ATLRetro

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

James Gunn’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is now filming in Atlanta, and last week’s Atlanta Film Festival took advantage by booking a screening of the original GUARDIANS movie with a Q&A after with Gunn and actor Michael Rooker. If you heard about this event, it may have been in context of the grumpy final exchange between Gunn and a fan who asked Rooker if his GUARDIANS character, Yondu, was a just a copy of his racist redneck Merle from THE WALKING DEAD. But prior to that hiccup, the Q&A had been a lovefest between Gunn, Rooker and a roomful of appreciative fans. Here are some highlights from the rest of the session:

Gunn on taking the time to do the Q&A: “One of the reasons we wanted to come do this today is because, really, Atlanta has treated us really, really well so far. We have an amazing crew, many of whom are from Atlanta; the majority of them are from Atlanta. And it’s nice to be able to come and do something with you guys and give a little thanks for what you guys have given us. So we really just appreciate being here, and really the hospitality of the city in general. “

On GUARDIANS 2: “It’s been a lot of hard work, honestly. It’s a much bigger film. Also at the same time, a much more intimate film, more character-driven in certain ways, so it’s just a lot of work. And everybody has been on their game. The new cast members… Kurt Russell has been incredible. And Pom Klementieff… who plays a new Guardian has been just, she blows me away. She’s really been perfect.”

On directing actors: “It’s kind of like going through a dark cave and you’re looking for those moments of truth, which means that you’re kind of working together , you’re holding hands, you can’t always see exactly where you’re going, but you’re trying to find those true moments. So that often means that I’m having people do things again and again and again and again and again.”

On moving from indie films to blockbusters: “I don’t think I was ever scared of the scope. I feel like I’ve always wanted to do huge movies, so I think that I’ve always been working towards that. I’ve always been afraid of ‘are people going to like the movie,’ ‘is the movie going to make money?’ There are times on the first movie where I’d wake up at 3 a.m. and go ‘Oh no, am I making PLUTO NASH (2002)?’”

Rooker on people dressed up as GUARDIANS characters: “It’s better if they’re undressed.”

Gunn joking about Rooker: “We’ve done four movies, two webseries, two reality shows, a video game… it’s really my penance for my success. He is the cross I carry on my back. ‘OK, you can have all your dreams and your money and whatever, but you have to work with Michael Rooker.’”

Rooker on acting with pop songs: [After Gunn describes playing the pop songs on set as they’ll appear in the film] “It’s going, the music’s going. And then you hear ‘action.’ But by the time you hear ‘action,’ you’re already into the music. I’m telling you, it’s so hard to not bop along.”

Gunn on convincing the studio to hire Rooker: “There were a couple of people I had to fight for on the first movie. I had to fight for [Rooker] real hard and I had to fight for Dave Bautista. It was an uphill battle….Especially because you have these guys who are, like, 50ish year old guys, there’s a lot of them, a lot of really big actors around that age that would die to be in a Marvel project. So he’s not just auditioning against all of these other no name actors, they have to trust me to hire him over a bunch of A-list actors or guys who are just out of being A-list actors. So that’s what they had to put faith in.”

Gunn on Rocket Raccoon: “Rocket is my inner child. The whole movie to me was based on Rocket. Marvel came to me with this movie, I thought ‘you guys are crazy,’ this sounds like an insane idea. I was driving home from the meeting and I’m like, ‘OK, let’s say there was really a talking raccoon. How would that exist? And it was really that scene is everything, GUARDIANS was built out of that, so I have a very strong emotional connection to Rocket…. Rocket is really a combination of a lot of people. I write the character. My brother Sean does all the acting on set. Bradley [Cooper] comes and does the voice. We have a whole team of animators who help with the acting there. So there’s a lot of control I have, a lot more attachment to Rocket and to Groot in that respect.”

On SUICIDE SQUAD (2016) and other movies emulating GUARDIANS’ humor: “If it’s sincere, I think that’s great. For me, honestly, the reason why GUARDIANS was successful, and I believe the reason a movie like DEADPOOL (2016) was successful is because we really are sincere about it. This is the real stuff. Everything in this movie is something I believe in. I believe in those characters. Some people think I’m crazy. Because I love that raccoon. I mean, as much as I would love my own child. Really, it’s a little bit insane. But I love those characters so much, and I love that story so much, and I love that I was a kid that was not a normal kid and felt very alone. And luckily I had some artists out there, who I could listen to their music or watch their films, whether it was David Cronenberg movies or Alice Cooper’s music, where I thought ‘goddamn I’m not the only weirdo in the world.’ And to be able to make a movie that speaks to those people, that speaks to people that feel like they’re alone or like they’re outcasts or that don’t have friends or have screwed-up families and need that connection with other living beings, that they can feel some small part of that through seeing GUARDIANS, that is why I make the movies. And that is the only reason I make them.”

