ATLRetro

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

TICKLED, now playing in Atlanta movie theaters, is a whodunit at heart. New Zealand journalist David Farrier had hoped to write a short article about some videos he found online depicting something called Competitive Endurance Tickling. He couldn’t have known that the response to his request for an interview would send him on a multi-year journey to uncover a dark underbelly to this seemingly good-natured sport and, perhaps, a real-life monster.

ATLRetro talked with Farrier about the making of this insane little film, improvisational journalism, fetish culture, and how it felt when he first realized what he was getting into.

Note: the reception on our phone call was patchy, but we worked around it for the most part.

You can read my review of TICKLED here.

ATLRetro: First of all, I really loved the film. I’ve never been so on the edge of my seat watching a conversation outside a coffee shop.

David Farrier: [laughs] I know, I know. And like the world’s [unintelligible] car chase.

Right. I think I even said out loud in my chair when it happened, “we are having a car chase right now.”

DF: [laughs]

It was just very surprising. So, obviously it’s difficult to ask directly about the fallout over the film without spoiling it. For instance, the event that happened at the LA premiere.

Yeah, yeah. On that I’d just say that, you know, it’s been a pretty interesting time. People from, I mean the movie is about Jane O’Brien Media, and it doesn’t paint them in a particularly great light, and at one of our premieres we had some key players from the film turn up. And at the end of this film, during the Q&A, [unintelligible] with more legal action. That’s been going on through the whole process.

When I was done watching the film, I didn’t get the feeling that the story was finished. It felt like some things are just beginning. What’s it been like promoting a finished film when it’s still unfolding day to day?

It’s difficult mainly because that people we want people to see the documentary without knowing too much, and when people see this documentary, when they’re coming out to a screening, that’s out there now, so we have to talk about it. [unintelligible] people to not watch the trailer, not read a review, watch the movie, and get into all that afterwards. The story is very active, as you say, you know. We showed everything in the film that we wanted to show at the time, but since the company is still active, of course, they’re going to push back after the film’s out, so we just have to keep on going.

When you sent that first email off at the very beginning of the film, things quickly went off the rail. I’m curious to know what kind of story you thought you were going to make before that first response. Where were you headed?

Yeah, I mean, I was just looking to generate a one-and-a-half minute story about, you know, here’s this crazy sport about competitive endurance tickling. And I wanted to talk to a competitor and I wanted to talk to the organizer. And get some shots of the event and maybe an interview with the organizer and an interview with the New Zealand competitor. But, you know, that first response that was very aggressive about telling me not to do the story, you know, that changed all that. I didn’t have my nice one-and-a-half minute story, it turned into something completely different.

Right, I get the impression that if you had gotten an answer that was just “no, we’re not interested,” then all of this that has come to light wouldn’t have come to light.

Oh, totally. [unintelligible] I would have forgotten about it and moved on. I was in a quick turnaround situation, so each day I had to turn in a story. So I didn’t have time to investigate, I had to move on to the next thing. Had it been a more measured response, there wouldn’t have been a documentary.

What was the first moment where this started to get too real? Was there ever a moment where you were scared?

There were lots of moments, I mean I was apprehensive when I went to the airport, you know, they sent representatives and I was going to have a meeting. And there was the time I spent in America, approaching people on the street. So approaching them I found nerve-wracking, but [co-director] Dylan and I, we were in this together from the start, you know. We came across this crazy thing. We both got warned early on by this company that we expect legal action to happen, so we were united in that, I suppose. So if we hadn’t had each other, I probably would have run away from the whole thing.

Yeah, you guys seem to have a good working relationship. It seemed that there were moments where each of you had a choice of whether to continue or stop.

There were lots of discussions. It was like that the whole way through. If one of us was coming under threats or attacks, you know, we’d talk to the other person and share what we’re going through. We’d share everything in the process, right? In a practical sense, it was really great having someone else in this with me.

You’ve mentioned in interviews that you don’t have a background necessarily in investigative journalism.

No, no.

When you were doing this investigation, did you sit down and come up with a step by step plan, or were you kind of improvising as you went along?

I mean, the story happened really quickly. We did the Kickstarter campaign so we could start shooting it really quickly, and we did that initial shoot, and then we came back realizing the story was of a scope, was like, bigger. And we had a lot of time to prep and prepare for the second shoot, and I write entertainment, I was in the newsroom among all the hard current affairs reporters, and I always kind of admired what they were doing. [call completely breaks up at this point]

I think you actually broke up a little bit right there.

In the news room, I did, like entertainment, but I was sitting next to some really hardened current affairs reporters, so I absorbed a lot of what their techniques were. But really, it was just a lot of research, a lot of planning, and just being super aware of what could happen, what could not happen in any kind of situation, so I could react accordingly. So really just lots, and lots, and lots of preparation.

I’ve seen the film and I think you do a very good job of avoiding one of the concerns you might have going in, that this was going to turn into “fetish shaming.” I’m curious when you’re developing your approach on the film, was that something you were aware of, did you have to take pains to make sure that didn’t happen?

Oh, yeah, right from the beginning. Right from the beginning, we were super aware that we didn’t want to paint the fetish community with the same brush. It was the idea that, yes, there’s some bad stuff going on, but it’s less about the fetish and more about the harassment going on around it. One of the first people who reached out to us and supported our Kickstarter was Richard Ivey, who was filming in the fetish [community] and his whole career was built around it. And he came on board with the same concerns, like “I hope you’re not going to make a film that paints us,” you know, “in a negative light.” Yeah, it was right from the beginning that we wanted to make it super clear, and make it clear in the movie, you can be into tickling, there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, that’s great, it should be celebrated, but, you know, the dark world that we stumbled onto was somehow almost separate to the tickling.

Right, in the video of the LA premiere, there was a debate going back and forth between you and one of the people involved about whether the tickling videos are pornographic.

Yeah, that was one of the rather obscure arguments. [laughs]

The idea that they’re just pornography with clothes. I’m just curious about that distinction. Why does that distinction need to get made by them that they aren’t?

That’s a whole other side of it…but that’s not what the film is actually about, and what the problem is. He claims that he doesn’t make fetish content. Now I would argue that Jane O’Brien Media is making, [are] not necessarily pornographic, but certainly, what’s the word? Erotic, and it’s really in the debate about what is erotica versus what is pornography. But, you know, anything can be erotica. If that happens to be young, good-looking, athletic men in sports gear tickling each other, that’s not all that surprising.

I have a question about the decision, and this was probably a conversation in the editing room, but the decision to show the tickling videos unblurred, showing all the faces of the people participating in them unblurred.

Yeah, the understanding was that we [had] many tickling videos, [but] we wanted to not focus on the tickling videos to an excessive degree. Because some of the people in the tickling videos, you know, we had to talk them about it. But all the videos were already online en masse, like they’re already out there. And our film explains why they’re in it. So while they’re online, hour-long tickling videos, the film provides context for why they’re there and how the people got there. I mean, I don’t want to give spoilers, but it kind of contextualized what was going on. The videos that were no longer online and no longer out there, we blurred those ones. Some of these videos were over a decade old and we didn’t want to bring those back for people, and also we didn’t know who was in them, so we thought about that a lot in the editing room.

To me, I find it an interesting dichotomy between the tickling videos as kind of a metaphor for everything else that’s going on. Somebody sitting on top of somebody else, and dominating them. Whether that’s physically happening in a video, or metaphorically happening in everything else.

