ATLRetro

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. 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 at 8pm, featuring a Prix Fixe Menu (Feb. 14)! The Fox Theatre gets some soul and jazzes it up with their 13th Annual Valentine Celebration for Lovers & Friends featuring Baby Face and Keith Sweat (Feb. 14)! Jazz it up with Phil Perry at Suite Food Lounge (Feb. 14)! Empress of the Blues Sandra Hall & The Shadows bring you a special bluesy Valentine’s Day at Blind Willies (Feb 14)! Orchestra Noir gifts you with their Black-Tie Valentine’s evening at The Wimbush House, with two concerts, dinner, a soiree and more [5:30pm and 8:30pm] (Feb. 14)!

2. BLACKHEARTS ROCK ‘N’ HOOTENANNIES GALORE. The Star Bar gets hellacious with some horror, love ‘n’ punk during the first annual BIG RED BALL, featuring The Living Deads, Slim & The Gems, and Crypt 24 (Feb. 14)!  Have a psychobilly Valentine’s Day with the Gutter Demons and Screamin’ Demons at The Earl (Feb. 14)! If yer hankerin’ for a night of love won, love lost and just some plain ‘ol foot stompin’ tunes, make your way to the Clermont Lounge for a night with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club (Feb. 14)! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a folksy night with Suzy Bogguss (Feb. 14)! Jam it up at the Tabernacle with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (Feb. 14)! Bluegrass it up at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre’s Strand Ole Opry: Love & Heartbreak concert at 8pm (Feb. 16)!

3. OH LA LA!Have a sin-sational time atPULP’s free adults-only event, THE X-SHOW featuring erotic art, champagne, chocolate by local artists as well as art by Clive Barker, Larry Clark, Jock Sturges, and ‘70s skin-sational star Annie Sprinkle, from 6-10pm (Feb. 14)! Get sinfully seductive at and shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for Just Can’t Quit You: A Valentine’s 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 Celebration!  $110 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, champagne in keepsake glasses and more (Feb. 4-17)!

5. GROOVIN’ UP SLOWLY.  ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at Venkman’s, 8pm (Feb. 14 & 15)! Surf on down to City Winery for a night of acoustic tunes with Donavon Frankenreiter and Brett Bigelow (Feb. 14)! Yacht rock it up with Gino Vannelli at Center Stage (Feb. 15)! Or be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Yacht Rock Schooner’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. Feb. 13 –  Emory Cinematheque screens Vincente Minnelli’s AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951) at 7:30pm! ‘Here’s looking at you kid!’ Catch a Flashback Cinema screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman 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)]! WUSSY MAG gets all hopeless and romantic with a screening of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘90s classic, ROMEO + JULIETTE (1996) at The Plaza Theater with two screenings at 7pm and 10:30pm, including lobby shenanigans, prizes and more! Get adventurous and catch a screening of Rob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) at SCADShow at 6pm! Relive Emile Ardolino’s DIRTY DANCING (1987) at theatres across Atlanta at [AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); AMC Avenue Forsyth (Cumming); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan); Regal Mall of Georgia Stadium (Buford); and Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18]! Feb. 14 – Celebrate awkward love with a 30th Anniversary screening of Rob Reiner’s WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) at The Plaza Theater at 7pm! Horror Is for Lovers at Sidebar promises a night of screenings of obscure horror flicks on VHS, tasty food and bottomless sangria, from 7-11pm! The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents a 30th Anniversary screening of Paul Mazursky’s ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY (1989) at Perimeter Pointe 10 at 7pm, and a 20th Anniversary screening of Rolf Schubel’s GLOOMY SUNDAY (1999) at the Regal Tara 4 at 7:20pm! Feb. 15 – Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style with a screening of CASABLANCA 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 12am! Spend the night with your partner in crime at SCADShow’s screening of Arthur Penn’s BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) at 7pm! The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents a 30th Anniversary screening of Paul Mazursky’s ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY (1989) at the Regal Tara 4 at 1:50pm! Feb. 16 – I put a spell on you, so come on by The Plaza Theater for their premiere screening of Anne Biller’s THE LOVE WITCH (2016)!

7. CUPID’S CULINARY DELIGHTS.  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 5:30pm, featuring live entertainment and more for $79.95/person (Feb. 14)!

8. WE GOTH YOU COVERED.  Spook on down to Folklore Haunted House in Acworth for their My Bloody Valentine haunt at 7pm (Feb. 15 & 16)! The Highlander brings you NOCTURNIA, Atlanta’s Premier Goth/Industrial Dance Party, a post-Valentine’s Day Defibrillation at 10pm (Feb. 16)!

9. VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD. It’s lights, camera, action on the most romantic Valentine’s Day experience in Atlanta as Valentines in the Garden: Old Hollywood brings vintage cinema to life at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Enjoy an array of savory bites and desserts from Atlanta’s top chefs, plus dancing, giveaways, vow renewals, cash bars and the only public nighttime viewing of Orchid Daze, where thousands of exotic orchids are showcased in fascinating new ways.  Admission is $50 per person, $45 per person for Garden members. Longleaf restaurant is fully booked for this evening. Please note the following details: A $55 three-course, prix fixe menu will be available (Feb. 14).

10. COMEDY, THEATRE, & SCIENCE, OH MY! Be a pair of star-crossed lovers at the Shakespeare Tavern’s 19th Anniversary Valentine’s performance “Romeo & Juliet” at 7:30pm (Feb. 14), and get the opportunity to catch the show through Feb. 24! Or have a raucous romantic laugh as The Village Theatre brings you SH!T-FACED SHAKESPEARE: ROMEO & JULIET at 7:30pm (Feb. 14-23)!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get your ukuleles ready and hula on down to the first ever Inuhele Atlanta Tiki Weekender and second annual Atlanta HomeBar Tour Friday – Sunday (Feb. 15-17) at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center brought to you by Jonathan Chaffin and Horror in Clay (see our Shop Around feature here) and Mug Crate. You won’t want to miss a weekend chock full of tiki bar-hopping, panels, vendors, bands, demos, sharing of ideas, community building and all things Polynesian!

