ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor/Contributing Writer

Hey Retro Atlanta! It’s that time for summer lovin’, so come on out and get your old-time vintage fix! We’ve got all the ‘billy your little ol’ hearts can desire! We’ve got vintage films galore! We’ve got rockin’ surf tunes, ‘70s psychedelia, jazz and the blues! So, get off that couch, rock out into the heat and live la vida Retro!

Monday, July 14

Rev on down to Camelis Gourmet Pizza Joint for “Psychobilly Freakout” and a night with Kool Kat Rev. Andy, broadcasting a spitfire night of rockin’ rockabilly and psychobilly live on Garage71 Internet Radio! Get retro, kiddie-style at Pallookaville’s vintage cinema extravaganza with The Polka Dotted Elephant Summer Cinema Club at 10 am, as they deliver a day of Jim Henson, with their screenings of “The Muppet Show” episode starring Vincent Price (1976), “The Muppet Show” episode starring Alice Cooper (1978) and James Frawley’s THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979)! Bill Sheffield gets the blues, acoustic-style at Blind Willie’s! Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a bluesy helping of The Pork Bellies and some finger lickin’ BBQ!
 
Tuesday, July 15

Join the adventure with Doc and Marty McFly at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ ‘80s classic, BACK TOTHE FUTURE (1985) during their Summer of Adventure series at 7:30 pm! Or make a trip to the wild west as the Midtown Art Cinema screens Sergio Leone’s western classic, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968), starring Henry Fonda! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the Boohoo Ramblers! The Bob Page Trio delivers a night of rockin’ blues at Sweet Georgia’ Juke Joint! Make your way to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! Boogie on down to The Star Bar and get groovy at The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale featuring DJ Quasi Mandisco every Tuesday! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern. And rock on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with JT Speed!

Wednesday, July 16

For a night of old-country blues and jazz, honky-tonk on down to Eddie’s Attic for Cicada Rhythm with special guests, the Darnell Boys! Get psychedelic and groove on down to Big Tex for a night with the Dot Line Projekt! It’s a free “Munchkin Movie” at The Strand Theater as they present Don Bluth’s ‘80s classic AN AMERICAN TAIL (1986)! Get the rockin’ blues with Lola at Sweet Georgia’ Juke Joint! John Sosebee delivers a night of hill country blues and rockin’ Appalachian Americana at Blind Willie’s! The Hollidays deliver a night of soul and rock and roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  Or time travel to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ ‘80s classic, BACK TOTHE FUTURE (1985) during their Summer of Adventure series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, July 17

It’s a night of old-time folk and country at The Earl with Lily & the Tigers, Ben Trickey and Ruby the Rabbitfoot! Bluegrass it up at the Red Light Café with Sour Bridges and Silo! Get revived Ska-style at the Masquerade with The Taj Motel Trio, The Last Slice, Survey Says! and Ye Flask! TheDoobie Brothers and Peter Frampton deliver a night of classic rock at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre! Get old school heavy at The Star Bar with Beitthemeans, Six Shot Revival, the Pelvis Breastlies and Echo Theory! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a night of rockin’ island tunes with The Volcanauts with Tracey Wolfe and a couple Mai Tais! Sweet Betty & the Shadows get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Get your roots rock fix with Donna Hopkins at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.  And it’s your last chance to rock back to the ‘50s at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ ‘80s classic, BACK TOTHE FUTURE (1985) during their Summer of Adventure series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, July 18

Get intergalactic and chill with Luke, Leia and Han Solo at The Plaza Theater as they kick off their 75th Anniversary with their screening of George Lucas’ STAR WARS EPISODE IV (1977)! Or steampunk on down to the Red Light Café for DJ Doctor Q’s Atlanta Speakeasy Electroswing July event, featuring jazz, Big Band, electronica and a little saucy cabaret courtesy of Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Candi LeCoeur and Lucy Purr at 8 pm! Rev on down to the Diesel Fueling Station for Kool Kat Rev. Andy’s Rockabilly/Psychobilly Music Video Throwdown!  It’s a night of gypsy honky-tonk rock n roll at The Star Bar with the Banditos, BlackfootGypsies, Rolling Nowhere and Slick! Get a little vintage swagger at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with Atlanta Boogie!  Or get your fill of “Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin’s blues at Blind Willie’s! Rock out with the ‘blues woman power’ of Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get psychedelic and groove on down to the Northside Tavern for a night with Swami Gone Bananas! Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of Americana soul during the Smokin’ Novas’ CD release party! Jam on down to Big Tex for a night with Gr8fuldude & Frenz! If you want to rock n roll all night, rock on down to the Lakewood Amphitheatre for a night with KISS and Def Leppard! Get folksy at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with The Indigo Girls! Cha-cha under the dinosaurs and enjoy a couple cocktails at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Salsambo Dance Studio! Or get your Salsa fix at the High Museum with La Orquesta Sabor from 5 to 10 pm! It’s a Jukebox Giants song and dance musical revue at The Strand Theater, featuring pop music through the ages, ‘50s to ‘80s! Get your fill of your favorite MTV videos with Kool Kat VJ Anthony at his ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night invading Famous Pub every Friday night at 10 pm! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, July 19

Leave the kiddies at home and surf on down to the DooGallery and get Tiki’d at their Southern Swells Surf Art Show, from 8pm to 2 am, featuring surf and tiki art, rockin’ surf tunes by Gemini 13 and The Fugitives and tasty beach chow! Or get French-y at Paris on Ponce during their 2-day 3rd AnnualBastille Day Festival, featuring a scavenger hunt, a grilled cheese contest, films, live music, burlesque performances by the saucy Sadie Hawkins and a magic show with the Clark Gable look-alike, Chad Sanborn!  It’s a day of old-school silver screen pictures at The Plaza Theater as they celebrate their 75th Anniversary with their screenings of A. Edward Sutherland’s Laurel & Hardy flick, THE FLYING DEUCES (1939) and Lewis Milestone’s OF MICE AND MEN (1939)! Or join Kool Kat Chris Hamer of Urbnpop at The Highlander for his Bad As Me: A Night of Music & Art event, featuring showings from 30 local and national artists and rockin’ tunes by WolfFace, Burns Like Fire and Madre Padre! And cruise on over to The Strand Theater for their “Cruisin’ at The Strand with The Creepers” event, featuring a classic car show extravaganza, a screening of Randal Kleiser’s classic, GREASE (1978) and their Men of Motown rockin’ music revue!

ATL Collective presents their take on Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model” in its entirety at Vinyl! Break on through to the other side at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with The Dirty Doors! Rough Draft delivers a night of rockin’ jazz and funk at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Live at the Fillmore delivers a rockin’ Allman Brothers tribute at The Variety Playhouse! Sandra Hall & the Shadows get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Blues on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night with Bobby Messano! The Cazanovas get the blues at the Northside Tavern! Rock out roots style at The Earl with Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin with the Guilty Ones, along with JonahTolchin & the Lonesome Angels! Boogie on down to The Basement for their Keep on Movin’ Rock’n’Soul Dance Party! It’s a night of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet at Eddie’s Attic! The Rainmen deliver a night of ‘60s and ‘70s rock n roll at Big Tex! Get rocked mountain style at the Crimson Moon Café with Echo Rowdy! Get your classic rock fix at The Family Dog with Along for theRide! Get your second helping of The Indigo Girls at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, July 20

And it’s day 2 of Paris on Ponce’s 3rd AnnualBastille Day Festival, featuring films from the Atlanta Film Festival and rockin’ tunes by CousinDan, Promise Keepers and Atlas Sound! The Plaza Theater continues their 75th Anniversary celebration with their screenings of William A. Seiter and Walter Lang’s THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939) and William Wyler’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)! Swing on by Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for their Big Band Atlanta Jazz Brunch at 12:30 pm! Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet deliver their Hot Club jamming and Parisian swing at The Earl! Or stomp on down to Big Tex for their Bluegrass Brunch with D.B.A.! Hula on down to Pallookaville for their free Sunday Night Summer Concert Series with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! Fat Back Deluxe gets the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Johnson Party rocks out at The Family Dog! Blues on down to the Crimson Moon Café a matinee show with Joel DaSilva & the Midnight Howl and stick around for Rick Harris’ “Jazz it up Jam”!  Spend an evening with the greatest women in music at The Strand Theater during their song and dance revue, Diva! And Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for a night of saucy shenanigans with Sadie Hawkins and her “Burlesque Battle of the Babes”, Last Pasties Standing: Summer Lovin’ event!

Ongoing

The Center for Puppetry Arts presents Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Cat in the Hat’, running through July 20! (LAST CHANCE!)

Pallookaville delivers old-school vintage tunes during their free Sunday Night Summer Concert Series running through August 24 from 7-10pm!

The High Museum gets revved during their ‘Dream Cars; Innovative Design, Visionary Dreams’ exhibit, featuring forward-thinking auto designs from 1932 to the present, running through September 7!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Fueling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the month!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Rock out while living la vida Retro and come check out what we have for you ‘This Week’! From vintage-inspired tunes to old-timey flicks, Retro Atlanta has it all! So, come on out and be the Kat’s Meow with Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, April 7

Chill on down to the Actor’s Express tonight at 7 pm for their Cult Classic Cabaret featuring music from Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and more, with a pre-party at 6 pm, so come on out and Time-Warp it up! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month.   Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for an evening with Bill Sheffield! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!
 
Tuesday, April 8

Get subliminal and join the conspiracy at The Plaza Theater as Splatter Cinema presents John Carpenter’s science-fiction flick of yuppie aliens vs. the rest of us, THEY LIVE (1988) at 9:30 with a special screening of The Biters’ ‘They Live’ tribute music video. And don’t forget to come early for some alien-tastic lobby shenanigans and classic horror trailers!  Or let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South seduce their way into your naughty little hearts at the Red Light Café at their Tease Tuesday: Spring Chickens &April Showers Edition where $10 gets you 10 sultry acts! Boogie on down to The Star Bar and get groovy at The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale featuring DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday! Wipe those tears and dance the night away to the rowdy foot stompin’ Americana of the Boohoo Ramblers at Blind Willie’s!  Stomp on down to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern.  Get the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with the J.T. Speed Band! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with 8^th of January! The Bob Page Trio gets bluesy at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint!  Help Charlotte save Wilbur at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they present ‘Charlotte’s Web’ through May 25^th!  Enter (if you dare) Hollywood’s world of illusion with William Holden and Gloria Swanson at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And the Midtown Art Cinema screens Jean Cocteau’s retelling of the classic fairy tale, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) at 7 pm!