Completely, oh yeah, definitely.

So the videos themselves are harmless and the [surrounding] behavior is bad, or are these videos themselves exploitative?

No, the videos… the people who were in those videos, if they knew who was behind it and why it was being created, if they knew all of that and kept doing them, that would be fine. What makes it exploitative is that they don’t know—the people that I’ve spoken to—they don’t know what those videos are for. And I think that’s wrong. In a nutshell, there’s nothing wrong with making tickling videos as long as you know who they’re for and where they’re going and what they’re going to be used for, etc. It becomes problematic when you don’t know the answers to those questions.

TICKLED is now playing at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. Click here for showtimes.

Andrew Kemp is a screenwriter and game designer who started talking about movies in 1984 and got stuck that way. He can be seen around town wherever there are movies, cheap beer and little else.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Come see what’s shakin’ in Retro Atlanta this week! Rev it up, rock it out and get hep to the jive with a rockin’ menu of Atlanta’s pre-21st century shenanigans dug up just for you!

Monday, July 4

Celebrate the 4th and jazz it up with the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra at Pallookaville! Or rock out with The String Cheese Incident at Chastain Park! 97 Estoria dishes out a punk rock July 4th Party with Bad Spell and Zoners! 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! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!

Tuesday, July 5

The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Get down with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah in the Little Vinyl Lounge! Catch a screening of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986) at City Winery at 7pm! Or get terrified at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues at Blind Willie’s! Jam it up with the BadAsh Allstar Team as they host The Grateful Dead Jam at Smith’s Olde Bar! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, July 6

Get folksy and rock out with The Long Shadows, Pony League and Lane Steffler at The Earl! Celebrate 20 years of Mike Nichols’ THE BIRDCAGE (1996) at The Plaza Theater at 7:30pm! Jazz it up Americana-style with Max Hatt/Edda Glass at the Red Light Café, followed by The Gordon Vernick Quartet! Boogie on down to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings! Blues it up with Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Larry Mitchell gets down at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! It’s your last chance to get terrified at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with The Ain’t Sisters! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, July 7

Spend the night with Johnny at the Fox Theatre with their Coca Cola Film Festival screening of Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING (1980) at 7:30pm! The Clermont Lounge gets down and dirty with Cadillac Junkies, V8 Death Car, Pearl Button Radio and Captain & Maybelle’s circus shenanigans! Get old-timey at The Earl with Ben Trickey’s LP release party, along with Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer & the Bicycle Eaters, Brandon Schmidt, and An English Place! Rock out with Flag, War on Women and The Dirty Nil at the Masquerade! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt  goes acoustic at Wild Wing Café! Catch a screening of Penny Marshall’s A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) at Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series at 8pm. Get some sugar with Sweet Betty & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Get Rhythm & Soul in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, July 8

Eddie’s Attic delivers a night of gypsy jazz with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for Gents in the Round with Reverend Hylton, Miguel Olascuagra, Kool Kat Caleb Warren and Jason Waller! Or go old-school folk-style at The Star Bar with Sailing to Denver, The Vivants and City Mouse! Make your way to Diesel Filling Station for Kool Kat Chris Hamer’s (UrbnPop) solo art show, “Exit Stage Left”! Get in the ring in Hell with our blog BFF, Wrestling with Pop Culture’s “Culture Shock II” featuring Monstrosity Championship Wrestling and more at the Masquerade! Or catch Whitford/St. Holmes in Heaven! Surf on over to The Earl for a night with Daikaiju, CHEW, and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists! Club Famous is throwing a hellacious night of hula during RITUAL’s Gothic Luau with Kool Kat VJ Anthony at 10pm! Saved by the Band gets down at Venkman’s!  It’s a night of ‘70s rock at Avondale Towne Cinema with Dirty Harriet and Red Head Diamond!  Boogie on down to the Earl Smith Strand Theatre for their Jukebox Giants: Motown & More! event, running through July 10! Jazz it up with Joey Sommerville at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s “Jazz on the Lawn” event! Make your way to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night with the Barry Richman Band! Houserocker Johnson gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! Rock out under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with Lethal Rhythm! 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, July 9

Surf on down to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp, featuring Crazy Aces, The One & Only Bill Davis and The Flamethrowers! Rev on down to The Star Bar for a night with Kool Kat Dave Weil and The Blacktop Rockets, the Lizardmen and the Beech Benders! Get your boogie on with the ghosties at the Masquerade during the Ghostbustin’ Dance Party, with Kool Kat VJ Anthony! Rock out with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at Stix Bar & Grill! Mark Michelson & Friends deliver a night of classic rock and metal jam at the Red Light Café! Roxie Watson gets down and dirty at Eddie’s Attic, followed by the legendary Kool Kat, Col. Bruce Hampton! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at Grazing Here (Peachtree City)! Folk it up with Cereus Bright and William Wild at Grocery on Home! Rock out with Wolfspider and Burns Like Fire at The Highlander! The Mulligan Brothers folk it up at the Red Clay Theatre! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s POM POKO (2012) in 35mm at 10am, and Hayao Miyazaki’s THE WIND RISES (2013) at 1pm! Make your way to Venkman’s for a night with Dusty Roads! Get the blues with Albert White at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Big Bill Morganfield at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, July 10

Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s POM POKO (2012) in 35mm at 10am, and Hayao Miyazaki’s THE WIND RISES (2013) at 1pm! Flamenco on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Cristian Puig, Julie Moon and more! Make your way to City Winery for a night with Shawn Mullins! Get some rockin’ soul with Patrick Sweany at Park Tavern! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonks you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ!

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Beat the heat and shake a tail feather in Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, June 27

Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library and catch a screening of Frank Capra’s classic, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) at 10:30am! Get funky and 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!” Fire it up with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies!

Tuesday, June 28

Let Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonk you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ! Geek it up the MST3K Reunion Show live at theatres across Atlanta at 8pm [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Perimeter Pointe 10; Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan)]! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! The Hollidays get down at Blind Willie’s! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 29

Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Kool Kat Brooks Mason with The Georgia Flood get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Stomp on down to The Earl for a night with I Want Whisky! If you’ve got a sweet tooth you’ll want to catch TCM’s Big Screen Classic screening of Mel Stuart’s WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) screening at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); and Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan)]! Swing on by Blind Willie’s for a night with the Electromatics! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, June 30

For a night of classic cinema, make your way to the Fox Theatre for their screening of Blake Edwards’ BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961), during the Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival at 7:30pm! Shake a tail feather with Blast-Off Burlesque and more at The Earl for a QUEER MOXIE film screening and Rock ‘n’ Roll Variety Show! Honkytonk on down to the Clermont Lounge every other Thursday for a night with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and Ghost Riders Car Club! Rev it up acoustic-style with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Hard Rock Café! Fly on by Atlantic Station for a screening of Tony Scott’s TOP GUN (1986) during their Movies in Central Park series at 8pm. It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party with Lloyd’s Rocksteady Revue! Get Rhythm & Soul in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! Get down with Heather Luttrell at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, July 1

Get to skankin’ with The Toasters, Kool Kat Rev. Andy and the Southern Ska Syndicate and Razorcombs at The Star Bar! Get some neo-tropical soul with Adron and the Fantasy Guys at The Earl! Get adventurous and catch a screening of Robert Zemeckis’ ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) at SCADShow! Geek it up for two nights at 7 Stages with a burly-Q tribute to Marvel Space Rascals during the Hooked on a Peelin’ event! Rock out with Bad Company and Joe Walsh at Chastain Park! George Hughley & The Shadows get the blues at Blind Willie’s! Boogie down under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! 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, July 2

Rock on down to The Star Bar for their Punk Rock Dependence Fest, featuring a rockin’ showdown with Shadow People Sideshow, Rotten Stitches, Nervous Aggression, Pleasures of the Ultraviolent, The Riggs, the Symptoms, Five ‘O Clock Devil, Taped Fist, Skatanic, Skum of the Slum and more!  Funk it up with the The Brand New Heavies at the Buckhead Theatre! Or get down with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, July 3

Make your way to the Red Light Café for Vinyl Night! Make your way to Chastain Park for a night with The String Cheese Incident! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And blues it up with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonks you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ!