Surf on into Friday night’s events with a wide variety of panels including Jonathan Chaffin’s “Tikiphiles United,” daddy-o’est and ATLRetro-tastic artist extraordinaire Derek Yaniger’s (see our Kool Kat interview with Derek here) “Doodlin’ with Derek,” and James Honeycut’s “Surf Music 101!” Or get a fright at the first ever Inuhele Tiki SpookShow (two live sets) with none other than our very own Kool Kat Shane Morton, a.k.a. Ghost Host with the Most, Prof. Morte and his band of go-go island ghouls, magic tricks, jokes, spectacle and frights! Or take a tiki trip on the “Hop On Hop Off Bar Tour Buses” departing every 20 minutes from the front of the hotel. Tour buses will ferry you to island adventures at Trader Vic’s , Tiki Tango and Tiki Iniki  from 6 pm – midnight. VIPs can choose from a private excursion to SOS on Friday or  Tiki Tango on Saturday. And don’t forget to hit up the Trading Post and Bazaar filled with a wide variety of funky retro island vendors.

Saturday events include Lava-lava Revue & Conga (part talent show/part fashion show), fire dancers, panels on all things island and tiki including history, cocktails, cooking and art! You won’t want to miss The Iron Tikitender On Tour Bartending Competition and live entertainment like The Mystery Men? and Kinky Waikiki. Check out our soon to be Kool Kat of the Week, Allison Chaffin as she hosts Team Trivia, and don’t forget to drop by the Bazaar to meet authors Tim “Swanky” Glazner, who will be signing copies of MAI-KAI: HISTORY AND MYSTERY OF THE ICONIC TIKI RESTAURANT from noon to 1 pm, and Darren Long, who will be signing OMNI HUT: CELEBRATING TENNESSEE’S TIKI TREASURE from 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Gather your grass skirts and your tiki mugs and Mai Tai it up with the best of ‘em this weekend!

The Atlanta Marriott Century Center is located at 2000 Century Blvd NE, Atlanta, GA 30345. Standard tickets – $99 (access to Friday and Saturday events)/Deluxe – $140/VIP – $249. Note: Deluxe and VIP tickets are only available until Sunday Feb. 10 at noon ET!

For more information and the complete Inuhele Atlanta Tiki Weekend schedule, visit the website here or the Facebook event page here.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Ring in a vintage New Year with ATLRetro!  Come celebrate what once was in 2018 and welcome with open arms what will be in 2019! Start the New Year off with a bang with all the hoppin’ shindigs we’ve dug up just for you!

1. BLUES, SOUL & FUNK, OH MY. 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 $50 gets you guaranteed seating, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight! Boogie down into the New Year with Funk You and Universal Sigh at Aisle 5! Doors at 9pm/$15 advance. Fire up the blues at the Northside Tavern with Eddie Tigner, Lola & the Atlanta Horns, Albert White and Beverly “Guitar” Watkins! Spend NYE at the Crimson Moon Café with the EG Kight Trio!

2. HEY! HO! LET’S GO! The Star Bar is throwing one helluva killer Kool Kat New Year’s Eve party with Gringo Star (Kool Kats Nick and Peter Furgiuele), Anna Kramer, Mammabear, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and Chrome Castle! Doors at 8pm: $17.50 advance/$20. Eat, drink and be scary during The Highlander’s SKARYOKE New Year’s Evil Party! Hey all you miscreants! Get rebellious and rock into the New Year with The Coathangers, Vincas and Paralyzer at The Earl! Doors at 9pm/$25. The Georgia Players Guild delivers a rockin’ NYE Royalty Show: A Tribute to Prince & Queen at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre, at 9pm. $40 cover. Get heavy with Sevendust at the Masquerade at 7pm! $45 advance tickets. Rock out and pay tribute with Led Zeppelified at Smith’s Olde Bar (Atlanta Room)! $12 advance/$20 day of show. The Fox Theatre continues their 30+ year tradition and jams into the New Year with Widespread Panic! Doors at 8pm/tickets start at $75.

3. 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, and immersive experience, at 7:30pm! Get bewitched at Battle & Brew during A New Year’s Eve Yule Ball! Special prizes for the most eloquently dressed witches and wizards! Doors at 7pm!

4. RAISE A ROCKABILLY/FOLKSY/ROOTSY RUCKUS.  Get swampadelic at Terminal West with Larkin Poe and Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley! Doors at 8pm/tickets start at $26. Have a helluva NYE with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles at Porterdale Bar & Grill! Rock into 2019 with Drivin N Cryin at the Buckhead Theatre with Dan Baird & Homemade Sin! Doors 8pm. Have a folksy New Year’s Eve dinner and show with ESOEBO at the Red Clay Theatre! Jam out at the Tabernacle with Umphrey’s McGee! Doors at 7pm. 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 21st annual New Year’s Eve Bash! Stomp on down to Hottie Hawgs BBQ and raise a New Beers Eve ruckus with Whiskey Dixie and The Possum Kingdom Ramblers! Cover: $60, Doors: 6:30pm.

5. SMOOTH OPERATOR. Get ‘70s toasty and sail into 2019 with Yacht Rock Revue at Park Tavern during their all-inclusive shakin’ shindig at 9pm! $200/VIP Pass includes champagne, tasty treats and more! Soft rock into the New Year at Smith’s Olde Bar (Music Room) with Rumours – A Fleetwood Mac Tribute. $30 advance/$40 door/$200 VIP tables. Get your fill of ‘60s and ‘70s tunes with The Atlanta Seven at the Clermont Lounge at 10pm! $15 cover.

6. 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! $109 general admission/$149 VIP. Hula on down to The SOS Tiki Bar for a Tiki Holiday Celebration!