Wednesday, April 9

It’s a gritty rock n roll revival at The Star Bar with Swank Sinatra, Naptaker, R_Garcia and Cinema Novo! The Earl gets rowdy and lawless with the old-time bluegrass-infused punk of I Want Whisky, Lily & The Tigers and Avi Jacob! Funk on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night of funky blues and soul with the Robert Cray Band and AJ Ghent! It’s Widespread Wednesday at Big Tex with Escape Vehicle! For some Dylan-style folk and Americana, make your way to the Red Clay Theater for Chuck Brodsky and Andy Offutt Irwin! Lola delivers some rockin’ blues at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Tad Robinson gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Get some soul at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Hollidays! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  And take a trip with William Holden and Gloria Swanson to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during their L.A. After Dark series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, April 10

Get a taste of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blonde on Blonde’ album at the Red Light Café as ATL Collective pays tribute by performing the album in its entirety! Get down and dirty at the Clermont Lounge with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club! For a night of psychedelic and 70’s-inspired rock, make your way to Purgatory at the Masquerade for a night with Kadavar and Mothership! Punk on down to Wonderroot for Wicked Pretty, The Hotels, Tight Genes and Sunday Whiskey! For a little Rosanne Cash-style bluegrass and rock, stomp on down to the Red Clay Theater for Missy Raines & the New Hip and Poor Old Shine! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! The Unusual Suspects get the blues at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Get really retro with King Arthur, Guenevere and Sir Lancelot in the Broadway musical, ‘Camelot’ at the Georgia Ensemble Theatre through April 27^th! It’s your last chance to catch Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And become a star at The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s Albert Magnoli’s, PURPLE RAIN (1984) at 7:30!

Friday, April 11

Georgia State University’s School of Music presents Robert Ward’s operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic tale set during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, ‘The Crucible’ running through Sunday, April 13^th! Or get old-fashioned country style and make your way to the Out of Box Theatre as they present ‘Always…Patsy Cline,’ delving into the friendship that spawned between Patsy and her most devoted fan, Louise Seger, running through April 27^th!  Get really retro at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center as the Atlanta Ballet presents Stephen Mills’ ‘Hamlet’ with music by Philip Glass, through Sunday, April 13^th!  Tonight begins the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park, spanning 3 days, chock full of live music, tasty food, art vendors, cultural performances and so much more! Tonight, you won’t want to miss The Georgia Flood, Partial Cinema, Norman Frank & The Ghost Dance and so much more!

Get your fill of retro-inspired down and dirty punk at The Earl with Turf War, Concord America, Ranch Ghost and Majestico! It’s a night of Delta blues and hillbilly fervor at The Star Bar with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and the Dex Romweber Duo! Rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Jesse & the Great Perhaps, Beauregard & His Down Rights, Bahnof and Threadbare Skivvies! For a little Bob Dylan and Beatles-inspired tunes, make your way to the Basement for Interstellar and Sacred City! It’s a Halfway to Halloween Party at Legend Café, produced by Markster Con featuring costume contests and a musical lineup of industrial, Goth, 80s and electronica!  The Dirty Guv’nahs rock out with vintage zest along with Cereus Bright at Terminal West! The 5^th Annual Reagan Rock Prom invades Park Tavern in Piedmont Park with the Yacht Rock Review’s ‘yachty’ 80s jams and rockin’ 80’s fashion! ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night gets rockin’ with their Guilty Pleasures Edition at Famous Pub, and don’t miss out every Friday night with a different theme (And check out our Kool Kat interview with VJ Anthony coming this week!) Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Lady D while Blind Willie’s has Sandra Hall & The Shadows! The Shuffle Junkies dish out the blues and classic rock at Hottie Hawgs BBQ!  Swami Gone Bananas delivers a night of psychedelic 70’s rock at the Northside Tavern while Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers decades’ worth of pop folk with Randall Bramblett and Hank Barbee! It’s a night of New Orleans’ funk, blues and jazz under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with The Mar-Tans! Donna Hopkins gets rootsy, rock-style down at the Moonshadow Tavern in Tucker! Emory Cinematheque screens Louis Malle’s ATLANTIC CITY (1980) during their Burt Lancaster: Centennial Film Fest series! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, April 12

Hey Daddy-O! Rev on down to the Dixie Tavern for Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles!  Punk on down to The Star Bar for the Zoners and Onchi’s 7” Release Party with the Get High Boys! It’s Day 2 of the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park and you won’t want to miss the retro sounds of 38^th Parallel, Reaspec, Jubee & The Morning After and Secondhand Swagger! Take a magic carpet ride through the historic Arabian-themed Fox Theater as they kick off their ‘Spring Fling withWild Things’ tours running every Saturday through May 17^th, featuring animals from ZooAtlanta, where will have a chance to mingle with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978!  Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of bluegrass with the Packway Handle Band! Francine Reed delivers a night of sultry blues at Blind Willie’s while Ike Stubblefield gets down and dirty at Northside Tavern! It’s a night of Americana and cosmic rockin’ boogie at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Steve Baskin and Scott Shiflett’s Client 9 from Outer Space with Playing on the Planet, followed by the ‘psychedelic junkyard roots’ of RollingNowhere! Get swampy at Big Tex as Zydeco Ya Ya delivers a night of Cajun blues and swing! For a night of classic old-school rock, make your way to Wonderroot for Scarlett, Livingstone and Forecaster! The Michelle Malone Banned rocks out at the Crimson Moon Café! The Family Dog delivers a night of rockin’ blues with TheBrotherland! Stomp on down to Terminal West for the Steep Canyon Rangers and CicadaRhythm! Lady T gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets old-school and bluesy with Mac Arnold & Plate Full of Blues with Little G Weevil! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 13

Dita Von Teese delivers a night of temptations and sultry tease at her “Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!” Variety Show at the Tabernacle! It’s day 3 and your last chance to catch the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival, featuring a musical lineup of Jack Preston & Dojo Collective, Neil Cribbs, All the Locals and Sailing to Denver! It’s a bluegrass brunch at Big Tex with The Cohen Brother’s Band at 11:30 am! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers their Gypsy Jazz Brunch offering up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday! It’s a hootenanny ‘Dunch’ at The Earl with Georgia Slim & The Stovetop Ramblers! Francine Reed and The Jez Graham Trio get bluesy at The Family Dog! For some Americana and foot-stompin’ bluegrass, make your way to Eddie’s Attic for The Brothers Comatose with special guests, BattlefieldCollective! And make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and get rockin’ with Fatback Deluxe!

Ongoing

It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ through April 20^th!

Georgia Ensemble Theatre gets really retro with ‘Camelot’ Broadway-style through April 27^th!

Out of Box Theatre presents ‘Always…Patsy Cline,’ running through April 27^th!

Take a magic carpet ride through the historic Arabian-themed Fox Theater as they kick off their ‘Spring Fling withWild Things’ tours running through May 17^th!

Center for Puppetry Arts spins ‘Charlotte’s Web’ through May 25^th!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every other Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you lovers and hep vintage romantics! It’s a week of love and lust and romance, oh my! So, if you’re searching for that Funny Valentine or would prefer to forget the day, we have everything your wretched little heart could desire! So, come on out and take a peek at what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!

Monday, February 10

Get funky and groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’.  Get some soul at Blind Willie’s with Brandon Reeves!  Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ! And Valentine’s celebrations kick off early this week at the Woodfire Grill! It’s an evening of cabaret, wine and dinner with Georgia Shakespeare at their 6^th Annual ‘Fools For Love’ event at 7 pm!  Relax with your other half while cozying up to some sultry jazz standards and songs of love performed by the artists of Georgia Shakespeare!

Tuesday, February 11

What’s better that zombies, guns and kink?  Nothing! So, crawl on down to The Plaza Theater as Splatter Cinema gets gory with Michele Saovi’s dark comedy horror flick, CEMETERY MAN (DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE) (1994) at 9:30, preceded by horrifically blood-filled lobby shenanigans! (We know nothing can keep blood-thirsty zombies down! But due to inclement weather, this event will get back to creeping you out on Feb. 18th, same times!) Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for some bluegrass and honky-tonk with 8^th of January! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Wipe those tears and dance the night away to the rowdy foot stompin’ Americana of the Boohoo Ramblers at Blind Willie’s! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern. It’s a full moon at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern tonight, so come on down and fall in love Brooklyn-style as they screen Norman Jewison’s MOONSTRUCK (1987) starring Cher & Nicholas Cage during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Come celebrate love this week while getting swept away at The Plaza Theater during their Valentine’s Day Movie Event that’ll have you packing your bags and running off to Morocco in search of love as they screen Michael Curtiz’s classic Bogart-filled Hollywood tale, CASABLANCA (1942)! Or get lured into the bohemian underworld of Paris that’ll have you drowning in temptation at their screening of Baz Luhrmann’s extravagant and vibrant experience, MOULIN ROUGE (2001)!  Dames Aflame teases with a short pre-show and don’t forget, there’ll be plenty of sweets for your sweetie!  So, come on out and get your ‘cocktail, courtesan and Casablanca’ fix! (Due to inclement weather, this event will take your breath away on Feb. 18th, same times!)

And let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South seduce their way into your naughty little hearts at the Red Light Café at their Tease Tuesday: Valentine’s Day Edition where $10 gets you 10 sultry acts, featuring performances by Bella Entendre, Bubble Bordeaux, Ruby Redmayne, the mysterious magic of the Clark Gable look-a-like, Chad Sanborn and so much more! (Tease! Tease! Tease! Due to inclement weather, this event will promise to seduce on Feb. 18th, same times!)

Wednesday, February 12

For some raunchy rhythms and 70s-inspired fuzzed-out tunes, rock on down to The Star Bar for The Dirty Magazines, Madre Padre and The Johnny Rebs! Get your punk fix at the Drunken Unicorn with NOBUNNY, The Hussy and Dino’s Boys! Or for some ‘no-wave-tinged post punk’, rock on down to 529 for Georges Bataille Battle Cry, Designer, Twin Studies and Suffer Dragon! Get psychedelically folksy and groove on down to The Earl and spend the night with Ben Trickey, Madeline and Montanus (The Long Shadows)! Or get funky down at Big Tex as Jerry on the Moon delivers their southern folk and funky blues during their Widespread Wednesday event! Little G Weevil gets down and dirty at Blind Willie’s while Frankie’s Blues Mission takes you for a rockin’ blues voyage at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  Get retro, global-style at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Ousmane Sembene, the Father of African film’s LA NOIRE DE… (BLACK GIRL) (1966) with his short BAROM SARRET (THE WAGONER) (1963) for an evening of Sub-Saharan tragedy and drama during their Global French Cinema series at Emory’s White Hall! (‘When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie…’) It’s amore at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Norman Jewison’s MOONSTRUCK (1987), starring Cher & Nicholas Cage in their Salute to the Oscars series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

And it’s a night of kinky Kool Kats and saucy seduction at The Brickyard tonight as they get tease with a little kink at their ‘Valentine’s Burlesque at the Brickyard’ event!  Celebrate love and lust with an evening of striptease, tassels and feathers with performances by aerialist Sadie Hawkins, mysterious magician Chad Sanborn, Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Meredith Greer, ‘The Chameleon Queen’, Stormy Knight, Lola Le Soleil, Tora Torrid, Kool Kat Ursual Undress, Kool Kat Fonda Lingue, Sunny Midnight, Lala Leialoah and so much more! Proceeds go to support SOJOURN (Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender & Sexual Diversity), so shimmy on down and get saucy for a cause!

