ATLRetro

Joe Gransden.

Monday, Jan. 7

Monday is big band night at Café 290! Come and celebrate Joe Gransden’s big band birthday bash with guest Taryn Newborne at 8 p.m.  Northside Tavern hosts its weekly Blues Jam featuring blues and southern soul singer, Lola Gulley. Enjoy some good BBQ and some good music at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellys.

Rebecca DeShon of HoopEssence. Photo credit: Stephanie Anderson.

Tuesday, Jan. 8

Hula Hoop your way to that New Year’s resolution of losing those holiday pounds with Kool Kat Rebecca Deshon-Gilbert of HoopEssence. She starts a new Hoop Dance Fitness class at the also-new Studio Burlesque. Splatter Cinema presents a 25th birthday celebration of CHILD’S PLAY (1987) at the Plaza Theater at 9:30 p.m. Directed by Tom Holland and starring Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon and Alex Vincent, this movie makes you never want to buy your child a toy again. Read our Retro Review here. Don’t miss this week’s retro cinema classic film based on a classic book, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) at Northlake Festival Movie Tavern. Directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck as “Atticus Finch”, Mary Badham as “Scout” and Robert Duvall as “Boo Radley”. Kool Kat Calu Cordeira mixes tiki libations at Mai Tai Tahitian Tuesday starting at 9 p.m. at the Dark Horse Tavern. Grab your horn and head over to Twain’s in Decatur for a Joe Gransden jazz jam session starting at 9 p.m., or you can blues it down with Nathan Nelson & Entertainment Crackers at Northside Tavern. Head over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some old school R & B, rock ‘n roll and blues with J. T. Speed.

Wednesday, Jan. 9

Set your Christmas tree aflame literally at Noni’s during TreeTorch 2013! Marshmallows and music provided, drop off your old tree anytime prior to the event. Get ready to rumba, cha-cha and jitterbug at the weekly Swing Night at Graveyard Tavern. Disco in the Village at Mary’s is your midweek neighborhood dance party, and Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck brings the gospel blues to Northside Tavern.

Thursday, Jan. 10

Love local bands? Get yourself to Star Bar in Little 5 Points and catch four Atlanta favorites. Cinch & The Aftermath will kick things off at 9 p.m. They will be followed by Starfighter, The Locksmyth and closing out the night will be Till Someone Loses an Eye. Come out to Noni’s and help decide who will be crowned Miss Edgewood Ave 2013! Liliana Bakhtiari and Brigitte Bidet bring you a salacious assortment of radiantly eccentric performers who will all be striving for the most sought after crown this side of I-75, and the rights to be named the baddest bitch on Edgewood! Were you able to score tickets to a rare and intimate evening at Variety Playhouse with Guster Friday night? If not, make sure you jump on the chance to get tickets to Thursday’s show! Guster is on tour in support of their latest album with the Yellowbirds. Head over to Atlanta’s dirty little secret, Clermont Lounge, to catch the honkytonk sound of Kool Kats Ghost Riders Car Club. Catch another screening of this week’s retro cinema classic, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Northlake Festival Movie Tavern. It’s 80s vs 90s Thursdays at The Shelter. New Wave classics versus Booty-shaking Eurodance will get your moving and rare and underground music videos will be playing on the screens throughout night. Relax with a tropical cocktail at vintage tiki bar, Trader Vic’s, where Tongo Hiti plays Retro-Polynesian luxurious live lounge sounds, as well as trippy takes on iconic pop songs, every Thursday night. Go to Northside Tavern to hear the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings.

Friday, Jan. 11

Take refuge 1920s/1930s style at The Shelter for Ritual’s Speakeasy Gangster Theme Party! Guster is playing a sold-out show at Variety Playhouse with the Yellowbirds. The Star Bar welcomes back Andrew & the Disapyramids, featuring Kool Kat Joshua Longino, brings back ’60s-inspired sound and style with special guests The Cherry Bomb and Cadillac Junkies. Swing down to Northside Tavern to hear Georgia Music Legend Award Winner, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins or make your way up to Grayson to hear southern rock at Cooper’s Corner with The Ron Kimble Band. Party with some soulful, sounthern-fried funk with Abby Wren and What It Is under the dinosaurs at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX.

Saturday, Jan. 12

Catch the rockabilly swing of Blacktop Rockets at Star Bar, supported by Kool Kat Julea (Thomerson) and Her Dear Johns. Rock out at Darwin’s Burgers and Blues with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles ! And as usual, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night. Hear the legendary R&B and jazz stylings of Nat George & The Nat George Players at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint at 6:30 p.m. and the Highway Katz play classic rock at Cooper’s Corner in Grayson.

Russell Bruner

Sunday, Jan. 13

What better way to wind-down your weekend than to head over to Red Light Café for Kitty Love’s Sultry Sunday featuring the reigning king of burlesque, Russell Bruner? Kitty Love is our Kool Kat of the Week; watch out for our exclusive interview soon. Enjoy some hangover-friendly live music with Chicken and Pigs playing dunch at 1 p.m. at The Earl.

Ongoing

Every Tuesday and Thursday night is Retro Cinema at Movie Tavern. Check out classic movies on the big screen weekly at 7:30 p.m.

Visit the High Museum of Art to see the Fast Forward: Modern Moments exhibit featuring artistic development from the past 100 years, 1913-2013. Artists include Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jeff Koons. Closes January 10, 2013.

Take retro to another level at the Genghis Khan special exhibition at Fernbank Museum of National History. Closes January 21, 2013.