7. THE CURE FOR BANANARAMA. Electric Avenue rings in the New Year with a night of MTV-era rockin’ shenanigans at The Vista Room! Doors 8pm and $45/person. Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Wild Wing Café in Alpharetta at 10pm!

8. RAT PACKIN’ & ALL THAT JAZZ.  Swing into the New Year in style with Joe Gransden and Francine Reed as they celebrate with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at City Springs at 8pm! Or croon it up at the Red Phone Booth for their Rat Pack New Year’s Eve Celebration featuring live music with Johnny Porrazzo. Doors 7pm and $150/person.

9. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ. 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 Speakeasy Electro Swing presents their 3rd annual Gilded Age Gala, featuring live tunes, a Burly-Q feast for the eyes, music by MC/DJ Doctor Q and so much more! Doors at 8pm/$40 advance/$60 at the door. Or boogie on down to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Suck It 2018 NYE Dance Party, featuring DJs, party favors and a free champagne toast at midnight! Get criminal and make a fabulous getaway to Bonnie & Clyde’s NYE Masquerade Ball! Doors at 9pm/$150. Roar into 2019 with The Great Gatsby Gala featuring tasty treats, a champagne toast and more at 8pm!

10. SCI-FI IT UP. The Plaza Theater gives you an intergalactic start to the New Year with a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) at 10pm

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Calling all you ghastly guys and ghouls! 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 one helluva rockin’ season across ATLRetro! Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin performs SUSPIRIA at The Earl (Oct. 31)! Get hell-bent and Halloween Bash it up with The Fabulous Thrillbillys, ELZIG, AM Gold and more at The Star Bar (Oct. 27)! Have a hellacious good time at Sweetwater Bar & Grill in Duluth and get haunted with Kool Kats The Casket Creatures, Freakshow Sinema and Never Fall (Oct. 27)! Get rocked at The Vista Room with their Halloween Throwdown featuring Runnin’ Down a Dream (Tom Petty tribute) and Rolling Thunder (Bob Dylan tribute) (Oct. 27)! Get ready to BOOgie during Gareth Asher’s Halloween Party at Tin Roof Cantina (Oct. 27)! Do Halloween in style at City Winery as Elton Dan & The Rocket Band pay tribute to the piano master (Oct. 31)!

2. FANGTASTIC FILMS. Emory Cinematheque delivers a special treat with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958) (Oct. 31)! Get horrorfied at The Plaza Theater with screenings of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (Oct. 27); Tim Burton’s BEETLEJUICE (1988) (Oct. 27), Tom Holland’s CHILD’S PLAY (1988) (Oct. 28) and Andrew Fleming’s THE CRAFT (1996) (Oct. 31)! And don’t forget that the Return of the Fifty Foot Film Festival invades The Plaza, with our Kool Kat of the Week Debbie Hess (Oct. 30)! Spook on down to Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18 for a screening of Tim Burton’s THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) (Oct. 27)! Get bewitched with screenings of Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) at theatres across Atlanta [AMC North Dekalb Mall 16; AMC Phipps Plaza 14; AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); and AMC Northpoint Mall 12 (Alpharetta)] (Oct. 27 & 28), and at The Collective at Concourse at 6:30pm (Oct. 30)! Have a haunted Halloween at Battle & Brew’s screenings of Bill Menendez’ IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN (1966), Andrew Fleming’s THE CRAFT (1996) and Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) starting at 5pm (Oct. 27)! Time Warp on down to theatres across Atlanta for a screening of Jim Sharmon’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) [AMC North Dekalb Mall 16; AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow); and AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville)] (Oct. 27)! Haunt on down to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for a screening of Roland West’s silent classic THE MONSTER (1925) featuring Lon Cheney, with a live accompaniment by Kool Kat Ron Carter at 3pm (Oct. 28)! Spook it up at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series screening of Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING (1980) at 2:30pm/7:30pm (Oct. 28)! Spook on down to the Syncrhonicity Theatre for the final haunting day of the Atlanta Horror Film Festival 2018 (Oct. 27)! Joystick Gamebar, Videodrome and Patina Pictures haunt it up with a screening of Tim Burton’s BEETLEJUICE (1988), followed by a Séance Dance Party (Oct. 29)! The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema spooks it up with The Hallowscreening, A Festival of Six Shorts (Oct. 30)! Noni’s Bar & Deli screen’s Tommy Lee Wallace’s HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982) (Oct. 31)!

3. PARTY WITH THE DEAD. Spook it up at Scarendipity 2018 with Kool Kat Roxie Roz and more (Oct. 27)! Something wicked this way comes to Skyline Park Atlanta at Ponce City Market during their Haunted Heights Halloween Party (Oct. 27)! Tromp on down to Virginia Highlands for their Halloween in the Highlands Block Party from 6pm-2am (Oct. 27)! Make your way to Live! At the Battery Atlanta for a Freak Show Halloween (Oct. 27)! Rock on down to the Center Stage for their 9th Annual Boos & Brews Halloween Party (Oct. 27)! BOOgie down at the Krog Street Market’s Monster Prom Halloween Party (Oct. 31)! Put on those dancin’ shoes and groove like a ghoul ‘90s/’00-style at The Basement as they get down during their ‘90s-‘00s Halloween Dance Party (10/27)! Eighties it up and party down Halloween-style with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Buzzy’s Grille in Kennesaw!  (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. 28! 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. 30! 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, through Oct. 31. Stone Mountain Park gets ghastly with A Tour of Southern Ghosts, through Oct. 29!

5. GOTHIC, GHASTLY & VICTORIAN. Get monstrous and boogie down with Kool Kat VJ Anthony during his Coffin Classics: Halloween Prom at Amsterdam Atlanta featuring Goth, dark 80s and more (Oct. 27)! Gear up for the Atlanta Steampunk Expo: Victorian Nightmares haunting through Oct. 28!