Thursday, February 13

And the blood-letting begins!  Let the Prince of Darkness rock you while draining your veins at the Dracula: The Rock Opera CD Release Party & Concert with The Little Five Points Rockstar Orchestra, at 7 Stages running through Feb. 15! Or for a dark and blood-filled pre-Valentine’s celebration, get industrial and rock on down to Mary’s for their ‘Goth Nite St. Valentine’s Massacre’ event! It’ll be a Goth throw down featuring classic Goth rock, synth pop, post-punk and even tunes from the New Romantic era!  And, bring a personalized Goth Valentine’s card to score some free swag!

For a night of fantasy and 80’s metal, rock on down to the Masquerade for a head-banging mythical evening with Manowar!  The Earl gets rebellious and rocks out with The McNifficent 7, The Johnny Rebs and Wicked Pretty! Smith’s Olde Bar delivers a night of swamp rock in the Music Room with 60s and 70s rocker, Tony Joe White (‘Polk Salad Annie’) along with Jonah Tolchin and the Scott Little Band! Or make your way to the Atlanta Room for the glam-rock stylins’ and electro pop experience of Jade Lemons & The Crimson Lust, Frisky Monkey and Evan Andree! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Jason Kenney (Homegrown Revival and The Kenney-Blackmon String Band) at their weekly Bluegrass Thursday event!  Get psychedelic as Dave Mason’s (Traffic) ‘Traffic Jam Tour’ makes a pit stop and rocks out at the Variety Playhouse! For a night of 70’s-inspired euro punk, rock over to the Drunken Unicorn for GG King, the Zoners, Eel Pie and Wymyns Prysyn! The legendary Buddy Guy delivers a night of Chicago blues with Ana Popovic rockin’ it blues-style at Atlanta Symphony Hall! The Family Dog delivers a night of new-wave and post-punk with Start Making Sense, a Talking Heads tribute!  Steve’s Live Music gets bluesy with The UnUsual Suspects! Get swanky with some book learnin’ at the Clermont Lounge’s ‘No Camera: The Clermont Lounge’ Book Signing event, while rockin’ out with Swank Sinatra, Battlefield Collective and Blood on the Harp! Rock out with a night of tributes at 529 with Nameless Nameless (Nirvana), No Need for a Name (No Use for a Name) and Accident Prone (Jawbreaker)! Get folksy 60s-style at Eddie’s Attic with the Farewell Drifters! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings while Deacon Bluz & The Holy Smoke Band get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! It’s your last chance to spend an evening with Cher & Nick Cage at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Norman Jewison’s MOONSTRUCK (1987) starring Cher & Nicholas Cage during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And get Victorian at the Woodruff Arts Center as director Rebecca Frank presents ‘Whistling Psyche’, a 19^th century tale of redemption and reflection, running through Feb. 23!

Friday, February 14

It’s V-day Kiddies and you know what that means!  We’ve dug up a variety of rockin’ vintage shindigs taking place tonight, that we know will get your blood pumping and all set for that shot to the heart, so, keep your eyes peels for our top picks and comprehensive guide for all things Retro and Valentine-y!

For those who prefer alternate history to reality and Victorian-era lifestyles and fantasy, travel back in time to AnachroCon 2014, a 3-day event celebrating historical reenactments, Steampunk, science-fiction, classic horror, literature, fashion and a cornucopia of indulgences!  So, catch a train and head on over to the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center, where you’ll catch informative panels discussing Steampunk as Victorian science-fiction, time travel, Gothic literature, vintage tales of terror (Lovecraft, Poe, Stoker), ghost stories and the classic monster flicks of Universal and Hammer!

Hey Daddy-O! Let Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles have you up and dancin’ all night at Motorheads in McDonough!  It’s night two of the Prince of Darkness rocking you while draining your veins at the Dracula: The Rock Opera CD Release Party & Concert with The Little Five Points Rockstar Orchestra, at 7 Stages! Get psyched with The Casket Girls dishing out some David Lynch-inspired rock kicking off the Graveface Roadshow 2014 tour, along with The Stargazer Lillies and Dreamend at 529! Trey Anastasio (Phish) delivers a night of alt-prog rock and funky bluegrass at the Tabernacle! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack slings a little roots and blues with the Johnny Scales Trio! The Northside Tavern has Stoney Brooks dishing out the blues! Blind Willie’s gets down and dirty with the “Empress of the Blues” herself, Sandra Hall & The Shadows! And do the Time-Warp while spicing things up with some naughty and uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight

Saturday, February 15

It’s Day 2 of Victorian-era fantasy, so make your way to AnachroCon 2014!  Get a taste of the green fairy at their Tea & Absinthe tasting event, or join the Mad Hatter at his Tea Party! And you won’t want to miss the Toulouse Lautrec-inspired, chanteuse and punk rocker, Frenchy & The Punk, Kevin Spivey’s time-lord rock group, the Steampunk rock of the Extraordinary Contraptions, the dandy Gin Rebellion and a darkly seductive cabaret show with  Veronique Chevalier!

The Drunken Unicorn offers a night reminiscent of the rockin’ old-school punk with Cinema Nova, From Where I’m Standing and Cathedral Ring! Rock on over to the Tabernacle for a night of folksy punk with Flogging Molly! Terminal West gets swampadelic and old-school with Larkin Poe, The Shadowboxers and Rosco Bandana! Catch Five-Eight slingin’ their punk-inspired alt rock since the early 90s at The Star Bar with James Hall (Pleasure Club) & The Futura Bold and the Replacements & Hank Williams-inpired sounds of Sodajerk! Get nocturnal at the Masquerade because it’s Nocturnia in Hell Goth & Industrial Dance night with a ‘Post Valentine’s Cardiac Ablation Party’! Holly Golightly on over to The Strand Theater for Blake Edwards’ adaptation of Truman Capote’s glamorous classic, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961) with a pops pre-show at 7:30 pm! Get a taste of Little G Weevil for a second time this week at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Stomp on over to The Family Dog for a night of Pioneer Chicken Stand’s mountain folk rock guaranteed to make you move! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack rocks out with The Sly Dog Band while Delta Moon delivers some bluesy Americana and roots rock at Blind Willie’s! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.  And it’s your last chance to experience The Little Five Points Rockstar Orchestra rocking out at 7 Stages for their Dracula: The Rock Opera CD Release Party & Concert!

Sunday, February 16

It’s day 3 and your last chance to get your fill of Victorian-era shenanigans at AnachroCon 2014!  Rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a good cause and a gluttonous amount of retro-inspired tunes during their Boba Bene-Fett – Help for a Friend event, featuring The Bitteroots, Nine Times Blue, Battle No More, Sodajerk, House of Cards and The Johnny Rebs! Cedar Hill gets stompin’ at Big Tex’s Bluegrass Brunch from 11:30 to 2:30 pm!  Rick Harris hosts Crimson Moon Café’s Boomers Gone Wild event, slingin’ tunes of the 60s and 70s! The Earl gets bluesy with Os Ossos during their weekly hangover-friendly ‘dunch’ event!  Big Band Atlanta dishes out some madcap swing and classic jazz during their Jazz Brunch at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Or make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a taste of the blues with Tony Bryant! And get the Grateful Dead concert experience at the Variety Playhouse as they get groovy with the Dark Star Orchestra performing complete Grateful Dead shows in their entirety!

Ongoing

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents ‘Romeo & Juliet’ until March 30^th!

Woodruff Arts Center gets Victorian with ‘Whistling Psyche’, a 19^th century tale of redemption and reflection, through Feb. 23!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

‘This Week’ in Retro Atlanta is chock full of swell goodies!  We’ve got rockabilly! We’ve got films of yesteryear!  We’ve got blues, jazz and all the honky tonkin’ bluegrass you’ve been craving! So, If  you’re needing a rockin’ good time, come on out and live la vida Retro!

Monday, January 27

Follow the yellow brick road and join the LeFont Film Society in costume as they celebrate 75 years of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) with a screening and costume party at the LeFont Theater! Or groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Pork on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an extra helping of the rockin’ blues with The Pork Bellies!  

Tuesday, January 28

Get arty, 70’s pop-style and rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of ‘jangle pop’ and psych folk with Robyn Hitchcock (The Soft Boys) and special guest Faye Webster! Smith’s Olde Bar gets bluesy with Tommy Castro & The Painkillers! Get rowdy and old-timey with the Locust Honey String Band with The Burnt Mountain Benders opening the show with their rowdy old-time outlaw stompin’ country at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Boogie on down to The Star Bar and get groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday! If you’re craving some old school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Rock on down to Blind Willie’s for an for a bluesy night with Timo Arthur! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern. Get archeological while spending the night with the ever-daring man of exploration, Indiana Jones as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern goes on a crusade with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ adventurous tale, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, January 29

For a night sci-fi schlock and honky-tonk punk, thrash on over to the Masquerade for a night in Hell with the Nekromantix, The Creepshow and Ganges Phalanges! Or if you’re in need of some 90’s guitar rock tinged with a little indie dream pop, groove on down to The Star Bar for The Mad Flight, Misery Loves Chachi, Where.Are.We and Bahnof! Get your soulful boot stompin’ Americana fix at Vinyl with Swear & Shake and Neulore! For some old-timey inspired lonesome cowboy tunes and psychedelic pop, stomp on over to The Earl for Ben Trickey, Madeline and Montanus (The Long Shadows)! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Blind Willie’s gets bluesy with a tinge of jazz and southern soul with Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. It’s your second and last chance to get your fill of some artsy 70’s pop and psych folk with Robyn Hitchcock and Faye Webster at Eddie’s Attic! Whip on down and get adventurous at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ epic tale, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) during their Salute to the Oscars series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am! And Oh là là! Make your way to Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Marcel Carne’s LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS (CHILDREN OF PARADISE) (1945) and get va-va-vivacious with a courtesan and her four lovers during their Global French Cinema series at Emory’s White Hall!

