ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

‘This Week’ in Retro Atlanta promises to excite and terrorize all in the same wicked breath! ‘Tis the month of phantoms and bewitching good times! So come on out and haunt with the rest of us! From juke joints to darkened theaters to festivals galore, get out, get hip and get Retro while the gettin’s good!

Monday, September 30

Mondays may get you down, but not in Retro Atlanta! Forget the drudgery of the workweek and head on over to The Earl for the Legendary Pink Dots, offering up decades worth of Anglo-Dutch experimental rock! If that doesn’t whet your willy, chill on out with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s or come on over to the Northside Tavern for the blues-stylings of Lola and her Blues 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. Pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.  If you’re up for some teenage shenanigans, come celebrate Samantha Baker’s 16th birthday at The Plaza Theater’s Mascara Movie Monday screening of John Hughes’ SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984) at 7 pm.

Tuesday, October 1

Get haunted on this first day of this hallowed month of shock and horror with cult legends Goblin, the Italian Soundtrack Kings, as they kick off their virgin American tour at The Loft  promising to deliver a terrifying evening that will go beyond shock with echoing screams from their scores in Dario Argento’s horrifying masterpieces,  DEEP RED (1975), SUSPIRIA (1977), TENEBRAE (1982) and so many more!  Get mortified at the Masquerade’s annual Chamber of Horror Haunted House which opens tonight and spooks the entire month of October. One way or another, she’s gonna getcha! Head on down to the Buckhead Theater to catch the infamous platinum rocker chick and CBGB regulars, Blondie with Special Guest X at 8 pm. 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 finger lickin’ BBQ! Get to pickin’at Steve’s Live Music for their weekly Bluegrass & Hootenanny Jam with the vintage 20s fiddlin’ stylings of the Georgia Crackers.  Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm.  The Hollidays bring their take on 60s soul and rock n roll at Blind Willie’s. Northlake Festival Movie Tavern begins their Retro Cinema Scares! series with Joe Dante’s GREMLINS (1984) at 7:30 pm and if you fail to remember the infamous three rules, we can’t promise you’ll make it out alive!

Wednesday, October 2

Descend into the late 80s, early 90s grunge heyday and get your fill of the raucous rock n roll styling of Mudhoney at The Earl.  The legendary group, Earth, Wind & Fire bring their Now, Then & Forever tour to the Fox Theater to celebrate their 20th studio album.  Head on over to Blind Willie’s for that deep blues sound of the Little G Trio with Little G. Weevil, or if you prefer the piedmont blues, come on down to the Northside Tavern and kick off your shoes with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck.   Fat Matt’s Rib Shack serves up the vintage blues stylings of The Georgia Flood, while Steve’s Live Music hosts the funky and folk sounds of Heidi Pollyea. It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. Learn why you should always listen to your parents and never break the rules at Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series with Joe Dante’s GREMLINS (1984) matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Andrew & the Disapyramids.

Thursday, October 3

Catch the film that launched the darkly comedic duo, The Coen Brothers into the cinematic world with BLOOD SIMPLE (1984) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series. 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 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 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 rockin’ beach party and a couple of cocktails with Andrew & the Disapyramids.  Get a second chance to catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta. It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter.  And it’s your last chance to get cuddly with Gizmo while the naughty Gremlins wreak havoc in Joe Dante’s GREMLINS (1984) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series at 7:30!

Friday, October 4

Catch a wave with the legendary Brian Wilson, (w/ Al Jardine and David Marks) of the Beach Boys and the English rock guitarist Jeff Beck at Chastain Park. If you need to be revived, head on down to Eddie’s Attic for the pickin’ sounds of Steve Forbert, slingin’ Americana before it became trendy followed by The Honey Dewdrops and Red June offering up some Appalachian-style roots tunes.. Come rock out with Aimee Mann, former member of Boston’s 80s punk band, The Young Snakes and the new-wave band, ‘Til Tuesday, at the Variety Playhouse. Salsa under the dinosaurs while sipping a cocktail at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the high-energy Orquesta Macuba!