6. HORRIFYING HIKES & HAUNTS. Nightmares are what this season’s all about! Haunt on down to Netherworld Haunted House’s new deadly digs in Stone Mountain for their horrorific 22nd season, getting gory through Nov. 4! 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!  Spook on down to the Sleepy Hollow Christmas Tree Farm in Powder Springs for Stranger Things Tours & a Nighttime Corn Maze, through Nov. 3! The Fernbank Museum of Natural History hosts their Woodland Spirits outdoor experience, so haunt on down WildWoods for a Ghastly Gathering (Oct. 28)! 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. 3! 13 Stories Haunted House gores it up for another haunted season in Newnan! And get freaked at Folklore Haunted House in Acworth, haunting through Nov. 3!

7. THRILLING & CHILLING GHOST STORIES, THEATRICS, FESTIVALS, ART & PARADES. Have some spooky fun at Lake Claire Landtrust with Scary Fireside Stories for Halloween (Oct. 27)! Spook on down toKavarna for Hauntings & Howls: Twisted Tales that Will Give You the Creeps, featuring readings by John Carr, Jyll Thomas, Winston Ward,Stephanie Roman, Steven Williams and John Carroll (Oct. 27)! The Wren’s Nest haunts with The Edgar Allan Poe Experience, an immersive theatrical event, through Oct. 31! Have a witchin’ weekend during ATL Craft’s Samhain Soiree, through Oct. 28! You won’t want to miss what’s brewing at Arches Brewing’s 1st Annual Halloween Art Show (Oct. 31)! Or make your way to the Healium Center’s HELLium: Interactive Halloween Art Show (Oct. 31)! Unleash ancient evil spirits with George Reinblatt’s EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL hosted by the Newnan Theatre Company, killing it through Oct. 29! Get bewitched at Atlanta Symphony Hall with their Halloween at Hogwarts event at 1:30pm/3pm (Oct. 28)! Hang with your favorite band of specters at the Center for Puppetry Arts as The Ghastly Dreadfuls bring you creepy tales, frightful songs and devilish dances (Oct. 27)! 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. 11! 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. 28)!

8. TRICKS, TREATS & A WITCHIN’ GOOD TIME.Bring the kiddies and get spooky with dinos at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History during their Dinosaur Trick or Treat event (Oct. 27)! Get weird ‘n’ geeky during My Parents’ Basement’s October Bizarre Bazaar, from 12p – 6p (Oct. 28)! Get ghoulish and make your way to Halloween at Krog Street Market, with trick-or-treating and costume contests (Oct. 31)! Make your way to the Atlanta Zoo for their annual Boo at the Zoo event, running through Oct. 28!

9. BOOLESQUE. Niki Nuke’m and her boo-ly-Q pals shake a sinister tail feather with The BOO-doir: A Halloween Show at the Red Light Café (Oct. 30)!

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)! Spend the weekend with the undead during Walker Stalker Con at the Georgia World Congress Center through Oct. 28!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

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

1. CROONERS & RED HOT JAZZ. Croon on down to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for The Sam Cooke Experience, featuring Markell Williams dishing out a soulful revue of “Cupid” proportions at 8pm; $35/$45 (Feb. 14)! Moon River on down to Rialto Center for the Arts for the GSU Jazz Band’s tribute to Johnny Mercer, featuring Joe Gransden and Francine Reed! Swing on by Venkman’s for a romantic night featuring Vince Guaraldi’s classic BE MY VALENTINE CHARLIE BROWN, performed by Dave Ellington’s Peanut Gallery at 6:30pm (Feb. 14)! Or jazz it up during the Emory Jazz Fest’s free Big Band Night at the Emerson Concert Hall, featuring Peter Erskine, Darek Oles, Gary Motley and the Emory Big Band at 8pm (Feb. 10). The Vista Room gets jazzy with Joe Gransden’s Valentine’s Dinner Show at 7:30pm, featuring a Prix Fixe Menu (Feb. 14)! Jazz it up with Diana Krall at Atlanta Symphony Hall at 8pm (Feb. 9)! The Fox Theatre gets some soul and jazzes it up with their 12th Annual Valentine Celebration for Lovers & Friends featuring Jeffrey Osborne and Rachelle Ferrell (Feb. 10)!

2. BLACKHEARTS ROCK. Rocksteady on down to The Star Bar for their Valentine’s Rock –N- Ska! event featuring Kitty Rose & The Rattlers and Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley with Southern Ska Syndicate at 10pm (Feb. 16)! Spend Valentine’s Day with Hello Ocho at The Earl dishing out a night of psyche-y Kraut rock featuring Adron, Mick Mayer and more (Feb. 14)! Rock out with Boygirlfriends, Cuntry and more at 529 (Feb. 14)!

3. OH LA LA!  Burly-Q and karaoke get twisted with The Candybox Revue’s Love and Anti-Love Karaoke at Gaja Korean Bar at 9:30pm (Feb. 8)! Take a peek behind the red curtain during RITUAL’s Moulin Rouge Valentine’s Party at Heretic, featuring DJs, tarot readings, dancing and more from 10pm – 3am (Feb. 9)! Get sinfully seductive at and let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your Valentine’s evening with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Hearts & Heartbreakers event, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café (Feb. 13)! Shake a tail feather this Valentine’s Day at Paris On Ponce’s 14th Annual Valentine’s Day Burlesque with two tantalizing shows each night, 7:30pm and 9:30pm; $45 general/VIP tables (Feb. 9 & 10)!

4. BLOODY HEARTS ‘N’ ARTS.  The Highlander spills their ode to love gone wrong with their Broken Hearts & Bloody Valentines Art Show, from 9pm -12am (Feb. 9)! The Highland Inn Ballroom & Lounge hosts an Inn-Love-Artists-Market, featuring 25 vintage and more vendors from 5-10pm (Feb. 11)! Get wickedly weird this season of love and lust and pick up some local art goodies at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Lovecrafts: Valentine’s Edition from 1-6pm (Feb. 11)!