Thursday, January 30

Get your dancin’ shoes on and spend an evening, jumpin’ and wailin’ Big Easy-style with Aaron Neville and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band as they celebrate the roots of jazz and New Orleans at the Cobb Energy Center! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night of renegade traditionalists and raucous Americana with Mipso and Hazel Ra during their Bluegrass Thursday event! The Star Bar delivers a night of Americana and bluegrass with Migrant Worker, Sailing to Denver and the Todd Prusin Experience! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Get funky at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with a little Memphis soul of the Swamp Funk Quartet and Bitteroots! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings while the sounds and ‘blues woman power’ of Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins takes over at Blind Willie’s! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! Get really retro and experience Shakespeare’s world-renowned tale of juvenile lovin’, fatal attraction and feuding families as the Atlanta Shakespeare Company presents their rendition of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ in its 14^th Anniversary run at the New American Shakespeare Tavern until March 30^th! And it’s your last chance to take a walk on the wild side with Indiana Jones at  the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ adventurous tale, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Friday, January 31

Make some mischief and run off with the circus, The Sexual Side Effects’ Rock-n-Roll Circus! You won’t want to miss this carnival of debauchery and fantasy with Kool Kat Amber Taylor electrifying the way delivering a tempting taste of some high-voltage post-punk, new wave space rock promising to satisfy every desire! The music line-up gets raucous with a whole lotta madness and mayhem featuring the glam rock of Jade Lemons & The Crimson Lust, some chanteuse-inspired folk rock with Geri X, a little old-time circus culture of rockin’ shenanigans of Kool Kat Aileen Loy with Till Someone Loses and Eye and a little 70s surf and new-wave dream pop with the New York City Queens!  And if that’s not enough, there’ll be a gluttonous amount of wayward and wicked performances to tickle your fancy, including Trick Oliver, The Baphomettes, The Black Lotus and so much more! So, come on down to the seediest show on Earth and get sultry while rockin’ out at the spectacle that is a true rock-n-roll circus!

Rock out 70s style at the Variety Playhouse as ZoSo delivers the ultimate Led Zeppelin experience, performing Led Zeppelin’s albums I through IV! Michelle Malone unplugs at her ‘Acoustic Winter’ CD Release Party at the Red Light Café with special guest Steed Kettles (Liberty Jones)! Do the Time-Warp and hang out with some musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight! Or catch Kuei Chih-hung’s Japanese women’s prison flick, BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1974) at Cinefest! Eddie’s Attic delivers several decades’ worth of folk and pop rock with the Randall Bramblett Band! Jam on down to Smith’s Olde Bar and get psychedelic with the Jerry Garcia Band Cover Band (JGBCB) with a little booty shakin’ funk from Sugarfoot! Quasi Mandisco gets funky at The Family Dog! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues shakes it up with the Dan Sheffield Band! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern! Blind Willie’s gets down and dirty with Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows! Or blues it on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for Billy George! Groove on down to The Loft for the funky jazz of The Soul Rebels and Jubee & The Morning After! And boogie on over to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a couple of cocktails while dancing under the dinosaurs!

Saturday, February 1

Oh, boy! The Star Bar gets super ‘billied tonight at Hollyfest 6!  La Bamba on down and get revved while paying tribute to the most retro and rockin’est boys around, the Daddy-Os of rockabilly, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper! Put on your dancin’ shoes and boogie on down to the Kool Kids of Rock while rockin’ out with Atlanta’s Rock n Roll Underground featuring, Kool Kat Joshua Longino with Andrew & the Disapyramids, Red Rocket Deluxe, Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers, The Mystery Men?, Atomic Boogie, the Cadillac Junkies, The Cherry Bomb, The Sideburners, The Stink Bombs, Slim Chance & The Convicts, Divorce, Inc, and so much more! It’s a night you won’t want to miss, so all you Kool Kats and Kittens, shake a tail feather and come on down!

Rev on down to Smith’s Olde Bar as Cigar Store Indians delivers some foot stompin’ rockabilly with the Replacement-inspired tunage of Tim O’Donovan & The Longshot Saints and Buck o’ Five! Get rowdy and stomp on down to the Red Light Café for an evening of bluegrass and gypsy jazz with Smokey’s Farmland Band, Rae Fitzgerald and the Sweet Auburn String Band! Get folksy at The Earl with the Radio Birds, Besides Daniel and Small Houses! Or make your way to Cinefest for a kung-fu and Hong Kong horror double feature with Ho Meng-Hua’s BLACK MAGIC (1975) from 5-7 pm, followed by Chang-Hwa Chung’s FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (1972) from 7-9 pm! Pop on over to The Strand Theater for Yacht Rock Review’s Schooner dispensing an evening of Steely Dan, including their 1977 album, ‘AJA’ performed in its entirety, followed by Electric Avenue, their alter-ego paying tribute to 80’s pop from A-Ha! to Tears For Fears and more! It’s night 2 of some 70s rock at the Variety Playhouse as ZoSo delivers the ultimate Led Zeppelin experience, performing Led Zeppelin’s albums V through ‘In Through the Out Door’! The Red Clay Theater dishes out ATL’s entertainment tradition of Spring Break party favorites with Banks & Shane! Eddie’s Attic gets rootsy with the Blue Dogs and Willie Sugarcapps!  Jazz on down to the Northside Tavern and get bluesy with Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo! Or trek on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for Mudbone Turner’s Blues Band! Francine Reed belts out the blues with the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Get geeky at Studio Space Atlanta as Markster Con Productions presents Hair of the Dragon, Winter 2014 edition, a Costumed Photo Studio Party! Come on out and meet some of the best photogs in the Atlanta costuming community and party it up with your fellow Cosplay pals! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, February 2

Get vivacious and come out and play with the ever sultry Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the  Syrens of the South as they get voluptuous at 7 Stages with their Vixon’s Valentease Show! Get your fill of a little love and a whole lotta lust with the saucy seductresses Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Lola lesoleil, Bourgeois Betty, Roula Roulette, Candi le Coeur, Greta Vontrol Lop, Tora Torrid and the mysterious magic of the Clark Gable look-a-like, Chad Sanborn! Or spend the day with a few Shaw Brothers’ productions at Cinefest as they screen a double-feature with Chang Cheh’s KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1979) and Tokusatsu’s science-fiction flick, THE SUPER INFRAMAN (1975)! Get jazzy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Deb Bowman’s Jazz Brunch at 12:30 pm! Or get a taste of some gypsy jazz with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet at The Earl’s ‘dunch’ show!  And Banjolicious gets honky-tonkin’ at Big Tex for their Bluegrass Brunch from 12 to 4 pm!
Ongoing

Act 3 Playhouse presents Neil Simon’s play, ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ through Feb. 2! (LAST CHANCE!)

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents ‘Romeo & Juliet’ until March 30^th!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday!

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you Retro guys and gals! Come and see what’s swell and happenin’ on the Retro Atlanta menu this week! We’ve got everything you need to stay warm and toasty while getting’ hip to the jive! So, get to rockin’ and see what we have for you!

Monday, January 20

Make your way to the EyeDrum Art & Music Gallary for a little ‘not so silent cinema’ as they screen the ever hilarious Buster Keaton’s classic comedic shorts with live original musical scoring by the New River Ensemble!  The Plaza Theater whets your retro musical appetite with their screenings of George Cukor’s spectacular, MY FAIR LADY (1964) and Vincente Minnelli’s classic, GIGI (1958) at 9:30 tonight!  Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Pork on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an extra helping of the rockin’ blues with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies!  And get a taste of some roots and soul at Blind Willie’s with Brandon Reeves! 

Tuesday, January 21

Get rebellious and dance on over to Hell’s Kitchen as The Plaza Theater gets musical gangland-style with their screening of Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins’ musical update of Romeo & Juliet, WEST SIDE STORY (1961) featuring scores by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein! If you’re craving some old school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Boogie on down to Blind Willie’s for an evening with The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll! Have a folksy evening at Steve’s Live Music with The Night Travelers! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern. And join Charles Kane in his ruthless pursuit of power as a newspaper tycoon at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of CITIZEN KANE (1941), directed, produced and starring Orson Welles during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, January 22

Thrash out surf-style with eLfOSSIL at The Earl along with the rockin’ punk chicks of Brawful and Sioux City Sue! Or get some rockin’ love at Smith’s Olde Bar with Big Daddy Love’s Americana, Appalachian rock and some 20s jug band, ragtime and Dixieland sounds with the Jugtime Rag Band! The Elliott Street Pub gets jazzy with Steven Wood & The Woody’s! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! The Electromatics dishes out their brand of Chicago and West Coast blues at Blind Willie’s! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. Spend an evening with the legendary chanteuse Judy Garland as she sings her way into your heart at The Plaza Theater at their screening of Vincente Minnelli’s musical classic, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) at 7:30 and 9:30 pm!  And spend the afternoon with Charles Kane gettin’ ruthless at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of CITIZEN KANE (1941), Orson Welles’ first feature film, during their Salute to the Oscars series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, January 23

For a rockin’ night of old-school punk, get you fill of the legendary Descendents at The Earl’s event, FILMAGE: THE STORY OF DESCENDENTS/ALL 2013 documentary, screened sharply at 9:30, followed by the Descendents tribute band, Rafay Goes to College! Get retro with some old-school alt-rock at The Star Bar for a taste of the Cheap Trick and Replacements-inspired tunes of Tim O’Donovan & The Long Shot Saints along with Sailing to Denver and the Todd Prusin Experience! Shimmy on over to the Kit Kat Klub and get jazzy with Liza Minnelli as The Plaza Theater screens Bob Fosse’s classic musical, CABARET (1972) at 7:30 and 9:30 pm! The Red Light Café gets vintage and old timey with a little country and folksy bluegrass of Little Country Giants and City Mouse! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Terminal West gets funky with The Ringers! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings while Sue Foley and Peter Karp offers up their foot stompin’ blues at Blind Willie’s! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs gets bluesy with the Randy Chapman Trio!  Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails and a raucous night of surf rock with Grinder Nova! It’s your last chance to spend the evening with Orson Welles as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screens CITIZEN KANE (1941), during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And, come experience the misadventures of a boy coming of age during the Great Depression as the Act 3 Playhouse presents Neil Simon’s play, ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ through Feb. 2!

Friday, January 24

Get deep into the nostalgia of the 50s, the real 1950s, for two nights only, at the 14^th Street Playhouse as Gathering Wild presents their newest multi-media dance performance, ‘Circa 50’, performing to the tune of the greats of the 50s, including Sinatra , Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and much more at 8 pm! (And keep your eyes peeled for a Kool Kat of the Week posting for Gathering Wild’s artistic director, Jerylann Warner coming soon!) Stomp on over to The Earl as they get rockin’ Prohibition-era style with the 20s ragtime and Dixieland jazz of Blair Crimmins & The Hookers along with the Darnell Boys! Or get old school and punk out at 529 as Clashinista delivers a rockin’ night of Clash favorites with special guest, Zen Arcade paying a rockin’ tribute  to Huskar Du!  Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt gets acoustic and wild solo at the Buck Creek Tavern!  Groove on down to the Variety Playhouse and get psychedelic as Yacht Rock Review performs Pink Floyd’s entire Dark Side of the Moon album! Honky-tonk on over to Smith’s Olde Bar as Rolling Nowhere delivers some junkyard roots along with The Banditos, A Brilliant Lie and Sam Koon! ATL Collective rocks out to Paul McCartney’s entire RAM album at the Elliot Street Pub! Rock on over to the Highlander as they get southern-fried and rockin’ with Red Rocket Deluxe and Vagrant Justice! Get some soul and slither on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for Snakelegs! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern! Blind Willie’s gets down and dirty with Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows! Or jump and jive on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of electrifying vintage energy with Atlanta Boogie’s Kansas City/West Coat blues! Get bluesy at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX with the Electromatics and their brand of Chicago and West Coast blues! And spend the night with the Dread Pirate Roberts at The Strand Theater as they get adventurous and vengeful with Mel Brooks’ classic kooky tale of true love and revenge, at their screening of THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) at 7:30 pm!