Saturday, October 5

Run off with the circus, a carnival of debauchery and fantasy with The Sexual Side Effects’ Rock-n-Roll Circus! The ever-mysterious Kool Kat Amber Taylor electrifies the way with their high-voltage post-punk, new wave space rock promising to satisfy every desire! Join the sin-sation of delights and get your kink on with a night of side shows, burlesque and rock-n-roll at the Drunken Unicorn.  Slip on down to The Shelter as DJ BC hosts Atlanta’s monthly mashup bootleg party, Bootie ATL #15! Dress like a pirate, get in free! You don’t want to miss Kool Kat Taloolah Love, burlesque superstar, seduce her way into your hearts at the Midnight Mashup Show!

Come get some pop culture, monster-style with Kool Kat Chris Hamer of Urbn Pop, as well as many other local artists and musicians at the Rev Fall Fest at Rev Coffee in Smyrna from 10 am to 8 pm.  Head on over to Avondale Estates and kick off your shoes as the Avondale Arts Alliance presents the AutumnFEST, a two-day arts and music festival with a musical line-up that aims to please! Cruis-O-Matic rolls out the dance floor with their high-energy 60s tunes, so don’t forget your dancin’ shoes while Saturday night’s headliner is The Whiskey Gentry, described as a “toe-tapping, steamrolling kind of band. Its fingers picking deep into fields of bluegrass, with a punk-inspired kick drum.”

Rock on down to the Mable House Barnes Ampiteather for their Candlelite Concert Series in Mableton and rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt as he belts out those rockabilly tunes with the Psycho-DeVilles. Lola & the Blues Ladies will be wailing it out southern soul-style at the Northside Tavern, so grab a drink and come on down!  If you’re hankerin’ for that swamp pop, Cajun swing, head on over to Big Tex to catch Zydeco Ya Ya.  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.

Get horror-struck as Six Flags kicks off their Fright Fest delivering a chilling, grotesque experience that will cause nightmares for years! This year, Fright Fest offers Thrills by Day, for the ghoulish kiddies in your life as well as 15 terrifying Fright by Night attractions that promise to terrorize with blood curdling screams! Lurch on down to the Axis Arena to witness the bloodiest battles between the world’s most notorious villains as they duke it out in life or death matches during in the Monstrosity Championship Wrestling (MCW) events brought to you by Kool Kat Jonathan Williams, writer of our BFF blog Wrestling With Pop Culture and Kool Kat Shane Morton, also known as Professor Morte, king of terror, horror host of the Silver Scream Spookshow!

Sunday, October 6

Start your day with a bluegrass brunch with Cedar Hill at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  It’s your last chance to become a witness to murder in The Coen Brothers’ BLOOD SIMPLE (1984) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series. It’s day 2 and your last chance to swing on down to the AutumnFEST in Avondale Estates! Take a stroll and check out the local art as well as some retro musical entertainment, featuring The Bonadventure Quartet, slingin’ that western swing and gypsy jazz and the Americana, punk-swing nostalgic sounds of the 20s with Megan Jean and the KFB! Get jazzy at lunch with Deb Bowman and her sultry standards at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs at 1 pm.  Maybe get lucky and see a ghost or two at the Oakland Cemetery’s th annual Sunday in the Park Victorian Street Festival from noon until 6 pm! Be brave and tour the mausoleums, but try not to disturb the slumbering souls! Take a ride in a carriage! Devour the festival food offered by Six Feet Under, Pallookaville and all the other tasty goodies! Partake in the artist’s market or the Victorian costume contest! Come out and get spooked at Atlanta’s ‘most unique fall festivals’! The Plaza Theater’s Cineprov, Atlanta’s longest-running and award-winning movie-riffing shows presents STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) at 7:30 pm.

Ongoing

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

Netherworld haunts from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2.

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

7 Stages presents THE NAVIGATOR, A fantastical tale of a boy who travels back in time to save the future! You won’t want to miss this adventurous tale of friendship and time travel adapted and directed by Michael Haverty from the novel by Eoin MacNamee.  Performances through October 13. Watch for a Kool Kat of the Week interview with composer Klimchak soon!

Every Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Thursday night is Retro Cinema at Movie Tavern.

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!’

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.