5. MEDIEVAL & CLASSIC. And for all you knights in shining armor, get really retro and romantic with the royal one in your life and joust on down to Medieval Times for their Valentine’s Celebration!  $110 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, champagne in keepsake glasses and more (Feb. 3-14)!

6. GROOVIN’ UP SLOWLY.  Be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Yacht Rock Schooner’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. 9); Doors at 7 pm! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at Venkman’s, 6pm/10pm (Feb. 10)! Dance Your Valentine Off with Susi French Connection at Avondale Towne Cinema at 9pm (Feb. 17)! Spend Valentine’s Day with The Kennedys (Blue Moon Orchestra) at the Red Clay Theatre, doors at 6:30pm (Feb. 14)!

7. LOVIN’ ON THE SILVER SCREEN.  ‘Here’s looking at you kid!’ Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style at The Earl Smith Strand Theater as they screen Michael Curtiz’s classic romantic drama, CASABLANCA (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman at 8pm. Live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for students, seniors, and military. 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 11:59pm, for $10 (Feb. 10)! For those who can’t make it to Marietta, the Aurora Cineplex in Roswell is also screening Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA at 7pm with special treats for the ladies (Feb. 10 & 14)! Or catch a screening of Curtiz’ classic during Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Flashback Cinema series at 2:30pm/7:30pm (Feb. 11)! WUSSY MAG presents a 7pm Galentine’s Day event and screening of Hugh Wilson’s FIRST WIVES CLUB (1996) at The Plaza Theater (Feb. 14)!

8. CUPID’S CULINARY DELIGHTS.  Hula on over to Trader Vic’s and escape into the island atmosphere of love with their 4-course Prix Fixe Menu, $65/person (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 5:30pm, featuring live entertainment and more for $74.95/person (Feb. 14)!

9. WE GOTH YOU COVERED.  For the darkly romantic, The Oakland Cemetery offers their Love Stories Tour, complete with tales of loves past led by a Victorian-era clad docent. Tours last an hour, just long enough to meet a kindred spirit or even a new love (Feb. 10 & 11)! Spook on down to Folklore Haunted House in Acworth for their My Bloody Valentine haunt at 7:30pm (Feb. 16 & 17)!

10. COMEDY, THEATRE, & SCIENCE, OH MY! Battle & Brew gets geeky mushy with their COSPLAY: ROMANCE NIGHT at 8pm (Feb. 10)! The Fernbank Museum delivers a night of science ‘n’ romance with their Fernbank After Dark: Love on the Brain event (Feb. 9)! Or be a pair of star-crossed lovers as the Shakespeare Tavern performs their special Valentine’s production of “Romeo & Juliet” at 7:30pm (Feb. 14)!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Ring in a vintage New Year with ATLRetro!  Come celebrate what once was in 2017 and welcome with open arms what will be in 2018! Start the New Year off with a bang with all the hoppin’ shindigs we’ve dug up just for you!

1. BLUES, SOUL & FUNK, OH MY. Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics dish out a helluva night of rockin’ ‘50s and ‘60s Georgia soul at Venkman’s. Doors 9pm! For some classic blues and jazz, shimmy on down to Blind Willie’s for their Bluesy New Year’s Eve with the powerhouse vocals of The Fabulous Francine Reed & The Shadows! Doors at 7pm and $50 gets you guaranteed seating, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight! Fire up the blues at the Northside Tavern with Mudcat’s Rockin’ Blues New Year’s Eve Party featuring Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck, Eddie Tigner, Lola, Albert White, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, Eddie Hinton, Mandi Strachota, the Atlanta Horns and more! Doors at 9pm!  Funk up the New Year with Funk You and the Hedonistas at Aisle 5! It’s a night of funky jazz fusion with Tauk featuring The Naughty Horns and special guests, The Big Easy’s Naughty Professor at the Variety Playhouse at 9pm! The Tom Hill Band gets some soul at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Atlanta! And blues on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for their New Year’s Eve Blues Bash with the Barry Richman Band! $15 gets you gourmet appetizers, desserts and a champagne toast at midnight! Doors 9pm!

2. HEY! HO! LET’S GO! Hey all you miscreants! Get rebellious and rock into the New Year with The Coathangers, Mattiel, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah with The Gartrells and Skin Jobs at The Earl! $20 advance/$25 door. Doors at 9pm. The Highlander raises a ruckus with one hellacious NYE ‘80s Punk Rock Dance Party, featuring special appearances by ELZIG and his sidekick The Crimson Ghost! No cover. Doors 9pm!

3. FOLK ROCKIN’ ROOTS ‘N’ ROCKABILLY ‘N’ BLUEGRASS.  Rock into 2018 with Drivin N Cryin at The Star Bar! Doors 8pm. Rev on down to New Year’s Eve on Marietta Square for a helluva night with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles and more! Folk rock it up with Band of Horses at The Roxy! Doors at 9pm! 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 traditional New Year’s Eve Bash! 8pm/10pm.  Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café and blaze into the New Year with Bluebilly Grit! Stomp on down to Hottie Hawgs BBQ and raise a New Beers Eve ruckus with Whiskey Dixie and The Possum Kingdom Ramblers! Cover: $60, Doors: 6:30pm.

4. SMOOTH OPERATOR. Get ‘70s toasty and sail into 2018 with Yacht Rock Revue at Park Tavern during their all-inclusive shakin’ shindig at 9pm! $200/VIP Pass includes champagne, oysters, sushi, drinks and more! Soft rock into the New Year at Smith’s Olde Bar with Rumours – A Fleetwood Mac Tribute. $30 advance/$40 door/$150 VIP tables. Doors 8:30pm.

5. LIFE’S A BEACH. Tiki it up into 2018 at Trader Vic’s New Years Eve in Paradise featuring a night with Bogey & The Viceroy dishing out some soulful island tunes with a midnight champagne toast! Doors at 9pm!

