ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you Retro Atlanta kiddies! Start some new holiday traditions this year and let Retro Atlanta guide the way! Whether you’re lookin’ to escape or just needing to get out and breath, we’ve got a cornucopia of holiday rockin’ fun lined up that will fill you to the brim with giddy! So, come on out and get Retro holiday-style!

Monday, November 25

Get stompin’ and let the Masquerade grind out those Monday blues with some old-school British Oi! featuring The Business along with a little gritty punk rock of the Drink and Destroy Crew and Magoo’s Heros! Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening 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!’ If that doesn’t whet your willy, chill on out with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, November 26

The Shelter gets French-folky and steampunky, cabaret-style with Frenchy & The Punk and The Extraordinary Contraptions!  For a modern twist on some classic Rolling Stones, Joan Jett and Hank Williams-inspired tunes, rock on down to Eddie’s Attic and get gritty with Sonia Leigh! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and grind it out at Blind Willie’s with the down and dirty blues of Little G Weevil! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. And The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! Get saucy and shimmy on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the lively and energetic sounds of Cristian Puig as he plucks out those Flamenco tunes while Julie Baggenstoss shows you where it’s at Flamenco-style! And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern lets us have another week with Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, November 27

It’s Turkey-Eve, so rock on down to The Earl for their annual Pre-Turkey Party for a rockin’ evening of post-punk, psych-rock and dark garage with Hip to Death, Sex BBQ, Twin Trances and Air Wolves! Or get your dancin’ shoes on and give thanks at The Shelter at their Give Thanks for the 80s event and rock out to all things 80s from new-wave to goth! Boogie on over and spend Turkey-Eve with the Yacht Rock Review rockin’ out to their finest renditions of some 70’s rock at the Fox Theater! Or spend the evening with Parker Smith & The Bandwith as In Cahoots, paying tribute to The Band as they play their “Last Waltz” album in its entirety at The Family Dog! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues or head on over to Blind Willie’s for a night of red hot blues with the Electromatics! 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! And skip on down the Yellow Brick Road at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their additional screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 28

Now that you’re stuffed to the gills and merry, rock on down to The Earl for some dreamy Italo-glam new-wave with Del Venicci! 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. 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 blues of Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! 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. 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 take a trip over the rainbow with Dorothy and her pals at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 29

Rev on down to The Strand Theater and spend an evening with the T-Birds and Pink Ladies of GREASE (1978),  for a live organ pops variety show and sing-a-long while dreaming of those summer nights with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John at 7:30 followed by a screening of the film at 8:00 pm!  Or get all 90’s retro with knee socks and plaid skirts and make your way to The Shelter for an evening out with the Betties and Baldwins at their Clueless: A Shindig of Epic Proportions event filled to the brim with 90’s tunes, costume contests and go-go dancers!  Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles will get your engines churnin’ at Henry’s Louisiana Grill in Acworth! Get folk and poppy at Eddie’s Attic with Ellis Paul or get your fill of roots rock Americana at Smith’s Olde Bar with Migrant Worker, Waller and Cicada Rhythm! For a night of brassy horns and indie prog rock, make your way to the Drunken Unicorn for the ever rockin’ sounds of Mercury Orkstar, Bahnhof and the Clibber Jones Ensemble!  Blind Willie’s gets bluesy and deep with Sandra Hall & The Shadows! Or stroll on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night of blues with Donna Hopkins! The Northside Tavern gets down and dirty with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Get wild and rock on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an evening of Dixie blues with Seminole Jackson! Boogie on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a little traditional jazz with the Tommy Dean Quartet! Get your dancin’ shoes on and jazz it on over to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and get soulful with Kayla Taylor and her jazz standards!

Saturday, November 30

The Fernbank Museum gets festively retro and kicks off their Holly Jolly Film Fest with the Peanut Gang in A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965) at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30!  Make your way to the Alliance Theater and get spooked while spending the evening with Scrooge and his four ghostly visitors in Charles Dickens’ classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL which runs until Dec. 29^th!

Step right up and witness all that is monstrous about one of Retro Atlanta’s BFF monster artists, Jeff Riggans as his studio, Monster Art Studio, opens its doors to the public for the first time at their Monster Art Studio Open House Party at 2 pm!  Step into his monstrously creative world filled with circus side-show freakishness and guerilla art at its finest!

Come on out and rock out with the freaks, geeks and rock n rollers at The Star Bar for an evening of down and dirty rock and the ballyhoo that is Till Someone Loses and Eye, Bad Friend and Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters of the ‘late scumbag revival’ beltin’ out those rockabilly tunes!  Get 80s and dancin’ with a little new-wave and psychedelic dream pop at The Earl with The Romenz, New Animal and Easter Island! Smith’s Olde Bar offers a night of old-school rock n roll with The Last Waltz Ensemble rockin’ out to some Dylan and The Band tunes, the rockin’ jazzy sounds of The Pergantis Trio and Tim O’Donovan & The Long Shot Saints delivering their Cheap Trick and The Replacements-inspired tunes! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for some cello fusion funk from Pink Floyd to Vivaldi with Montana Skies!  It’s Albert’s Birthday Bash at the Northside Tavern, so come on out and get bluesy with Albert White & The Four Souls! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Or get bluesy with your BBQ at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Kerry Hill Band!  Darwin’s Burgers & Blues offers a History of the Blues featuring Tom Holland & the Shuffle Kings with their Muddy Waters and John Primer Chicago-style 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, December 1

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Porch Bottom Boys at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  Then rock on over to the Red Light Café for the ‘Always with Love’ Benefit featuring a cornucopia of rockin’ retro sounds with Chaos Soul, True Grits, Frankie’s Blues Mission, Grim Rooster with Kool Kat Phil Stair, The Breeze Kings, Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Swamp Funk Quartet!  Or swing on over to Oglethorpe University’s Museum of Arts for a little soulful jazz with Francine Reed and the Brent Runnels Trio in their ‘Swingin’ with the Santas’ event at 4 pm!  Get swanky with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet at The Earl as they deliver some boot stompin’ Django gypsy-jazz! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Tony Bryant gets bluesy with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

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.