Saturday, January 25

Get your Elvis on and shimmy on down to the Variety Playhouse as they deliver some retro Vegas glitz, with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Kingsized Rock-n-roll Orchestra’s Elvis Royale show featuring the sassy show-girl glamour of Dames Aflame! It’s Boobiepalooza at The Star Bar! Rock out with some rockin’ chick badassery while supporting a great cause with The Coathangers, Tikka and Shantih Shantih at their Breast Cancer Awareness show! The Red Light Café dishes out the madness and absurdity that is, Kool Kat Colonel Bruce Hampton and Madrid Express slinging over 50 years worth of funky, jazz-infused rhythm! Rock on over to The Buckhead Theater for some rockin’ blues with Big Head Todd & The Monsters at 7 pm!   Come join the funky disco and blues rockin’ ruckus at Smith’s Olde Bar with Moontower, The Deadfields, the Daniels Brothers Band and Brian Whiltsey! Stomp on over to the Tabernacle for some rockin’ bluegrass with the Yonder Mountain String Band and The Travelin’ McCourys! Vinyl gets groovy with Voodoo Visionary and The Orange Constant! For some old-timey bluegrass and garage country, honky-tonk on down The Earl  and get rockin’ with I Want Whisky, the Villain Family and City Hotel! The Susi French Connection doles out some 70s era pop and disco at Eddie’s Attic! Rock out with some retro-inspired tunes at The Drunken Unicorn with Glen Iris, Monsoon and Sex BBQ!  For some classic rock and Motown, shake it on down to The Strand Theater for the Paradocs! Catch the Mike Lowry Band bluesin’ it up at The Family Dog! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues at the Northside Tavern! Blind Willie’s gets down and dirty with Sandra Hall & The Shadows! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues dishes out some classic rock, blues and jazz with the Barry Richman Band! Get your prescription filled at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with Dr. Dixon “The Blues Physician”!  It’s your last chance to experience the real 1950s, at the 14^th Street Playhouse as Gathering Wild presents their newest multi-media dance performance, ‘Circa 50’, performing to the tune of the greats of the 50s at 8 pm!And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, January 26

Get your fill of some swanky Reinhardt gypsy-jazz with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet at The Family Dog! Or surf on over to The Earl for their Tag Team Goes to Hawaii ‘dunch’ with tasty tropical frozen drinks at 1 pm! Stomp on over to Big Tex for the bluegrassin’ City Hotel! Get rootsy at the Variety Playhouse with Amy Ray (Indigo Girls)!  The Midtown Men take over the Cobb Energy Center with their 60’s throwback to rock n roll with their renditions of The Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Temptations, Jackson 5 and much more! Get super cool and retro at the Morris and Rae Frank Theater as The Beatniks deliver their unique tribute to The Beatles!  And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets rockin’ with Fat Back Deluxe!

Ongoing

Act 3 Playhouse presents Neil Simon’s play, ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ through Feb. 2!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you retro-lovin’ kiddies! It’s that time of year again! The big jolly fella may be spying to see if you’re naughty or nice, so show ‘em how good you are by gettin’ out and seeing what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!  It’s a week of holiday cheer, retro-style, so whether you’re hankerin’ for a good classic flick or are needing to get your retro rockin’ fix, come see what’s on the menu!  Get off that couch and come on out (naughty or nice – we don’t discriminate) and see what Santa’s got for you!

Monday, December 23

Get jazzy holiday-style and swing on down to the Red Clay Theater and dance the night away to some holiday favorites at Joe Gransden’s Big Band Holiday Show with special guest Annie Sellick! Or slip on down to The Strand Theater and get nostalgic with Jimmy Stewart as they screen Frank Capra’s holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) with a holiday pre-show and sing-a-long on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ! Or get retro, Broadway-style at the Out of Box Theatre as they present ‘Side by Side Sondheim,’ the highly-acclaimed musical revue of the master Stephen Sondheim himself, at 7:30! Or groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Or get revived with some holiday ditties at Blind Willie’s with a little Midnight Revival and their Holiday Bonanza! And it’s your last chance to catch some retro holiday classics; Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire at The Plaza Theater in Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday musical, HOLIDAY INN (1942) as well as Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, at the New American Shakespeare Tavern!  

Tuesday, December 24

Christmas Eve has finally arrived! And there’s plenty of time to get down and dirty before the big fat man comes a’ knockin’! Get the retro holiday spirit at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they present their adaptation of the 1964 stop-motion animated classic, ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ live on stage through Dec. 29! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots! Or jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! And get comfy and warm with Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 25

It’s a retro Christmas, folks!  For those of you wondering, Retro Atlanta is alive and hopping today, so come on out and see what the jolly old fella has up his big red sleeve! The Plaza Theater opens at 3 today, so may all your Christmases be white and come get your fill of Michael Curtiz’s holiday musical, WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) in Technicolor starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney! And if you’re still needing some holiday hope and cheer, catch their screening of George Seaton’s holiday classic, MIRACLE ON 34^TH STREET (1947), starring Natalie Wood! It’s a ‘Festivus for the Rest of Us!’, so rock on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a little southern rock and blues at Mark Michelson & Lefty Williams’ Festivus Fundraiser Holiday Jam! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & Bill Sheffield fire it up at their Annual Christmas Acoustic Show! Or maybe splash on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues, soul and funk with Georgia Flood! And don’t forget to catch Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 26

Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for an evening of cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier at his Holiday Cocktail Party! For an evening of gritty post-punk rock and gypsy garage grass, rock on over to The Star Bar for Baby Baby, the Junior Astronomers and Strung Like a Horse! Fiddle on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an evening of bluegrass with the Randy Chapman Trio at their Thursday Bluegrass Jam! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for the soulful Americana tunes of The Cumberland Collective! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Blind Willie’s gets sweet and low-down with Sweet Betty & The Shadows! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance this week to catch Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 27

After 40 years of seclusion, the Tease from Tennessee has finally arrived! It’s the BettieFest! So, shimmy on down to The Plaza Theater and dominate with the notorious Queen of all Pinups!  It’ll be whippin’ good time, featuring the screening of BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL (2013), a feature documentary about Bettie Page’s life, narrated by the ever-seductive Ms. Page, followed by a Q & A with Director Mark Mori and Illustrator Greg Theakston.  And that’s not all!  There will be live music with Aneles debuting her song, “Bettie Loved” which will be featured on her upcoming LP, a burlesque tribute to Bettie by Kool Kat Ursula Undress of the Atlanta School of Burlesque and to top it all off drawings for Bettie-themed prizes!  So, for the love of bondage and the beauty that is Bettie Page, shake it on down to The Plaza Theater!

The Earl gets Bowie-fied with the Wham Bam Bowie Band, rocking out to the tunes of Hunky Dory and The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust, playing both albums in their entirety!  Don’t be a beast of burden and rock on over to the Variety Playhouse as Satisfaction pays tribute to the Rolling Stones!  Get funky in ‘Disco Hell’ at The Family Dog with DJ Quasi Mandisco! Or have a 70’s power pop-inspired evening with The Illiterates and The Head at The Star Bar! Rev on down to Motorheads Bar & Grill and get rocked with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Get a taste of some Sweet & Salty blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets rockin’ with Nathan Nelson & The Entertainment Crackers! And the Northside Tavern fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck!

Saturday, December 28

Get a retro 50s and 60s soulful vibe at The Earl with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics and get funky with the Bird City Revolutionaries! For an evening of some Delta blues and soul, get down and dirty with the North Mississippi Allstars and Lightnin’ Malcom at the Buckhead Theater! For an evening of Americana, honkytonk on over to the Red Light Café for Migrant Worker and Across the Wide! Or come on down to Eddie’s Attic as Delta Moon rocks out with some Americana and blues! Rock on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs as they bring you Glenn Phillips, founding member of the legendary Hampton Grease Band! Blind Willie’s gets sultry with Sandra Hall & The Shadows while Northside Tavern fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! For a lesson on the History of the Blues, make your way to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Chattahoochee Chain Gang and The Western Sizzlers get old school and honky tonkin’ at Smith’s Olde Bar! And you won’t want to miss Michelle Malone rockin’ out to some blues and Americana at the Crimson Moon Café! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 29

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch at Big Tex with Duane Cliatt!  Or groove on down to Smith’s Olde Bar as they get funky with Jerry on the Moon! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and rock out with Snake Legs! The Family Dog gets bluesy with Jez Graham Trio featuring Joe Gransden!  And it’s your last chance to experience the Fox Theater’s Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, The Fox’s projectionist since 1978 as well as the Alliance Theater’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, ‘A Christmas Carol’!

Ongoing

The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 23! (LAST CHANCE!)

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29! (LAST CHANCE!)

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29! (LAST CHANCE!)

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL Scrooging through December 23. (LAST CHANCE!)

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Baby, it’s cold outside! But no worries!  Retro Atlanta promises to get you warm and toasty with a week of rockin’ good times, filled to the brim with nostalgic holiday goodness! So get hip to the jive and come on out to see what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!     

Monday, December 16

Forget the horrors of Monday and get rocked at the Masquerade as they get mischievous and primal with an evening of punk rock and horror with the Misfits, The Attack, Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures and Burn Like Fire! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And make your way to Blind Willie’s and get your blues fix with The Ringers!  

Tuesday, December 17

For an evening of family-friendly holiday nostalgic goodness, join Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer at The Strand Theater as he and TT Mahoney offer a jazzy musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score in their annual ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ show (See ATLRetro’s review here)!  The Show will open with Jeffrey Butzer’s regular gig, Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters followed by Chad Shivers & The Silent Knights’ Beach Boys Christmas Tribute! This holiday show has become an Atlanta tradition and one you won’t want to miss!

Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and there’s no need to cry at Blind Willie’s as the Boo Hoo Ramblers get rockin’ bluesy! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! Stomp on down to  Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a bluegrass jam with the fiddlin’ stylings of Joe Craven! And get cozy with the Griswolds at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 18

Get low-down, dirty and horror-struck holiday-style at the Clermont Lounge tonight at their rockin’ Slaytanic XXXmas Show promising to slay the stage with Kool Kat Shane Morton and Super X-13, Legion X and a little latin rock and horror punk fusion with Los Meesfits and a photo-op with Santa Circus Envy!  Rock on over to The Earl for their 8^th Annual Keith Richards Bash hosted by and featuring Chicken and Pigs, plus over 20 guest singers as they salute the ‘world’s least likely septuagenarian’!  Proceeds benefit ovarian cancer research through the Ovarian Cycle Atlanta, so rock out to a good cause! It’s a night of ‘gentlemen’ at Vinyl tonight as Neil Cribbs & The Rough Gentlemen get you revved up with their rockin’ blues and soul followed by Caleb Warren & The Perfect Gentlemen’s old timey string jazz and ragtime blues!  Or let Frank Barham jazz you up at the Elliott Street Pub! Swing on over to Blind Willie’s and catch a glimpse of Old Blue Eyes as The Electromatics revive a little Sinatra and a little of that Chicago/West Coast blues and swing!  Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Or maybe splash on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues, soul and funk with Georgia Flood! Get old-school heavy at The Shelter for their Dark Retro Night for an evening of hard electro, industrial and dark retro at 9 pm! And experience the mayhem that is the holidays at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 19

Krampus is coming so make sure the wee ones are safely tucked in their little warm beds while you rock on over to 7 Stages for their 4^th installment of Krampus Xmas! Experience the wickedly enticing desires of Dr. Faust and celebrate in true rock n roll style with The Little Five Points Rock Star Orchestra, the ever seductive Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her Syrens of the South and the 7 Stages Hand Bell Choir! It’s an evening of holiday mischief and mayhem you won’t want to miss!

Fiddle on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an evening of bluegrass and folk with Rachel Baiman and Caroline Spence followed by Donna Hopkins offering up some foot-stompin’ rock n soul! Or make your way to The Family Dog as The David Ellington Trio with Kayla Taylor gets jazzy in their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score  in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”!  Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Or make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Blind Willie’s promises a jamming good time with the sounds and ‘blues woman power’ of Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And let the Griswolds show you how the holidays are done at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 20

Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer and TT Mahoney with Robby Handly are at it again as they offer their musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s 40 minute PEANUTS score for 2 nights in their 6^th annual ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ adult show at The Earl!  The Show will open with Jeffrey Butzer’s regular gig, Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters followed by The Small Reactions’ Rock n roll Christmas Extravaganza of rockin’ Christmas covers by The Sonics, the Ramones, The Wailers and many more! So, get jazzy and nostalgic at The Earl tonight!

Atlanta pays tribute to some rockin’’ bands this evening!  Smith’s Olde Bar has the Yacht Rock Review’s Please Please Rock Me paying homage to The Beatles, those famous lads across the pond while Abbey Road Live!, the world’s premier cover band rocks out to The Beatles’ vast catalogue with complete album performances at the Variety Playhouse! For a tribute to some good old southern rock, boogie on down to Vinyl as Revival’s An Allman Brothers Experience celebrates the 40^th anniversary of the classic “Brothers and Sisters” album offering an evening playing the album in its entirety!

Rev on down to The Star Bar as they get deliver their two-day Toys For Tots Benefit Show featuring a variety of honkytonkin’’ rockabilly and surf retro tunes with the Black Top Rockets, Cletis & His City Cousins, Kool Kat Julea Thomerson & Her Dear Johns and The Mystery Men!  It’s Pin-Up Girls & Rockabilly Night at Stix Bar in Villa Rica, so rev on over and rock out with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! The Red Clay Theater gets holiday nostalgic with Robert Henson & Friends as they get jazzy with their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” score! For an evening of folk and swing, make you’re your way to Crimson Moon Café for their Winter Solstice Show with the Solstice Sisters! Sandra Hall & The Shadows gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack has some rockin’ blues with Rough Draft while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues offers a night of British blues and rock with Marty Manous! Big Tex gets retro and jazzy with Myles Brown! Cha-cha on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and dance the night away at their Salsa Dance Night featuring the Salsambo Dance Studio! And The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 24!

Saturday, December 21

Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Kingsized Rock-n-roll Orchestra is putting on his Kingsized Holiday Jubilee at the Variety Playhouse featuring Dames Aflame and a Really Big Santa!  So, get dolled up and don’t forget your dancin’ shoes and boogie on down for a little signature glitz and glamour and dance the night away to some tinsel-tune traditions with the sounds of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, the Grinch and more!

Get jazzy and rock on over to The Earl for a second night of Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer and TT Mahoney’s musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s 40 minute PEANUTS score, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ show! It’s night two of The Star Bar’s Toys For Tots Benefit Show featuring the Ghost Riders Car Club with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton, Dusty Bones & The Baby Haters, Bully, The Serenaders and Kenny Howes & The Wow!  Or make your way to the Red Clay Theater for an evening of holiday southern rock and bluegrass at Barry Waldrep’s Jingle Jam! And it’s your last chance to celebrate all that is wickedly enticing and mischievous at the Krampus Xmas show at 7 Stages!

Rock on over to the Red Light Café and catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm along with Madrid Express featuring Bill Sheffield!  The Basement gets rockin’ as Electric Western presents their Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! So, put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and some jumpin’ blues! Get sticky sweet at Eddie’s Attic for a blues, rock n roll roots jam with Soul Suga’ featuring Yonrico Scott and Diane Durrett! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with “Muddy’s Rising Son”, Big Bill Morganfield! Or rock on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues and get funky with the Georgia Flood! Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs hosts a Men of Jazz night with the Baraszu Brothers, Frankie Lee Robinson and Tommie Macon & The Gentle Men of Jazz! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern for a blues showdown as Eddie Tigner and Lola offer an evening of dueling pianos! Get funky at Big Tex with the Georgia Soul Council!  Or head out to the Crimson Moon Café for some southern-fried blues with EG Kight! Groove on down to The Family Dog as they get funky with The Heritage! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 22

It’s a Diva Christmas at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Deb Bowman, Audrey Shakir, Theresa Hightower and Karla Harris! Or make your way to The Earl as they get funky with Vito Romeo! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and rock out with Snake Legs! It’s your last chance to catch The David Ellington Trio with Kayla Taylor as they get jazzy in their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score  in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at The Family Dog! And swing on down to Eddie’s Attic as Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra takes the stage big band-style!

Ongoing

The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 24!

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22! (LAST CHANCE!)

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29!

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL Scrooging through December 23.

ARTStation presents A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL through December 22!  (LAST CHANCE!)

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

Retro Atlanta gets old school and rockin’ this holiday season, promising to keep you warm and hoppin’!  So, come out and see what we have in store for you! Whether you’re lookin’ to boogie-woogie or take in some old school blues, Retro Atlanta’s where it’s at!     

Monday, December 2

Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, December 3

Smith’s Olde Bar rocks out tonight with former guitarist and singer of the English punk group, The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell while getting bluesy with Jetsam in The Noose! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Drive By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood & The Downtown Ramblers!  Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots or hit up Blind Willie’s for some 60s soul and rock n roll with the The Hollidays! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! For a night of bluegrass pickin’, stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a taste of the Georgia Crackers! For a night of fantasy, head on down to the Midtown Art Cinema as they screen Wim Wenders’ epic WINGS OF DESIRE (1987).  And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern gets 90s holiday retro as they screen Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 4

Take a trip to Purgatory where every day is Halloween, as the Masquerade horrifies with a night of sci-fi horror punk with The Koffin Kats, The Stitches and Fifty Two Ways! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some straight out blues and rock and roll with the foot stompin’ sounds of Andrew Black! Or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! Put on your dancin’ shoes and skip on over to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings!  Spend an evening with the kings of 90’s comedy, The Farrelly Brothers, as Emory’s Cinematheque screens their gross-out comedy, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm!  And don’t’ forget to get left behind 90’s holiday-style at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 5

The Masquerade gets 70’s bluesy with the retro rock sounds of Monster Magnet, Royal Thunder, Anti-Mortem and Demonaut!  Shimmy on down to the Elliott Street Pub and spend the evening with Kool Kat Talloolah Love et al. as the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Society hosts their monthly meeting for all interested in the ultra spicy art of Burlesque at 8 pm! It’s Bluegrass Thursday at the Red Light Café, so come on down for a foot stompin’ evening with Blackbird Revival and The Matchsellers! Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. For a little blues, rock and soul, make your way to the Clermont Lounge for a rockin’ evening with Tom Hill & The Midnight Suns! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Heather Luttrell offers up some bluegrass and Americana at Blind Willie’s! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Heckle on down to The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s John McTiernan’s Christmas classic, DIE HARD (1988) at 7:30!  And it’s your last chance to catch the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s ultra 90s family holiday flick as they screen Chris Columbus’ HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 6

Get old-timey retro and boogie on down to the Variety Playhouse for an evening filled with 20s and 30s-inspired jazz with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the boogie-woogie 40’s sounds of Bombadil! For some Tom Waits-inspired dark soul and gothic pop, rock on down to The Earl for an evening with The Locksmyth, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Leopold & His Fiction and Lightnin’ Ray & The Mystics!

For an evening of magical retro-holiday goodness, make your way to the Fox Theater as they kick off their annual Holiday Tours which run until December 29, where you’ll enjoy an exclusive meet-n-greet with the cast members of The Atlanta Ballet’s THE NUTCRACKER, a magic show with Drew Thomas, some tasty treats and family pics and will have a chance to mingle with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978!  For more classic holiday fun, head on over to The Strand Theater as they kick off their ‘A Christmas Tradition’ song and dance review which runs until December 22, featuring holiday classics and a pre-show sing-a-long with Ron Carter on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ!

The Plaza Theater gets rockin’ retro-style as they screen Sini Anderson’s documentary about badass punk rocker and femme fatale riot girl, Kathleen Hanna who fronted Bikini Kill and Le Tigre in their screening of THE PUNK SINGER (2013)! And you won’t want to miss The Plaza Theater’s screening of Frank Capra’s ultra holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)! Get psychedelic at The Family Dog with Trucks, Herring, Feltman and Graham or make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar for a little Louisiana roots with Tab Benoit! The Northside Tavern gets bluesy with The Breeze Kings! Rumble on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an evening of blues, rock and soul with Rumblefish! Or get funky at Blind Willie’s with the rockin’ soul of Nick Moss!  And Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets funky with the blues sounds of Motor City Josh!

Saturday, December 7

Rev on over to Buford as Grease Inc. Magazine and Garage Seventy One as they  host their Holiday Open House & Art Show from 11 am to 7 pm, in conjunction with the North Georgia Art Ramble!  Hang out with builder, Jeff Watts of Kilowatts Kustoms and Creations and Curt Green of Bare Bones Leather as they show their eclectic collection of one-of-a-kind creations!  Come for the art and stay for the rockin’est music on air during the Rockabilly Christmas after party!  It’s an event you won’t want to miss this holiday season!