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.

Mark A. Harmon plays Professor Marvel, aka the Wizard of Oz in the new musical adaptation this week at the Fox Theatre.

By Geoff Slade
Contributing Writer

There is little in American pop culture as universally, cross-generationally and continuously beloved as the 1939 film adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Everyone knows the characters, the songs, and why wicked witches don’t shower. The national tour of stage musical THE WIZARD OF OZ, running June 21-26 at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, takes audiences arm-in-arm back down the Yellow Brick Road.

Oz had already appeared on the big screen by the time Judy Garland went over the rainbow, including silent versions in 1910 and 1925, and a 1933 cartoon, as well as several stage versions (including one by author L. Frank Baum himself in 1902). However, it’s the MGM classic that became the definitive version immediately upon its release 77 years ago this summer. It was nominated for Best Picture (but lost to GONE WITH THE WIND) and won Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

The musical, which premiered in London in 2011, is based on the 1939 film, with all your favorite moments reimagined for the stage. That means Munchkins, flying monkeys, and dead witches! And what would Oz be without the vibrant Technicolor hues of the film—ruby slippers on yellow bricks to the Emerald City! Expect the same rainbow palate on stage. In addition to the classic songs, the production features new songs by musical theater legends Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The Wizard of Oz himself, Mark A. Harmon, took a few minutes last week to chat with ATLRetro.

ATLRetro: I’d wager you’ve been an enormous fan of the 1939 MGM masterpiece your entire life, but I guess you don’t necessarily have to be. Why did you want to be in this production?

Mark A. Harmon: Of course! I’ve been a huge fan! I remember as a child one of the major television networks would run it once a year I believe around Thanksgiving. It was always a major event that you waited for all year. I have to admit that when I was asked to audition I was a little hesitant at first. I thought “How can you possibly do a live version that could even come close to the beauty of the movie?” Then I saw some clips from the first national tour and was completely blown away! We’re seven months into the tour and I’m still amazed at the production quality of this show.

Professor Marvel brings his magical wagon to Kansas in THE WIZARD OF OZ stage adaptation.

What new does this production bring to the story?

The main story remains faithful to the movie and all the original songs are performed. There are new songs added by the brilliant Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. One of them is “Wonders of the World” which is sung by yours truly as Professor Marvel. There have also been some changes to the dialogue. But rest assured, all your favorite lines are still there.

As an actor, is it difficult preparing for such a famous role?

It is a little daunting at first. There’s always the possibility of being compared to such a well known performance. But each actor brings a unique quality to their role. Even though the audience may have a familiar performance in their head, I believe they quickly start accepting you as that character.

In addition to the 1939 film, there have been countless adaptations, interpretations, sequels and prequels to Baum’s original book (1900). What is it about the story that has kept inspiring revisits to Oz for over a century?

I’m sure there are whole books devoted to answering that question. But for me personally, I think it’s one of the classic coming of age stories. What adolescent hasn’t felt misunderstood and wanted to run away?

Dorothy and her friends meet Oz the Great and Powerful in the Emerald City,

What’s it like on the road? Do you get to spend any time exploring the cities you visit?

It depends entirely on the schedule. This is my third tour and I’m not going to lie, some can be downright grueling. I’ve done tours where we’ve played five or six cities in one week traveling by bus. I think it’s important for people to know that when you go see a touring show, especially one that is only playing one or two nights, that the actors may very well have spent anywhere up to eight hours on a bus that day. This one, however, has been without a doubt the most enjoyable mainly because of the fact that we’ve been playing each city for no less than a week. It’s been such a treat to be able to have the time to do some real exploring!

Thanks again for chatting with ATLRetro. Break a leg!  Anything else you want to mention?

You’re very welcome and thank you.  I’d just like to say that I’m so excited to be returning to the beautiful Fox Theatre and invite everyone, young and old, to come see this spectacular production of THE WIZARD OF OZ!

The Wizard of Oz runs June 21-26 at The Fox Theatre. Show times and ticket information are available  here. All photos are used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Come see what’s shakin’ in Retro Atlanta this week! Rev it up, rock it out and get hep to the jive with a rockin’ menu of Atlanta’s pre-21st century shenanigans dug up just for you!

Monday, June 20

Get mischievous and surf on down to The Earl for a night with Fiend Without a Face, The Birth Defects and Bad Spell! Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library and catch a screening of Frank Capra’s classic, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944) at 10:30am! 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! Rock out and honkytonk it up with John Doe (X) and Jesse Dayton at City Winery! Fire it up with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck at Blind Willie’s! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies!

Tuesday, June 21

Get your weird “Avant Garage” fix with Pere Ubu delivering his “Coed Jail!” Tour (Songs from 1975-1982) at The Earl! Get some soul with Thunder Gypsy at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get revived post-punk style with The Wombats at Center Stage! Or let Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonk you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ! Catch a screening of Howard Hawks’ MAN’S FAVORITE SPORT (1964) at the Decatur Library! Get your retro fix at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! The Fox Theatre presents “The Wizard of Oz” through June 26, and keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview soon! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Spend the night with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah in the Little Vinyl Lounge! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Get the blues with Atlanta Boogie at Blind Willie’s! Rock out with Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project at Eddie’s Attic! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 22

It’s a night of surf noir ‘n’ garage with Midnight Larks, Stonefield and Lightnin’ Ray at The Earl! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Kool Kat Brooks Mason with The Georgia Flood get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Blues it up with Kool Kat Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo at Blind Willie’s! Bluegrass it up with Shawn Spencer at Venkman’s! Rock out again with Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project at Eddie’s Attic! Get your retro fix for another night at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, June 23

Rock out with Kool Kats The Joy Kills, SheHeHe, Ganges Phalanges and Mea Culpa at the Clermont Lounge! Get adventurous and catch Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) at Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series at 8pm. It’s a night of retro soul and folk rock at The Earl with Chelsea Shag, Von Grey and Man Up, Yancey! Eddie’s Attic delivers a rockin’ night with Kevn Kinney! Make your way to Cabbagetown Park for a screening of Tony Scott’s TOP GUN (1986) at 6:30pm! Or catch a screening of Roland Emmerich’s INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) playing at AMC Phipps Plaza 14 and Carmike Cinemas Movies ATL at 5pm! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Get Rhythm & Soul in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! Blues it up with Kristin & The Honeybadgers at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, June 24

