ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Retro Atlanta promises a week of spooky haunts and rockin’ tunes you won’t want to miss! Come on out and play, retro-style, from the 20s to the 90s we’ve got every flavor you crave! And don’t forget about those horrificly spooktacular films of yesteryear that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat during this eerie season! So get scared, get to dancin’ and join us in Retro Atlanta! 

Joe Gransden.

Monday, October 21

Blind Willie’s has a cure for your manic Monday funk, so come get revived with the old-timey rockin’ blues and roots jive of Midnight Revival! 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. Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some fingerlickin’ BBQ and a side of Dry White Toast!  Get down with the dirty folk stylings of The Moondoggies and some extra dirty psychedelic ‘garbage’ rock with Rose Window at The Earl!  For a night of old school, underground punk, take a walk on the wild side and get rebellious in Hell at the Masquerade with The Casualties, Negative Approach and The Stitches! Come get your geek on and experience the “rock and roll fable” that is The Protomen at VINYL!  Or head on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for some Texas indie folk rockin’ blues with No Dry County and the Gravel Kings!

Tuesday, October 22

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 all-star blues, jazz and no holds barred sounds of The Ringers! The Earl is delivering up some post-punk rustic folk as Saintseneca and Hare of the Hounds rock the stage! Mosey on down to Steve’s Live Music for their Bluegrass & Hootenanny Jam featuring 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. Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for some ‘junk folk’ and roots rock with Rusty Belle and Barnaby Bright! Check in at the Bates Motel as Northlake Festival Movie Tavern terrifies in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presentation of Alfred Hitchcock’s slasher masterpiece, PSYCHO (1960) at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, October 23

Get electrified with the Sparks as they rock out to some synth-pop dance and trance in their Revenge of the Two Hands One Mouth Tour at the Variety Playhouse! Get jaunty and make the front page with Cary Grant in Howard Hawk’s classic newspaper comedy, HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) at Emory’s Cinematheque in their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! Blues it on down to Eddie’s Attic for some old-time roots and New Orleans-style blues with the creator and former lead singer of Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies himself, Mike Farris! For some roots reggae and funk, Smith’s Olde Bar has you covered with Mario Diaz & the Natty Roots! Tonight, it’s the rockin’ boogie-woogie-man Bob Page vs. the rockin’ bluesman Eddie Tigner in Dueling Pianos at Blind Willie’s! 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. If you’re hunting for something a bit more sinister, rock on over to The Earl and meet your fate with the late 70s, early 80s doom metal band, Saint Vitus, or 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! Come see what a real (disturbing) mama’s boy looks like in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller, PSYCHO (1960) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ in their matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, October 24

Get goth and downward spiral your way to Phillips Arena as Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails industrialize the stage with their Tension 2013 Tour! It’s a special Retro Video Night at The Shelter as they kick off their Nine Inch Nails After Party playing classic NIN’s music videos, with a free shot to NIN ticket stub holders! Make a trek through the universe as The Village Theater presents CAPTAIN’S LOG, a completely improvised hodge-podge of galactic proportions at 11 pm!  Or Time Warp it on over to The Basement Theater and catch their presentation of THE ROCKY HORROR PUPPET SHOW live on stage! Admission includes audience participation goodie bags to play along, so come out and get naughty with those sexy, sexy puppet aliens! Rev on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night of boogie-woogie rockabilly with Bill “the Titan of the Telecaster” Kirchen, former member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen!  For a night of raw funk and heavy soul, head on over to The Earl as Georgia Soul Council, DeRobert & The Half Truths and AJ & The Jiggawatts take over the stage! 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 down and dirty with the ‘Dude’ and his bowling pals at The Plaza Theater and savor The Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) 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 a taste of the blues with Sweet Betty & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s while “Frankie Lee” Robinson belts out the blues in Frankie’s Blues Mission at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! For a little early 90s indie rock, head on over to the Variety Playhouse and check out Built to Spill! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Get melted with some island funk and a few cocktails at Trader Vic’s as Tracey Wolfe and the Volcanauts burn down the house! It’s a night of mountain music and foot stompin bluegrass as City Mouse and the Georgia Mountain String Band with special guest, Joshua Black take the stage at the Red Light Café! And it’s your last chance to glimpse into the mind of the horror master himself as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series presents Alfred Hitchock’s PSYCHO (1960) at 7:30!