For a super rockin’ beach party, surf on over to The Star Bar and spend an evening with Kool Kat Joshua Longino of Andrew & the Disapyramids while taking in the garage blues surf punk of Deaf Poets, Eel Pie and Koko Beware!  For a little ragtime and toe-tapping bluegrass punk, make your way to the Variety Playhouse for their 5^th Annual Merry Y’all Tide Celebration featuring Whiskey Gentry and Blair Crimmins & The Hookers! Roll on over to the House of Rock as The Jagged Stones, deliver a rockin’ tribute to the Rolling Stones at their Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree Christmas Party at 7 pm! Smith’s Olde Bar gets rockin’ with the 80’s retro sounds of the White Animals and their British invasion-inspired 60’s garage punk with The Head opening with a little kitschy retro 60’s and 70’s rock in The Music Room while Hot Sauce & Honey delivers their old-school saucy burlesque rock in The Atlanta Room!  Get rocked mountain folk and Deliverance country style with Pioneer Chick’n Stand at The Family Dog!   Or stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a little rockabilly, bluegrass and Americana with Bluebilly Grit! Or get bluesy and rock on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs has Heather Luttrell while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern to catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm! Or get terminated in a bloody rampage as the Cinefest screens H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) at 7 pm! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 8

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Georgia Mountain Stringband at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  Or swing on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a Jazz Lunch with the (Little) Big Band and their classic jazz, mambo, madcap swing, 30s and 40’s tunes! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ old timey country blues with Georgia Slim and The Stovetop Ramblers! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Snake Legs and you won’t want to miss the ABS Holiday Party from 2 to 7 pm at Blind Willie’s! And it’s your last chance to experience H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) and her killing spree at the Cinefest at 7 pm!

Ongoing

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22!

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29! 

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

So many swell happenings in Retro Atlanta this week! Take a break from the mind-numbing daily grind and see what we have in store for you!  Be the bee’s knees and get filled to the brim with the best Retro acts in town! Get rocked, boogie-on-down, rev on out and swing on by as Retro Atlanta offers you a week of ramblin’ good times!

Monday, November 4

Rock on down to Terminal West and get psychedelic with King Kahn & The Shrines and rock out with The Coathangers as they get down and dirty! For an evening of some Motown-inspired soul-infused indie pop, skip on over to the Buckhead Theater for a night of Fitz & The Tantrums and Capital Cities! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a rockin’ good time with Bill Sheffield! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. And pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.

Tuesday, November 5

For a little biting satire of the French persuasion, stroll on down to the Midtown Art Cinema for their screening of Jean Renoir’s THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939) in their Midtown Cinema Classics Series at 6:45 pm with a Q&A afterwards! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for some 60s soul and rock n roll with the The Hollidays! Steve’s Live Music hosts the Georgia Crackers as they lead their vintage 20s hillbilly bluegrass pickin’ and folk sing-a-long! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern. For an evening of old-school industrial, get electric with the ultra-heavy pioneering beats of KMFDM at Terminal West! Get ready for some down and dirty Christmas-Eve action at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as Bruce Willis gets rowdy in John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, November 6

Groove on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of boogie-woogie with the energetic 50s and 60s soul-inspired goodness of Kool Kats Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics and the soulful, jazzy reggae of Juliette Ashby. For a night of rootin’ tootin’ folky Americana, head on over to Smith’s Olde Bar as Dan Bern takes the stage and stay for a taste of some ‘gyspy swingin’, fire breathing circus freaks’ with Caravan of Thieves! Put on your dancin’ shoes and skip on over to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings!  Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Get red hot and low-down at Blind Willie’s for the saucy blues of Andrew Black or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! Head on over to Steve’s Live Music for a foot-stompin’ good time with the Russian gypsy tunes of Debauche! Or spend the night with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as Emory’s Cinematheque gets darkly comedic in their screening of Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS (1967) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  Get old-school heavy at The Shelter for their Dark Retro Night for an evening of hard electro, industrial and dark retro at 9 pm! And don’t forget to get in on the action as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 7

Rock on over to the Red Light Café and get cosmic as they celebrate and honor the legendary Gram Parsons with their Gram Parsons’ Birthday Tribute!  You are guaranteed a stellar evening filled with the dancin’ and dreamin’ tunes of Cosmic West, beltin’ out Parsons covers and old western American melodies while Whiskey Belt takes the stage with some nitty gritty, boot stompin’ honky-tonk reminiscent of the 50s Grand Ole Opry and Interstate, following in the legend’s footsteps with their West Coast cosmic American rock! Take a trip to The Star Bar for some psychedelic rock with deadCAT or float on over to The Earl for Nik Turner’s Hawkwind rockin’ some 60s and 70s space rituals!

The Plaza Theater gets criminal and New-Wave French-style as they screen Francois Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical first film, THE 400 BLOWS (1959) in their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30 pm!  Get wickedly thrilled and head on over to the Georgia Ensemble Theatre in Roswell as they present Ira Levin’s 1978 theatrical thriller, DEATHTRAP which runs until Nov. 24^th, directed by Robert J. Farley! Head on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Groove on over to The Loft for some 60s and 70s surf rock and soul doo wop’n rock n roll with The Mowglis, the Kopecky Family Band and The Rocketboys! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern presents the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings. Get teary-eyed and blues it up at Blind Willie’s with Weepin’ Tommy Brown & The Shadows while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance to jump in on the action as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 8

Spook on over to The Plaza Theater as they kick off their 8^th annual 2-day Buried Alive Horror Film Festival!  You won’t want to miss out on the gore and terror in Atlanta’s premier horror film festival showcasing true underground filmmaking and the best independent horror in the Southeast! The heart-stopping fun begins at 7:30 pm with their ‘Evil Everywhere’ Shorts Program featuring dark and spooky tales of Ed Gein, dark secret rooms, gruesome discoveries, Dante’s Inferno, creepy hitchhikers and monsters galore! At 9:30 their Opening Night Feature is a tormenting tale of murder and mayhem, PIECES OF TALENT, by Joe Stauffer and will be followed by the Opening Night Party at 11:30 pm, held at The Workshop, where you can haunt with the filmmakers from all over the globe and even catch a few episodes of “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” being projected outdoors.  So, if you’re looking for an evening of blood curdling fear, make your way to The Plaza Theater and get creepy cozy with the murderous monsters of filmmaking mayhem!

If you can’t stomach the horror and need something a little more action-packed and adventurous with a hint of comedy, come on by The Plaza Theater anyway as they begin their Samurai Series with Akira Kurosawa’s THE HIDDEN FORTESS (1959) at 7:30! Or cross the pond and make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar as they present Yacht Rock Review’s Beatles Tribute band, Please, Please Rock Me in the Main Room at 8 pm! Head to the Atlanta Room and rock out with the Geisha Hit Squad and their retro-inspired indie prog rock! Get your fill of monster wrastlin’ with Dragula, Dark Mon, The Wolfmen, the MCW Phantom and much more at Club Famous as Monstrosity Championship Wrestling and Kool Kat Shane Morton celebrates their 1^st gore-filled anniversary and belated monstrous Halloween Party with Crypt 24’s horror-inspired psychobilly! Or make your way down the rabbit hole and get mad, mad, mad at The Shelter as they present their Alice in Wonderland Costume Ball!

Rock on over to The Star Bar for a night with former Pleasure Club singer, James Hall! Or get a taste of some garage glam folk with the sounds of He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister at Terminal West! Blind Willie’s gets down with Burnt Bacon and their smoky blues and Creole jams while Biscuit Miller & The Mix get funky at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! For a little bluegrass and folksy Americana, head on over to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Sierra Hull! Get funky at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and boogie on down to the New Orleans’ sounds of The Mar-Tans!

Saturday, November 9

It’s Day 2 and your last chance to get terrorized at The Plaza Theater’s 8th annual Buried Alive Horror Film Festival! Today’s events include: the ‘Weird and Wild’ Shorts program which promise to leave you in shock and awe with a little time travel, serial killers, werewolves, clowns, nightmares, medieval executioners and much more, the ‘International Terror: Shorts From Around The World’ program which begins at 5:30 pm, the ‘Drawn & Quartered: Animation’ program which begins at 7:00 pm and the ‘Closing Night Feature’, THANATOMORPHOSE, a grisly tale of a girl and her rotting flesh, by Eric Faladreau at 11:00 pm followed by the Awards Ceremonies! So, come on down and spend your weekend with some wonderfully warped and morbid creators!

Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt will be rockin’ out with the Psycho-DeVilles at the Dixie Tavern in Marietta, so get your dancin’ shoes on and rev on over! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café and spend the night with Amy Sigil of Atlanta Fusion Belly Dance for their Belly Dance Gone Strong event, featuring over 25 dancers at 8 pm! Or head back to high school and get bloody royal at The Shelter’s Atlanta Monster Prom featuring a monster make-up competition, monster costume contests and the crowning of Ghoul King and Ghoul Queen, with special guest Roy Wooley of Syfy’s Face Off! Get adventurous and head on over to The Plaza Theater for Akira Kurasawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) featured in their Samurai Series’ screenings at 2 pm and 7:30 pm! The Gr8fl Dude rocks out with his renditions of the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and others at The Family Dog while Rosco Bandana’s gypsy fan-fare blues Americana takes the stage at Smith’s Olde Bar! Groove on over to Terminal West and boogie down with The Werk’s psychedelic dance funk or get your second helping of Burnt Bacon at Blind Willie’s! Stomp on over to the Crimson Moon Café to catch the Grassland String Band or skip on over to hear The Greencards at Eddie’s Attic! Head on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some good ole BBQ and SaNa Blues! Get experimental and bluesy with The Ori Naftaly Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues!  And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, November 10

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Kris Youmans Band at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Jump, jive and wail on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for their Jazz Lunch featuring Big Band Atlanta and their 18-piece band swingin’ to some swell tunes!  It’s your last chance to catch Francois Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS (1959) at The Plaza Theater’s Fall Focus on Director’s series’ 1 pm matinee or maybe learn a few new moves as you take in Akira Kurasawa’s YOJIMBO (1961) during their Samurai Series’ 2 pm matinee! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ old timey country blues with Georgia Slim and The Stovetop Ramblers! Catch Lisa Marie Presley as she gets down and bluesy at Eddie’s Attic or rock on over to Center Stage to catch a little folk punk rock with Frank Turner & The Sleepy Souls! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Tony Bryant gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Uncle Sugar gets soulful at the Northside Tavern. And for a night of sultry kink, black leather and broken hearts, make your way to the Masquerade for their Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque event!

Ongoing

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

Atlanta Lyric Theater gets jazzy with the GUYS AND DOLLS from Oct. 25 through Nov. 10.

Georgia Ensemble Theatre presents Ira Levin’s 1978 theatrical thriller, DEATHTRAP runs Nov. 7 through Nov. 24.

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Get spooked in Retro Atlanta this week! As the days creep closer and closer to that most haunted pinnacle of fright and terror, Retro Atlanta shows you where to find the shock and horror you’re lusting! Atlanta gets Retro this week with monsters and spooks and martians, oh my! And don’t forget, Retro Atlanta always offers a retro-rockin’ good time! So, don’t be a scaredy cat and come on out and play! We can’t promise you’ll make it home alive, but we can promise you a horrifying good time!  