Get mystical with DJ Doctor Q’s Mythic Electro Swing Atlanta event at the Red Light Café! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles’ CD release party at Motorheads in McDonough! Get mischievous with Magoo’s Heros, The Winks and Squadron at the Highlander! The Buckhead Theatre delivers a rockin’ night with The Jayhawks! The Way Back Band dishes out a night of ‘50s-‘70s hits at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with the Randall Bramblett band at Eddie’s Attic! Experience Journey with Scarab at Venkman’s! Stomp on down to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with the Joe McGuiness Trio and Cicada Rhythm! Five Eight rocks out at Smith’s Olde Bar! Jerry Garcia’s Symphonic Celebration featuring Warren Haynes and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra invades Chastain Park! Jazz it up with Joe Gransden at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s “Jazz on the Lawn” event! Make your way to Lakewood Amphitheatre for a night with The Cure! Make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! The Stella Vees get down at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Sandra Hall & The Shadows get the blues at Blind Willie’s! Boogie down with Platinum Band Atlanta under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! 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, June 25

Get your garage rock ‘n’ blues fix with Young Antiques, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and Highriders at The Star Bar! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1993) at 10am and Hayao Myazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988) at 1pm! Rev on down to Mableton for the Bel Air Car Show & Pin-Ups event! Stagger on over to Club Famous for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s Dark 80s: The Cure Edition Music Video Dance Party! Celebrate 40 years of Cedar Hill at the Red Light Café! Blues it up with Willy Jackson at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or get down with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Blind Willie’s! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at the Dallas Pub House! Stomp on down to Venkman’s for a night with The Lowhills! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of bleus ‘n’ soul with Truett Lollis! Make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up again with his rockin’ blues!  St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, June 26

If you’ve got a sweet tooth you’ll want to catch TCM’s Big Screen Classic screening of Mel Stuart’s WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) screening at theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16 (McDonough); and Georgian Stadium 14 (Newnan)]! Kool Kat Gringo Star rocks out at Park Tavern! Spend the night with Steely Dan and Steve Winwood at Chastain Park! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1993) at 10am and Hayao Myazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988) at 1pm! My Parent’s Basement delivers their June Bizarre Bazaar! Funk it up with the Atlanta Funk Society at the Elliott Street Pub! Venkman’s delivers a Yacht Rock Revue unplugged! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And blues it up with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm! (On hiatus as of May 16 until further notice)

Kool Kat Rich Desantis honkytonks you up with his Honkytonk Extravaganza revvin’ it up every Tuesday at Bone Lick BBQ!

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Self-proclaimed “roving artist and makeshift film scholar” Bill Daniel is far from his various stomping grounds (Houston; San Fransisco; New York; Portland, etc.) and continues his nomadic journey touring the south and releasing upon Atlanta his “SFVHS: California Artists’ Video 1988-1999” event at Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery this Saturday, June 18 at 7:30pm. Daniel plans to screen a cornucopia of rare and “nearly forgotten” VHS video works he filmed in the ‘80s and ‘90s during the height of San Francisco’s highly politicized environmental and anti-warmongering protest era, followed by discussions about DIY artistic strategies, his time spent teaching at the revitalized Black Mountain School and the state of art education today. “SFVHS: California Artists’ Video 1988-1999” is curated by Daniel and hosted by Andy Ditzler [March 2011; see ATLRetro’s Kool Kat feature on Andy, here] of Film Love Atlanta. You won’t want to miss out on this exciting and rare opportunity to delve into the work of legendary experimental filmmaker, Bill Daniel.

Daniel, jack-of-all-creative-trades dove head first into everything from experimental documentary filmmaking to installation art to zine publishing and much more. He’s lived the dream of every DIY artist, being awarded grants from the Film Arts Foundation and Creative Capital to being granted residencies at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Headlands Center for the Arts and the Center for Land Use Interpretation. His films have also screened at film festivals across the world, including Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival) and The Portland Art Museum’s Northwest Film & Video Festival, where he took home the award for Best Documentary for his documentary short, SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM STORY (1998). Daniel’s 2005 full-length “train-hopping graffiti doc” WHO IS BOZO TEXINO?, described by the Sacramento News & Review as, “a hypnotic, rail-rattling tone poem of subversive wayfarer wisdom,” submerged him into the land of “hobo jungles” and has made him the cream of the crop amongst today’s DIY visual artists and renegade nomadic filmmakers.

ATLRetro caught up with Bill Daniel for a quick interview about his VHS years; punk rock being the gateway to the subversive arts; his time spent with Artists’ Television Access (ATA); and more!

“Endless Endless Summer” (1988) – Bill Daniel

ATLRetro:  As a filmmaker in the field, we’re sure you’re quite aware that despite the technological boom that’s engulfed this generation, VHS has begun its own interesting resurgence (the viewing more-so than the filming), even if just among film addicts and history buffs. What do you think it is that draws people to the nostalgia that is VHS?

Bill Daniel: VHS is a glowy soft and fuzzy picture machine in a world of hard and sharp picture machines. Half-inch magnetic tape, passing across a spinning video head that reads an analog electronic pulse and then shoots tiny bursts of light onto a vacuum tube in the shape of a viewing screen—it’s a time machine that lets us look into the past with 20th century eyes. We are like bugs drawn to this weird enchanted light blob that functions as part of our memory.

Can you tell our readers a little about San Francisco’s Mission District Collective Artist’s Television Access, where your VHS tapes originally screened?

ATA was started in the mid-80s by a small group of friends as a low-cost video editing spot and a performance and media gallery. A weekly cable access show of artists’ work was produced and broadcast on the local cable channel, which was pretty wild—some really kooky and radical stuff that was kinda snuck into the list of program channels. I imagined how weird it must have been when unsuspecting channel surfers stumbled onto the ATA show!

Over the years ATA evolved, and amazingly endured. We survived multiple real estate booms and busts. The funky old storefront at the corner of Valencia St. and 21st is now a little island of weirdos in a roiling sea of hyper gentrification. There’s still a core community of people left in SF who are participants at ATA, so it’s like a safe house meeting place for survivors in a tech-money culture war.

In the early ‘80s, you photographed Texas punk shows and the punk scene in general. What drew you to that landscape and what you were trying to garner from that period of your life?

“Redwood Report” (1990) Greta Snider and Bill Daniel

Going to punk shows in Austin was my first exposure to any sort of subversive art and community. You know the story: punk rock as the gateway drug to the world of art and ideas. It’s a corny thing to say, but it’s true! I know that for a ton of people, all over the country and for decades now, punk shows were a first encounter with radical possibilities.

Who would you say are your biggest artistic influences? And why?

Well, especially in the context of this show of San Francisco video, one of my greatest influences and mentors is filmmaker Craig Baldwin, who has been at the core of ATA Gallery for 30 years. Craig lives in the space, has a crazy archive/editing zone in the basement, and has been programming film shows on Saturday nights there for three decades. His film series there, called “Other Cinema”, was pretty much my film education. Most of the videos I’ll be showing at the Eyedrum show screened in Craig’s weekly shows.

Can you tell our readers a little about the Black Mountain School Program and why these kinds of programs are important in the community?

Oh wow, too much to tell! Yeah, I’m just coming back from a month-long immersive experiment in art education and community. This was the first year of this project which aimed to start an alternative to teaching and learning art at the site of the original Black Mountain College. I’ll definitely be talking about this at the Eyedrum screening, and I’ll talk about the two classes I taught (a lecture about DIY touring strategies for media artists, and a workshop on no-budget b/w photography called Junk Camera). I hope people at the Eyedrum show will be down to have a discussion about what’s going on in arts education these days. You know, the whole cost/debt/administratively screwed up state of the art school deal. Everyone knows it’s time to start building new forms and structures and possibilities for change in how we share art-making skills and dialog.