Friday, October 25

Rock on up to Heaven at the Masquerade and experience the new-wave, science-fiction-inspired rockin’ synthesis of the one and only, Gary Numan along with the electronic punk rock sounds of Board of Whores!  Or get haunted and dressed to kill and spook on down to The Shelter as they kick off their Halloween Costume Bash with a night of rockin’ music and rare Halloween music videos!  Jazz it on down to the Crimson Moon Café for some good ole’ ragtime and 20s jazz with the sounds of Blair Crimmons & The Hookers or rock on down to the Red Light Café to catch Kevn Kinney of Atlanta’s Drivin’n Cryin’ get folky in the dirty, dirty! Let The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater revive you with the sounds of John Fogerty!  Get heavy at The Star Bar with the retro English rock and new-wave sounds of Starfighter or mosey on down to VINYL for some hoodoo funky rockin’ blues as Voodoo Visionary takes the stage!  Get low-down as Spanky & The Love Handles belt out some funky, dirty blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Sandra Hall & The Shadows rocks the blues at Blind Willie’s! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck  takes the stage at Northside Tavern, beltin’ out those rockin’ blues! Juke it on down to Terminal West for that dirty juke joint sound of Vintage Trouble!  Boogie on down to Big Tex and catch the rockin’ sounds of The Rainmen as they belt out that 60s and 70s rock and roll or swing on down for an evening of rockabilly with Atomic Boogie at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! The Atlanta Lyric Theater kicks off their presentation of that great American classic comedy that’ll have you tappin’ your toes and throwin’ them bones right alongside those jazzy GUYS AND DOLLS! The Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event gets spooky with their Fright Night and Halloween Dance Party! Dress to thrill (or maybe kill!) and come rattle your bones with the swanky retro sounds of Bogey and the Viceroy, while sipping some devilishly delicious cocktails!

Katy Graves and son Nick in Spooky Partridge. Photo courtesy of Katy Graves.

Saturday, October 26

Come see what’s strange and spooky at The Odd’s End as they host a free Halloween show featuring the quirky art rock band, Pillage and Plunder as well as BB’s Blowdown and the family band like no other, Spooky Partridge, rockin’ out to some Beatles, Ramones and MC5-inspired tunes at 1 pm! Get really retro and head on over to the Opera Atlanta Event Center for The Speakeasy Cocktail Festival: Halloween Prohibition-era Gala at 1:30 pm! Experience the entire culture surrounding ‘hooch’ and explore the world of gambling, cigars and cocktails and flapper girls in their sultry 20s-themed speakeasy! So drag out those pearls and pinstripes and boogie on down with the sounds of the 20s!

Spook on down to Grant Park and get cozy with the goblins as the Krewe of Grateful Gluttons puts on their Halloween Lantern Parade led by the high energy Black Sheep Marching Ensemble, gettin’ brassy and eerie in the dark at 6:30 pm!  Or make your way to the Fox Theater as they kick off their Ghost Light Tours, introducing you to their resident spooks at 7 pm! Come get 80s cool with Kook Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade as they deliver their retro tunes at Sports Time Grille’s Halloween party in Deluth!  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 at 10 pm!

Come check out some 80s experimental indie rock at the Tabernacle as Neutral Milk Hotel and Half Japanese deliver an evening of retro rock and old-school punk!  Leon Redbone gets jazzy with his blues standards at Eddie’s Attic while Mission South folks it up at The Family Dog! The Jason Pastras Trio takes over Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with their alligator-style funky swamp blues while Red Light Café offers a night of rockin’ bluegrass and Americana with Copper Into Steel and Blackfoot Daisy! Get real bluesy at Blind Willie’s with the old-timey blues sounds of John Primer & The Real Deal Blues Band or head over to Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck belts out those rockin’ 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, October 27

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the The Porch Bottom Boys at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm. Get haunted and catch a glimpse of the infamous deformed Phantom, played by Lon Chaney in Rupert Julian’s silent horror flick, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), accompanied by the eerie underscoring for the film provided by organist Ron Carter at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre in historic Marietta Square at 3 pm! Come early for a spooky sing-a-long and pops pre-show at 2:30!  For a night of phantoms and haunts, take a trip to the Atlanta Symphony as they conduct their annual spooktacular ‘The Phantoms of the Orchestra’ featuring the Magical Circle Mime Company! Roll on down to The Earl for an evening of punky bluegrass and rowdy folk with the high energy wailings of Larry & His Flask, Onward, etc., and The Law Band! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Francine Reed while Fatback Deluxe belts out their retro blues, soul and jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!  Head on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for some funky soul with Mingo Fishtrap! Get Irish and retro folky and stomp on down to the Variety Playhouse for some foot-stompin’ Celtic rock and roll with The Waterboys! Blues it on down to the Northside Tavern for the sounds of Uncle Sugar! Cinefest begins their screening of Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996) which runs until Nov. 3^rd! And it’s your last chance to hang out with the ‘Dude’ in the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series and don’t forget to head back to catch their Cineprov group as they heckle Sean S. Cunningham’s 80’s classic horror, slasher flick, FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) 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 every weekend from Oct. 5 through Oct. 27. (LAST CHANCE!)

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. (LAST CHANCE!)

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

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.

Fox Theater’s Ghost Light Tours spook from Oct. 26 through Oct. 30.

The Basement Theater presents THE ROCKY HORROR PUPPET SHOW live on stage! Admission includes audience participation goodie bags to play along, so come out and get naughty with those sexy, sexy puppet aliens from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2.

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

Cinefest screens Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996) from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3.

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.