6. JAMMIN’ PSYCHEDELIA & CLASSIC ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. Terminal West dishes out a night of psychedelic soul ‘n’ gritty garage rock with Gringo Star (Kool Kats Nick and Peter Furgiuele) and J. Roddy Walston & The Business! The Georgia Players Guild delivers a rockin’ NYE Tribute to Queen and Tom Petty at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre, from 9-11pm. $40 cover. The Fox Theatre continues their 30 year tradition and jams into the New Year with Widespread Panic at 9pm.

7. THE CURE FOR BANANARAMA. Boogie down ‘80s-style with Kool Kat VJ Anthony during his New Wave New Years: 80s Music Video Dance Party at Amsterdam Atlanta! Doors 10pm and $10 cover. Electric Avenue rings in the New Year with a night of MTV-era rockin’ shenanigans at The Vista Room! Doors 8pm and $20/person. Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Wild Wing Café in Dunwoody featuring a breakfast buffet, a champagne toast and more! $40 advance/$60 door. Doors at 8:30pm!

8. RAT PACKIN’ IT IN.  Celebrate the New Year while crooning it up at the Red Phone Booth for their Rat Pack New Year’s Eve Celebration featuring Tony Mele as Frank Sinatra, Mark Phillips as Dean Martin, and David Williams as Sammy Davis Jr. Doors 7pm and $150/person.

9. RETRO GOOD VS. EVIL ‘N’ GEEK-A-RAMA. Dante’s Labyrinth III NYE Masquerade is calling all fairies, gnomes, trolls, maidens, devils, Goblin Kings and mystical creatures for a fantastical, demented trip through Dante’s Labyrinth at the Masquerade! Doors 9pm. $10/$15 in advance; $20 at the door. Get bewitched at Battle and Brew’s New Year’s Yule Ball! Special prizes for the most eloquently dressed witches and wizards! Doors at 7pm and $15 gets you entry and a champagne toast at midnight!

10. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ AND ALL THAT JAZZ (AND EVERYTHING ELSE). 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 the Speakeasy Electro Swing presents their 2nd annual Gilded Age Gala, featuring live tunes by Mayhayley’s Grave, a Burly-Q feast for the eyes, music by MC/DJ Doctor Q and so much more! Doors at 8pm/$40 advance/$60 at the door. Or boogie on down to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Suck It 2017 NYE Dance Party, featuring DJs, party favors and a free champagne toast at midnight!

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)!

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 Retro Atlanta! Get romantic, retro-style and see what we have in store for you during this week of love and saucy seduction!

1. Crooners and Red Hot Jazz. Swing on by The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for Douglas Cameron and his 17-piece Big Band’s Fly Me to the Moon concert at 8pm (Feb. 14)! Rat Pack Now croons on down to the Red Clay Theatre, doors at 6:30pm (Feb. 15)! Or jazz it up during the Emory Jazz Fest’s free Big Band Night at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, featuring the Gary Motley Trio at 8pm (Feb. 11). Croon away with our Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his King-sized Trio at The Vista Room (Feb. 10)! Venkman’s dishes out a Valentine’s Day Dinner featuring classical jazz with Le Grand Fromage and a Prix fixe menu by Executive Chef Nick Melvin, $65/person, begins at 5:30pm (Feb. 14)!

2. Blackhearts Unite. It’s a night of murder ballads made popular by Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Nirvana and a whole lotta’ bloody maniacal mayhem at The Earl with their third annual Bloody Valentine’s event, featuring Kool Kat Aileen Loy with Till Someone Loses an Eye, W8ing4UFOs, a motley mix of musicians and performers and more bloody romantic fun (Feb. 10)!

3. Oh là là!  Get sinfully seductive at 7 Stages during Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South’s 10th Annual Vixen’s Valentease Vaudeville & Variety Show (Feb. 11)! And if you just can’t get enough let Ms. Lashe and her burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your Valentine’s evening with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Hearts & Heartbreakers event, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café (Feb. 14)! Or shimmy on down to the Shakespeare Tavern for Hearts A’Blaze Entertainment’s Vari-E-Tease! A Valentine’s Burlesque Show with Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kool Kat Roula Roulette, Kool Kat Lola LeSoleil, Kool Kat Ursula Undress, DJ Doctor Q and more! (Feb. 11). Get a little naughty with a flock of flirty feathers this Valentine’s Day at Paris On Ponce’s 12th Annual Valentine’s Burlesque Show “Birds of Paradise” with two tantalizing shows each night, 7:30pm and 9:30pm (Feb. 11 & 12)! Or Strut your stuff and get kinky with Mary and Friends: Love is Love event at the Red Light Café (Feb. 10)!

4. It’s Boogie Time (Funk/Disco).  Get funky and groove on down to The Star Bar for Romeo Cologne’s Granny Panty Hootenanny, featuring the gals of the Clermont Lounge with DJ Quasi Mandisco (Feb. 11)!

5. Art, Comedy & Theatre, OH MY!  The Highland Inn Ballroom & Lounge dishes out a Ballroom Blitz Artist Market, featuring 20 vintage and more vendors from 5-10pm (Feb. 12)! Get wickedly weird this season of love and lust and pick up some local art goodies at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Lovecrafts: Valentine’s Edition from 1-6pm (Feb. 12)! Dig up some swell goodies for your sinister sweetie and make your way to My Parents’ Basement for their February Bizarre Bazaar featuring 10 local artists and designers, from noon-5pm (Feb. 12)! The Center for Puppetry Arts presents their Valentine’s Night Out (18+) with puppet shenanigans, complimentary desserts, a free caricature of you and your love from 7-9:30pm, $20/person (Feb. 11)! Wax poetic at Center Stage for their Passion & Poetry Valentine’s event featuring spoken word and Broadway-esque performances at 7pm (Feb. 14)! Or be a pair of star-crossed lovers as the Shakespeare Tavern performs their special Valentine’s production of “Romeo & Juliet” at 7:30pm (Feb. 14)! For all our jaded lovers out there, you won’t want to miss Whole World Improv.’s Bitter, Lonely Valentine’s Puke Fest 2017 at 10:30pm (Feb. 11)! Laugh it up with Perfect Strangers Improv’s Perfect Strangers and Flying Giants event this Valentine’s Day at 8:30pm (Feb. 14)!

