca Perry!

MONSTERAMA main con hours are Fri. Sept. 27 from 2 to 12 a.m.; Sat. Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.; and Sun. Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, visit the MONSTERAMA official website here.

By Ray Dafrico
Contributing Writer

THE QUIET ONE (2019); Dir. Oliver Murray; Documentary about Bill Wyman featuring Eric Clapton, Bob Geldof, Andrew Oldham, Glyn Johns; Opens Friday, July 5 at the Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema; Trailer here.

Upfront, a disclaimer of sorts, I am a huge Rolling Stones fan. As a rock and roll musician myself, I believe them to be archetypal band, from the quintessential, charismatic front man Mick Jagger; the effortlessly cool, eternal Keith Richards; to the diverse, multitalented abilities of Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ron Wood. Ultimately however the band was always at its heart a rhythm and blues band, with its foundation in the rhythm section of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman, the subject of a new documentary THE QUIET ONE.

The film, directed by Oliver Murray, features commentary from Eric Clapton, Bob Geldof, Andrew Oldham, Glyn Johns and others. Wyman was the Stone who never received the attention that some of his bandmates did,  but amongst musicians, he is considered one of the world’s best bass players. Non-musicians and casual fans probably don’t know that much about him as he was content to stand stoic and mysteriously to the side and back of the stage, being the glue, holding down a machine firing on all cylinders. As Wyman himself says in the film: “We could blown any band off a stage.”

The film begins with Wyman recalling his earliest memories. Born as Bill Perks on October 24, 1936, Wyman recalls the bombings during World War II and how deeply this experience affected him. He could remember classmates suddenly not showing up for school after a bombing raid due to the fact that they had been killed.  The film then reveals Wyman’s relationship, or rather lack of one, with his parents. He was alienated from them and felt closest with his grandmother through whom he discovered collecting and documenting things—something that Wyman, along with photography and music, would continue to do extensively for the rest of his life.  He would become the unofficial archivist for The Rolling Stones, and part of this film’s attraction is its unseen footage from Wyman’s own collection. The death of his grandmother when Wyman was still a child devastated him. His father then pulled him out of school and forced him to work as a bet collector in a local pub. Not unlike a Dickens novel, you feel the pain of this childhood.

Bill Wyman in the Studio. Photo credit: Bent Rej Photography. Used with permission.

Tired of living in dangerous working class Penge, England, Wyman, then still named Bill Perks (which he hated), joined the British armed forces in the late 1950s and ended up stationed in Germany where he discovered rock and roll via Armed Forces Radio and records which American GIs had. He also befriended a man named “Gordon Lee Wyman,” who Wyman describes as “quite a character.” Young Bill Perks was impressed enough to change his name legally to Bill Wyman. Soon after, and under the spell of rock ’n’ roll, Wyman modified his first bass by hand and started his first band The Cliftons.

Upon his return to England he went to an audition that a friend had told him about that would lead to Wyman joining the soon-to-be Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. At this point, Wyman’s life accelerates at warp speed—constant touring, fame, riots, rebellion, arrests, sex, and, for most of the band, drugs. Wyman never had any interest in the latter. However, he does describe smoking a joint that was laced with animal tranquilizer and said, “ I don’t need this.”

The Rolling Stones on tour in North America. Photo credit: Bob Bonis Archives Inc./Promotone. Used with permission.

The 1960s were a cultural phenomenon, and The Rolling Stones were front and center. Although the Stones were reaching incredible artistic heights at the time, authorities targeted the band as a threat to society. “It was really us vs. them” is how Wyman describes it, and he then goes on to talk about the deterioration and eventual death of bands founder Brian Jones, in 1969.  Despite a momentous concert in London’s Hyde Park and a very successful US tour, the dark times would continue later that year at the free concert at Altamont, California, where a man was stabbed to death directly in front of the stage while they played. Wyman says he doesn’t like to talk about it because it was so horrible.

The 1970s saw the Stones having to flee the U.K for France because they were so far in debt and British taxes were so high. Wyman dreaded leaving and recalls the madness of recording EXILE ON MAIN STREET in the basement of Keith Richard’s villa in Villefranche-sur-mer. What he would discover was he really liked France and struck up friendships with the likes of Marc Chagall and James Baldwin. Wyman would end up keeping a home there to this day. The Stones continued to tour and record throughout the ’70s, but Wyman felt the need to express himself creatively and was the first member of the band to release a solo LP, MONKEY GRIP, in 1974, followed by “STONE ALONE” in 1976. While these records were mostly just side projects for Wyman, he scored a worldwide hit in 1981 with the song “(Si Si) Je Suis un Rock Star.”

Production Still – Bill Wyman working in his archive. Photo credit: Luke Varley. Copyright: The Quiet Ones Ltd./Promotone. Used with Permission.

While he never fell for drugs, sex, however, was Wyman’s vice, and he explains that his loneliness was probably the cause of  it. Hearing  this in context with his childhood, it is easy to imagine how he could feel this way. Combined with the isolation that fame can bring, it is also easy to understand when Wyman states that it was “sometimes very difficult to keep one’s sanity.” He was first married in the late 1950s to Diane Cory, and they had a child, Stephen from the marriage. When the couple divorced, he felt his son should stay with his mother as he was constantly working and touring. He later found that his son was miserable, sick, and not even being fed. He won custody, and Stephen lived with him from then on. Swedish model Astrid Lundstrom was Wyman’s companion throughout most of the 1970s.

The Rolling Stones were never a band without controversy and Wyman would receive his share when he fell in love with and then married 18-year-old Mandy Smith on June 2, 1989. The tabloids had a field day. In the film Wyman, who was 51 at the time, reflects upon what a mistake it was. He would later go on to meet and marry his current wife, Suzanne Accosta in April 1993. Wyman officially left The Rolling Stones in January 1993 after the very successful STEEL WHEELS comeback tour. He says wanted to leave on a high note and felt that was the time. Wyman talks of his life after The Stones playing with his band The Rhythm Kings, and in the film’s conclusion he tells a wonderful story about a meeting with Ray Charles.

A line from the film that struck me was Wyman saying that all of his heroes were “the little guys.” Director Oliver Murray successfully takes us through Wyman’s journey of a somewhat reluctant rock star’s life. THE QUIET ONE is a surprisingly touching film that speaks from the heart and one which I would highly recommend regardless if you are a Rolling Stones fan or not.

Contributing Writer Ray Dafrico is a guitarist, singer/songwriter and founding member of The Nightporters and Kathleen Turner Overdrive.