ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

‘This Week’ in Retro Atlanta is scorchin’ with Kool Kats galore and all the rockin’ good times you’ve been cravin’!  So, come on out and see what we’ve got on the Retro menu for you!

Monday, March 17

Get lucky Retro-style tonight because it’s St. Patty’s Day! For a night of punk rock goodness, stagger on down to The Music Room for their Bill Murray Appreciation Day/St. Patty’s Day event, featuring a raucous musical line-up of the Salts, Ganges Phalanges, Blue Tower and Awkward Sounds! Or get your rockin’ roots and folk fix at Smith’s Olde Bar with Floodwood, Donna Hopkins and Jeff Mosier!  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! And blues it up at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack  for an extra helping of the blues with The Pork Bellys and some finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, March 18

Get vintage with the vivacious vixens from both sides of the Mason Dixon as The Mason Dixie Burlesque Tour invades the Red Light Café! It’ll be a rowdy ruckus with a smokin’ line-up of sultry performances by Deanna Danger, Ula Uberbusen, Hazel Honeysuckle, Porcelain and Atlanta’s own blazin’ aerialist and fire-performer, Sadie Hawkins! Get a taste of some country punk and polka-billy at Smith’s Olde Bar with A Pony Named Olga and Prem Midha! Get folksy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with The Night Travelers and Jason Bailey, followed by the mesmerizing  ‘kaleidophrenic cabaret’ of Crystal Bright & The Silver Hands! It’s a night of Appalachian folk, rockabilly and bluegrass at Eddie’s Attic with Waller, Battlefield Collective and City Mouse! Blind Willie’s delivers a night of soul and rock n roll with The Holidays! Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint gets rockin’ with the Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! 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.  Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden light up the screen at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SABRINA (1954) during their Happily Ever After series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And catch Francis Truffaut’s French New Wave classic, 400 BLOWS (1959) at the Midtown Art Cinema!

Wednesday, March 19

Get satirical at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Olivier Assayas’ film-within-a-film, IRMA VEP (1996) and his pictorial view of the contemporary French film industry during their Global French Cinema series at Emory’s White Hall! Variety Playhouse delivers a night of late 70s British rock with The Straits, featuring original members of Dire Straits and performing their greatest hits! Skank on down to Smith’s Olde Bar as they dish out a night of Ska, reggae and surf rock with Arden Park Roots, Beauregard & the Downright and Mario Diaz & the Steady Vibes! Noah Gunderson dishes out his brand of folk, described as having the darkness of Tom Waits with the lyrical angst of Neil Young at Eddie’s Attic with two shows, 8 pm and 10 pm! Or for something a little more traditional, get folksy at the Red Clay Theater with The Stray Birds! Get jazzy at the Elliott Street Pub with Frank Barham! Lola delivers some rockin’ blues at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Stomp on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack ‘cause it’s a flood of rockin’ blues and funk with The Georgia Flood! 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 find out who the chauffer’s daughter picks at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Billy Wilder’s classic romantic comedy, SABRINA (1954) during their Happily Ever After series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, March 20

Shimmy on down and get a taste of some saucy burlesque and cabaret from around the world with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her Syrens of the South as they bring you the 4^th Annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest at the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria! It’s a glorious four-day event that promises bawdy burlesque performances, variety shows, vaudeville, workshops and a vendor’s room with all things pin-up and retro!  Headlining performances by the Queen of Burlesque, Miss Exotic World 2008, Angie Pontani; King of Burlesque, Mr. Exotic World 2013, Ray Gunn; Burlesque legend, Penny Starr, Sr.; Penny Starr, Jr,; Ms. Southern Fried 2013, Lola LeSoleil (Keep your eyes peeled for Lola’s Kool Kat interview!); regional starlet, Kool Kat Ursula Undress and emceed by Cora Vette! Tonight’s events include a CockTail hour and the newcomer’s showcase! So, come on down and get teased with the best of ‘em!

Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a little bluegrass with Mercer & Johnson! 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 or head down to Blind Willie’s for a taste of Sweet Betty & the Shadows! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Terminal West gets bluegrassin’ with Greensky Bluegrass and Larry Keel! It’s a night of bloody beehives and B-movie babes at Mary’s as the GLITZ girls present their Invasion of the Super Gunts drag variety show!   Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a couple MaiTais and some rockin’ island tunes! And it’s your last chance to catch Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden light up the big screen at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Billy Wilder’s classic film, SABRINA (1954) during their Happily Ever After series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Friday, March 21

Get tantalized and teased because it’s night 2 of the 4^th Annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest with the Free Range Burlesque Spectacular featuring sultry Burlesque from around the world! Don’t be chicken and get out and get Retro shimmy-style! Get your garage-rock revival with a tinge of 50s and 60s rockabilly fix at The Star Bar tonight with The Fleshtones, Tiger! Tiger! and debuting Black Linen! Swing on by the Red Light Café for a night of Steampunk and swing during the Atlanta Speakeasy ElectroSwing dance night with DJ Doctor Q! Or rev on down for a rockabilly throw down at the Diesel Filling Station for Kool Kat Rev. Andy’s Rockabilly Ruckus event, that’ll have you dancin’ the night away to tunes from Elvis to Brian Setzer to the Nekromantix! ICON 80s Music Video Dance Night invades Famous Pub, with tunes from The Cure to Madonna!