As you tour the south with your SFVHS: California Artists’ Video 1988-1999 event, what kind of feedback are you getting from your audience? How does the current feedback differ from the feedback you received when the tapes first aired?

“Thought Crimes in the Satiation Pool” – Barney Haynes and Barry Schwartz

Well it’s pretty shocking to realize how long ago 1990 was. Haha! People have been digging this program, being able to see videos that are impossible to find now. The “EARTH FIRST!” tape is a real relic— hippies going wild wrecking logging machinery and bringing crucial issues of ecological and economic sustainability to light— but it also harkens to the Occupy movement, so I think there’s some lessons in these things.

Are there any filmmakers today (experimental and/or narrative) that you find intriguing?

There’s a new burst of life in experimental filmmaking these days. Actually, maybe two bursts. One is coming out of the academic side, since there’s been a big growth of experimental film teaching in the universities and so by now there’s a new crop of radical filmmakers who are professors and who are making progressive work and inspiring another generation. On the other side there are some thriving new non-institutional situations that are making and showing experimental work. There’s Mono No Aware in New York that does regular screenings and is running a lab to do experimental film processing; seems like there is a whole community building up around their facility and shows. In Oakland there’s Black Hole Cinema which is about as punk as a film scene there is. I dearly love that venue and the filmmaker who runs it, Tooth, who has been making brilliant and raw films, very much in the wild energy of the ‘60s/’70s days of 16mm.

Can you offer any advice to our readers about film, personal expression, and creativity?

I can relay something that was affirmed at a lecture I attended here at Black Mountain. Tim Kerr who is a painter and rad musician (was a member of the legendary Texas punk bands The Big Boys and the Lord High Fixers and a bunch of others) came up to the school to talk about his experiences through decades of DIY art and music culture and how the community of touring punk bands evolved. So one thing Tim has always said, painted, conveyed is “all self-expression is valid.” It’s such a simple statement, but it’s an idea to never lose sight of. Thanks Tim Kerr!

“Clarion Alley Mural Project”

What’s next for Bill Daniel?

I’m feeling incredibly regenerated and reaffirmed coming out of this month at Black Mountain School. I see that teaching is becoming a bigger part of my work as an artist. I’m not going to go back to school to get an MFA so I can become a professor, but I’m looking at ways that teaching can fit into my own practice. So these two classes I taught up here— touring strategies and black and white photography— I’m just going to smash these two things together and start touring with a photography workshop: Vagabond Photography College in a van.

Photos courtesy of Bill Daniel and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Come see what’s shakin’ in Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, June 13

Get futuristic with Sean Connery at The Plaza Theater during their screening of John Boorman’s ZARDOZ (1974), running through June 15! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! Get funky and 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!”Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies!

Tuesday, June 14

Let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your evening with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: June in Jumpin! Edition, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Spend the night with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah in the Little Vinyl Lounge! Andrew Black gets down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Or get psyched blues-style with Reverend Freakchild at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 15

Skank on down to the Masquerade and funk it up with Fishbone! Or catch a screening of Wolfgang Peterson’s classic, THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7pm! Rock out at The Earl with Anvil, Against the Grain and Gunpowder Gray! Kool Kat Brooks Mason with The Georgia Flood get down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Joe McGuinness Trio dishes out a night of roots and Americana at Blind Willie’s! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, June 16

Rock on down to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their screening of IGGY POP: LIVE IN BASEL (2015) at 7pm! Or catch a screening of Paul Verhoeven’s SHOWGIRLS (1995) at The Plaza Theater at 8pm! “Party with the Past” at the Fox Theatre at 6:30pm! Rock on down to 529 for Small Reactions’ tape release party with Mantra Love, the OTONANA Trio and Pseudo Color! Rock out with Weezer at the Lakewood Amphitheatre! The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents their “Great American Music” concert at the Verizon Amphitheatre! Skip school and catch a screening of John Hughes’ FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986) at the Aurora Cineplex in Roswell! Lightnin’ Ray dishes out a night of acoustic classics at Venkman’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Get Rhythm & Soul with the Diamond Street Rhythm Machine in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! Blues it up with Sweet Betty & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, June 17

It’s a night of surf ‘n’ soul at The Star Bar with Ex Wives, The Gartrells and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists! Rock out with Hyperspace at the Highlander! Jazz it up with Matthew Kaminski at the High Museum! Grant Green Jr. delivers “The Jazz of Prince” at Venkman’s! Surf on down to the Decatur Beach Party featuring a boardwalk, food, games and live music with the Jugtime Ragband and Electric Avenue from 5-11pm! Bluegrass it up with the Dappled Grays at the Red Light Café! The Northside Tavern gets the blues with Stoney Brooks! Swing on by Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night with Doug Deming and Dennis Gruenling & The Jewel Tones! A1A pays tribute to Jimmy Buffett at Park Tavern! Damon Fowler gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! It’s Salsa Dance Night at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event, so cha-cha under the dinosaurs with the Salsambo Dance Studio while sippin’ a few cocktails!  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, June 18

Make your way to EyeDrum to catch Kool Kat Andy Ditzler’s Film Love Atlanta’s presentation of Bill Daniel’s SFVHS: California Artist’s Video event featuring screenings of his classic ‘90s political shorts (see our Kool Kat interview on Daniel soon!) Wake the dead at the Historic Oakland Cemetery with their Tunes from the Tombs 2016 event, featuring the Atlanta Funk Society, James Hall, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, Adron, The Return, The Dirty Doors, The B-53s, Fauxgerty, The Clermonts and more! Tiki it up at Trader Vic’s for their World of Tiki Collectibles Seminar at 5pm! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for their Monty Python Holy Grail Pub Crawl with five stops and a screening of MONTY PYTHON’S HOLY GRAIL, beginning at 7pm! Twist on down to the Little Vinyl Lounge (Star Bar) for Dusty Booze’s 50s/60s Rock and Roll Party! Sadie Hawkins delivers her Cheap Thrills! Burly-Q on a Budget event at the Red Light Café! Catch Brit Floyd at the Fox Theatre! Surf on down to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp! with Kenny Howes & The Wow!, Seawhores and Holy Mountain Top Removers! Get revived at the Decatur Music Fest featuring the Milk Carton Kids, Elephant Revival, Penny & Sparrow and Eliot Bronson! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO (1992) at 10am and SPIRITED AWAY (2001) at 1pm! Or catch a screening of BABE (1995) at the Center for Puppetry Arts at 7pm! Yacht Rock Schooner grooves it up at Venkman’s! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Dixie Tavern, with Hillbilly Casino! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Delta Moon! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of rock ‘n’ soul with The Hollidays! Get bluesy with Grant Green, Jr. at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, June 19

Rock out with Richie Ramone, DDC and Cadillac Junkies at the Masquerade! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO (1992) at 10am and SPIRITED AWAY (2001) at 1pm! Or catch a screening of Wolfgang Peterson’s classic, THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 2pm! Venkman’s delivers a Father’s Day Beatles Brunch with the Elegant Bachelors! Polka it up with “Weird Al” Yankovic at the Fox Theatre! Eddie’s Attic gets down with their “Let’s Go Crazy” Prince Cover Night! Make your way to Chastain Park for a night with Kenny Rogers! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

MacGillivey Freeman’s 2013 documentary, NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE, commemorating the U.S. National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at the Fernbank Museum’s IMAX screens through June 16! (LAST CHANCE)

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm! (On hiatus as of May 16 until further notice)

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.