6. Medieval & Classic. And 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 Day Couples Package!  $110 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, handcrafted chocolates, champagne in keepsake glasses, and more!

7. Groovin’ Up Slowly.  Be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Yacht Rock Schooner’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. 10); Doors at 7 pm! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at Venkman’s; Doors at 8:30pm (Feb. 10)!

8. Lovin’ on the Silver Screen.  ‘Here’s looking at you kid!’ Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style at The Strand Theater as they screen Michael Curtiz’s classic romantic drama, CASABLANCA (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman at 8pm. Live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for students, seniors, and military. Or if you’re lookin’ for a little late-night rendezvous with a few transsexual aliens, stick around and catch The Strand Theatre’s screening of Jim Sharman’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at 11:55pm, for $10 (Feb. 11)! Celebrate the  60th Anniversary screening of Leo McCarey’s AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) at theatres across Atlanta (2pm/7pm) [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville)]; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); and AMC Southlake Pavilion 24 (Morrow) (Feb. 12 & 15)!

9. Cupid’s Culinary Delights!  Hula on over to Trader Vic’s and escape into the island atmosphere of love with their pre-fix Tropical Valentine’s Day Dinner, $60++ (Feb. 14). Grab your geeky guy or gal and make your way to Battle & Brew’s Valentine’s Day Dinner, featuring a Prix Fixe menu, $80/couple (Feb. 14)!

10. We Goth You Covered.  For the darkly romantic, The Oakland Cemetery offers their Love Stories Tour, complete with tales of loves past led by a Victorian-era clad docent. Tours last an hour, just long enough to meet a kindred spirit or even a new love! Get spooked and “Scream in the Dark” with Netherworld’s candlelit evening of ghosts and goblins and monsters, oh my (Feb. 11)! Get loved to death while traversing the land of passionate souls longing for love. (Feb. 11 & 12)! Gussy it up gore-style at the Red Light Café’s Valloween Dance Party featuring The Atlanta Rock ‘n’ Roll All-stars (Feb. 11)!

Days of the Dead will be celebrating its sixth spooktacular year at Sheraton Hotel Atlanta this Friday-Sunday Feb. 3-5. Our favorite part as always about this horror media convention is that it celebrates not just contemporary cinema but retro classics. In other words, there’s plenty to please both the gore-fan and the Famous Monsters Kid. Here are 10 of our top things to do this year.

1) LINDA BLAIR. Duck and cover before she spits pea soup on you. Seriously, though, the star of THE EXORCIST (1973), SAVAGE STREETS (1984) and ROLLER BOOGIE (1979) deserves our utmost Retroexploitation respect, and we hear she’s sweet as pumpkin pie.

2) STRANGER THINGS. Look for a quartet of young stars from this spooky sci-fi back-to-the-‘80s hit Netflix drama including Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo and Finn Wolfhard.  Get your photos signed and catch them onstage for a panel at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

3) SID HAIG AND BILL MOSELEY. Returning once more are two of the sweetest sinister guys in show businesses. Sid Haig, one of those rare B-movie icons and character actors whose career spans the decades from Jack Hill’s blaxploitation films of the 1970s to the chaotic, creepy Captain Spaulding. Hear his reflections on an amazing career Sunday at noon. Quite frankly you and Bill Moseley scared the sh-t out of us in THE DEVIL’s REJECTS (2005), and since we’re not easily scared, for that we salute you both!

4) DOUG BRADLEY. The one and only real Pinhead returns to show you such sights, interpret your dreams and tempt you with autographs.  Hear his tales of terror on the set during an hour onstage Saturday at 2 p.m.

5) PJ SOLES & LYNN LOWRY. Forget their remake replacements. These ladies won our horror hearts as two of 70s/80s swellest scream queens for their turns in the original HALLOWEEN (1978) and THE CRAZIES (1973), but to us, PJ will always be Riff Randell eating pizza with the Ramones and toppling Principal Togar in one of our favorite cult movies ever, Roger Corman‘s unparalleled ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979).

6) JOHN RUSSO wrote the screenplay for THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and appeared in it as a zombie. Need we say more?! An undead living legend.

7) THREE FACES OF JASON. Kane Hodder, Steve Dash and C.J. Graham all donned the legendary hockey mask. Hear them recall their times of terror Friday at 8 p.m. and catch them all weekend in the autograph area. Seriously though, these are some sweet dudes and you don’t have to be afraid if they blow you a kiss. Well, maybe.

8) PROFESSOR MORTE, JAMES BICKERT, MADELINE BRUMBY & THE CASKET CREATURES. Another swell thing about Days of the Dead is how it’s embraced Atlanta’s local horror talent including four of our favorite ATLRetro Kool Kats of all time. Catch punk/horror local favorites the Casket Creatures in concert Friday night at 11 pm (Kool Kat interview here). Infamous director James Bickert (Kool Kat here) leads a panel on the making of FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS (2016) with cast and crew members including Atlanta’s favorite hold-no-prisoners fightin’ Scream Queen Madeline Brumby (Kool Kat here) Saturday at 4 p.m., and the movie screens at Midnight. The Silver Scream Spookshow’s Ghost Host with the Most Professor Morte, aka ATLHorror Renaissance man Shane Morton (Kool Kat here), will be scaring it up in the exhibit area with creepy creations for sale and at The Days of the Dead ‘80s Slasher Prom Saturday night at 11 p.m.

9) SCARE-TASTIC SHOPPING.  Horror cons are the perfect place to stock up on both macabre movie memorabilia, cult classics on DVD and creepy clothing, costumes and accessories.