The Moody Blues bring their Timeless Flight Tour to The Fox! Marcia Ball delivers 30 years of ruckus raisin’ with her southern boogie and roadhouse blues at the Variety Playhouse! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with Heather Luttrell & the Possumden and Billie in the Woods! Or for some soul-soaked Americana, make your way to the Red Clay Theater and get a taste of Julianna Finch and the Neil Cribbs Band! Get funky at 529 with Heavy Chevy! Or groove on down to Terminal West for a night with Dumpstaphunk and Funk You! Big Swig’s roadhouse blues and honky-tonk takes over Hottie Hawgs BBQ!  Get jazzy at the High Museum with Karla Harris! Matt Wauchope gets bluesy at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Get the blues at Northside Tavern with Stoney Brooks! It’s salsa dance night at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Salsambo Dance Studio that’ll have you cha-cha’ing under the dinosaurs! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty with the Mike Lowry Band!  Francine Reed delivers some bluesy tunes at Blind Willie’s with the Shadows! Stomp on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a rockin’ night with the BooHoo Ramblers! Come on down to the Dekalb History Center from 6-8 pm for their free Annual Meeting & Silent Auction, locally catered and bid on all sorts of cool items for the vintage lover in you, donated for the silent auction by local businesses, so do  your part and help support historical preservation! 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, March 22

Shimmy on down for night 3 of the 4^th Annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest because tonight it gets Hot! Hot! Hot! with the Southern Scorcher Showcase, featuring Kool Kat Ursula Undress and so many more! Stomp on down to the Northside Tavern ‘cause it’s the 2014 Chicken Raid, promising 2 rockin’ days of blues and roots honoring the life and music of Atlanta bluesman, Frank Edwards, with food catered by Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and a rockin’ musical line-up, including Albert White, Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins, Sweet Betty, Billy George & Mo’Lightnin’, Chicken & Pigs, Lola, Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck, Little G Weevil, The Breeze Kings and so much more! So, come on out and pay your dues with the best of ‘em!

Kool Kat Phil Stair and Grim Rooster honky-tonk it up at the Sweetwater Bar & Grill in Deluth! Stagger on over to Famous Pub for the Blackout Classic Goth & Industrial Dance Night and get your underground, dark 80s and synthpop fix! Crosby, Stills & Nash invade The Fox while Cosmic Charlie delivers a night of Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd at their Dark Side of the Dead Event at the Variety Playhouse! David Gans (The Grateful Dead Hour) delivers a night of country blues and finger pickin’ with the Rumpke Mountain Boys at the Red Light Café! The madness and absurdity that is, Kool Kat Colonel Bruce Hampton slings over 50 years worth of his funky, jazz-infused rhythm with CBDB and Voodoo Visionary at Smith’s Olde Bar!  Put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and more at The Basement for Electric Western’s Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! It’s the 2^nd Annual Blues Piano Duel at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues with 3 generations of blues pianists; Matthew Wauchope, Bob Page and Eddie Tigner! Rock out at the Drunken Unicorn with the retro rock of Shade Tree Philosophy, Sleep the Owls and Johnny! Bad Touch! Pay tribute to The Doors at The Family Dog with the Dirty Doors! Big Tex rocks out with The Rainmen! Michelle Malone delivers 2 shows worth (7 and 9:30 pm) of her folksy, rockin’ blues at Eddie’s Attic! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for Chicken & Pigs! Blind Willie’s gets bluesy with HouseRocker Johnson & the Shadows!  Fat Matt’s Rib Shack offers up a hoppin’ plate of some rockin’ BBQ and blues with the Larry Griffith Band! 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, March 23

It’s day two and your last chance to catch a rockin’ blues-filled day at the 2014 Chicken Raid at Northside Tavern! It’s your last chance to get sultry at the 4^th Annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest!  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! And get a second helping of the Bonaventure Quartet at The Family Dog at 7 pm! The Decatur Bluegrass Association dishes up some foot stompin’ bluegrass at Big Tex’s Bluegrass Brunch! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues with Snakelegs! And Steve Earl and Shawn Colvin deliver a night of rockin’ blues at Atlanta Symphony Hall!

Ongoing

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 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.