The Mothership lands in Atlanta this weekend. No, it’s not a Funkadelic concert, but the first annual State of Black Science Fiction Convention (SOSBFC) at the Southwest Arts Center Saturday June 11 and Sunday June 12. For all the talk about accepting the diversity of the alien, science fiction’s early history is peopled by white super-men protagonists, and some today seem to want to keep it that way if recent controversies in fandom  are any indication. But black writers, artists and filmmakers have been emerging to create some of the most dynamic and innovative speculative fiction today, pushing boundaries and re-imaging earth’s future and space as diverse, complex, uncomfortable, beautiful and inspiring.

SOSBFC aims to bring together the most comprehensive celebration of black creators of science fiction, fantasy, horror and comics to date. Just a glance at the programming schedule is sure to cause sensory overload with the mix of panels, speakers, workshops, presentations and kids’ activities to nurture the next generation of creators and fans–something most cons neglect. There’s also a dealers room and art show, cosplay is encouraged, and there’s even going to be onsite food that’s more than pizza or burgers, we hear – something most cons neglect! Whether you’re into Afrofuturism, steamfunk, cyberfunk, dieselfunk, sword and soul, rococoa, Afrikan martial arts, or just what the find out what the funk is happening, SOSBFC is the place.

Needless to say, our choice of Kool Kat this week was easy. ATLRetro caught up with Atlanta-based writer Balogun Ojetade, co-founder with writer/editor/publisher Milton Davis, to find out more about how Atlanta’s newest spec-lit convention got launched, what’s planned and what’s next.

ATLRetro: To many, Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler lit the fuse on an African-American SF perspective, yet W.E.B. DuBois published an SF story back in 1908. Which SF/spec-lit authors were early favorites/inspirations for you?

Balogun Ojetade: My early inspirations were Charles R. Saunders, the Father of Sword and Soul and creator of the Imaro series of novels and the brilliant master storyteller and poet, Henry Dumas, whose short stories “Fon,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “Ark of Bones” were the greatest influences on my horror and fantasy writing style as a young man.

Atlanta’s been characterized as a center for Afrofuturism. Can you talk a little about the local community of black writers and publishers? Do you feel like you were part of a movement?

Atlanta is where the now worldwide State of Black Science Fiction author, publisher, artist, filmmaker, game designer and cosplayers collective was founded. As one of the founders of this collective and one of its most active members, I am certainly part of a movement, which is still very much alive. I am also one of the people who founded the Steamfunk Movement, along with author and publisher Milton Davis, who also resides in Atlanta.

What’s the specific origin story of SOBSFC?

The origin of the State of Black Science Fiction Convention, or SOBSF Con, began about four years ago. In the State of Black Science Fiction Facebook Group we had a lively discussion about the need for a convention that would not only showcase comic books by creators of African descent, but would also showcase novels, films, artwork, fashion design, cosplay, African martial arts and much more. We wanted to give con goers a full and enriching experience.

It was originally decided that each region would host a convention – one would be in Atlanta, one in the DC / Maryland / Baltimore area, one in New York City, one in Chicago and so on – on the same days and times. We would call this mega event Diaspora Con. Well, certain things happened that let Milton Davis and I know that Diaspora Con was not to be, so we scrapped the idea, but the desire to give the world a convention that showcased black speculative works continued to burn.

In early 2015, Milton and I decided we would host a con that would draw fans and creators of black speculative fiction, film, fashion and fabrication from around the country. We agreed on the name State of Black Science Fiction Convention and then started making plans. By mid-2015, we made our plans public and received positive feedback from hundreds of people who said they would attend such a con in Atlanta and here we are.

Do you think SOBSFC and a greater push for diversity in SF publishing is especially needed right now in light of the Sad and Rabid Puppies Hugo Awards controversy and Internet outrage about a black lead in the recent Star Wars movie?

These controversies and the outrage is nothing new. You have always had and will always have ignorant and fearful people in all walks of life. The science fiction and fantasy community is not exempt from this. There has always been a need for a SOBSF Con and for a constant push for diversity in SFF publishing. The more we push, the more people know we are here. The more people know we are here, the more that know there are alternatives to the racist, sexist rubbish they have had to endure for so long.

SOBSFC is billed as the “most comprehensive presentation of black speculative fiction ever.” There’s a lot going on for just $25 for both days (a bargain compared to DragonCon, most cons).  I know this is a hard question but what 3-5 pieces of programming should con attendees be sure not to miss and why?  

Yes, it is a hard question because the programming is so Blacktastic, but I will share a few that I know people will absolutely be blown away by.

1. The YOU are the Hero Cosplay Contest: Imagine hordes of black cosplayers of all ages and body types presenting mainstream, independent AND original characters from film, comic books, anime, manga, or of their own design. TOO cool!
2. The Future is Stupid Art Show: Dozens of Afrofuturistic pieces of artwork by Atlanta’s favorite artists will be found all over the exterior and interior of the convention facility.
3. The Big, Beautiful, Black Roundtable: At this “Town Meeting” we will present, discuss, listen to and put into effect strategies and collaborations to take black speculative fiction/film/fashion/fabrication to the next level!
4. The Charles R. Saunders Tribute: We will share stories about how this great man has influenced our writing, his history and great contribution to the advancement of speculative fiction and we will read excerpts from his works, all before presenting Charles with a much deserved award.

 Can you talk a little about the writer guests and how they reflect the variety and scope of black spec-lit today?

We have some great guests at SOBSF Con and the authors represent the entire spectrum of speculative fiction. Here are a few:

1. Valjeanne Jeffers: Writes horror, Steamfunk and Sword and Soul.
2. Zig Zag Claybourne: Writes action and adventure, Rococoa and Cyberfunk.
3. Derrick Ferguson: New pulp icon. Creator of black pulp heroes Dillon and Fortune McCall.
4. Cerece Rennie Murphy: Writes urban fantasy for adult, young adult and middle grade readers.
5. Brandon Massey: Master of horror and suspense.
6. Hannibal Tabu: Comic book writer and critic.

We also have authors of Cyberfunk, Dieselfunk, Dark Universe (Space Opera) Afrofuturistic fusions of hip-hop, jazz, blues, time travel, magic realism and urban fantasy and much more. Black speculative fiction is very broad and very deep. Con-goers are in for a powerful experience.

This is a really exciting time for black filmmakers in SF and horror. Can you talk a little about that and how that will be reflected in SOBSFC’s programming?

As a lifelong fan and creator of science fiction and fantasy with strong horror elements and straight up horror, too, I am very excited. The digital age has allowed filmmakers who would have otherwise been unable to tell their stories – stories in which the Black character doesn’t die within the first 10 minutes or die sacrificing himself or herself so the white hero can live on to save the day – to now tell stories in which Black people are the heroes, sheroes and even mastermind villains.

Many great independent films and web series have been developed, screened and gained massive followings and Hollywood has been paying attention, so now you have the Black Panther stealing the show in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and even getting his own movie. You have Idris Elba playing Roland in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Will Smith and Viola Davis starring in SUICIDE SQUAD as Killer Croc, Deadshot and Amanda Waller, respectively.