Monday, October 14

Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and forget all about the Monday Blues with the soulful vocals with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And get yer rockin’ blues and soul fix with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! 

Tuesday, October 15

If you’re craving some old-school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for the BB King and Ray Charles sounds coming from Timo Arthur! Mosey on down to Steve’s Live Music for their Bluegrass pickin’ and Folk Sing-a-long, led by Hank Weisman! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern. Do you believe in the boogey man? Sleepwalk on down to Elm Street and get haunted in your dreams as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern terrifies in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presentation of Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) at 7:30 pm!

Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics

Wednesday, October 16

Get ready to roll on the floor and laugh out loud as Emory’s Cinematheque pulls all the punches in their American Comedy Classics series and catch their screening of Leo McCarey’s THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) starring Cary Grant at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! Put on your dancin’ shoes and skip on over to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month (schedule will be back to normal in November), promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie with the Savoy Kings! The Star Bar is ready to feed your ears with the rockin’ sounds of Rodney “The Pie Guy” Henry of the Glenwood Popes and t.v. superstar pie maker along with special guests, VITO ROMEO featuring members of The Booze, Sharp Dressed Lads and Don Dupree! Or make a trip to the Tabernacle for a night of 50’s and 60’s soul and R&B presented by the groovin’ Kool Kats Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics!  Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some straight out blues and rock and roll with the foot stompin’ sounds of Andrew Black!  Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. Whatever you do…don’t fall asleep! Because you won’t want to miss a single terrifying second as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presents Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) in their matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, October 17

Hey all you dapper little children! Are you ready for a zoot suit riot!? What about that rockin’ devilish swing your mama warned you about?  Get rebellious! Put on your dancin’ shoes and hop on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night of maniacal swing from the one and only Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, kings of the 90s swing revival and King Daddy Pole Cats, that will leave you breathless and begging for more! Former member of The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds headline at The Star Bar, so come on and rock out! Head on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Get chipper and head on down to The Plaza Theater for a taste of The Coen Brothers’ FARGO (1996) during their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern presents the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings. Get whiskey-soaked and foot stomped with the Americana and blues wailings of Heather Luttrell & The Possum Den at Blind Willie’s while Donna Hopkins spreads her swampy funk with a dash of John Lee Hooker at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! It’s a night of jazzy swing with a taste of Ella at the Red Clay Theatre as Annie Sellick’s Quartet takes the stage at 8 pm! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. And it’s your last chance to get fatally up close (if you dare!) to that horrifying dream master himself, Freddy Kreuger, as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series presents Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) at 7:30!

Friday, October 18

Get spooked as the Oakland Cemetery captures the spirit of Oakland in their Halloween Tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark, so come on out and make new ghostly pals and maybe even a kindred spirit! Tours begin at 5:30 pm! Ferst Center for the Arts hosts The Hot Club of San Francisco, a jazzy gypsy ensemble, as they present “Cinema Vivant”, an evening of vintage silent films accompanied by the sounds of Django Reinhardt’s gypsy swing and 1920s Paris at 8 pm!

If you’re craving something a little more sinister, a little more over-the-top, spend an evening in Hell at the Masquerade with ‘Dracula’s nasty little brother’ and carnival barker better known (or maybe not) as Unknown Hinson, adding a little psycho overdrive to that ‘billy music of the 50s and 60s!  Or head on down to the Star Bar for a rockin’ night out with Stallion, preceded by a guzzlin’ good time with Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters of the ‘late scumbag revival’ beltin’ out those rockabilly tunes as well as Banned in ATL, a tribute to the 80s punk-core band Bad Brains! Get a taste of the Rockaholics and their bluesy renditions at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Blind Willie’s hosts House Rocker Johnson & The Shadows! Steve’s Live Music gets jazzy with the rockin’ folky blues of Randall Bramblett! Cha-cha on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and dance the night away at their Salsa Dance Night featuring the Salsambo Dance Studio!

Get comfy and cozy with the creatures of the night at The Plaza Theater for their October Fright Fest featuring the horror films of yesteryear and a frightening good time! Get horrified as you view the German expressionistic film, directed by F.W. Murnau, NOSFERATU (1922) releasing the darkly morbid, blood-sucking beast, Vampire Count Orlok to the masses, James Whale of Universal Pictures’ FRANKENSTEIN (1931) starring Boris Karloff as The Monster, the Halperin Brothers’ WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) featuring Bela Legosi, James Whale’s THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) starring Claude Rains and Herk Harvey’s film that inspired the wickedly disturbed mind of David Lynch, CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962). It’s an evening of shock and terror you won’t want to miss!

Saturday, October 19

Today is the day all you ghosts and goblins have been waiting for! Little Five Points business district hosts its 13th annual Little Five Points Halloween Festival & Parade!  So, come on out dressed to the nines in your spookiest Halloween costume and get haunted! Get fed! Get rocked! And get your flesh to the best Halloween parade in the south!  The event wakes from the dead at noon and haunts until 11 pm, with an artists’ market, food venders including Palookaville, the Naked Donut Company and many more as well as two stages for live entertainment, The Jagermeister Stage, located in Findley Plaza and the Wrecking Bar Brewpub Stage located in the The Star Bar’s parking lot.  The spooktacular parade of horror runs from 4 to 6 pm and promises to spook even the bravest of the brave, so pick a spot and hold on tight!  Get your faces rocked off with Kool Kats galore and more at the Jagermeister Stage! Mercury Orkestar, a spitfire gypsy brass band will have you boogyin’ at 1 pm. Grim Rooster with Kool Kat Phil Stair gets down and dirty with that high energy rockin’ rockabilly at 2 pm.  Kool Kat Julea Thomerson & Her Dear Johns goes on at 3 pm, with their banjo’n foot stompin’ honkytonk while Cletus & His City Cousins will keep you dancin’ with that rockin’ big rig honkytonk at 6 pm! Kool Kat Caroline Hull Engel and her band The Ramblers will have you up and dancin’ with some heated classic rockabilly at 7 pm!  For some ‘gypsy punk garage grass’, Strung Like A Horse promises to deliver at 8 pm followed by The Higher Choir beltin’ out that roots rock and soul at 9 pm.  Head on over to the Wrecking Bar Brewpub Stage for a deadly good time as Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures wake you from the dead with their horror punk from the unknown at 2 pm.  Walk From the Gallows will keep you rockin’ with their retro-inspired rock/country at 3 pm.  After the parade surf on back to catch up with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and Andrew & the Disapyramids as they throw an unforgettable Halloween beach party at 6 pm! The Biters will get a taste of your flesh at 7 pm followed by Stonerider and their bitchin’ retro rock at 8pm!  The Locksmyth, reminiscent of Tom Waits and The Kinks will have you on your toes at 9 pm followed by Jungol gettin’ David Lynch-y and rockin’ you at 10 pm! You won’t want to miss out on the best Halloween festival around, so drag your warm bodies out of bed and head on down to Euclid Avenue!

Andrew & the Disapyramids.

Tonight is 80s night at the Variety Playhouse as the Yacht Rock Review performs their ghoulish October tradition of performing Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, in its zombified horrific entirety, followed by their MTV Party to Go! where you can embrace your inner neon child and dance the night away to the dance music of ’87 to ‘92 at 7:30 pm!  If you need a little more hard-core 80s, rock on over to the Drunken Unicorn for a  night of Guitar Wolf, those rockers from Japan who’ll leave you begging for more of their Ramones and rockabilly sounds! Watch out ladies! If you want his body, and you think he’s sexy, come out and spend the night with Rod Stewart as he takes over Atlanta at Philips Arena with Steve Winwood!  If you need something a little on the mellow side, check out Audience Wanted: An Eclectic Evening of Dance presented by the Georgia Ballet with dance accompanied by the music of Nat King Cole and other jazz legends at the Marietta Performing Arts Center.  The Bitteroots’ tangy, soulful funk can be found at Big Tex while The Boohoo Ramblers will make you boogie-woogie on down at The Family Dog.  Fat Matt’s Rib Shack offers their ‘retro rock repertoire’ with The Tone Prophets while Francine Reed gets intimate and bluesy wild at Blind Willie’s.  For some countrified blues, head on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the Tom Lennon Band! And to get a taste of some true ‘punk grass’ bluesy Texas swing, boogie on over to the Red Clay Theater to spend an evening with Grace & Tory, The Wicks and Penny & Sparrow at 8 pm! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, October 20

Witness the truth and come celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the most horrific broadcast of the 20th century, Orson Welles’ 1938 War of The World broadcast that terrified the nation, presented by the Atlanta Radio Theater Company at the Morris & Rae Frank Theater’s production of WAR OF THE WORLD: THE UNTOLD STORY in Dunwoody! Find out what really transpired on this one day only event where you learn about the martian invasion that began it all and how the extermination of humanity was really averted! You won’t want to miss this truly momentous revelation with only two showings at 2:30 and 7:30 pm!

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Decatur Bluegrass Association at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Get a sneak peak of the choreography of Gathering Wild Dance Company’s newest creation, Circa 50, in their free event at Dance 101, ‘Party Like it’s 1955’ throwing a 1950’s style party from 4 to 6 pm!  Get funky at The Earl with Grupo Fantasma’s Latin Funk Orchestra and Heavy Chevy!  The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Fatback Deluxe belts out their retro blues, soul and jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!  The Appleseed Collective offers a little of their ragtime, sweaty soul at Smith’s Olde Bar while Poor Old Shine gets down and dirty with some foot stompin’ Americana at Eddie’s Attic! Blues it on down to the Northside Tavern for the sounds of Uncle Sugar or come out and experience the Joni Mitchell Tribute Dinner Show at 6 pm, featuring Margo Bernstein, Kim Chamberlain and more at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! And it’s your last chance to find out what really happened in the Coen Brothers’ FARGO (1996) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series!

Ongoing

Atlanta Zombie Apocolypse runs from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2. 

Netherworld haunts from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2.

Six Flags’ Fright Fest spooks every weekend from Oct. 5 through Oct. 27.

Oakland Cemetery’s Halloween Tours haunt  Thursday & Sundays 5:30 – 9:30, Friday & Saturdays – 5:30 – 10:30, so, come on out for their spooky one-hour ghost tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark! Runs Oct. 18 through Oct. 27.

Center for Puppetry Arts’s THE WIZARD OF OZ follows the yellow brick road until Oct 20. (W-F 10 & 11:30, Sat 12 & 2 and Sun 1 & 3 pm) (LAST CHANCE!)

Serenbe Playhouse’s THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE chills and thrills from Oct. 10 through Oct. 31

The Stage Door Players’ presentation of THE ANDREW BROTHERS: A MADCAP MUSICAL SALUTE TO THE SWINGING 40s swings from Oct. 10 through Oct. 20. (LAST CHANCE!)

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.