10) FRIGHTENING FILMS & MORE! The nonstop action includes a 48-hour film festival featuring new and classic indie horror shorts (both US and international), animation, features and con exclusives. Plus costume contests, SFX how-to panels, Haunt Acting 101, and much more!

Days of the Dead main con hours are Fri. Feb. 3 from 5 to 11 p.m.; Sat. Feb. 4 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sun. Feb. 7 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with parties and films going late into the night on Friday and Saturday. Kids under 10 and military free. For more info, click visit the Days of the Dead Atlanta official website here.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Ring in a vintage New Year with ATLRetro!  Come celebrate what once was in 2016 and welcome with open arms what will be in 2017! Start the New Year off with a bang with all the hoppin’ shindigs we’ve dug up just for you!

1. Blues, Soul & Funk, Oh My!  For some classic blues and jazz, shimmy on down to Blind Willie’s for their Bluesy New Year’s Eve with the powerhouse vocals of The Fabulous Francine Reed! Doors at 7pm and $50 gets you guaranteed seating, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight! Fire up the blues at the Northside Tavern with Mudcat’s Rockin’ Blues New Year’s Eve Party featuring Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck, Eddie Tigner, Lola, Albert White, the Atlanta Horns and more! Doors at 9:30pm!  Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out the low-down dirty blues with Ross Pead & Friends this New Year’s Eve! Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics dish out a helluva night of rockin’ ‘50s and ‘60s Georgia soul at Venkman’s. Doors at 9pm! Get funky and ring in the New Year with a little old school funk ‘n’ soul at the Variety Playhouse with The Motet and the Roosevelt Collier Trio – “Jimi Meets Funk”, funkin’ it up at 10pm! And blues on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for their New Year’s Eve Blues Bash with Little G Weevil! $10 gets you a champagne toast at midnight! Doors at 9:30pm!

2. Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!  Get rebellious and rock into the New Year with some old school punk, revved up rockabilly and plain ol’ retro-inspired rock-n-roll! Get mischievous at The Star Bar’s NYE Bash featuring The All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Clashinista, The Midnight Larks and the Black Cat Rising! Doors at 8pm and free champagne at midnight! Get grungy and rock out ‘90s-style at The Earl with Royal Thunder and Beitthemeans at 9:30pm! Rev on down to McDonough’s Geranium Drop on the Square for a helluva night with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles and more! Get rocked swamp-style with JJ Grey & Mofro and the Radio Birds at the Buckhead Theatre!

3. Folk Rockin’ Roots ‘n’ Foot-Stompin Bluegrass!  Rock into 2017 with the Grammy Award-winning The Indigo Girls at City Winery! Ponder 2016 by getting to the root of it all! Ponder 2014 by getting to the root of it all!  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 and her New Year’s Eve show! First show at 7pm! Second show includes special guest Hannah Thomas and starts at 9:45pm!  Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a ruckus of a New Year’s Eve with Bluebilly Grit! Make your way to The Vista Room’s NYE Bash featuring Ed Roland (Collective Soul) & The Sweet Tea Project! Doors 9pm/$25!

4. Smooth Operator. Get ‘70s toasty and sail into 2017 with Yacht Rock Revue at Park Tavern during their all-inclusive shakin’ shindig at 9pm!

5. Life’s a Beach!  Hula your way into 2017 at Trader Vic’s New Years Eve in Paradise featuring the swanky Bogey & The Viceroy dishing out some soulful island tunes with a midnight champagne toast! Doors at 9pm!

6. Jammin’ Psychedelia!  Groove on down to 529 for a night of psychedelic soul ‘n’ gritty garage rock with Gringo Star (Kool Kats Nick and Peter Furgiuele), Chief Scout and the Shepherds!  Get groovy with The Disco Biscuits at the Tabernacle at 7pm! And then jam it up at Aisle 5 with the Official Disco Biscuits NYE After Party featuring CIA and Space Kadet! Rock out and get down with Perpetual Groove at Terminal West! Runaway Gin rocks into the New Year paying tribute to Phish at Smith’s Olde Bar! Doors at 9pm/champagne toast at midnight! Rock out Allman Brothers-style with Tribute at the The Earl Smith Strand Theatre!

7. The Cure for Bananarama.  Eighties it up with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch with Denim Arcade at Wild Wing Café in Suwannee! Doors at 9:30pm! Let’s Dance! at Mary’s  in East Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 30th during their It’s Not NYE Party, featuring a Midnight Mass featuring a special tribute to George Michael, Prince and Bowie! Doors at 9pm!

8. Roarin’ Twenties!  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 for their Gilded Age Gala, featuring live tunes by Suzy & The Peels, a Burly-Q feast with The Candybox Revue’s Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Sin Tillating, Annette Coquette, and music by MC/DJ Doctor Q! Doors at 7pm/$40!

9. Retro Geek-A-Rama!  Geek it up at the 2nd Annual New Year’s Eve Cosplayers Ball & Costume Contest at My Parents’ Basement featuring prizes, cash, house cash, toys, comics, and more! Get ruptured at Battle and Brew’s Rapture Masquerade New Year’s Eve Party! Doors at 8pm and $10 gets you entry and a champagne toast at midnight!

10. Puttin’ on the Ritz and All That Jazz (And More)!  Get twisted into 2017 with a Double Decker NYE Party at The Basement! Shake a tail feather upstairs with a D.A.N.C.E. ‘90s/’00s Dance Party, and get down with Electric Westerns’ Keep on Movin! New Year’s Rock and Soul Dance Party! downstairs featuring a night chock full of  ‘60s rock-n-roll, soul, doo-wop and more! Be a VIP for NYE at the Red Phone Booth featuring a crooning good time with Mark Phillips and Magician Joe Turner! Or boogie on down to the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Suck It 2016 NYE Dance Party, featuring DJs, party favors and a free champagne toast at midnight!