And television is even more progressive, giving starring roles to black people in several Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror-themed series and having very diverse casts on these shows.

But again, this all began with black indie filmmakers. To reflect this, SOBSF Con is featuring our Black Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Festival, which showcases short and feature films by independent creators. Many of the films creators will also be on hand to share their creative process and answer questions from the audience. Just a few of the films screening at the film festival are: PUMZI (award-winning science fiction short from Africa),  DAYBLACK (horror), BLACK PANTHER: STORMS OF CARNAGE Parts 1 & 2 (superhero / fantasy), REIGN OF DEATH (dieselfunk), DANGER WORD (horror; written and produced by master horror author Tananarive Due and science fiction icon Steven Barnes), RITE OF PASSAGE: INITIATION (steamfunk), and a special screening of the science fiction film RETURNED.

What about comics at SOBSFC? 

You cannot have a science fiction and fantasy convention without comic books! While comic books are not the focus at SOBSF Con – our focus is on all aspects of black speculative creation – most of the creators and fans at SOBSF Con were heavily influenced and inspired to “do” Science Fiction and Fantasy from our love of comic books, manga, animation and anime. Thus, there will be comic book vendors at SOBSF Con and some giants in the industry are distinguished guests, including Dawud Anyabwile, the co-creator and artist of the iconic blockbuster comic book series BROTHERMAN; Marvel Comics artist Afua Richardson, best known for her work in the award-winning and politically potent Image / Top Cow miniseries GENIUS; Tony Cade, comic book publisher and owner of comic book company, Terminus Media; and TUSKEGEE HEIRS creators Marcus Williams and Greg Burnham, just to name a few. The creators and publishers will share their knowledge and experience with con-goers on the Create Your Own Comic Book and Black Craft and Consciousness in Comic Books panels.

Atlanta is known for its cosplay community. Are you encouraging costuming and will there be activities for cosplayers?

We highly encourage cosplay and invite all the cosplayers in Atlanta to come out and join us! We are very excited about our YOU are the Hero Cosplay Contest I mentioned above, and we also have the Cosplay in Non-Canon Bodies panel, facilitated by popular cosplayers, TaLynn Kel, who will be joined by popular cosplayers, JaBarr Lasley and Dru Phillips.

Balogun Ojetade.

What else would you like people to know about SOBSFC?

While SOBSF Con offers all the great things you expect from a great fan convention – awesome panels, cosplayers, genre films, a dealers’ room with all kinds of cool stuff for sale – we also have offerings you probably have never seen at any con before, such as Tiny Yogis, a yoga class for children; 5P1N0K10 (SPINOKIO), an Afrofuturistic, hip-hop puppet show by a master puppeteer named Jeghetto; Traditional Arms, Armor and Martial Arts of Afrika; Afrikan Martial Arts for Youth Workshop; traditional African artifacts and soaps, oils and fabrics sold in the dealers’ room; your questions answered through traditional Afrikan casting of lots by the Amazing Identical Ojetade Twins (one is a 13-year-old boy; the other a 6-year-old girl); gourmet pot pies; and, most importantly, a place where you can be yourself without judgment, without rude comments, but with love and appreciation. This is a fun event for the entire family you do NOT want to miss!

Finally, would you like to take a moment to talk about your own writing? What’s your latest work and what are you up to next? Feel free to add where we can find you at SOBSFC!

I am always happy to talk about my writing. For those who don’t know me, I write fiction, nonfiction and screenplays. I also direct films and choreograph stunts and fights for films. As a fiction writer, I am most known for my Steamfunk novels, MOSES: THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIET TUBMAN and THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIET TUBMAN: FREEDONIA; my Sword and Soul novel, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AFRICA; and for the STEAMFUNK anthology, which I co-edited with author Milton Davis. However, my novels cover the spectrum of black speculative fiction: Dieselfunk, Rococoa, Afrofuturism; urban fantasy; action-adventure and horror.

My latest work is BENEATH THE SHINING JEWEL, a horror novel set in Ki Khanga, a Sword and Soul world created by Milton Davis and me for our upcoming tabletop role-playing game, KI KHANGA. I am finishing up a Dark Universe (space opera) novel and have a horror short film I wrote slated to begin production in the fall. Finally, in August, comic book artist Chris Miller (Chris Crazyhouse) and I begin work on a graphic novel that is going to blow away fans of manga, comic books and black speculative fiction!

Thanks, so much, for this opportunity and I look forward to seeing everyone at the State of Black Science Fiction Convention June 11 and 12!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Retro Atlanta is red-hot this week! Come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you! We’ve got all the ‘billy you could ever want; classic cinema on the big screen; rock in all varieties and of course a whole lotta’ down and dirty jazz ‘n’ blues! So get off that couch and come see what’s on the Retro menu!

Monday, June 6

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy, so get sinister at The Plaza Theater for their screening of Stanley Kubrick’s classic THE SHINING (1980), running through June 8! Jazz it up with Metro Quest at Avondale Towne Cinema! Make your way to the Red Light Café for Vinyl Night! Blues it up with Bill Sheffield at Blind Willie’s! 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! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!

Tuesday, June 7

Doo wop on down to The Earl for a night with King Khan & The Shrines, Giorgio Murderer and the Midnight Larks! It’s a night of ‘70s glam punk at 529 with Giuda, DINOS BOYS and Antagonizers ATL! Get your psychobilly punk fix at the Masquerade with Tiger Army and The Bellfuries!  The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Get adventurous at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Frankie’s Blues Mission delivers the blues at Blind Willie’s! Or blues it up with Mandi Strachota at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 8

Who you gonna call? You won’t want to miss Ivan Reitman’s classic, GHOSTBUSTERS (1984), screening in theatres across the Atlanta at 2 pm and 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee), Perimeter Pointe 10; Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Northpoint Mall 12 (Alpharetta); Regal Atlantic Station 18; AMC Parkway Pointe 15; AMC Phipps Plaza 14; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 (Cumming); and Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville)]! Or get adventurous at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their second screening of Steven Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Get you classic rock fix at Lakewood Amphitheatre with Journey and The Doobie Brothers! Make your way to the Decatur Library for their screening of Joe Pytka’s SPACE JAM (1996) at 1:30pm! Blind Willie’s gets down with a night of triple pianos with Tigner, Page and Wauchope! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with the Rumpke Mountain Boys! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, June 9

Honkytonk on down to the Clermont Lounge every other Thursday for a night with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and Ghost Riders Car Club! Folk it up with The Brookses and The old Mill Road Band at the Red Light Café! Rock on down to The Drunken Unicorn for a night with The Casket Girls and Stardeath & White Dwarfs! Take a trip to Tromaville as the Horizon Theatre Co. presents “The Toxic Avenger” in Piedmont Park, running through June 12 (see our Kool Kat interview with Nick Arapoglou here)! Michael Chesin of the Elegant Bachelors delivers “Paul McCartney vs. Paul Simon” at Venkman’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and The Disapyramids! Get Rhythm & Soul with the David Ellington Trio in the Little Vinyl Lounge at The Star Bar! Catch “Disaster Aboard the Orlando,” a sci-fi horror comedy playing at 7 Stages through June 12! Blues it up with George Hughley at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, June 10

The Star Bar rocks out with The Dwarves, The Queers, Teenage Rehab and The Sawed Offs! You’re gonna need a bigger boat at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre as they screen Steven Spielberg’s summer classic, JAWS (1975) at 8pm! Get geeky and game it up during the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo, featuring 250+ arcade and pinball games and more, running through June 12! Catch Kool Kat Andy Ditzler and Film Love Atlanta’s “Let’s Work Together” event at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center at 7:30pm! Smithsonian and Map of the Moon rock out at The Earl! The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival kicks off with John Hughes’ FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986) at 7:30pm, and runs through August 27! Funk it up with The Mar-Tans at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Celebrate Elvis at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center with “Heart of a King” at 8pm! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at Wild Wing Café in Alpharetta! Venkman’s delivers acoustic Beatles with Nick from Yacht Rock Revue! Damon Fowler gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! Rock out under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with Lethal Rhythm! 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, June 11

Today kicks off The State of Black Science Fiction Con, running through June 12, and promising the most comprehensive presentation of black speculative fiction, cosplay, Afrofuturism, Steamfunk and more (Keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview with writer and Con co-founder Ojetade Balogun)! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s CASTLE IN THE SKY (1989) at 1pm! It’s movie night at Turner Field, so catch a game and a screening of John Hughes’ FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986)! Shimmy on down to the 19th annual East Point Possums Show, benefiting Lost and Found Youth, featuring 25 performances including Blast-Off Burlesque! Jazz it up with The Hot Club of Atlanta at Venkman’s, followed by the Atlanta Funk Society! Rock out at The Star Bar with Turnstile and The Accidents! The Earl Smith Strand Theatre screens Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978)!  Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Sportsline Bar! Swing on by Chastain Park for a night with Harry Connick, Jr.! Make your way to Stone Mountain Park for the 5th Annual Atlanta Street Food & Music Festival! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at Craze Tavern! Make your way to Kavarna for a night with The Skylarks! Get jazzy with Elgin Wells at the Red Clay Theatre! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of rockin’ blues with Sal’s Soulful Sinners! Get bluesy with Tullamore Road at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, June 12

Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s CASTLE IN THE SKY (1989) at 1pm! It’s your last chance to catch Ivan Reitman’s classic, GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) on the big screen, screening in theatres across the Atlanta at 2 pm and 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee), Perimeter Pointe 10; Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Northpoint Mall 12 (Alpharetta); Regal Atlantic Station 18; AMC Parkway Pointe 15; AMC Phipps Plaza 14; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 (Cumming); and Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville)]! Jazz it up brunch style with The David Ellington Jazz Trio at Venkman’s! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

MacGillivey Freeman’s 2013 documentary, NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE, commemorating the U.S. National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at the Fernbank Museum’s IMAX screens through June 16!

The Fox Theatre’s Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival runs through August 27!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm! (On hiatus as of May 16 until further notice)

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Shake a tail feather in Retro Atlanta this week! Come see what we’ve found for you!

Monday, May 30

It’s an old-time gothic roots revival at the Masquerade with Lincoln Durham, Kool Kat Caleb Warren & The Gents, the Future Reliks and Eddie Rascal! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! 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! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, May 31

The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! The Hollidays dish out a night of soul and rock ‘n’ roll at Blind Willie’s! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Venkman’s every Tuesday! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 1

Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the Boohoo Ramblers! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with Smokey’s Farmland Band! Boogie on down to East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings! The Star Bar gets to twangin’ with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! Or rock on downstairs to the Little Vinyl Lounge for a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, June 2

Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah gets low down with a night of rockin’ garage blues at The Star Bar with Nikki Hill and the Hooten Hallers! Catch Baz Luhrmann’s ROMEO & JULIET (1996) at Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series at 8pm. Take a trip to Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band at the Infinite Energy Center (Gwinnett Center)! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Blues it up with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Blind Willie’s! 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! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, June 3

Start the summer festival season off right and make your way to the 2016 Candler Park Music and Food Fest, running through June 4 featuring a rockin’ retro musical lineup with Galactic, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, The Revivalists, Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Grateful Grass, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Great Peacock, Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & The Hookers, King Baby, Webster and more!  The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra gets intergalactic with The Music of David Bowie: A Musical Odyssey at 8pm! Stomp on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for the Hackensaw Boys, Rodeo Twister and Reverend Justin Hylton! Catch a screening of Martin Ritt’s PARIS BLUES (1961) at the Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams Library at 1:30pm! Jazz it up double time with Joe Gransden and Annie Sellick at Eddie’s Attic with two shows! Make your way to Club Famous for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s Prince: 80s Music Video Dance Night! Get your roots rock and delta blues fix at the Red Light Café with Cody Marlowe & The Dead Flowers and BJ Wilbanks! Get ‘70s mellow at Steve’s Live Music with Red Head Diamond! Nameless Nameless pays tribute to Nirvana at Venkman’s! Blues it up with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at the Northside Tavern! Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials get the blues at Blind Willie’s! Rock out under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with The High Beams! 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, June 4

Geek it up Burly-Q style with a night of smokin’ hot Kool Kittens as Hearts A’Blaze presents The Glamour Geek Preview at the Shakespeare Tavern featuring Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Candi LeCoeur, Tippy Tapage, Kool Kat Roula Roulette, Kool Kat Persephone Phoenix, Kool Kat Ursula Undress and more! Freak it up at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge as Sweet Auburn BBQ presents Atlanta Tattoo Fest 2016 featuring sideshow shenanigans with Captain & Maybelle and live music with Blood on the Harp! Make your way to the two-day Virginia Highlands Summerfest featuring live music by Donna Hopkins, Liz Brasher, Southern Culture on the Skids, Roger Clyne & Peacemakers and more! Twang it up with Dolly Parton at the Infinite Energy Center (Gwinnett Center)! Celebrate 30 years of honkytonkin’ with Slim Chance & The Convicts at Kavarna! Glam it up with Jerome Newton & The Band Who Fell to Earth performing The Songs of Bowie at Aisle 5! Make your way to Terminal West as ATL Collective presents Radiohead’s OK COMPUTER! Make your way to Club Famous for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s Prince: 80s Music Video Dance Night! Bluegrass it up with the Todd Prussin Experience at the Red Light Café! Make your way to the Fox Theatre for Garrison Keillor and “A Prairie Home Companion.” Funk it up at Venkman’s with Frosted Orange! Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE (1999) at 1pm! Catch 10,000 Maniacs at the Buckhead Theatre! Rock out with Michelle Malone at Steve’s Live Music! Boogie on down to The Basement for Heyday’s ‘80s Dance Party! Folk it up with John Gorka at the Red Clay Theatre! Twist on down to the Earl Smith Strand Theatre for The Sock Hops! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a  night of rockin’ blues with Joel Da Silva & Midnight Howl! Get bluesy with Bill Sheffield at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with John Nemeth at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! 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, June 5

Make your way to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema for their Studio Ghibli series, featuring a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE (1999) at 1pm! It’s Day 2 of the Virginia Highlands Summerfest, so come on out to catch City Mouse, Stephen Kellogg and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band! Make your way to Atlanta Symphony Hall for a night with Cyndi Lauper! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

MacGillivey Freeman’s 2013 documentary, NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE, commemorating the U.S. National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at the Fernbank Museum’s IMAX screens through June 16!

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents their “Doorway to an Enlightened World” exhibit, running through Nov. 27!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm! (On hiatus as of May 16 until further notice)

Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month!

Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm!

Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the 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.