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.

Noor in SPEED SISTERS.

SPEED SISTERS (2015); DIR. Amber Fares; Documentary; Atlanta Film Festival; Website here.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

SPEED SISTERS opens with a shot of a young Palestinian woman struggling with her car. Three men appear from nowhere to offer support, so she stays behind the wheel, grinning, as they push her where she needs to go. I read this scene as a mission statement. Amber Fares’s film is about the first all-female racing team in the Middle East, after all, and I live in a country with (incorrect) assumptions that women in that region rarely get behind the wheel. But if SPEED SISTERS is about gender equality—and in part, it is—the film gets there without preaching or proselytizing. These women can race, and so they get to race. Duh. The film is far more concerned with being kinetic, fast-paced and blisteringly entertaining, so if there are political points to be made, they’re going to have to learn to keep up.

Marah.

Auto racing is a relatively new sport in Palestine, and thanks to the region’s network of checkpoints and crowded neighborhoods, there’s very little room to rally. Instead, races happen through tightly wound tracks, seemingly in borrowed parking lots. Cones mark the track, and racers drive their own modified cars—compact and nimble—through the twists and turns. The sport is dominated by the men who started it, but Maysoon, frustrated by traffic jams, founded the all-women’s team and acts as its captain. The team competes alongside the men and makes frequent media appearances to promote the sport. Most of the public reaction seems positive. Occasionally, an old-timer grumbles that the women don’t wear the hijab, or that racing isn’t a proper sport for a lady, but the girls laugh off these complaints. One younger man tells the camera that it took only a couple of races before the women had earned the men’s respect and acceptance. Racing is a community, it seems, and they’re all in this together.

Most of the personal conflict comes from within the team. Betty, a fashion-plate born into racing royalty, and the team’s public face, is a champion. Marah, young and hungry, fights to take Betty’s spot despite resistance, perceived or otherwise, from the organizers. Noor’s hot-headed nature triggers costly mistakes on the track. Mona is talented, but willing to toss racing away if her new husband asks her to. As the film follows the team from race-to-race, throughout Palestine and into Jordan and elsewhere, Fares does an expert job of keeping these storylines humming, shifting them between the foreground and the background with precision, punctuating the character drama with dashboard shots of the team whipping cars around obstacles, laughing with the freedom the track offers, enjoying the thrill of being behind the wheel. Their passion is for driving. It certainly can’t be the money; there doesn’t appear to be any.

Betty.

Above all, SPEED SISTERS is a blast. The races are thrilling, the characters are compelling, and the jokes are laugh out loud funny. But while the politics are backgrounded, they’re impossible to ignore. If the people the film presents to us are united, it’s because they see enemies all around them. Their country is claustrophobic. Marah sees racing as a means of announcing her freedom to Israel, who she sees as an occupying force in her homeland. Fares backs her by contrasting the energy of the races with the unimaginable slowness of everyday life in the region. Traffic jams. Inspections. Orwellian checkpoints. One racer waves to soldiers on patrol, and is shot by a tear gas canister for her presumption. For the women with more restrictive travel passes, the ocean is just a concept. “They took all our most beautiful places for themselves,” one woman says when she finally lays eyes on the sea.

Better, then, to make her own beauty out of asphalt and cones. Behind the wheel, squealing tires in hairpin turns, wind whipping their hair as they scream in excitement, the team takes back their agency. If they can only race fast enough, their problems get left in the dirt and the dust. The world belongs to them, and they keep it in a rearview mirror.

SPEED SISTERS is playing at festivals across the world. For more information, visit the official Website.

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

This Week in Retro Atlanta is the Kat’s Meow! Come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you! From honkytonk hootenannies to rockin’ garage, glam ‘n’ punk, we’ve got you covered!

Monday, April 11

Get your garage rock fix at the Variety Playhouse with Deerhunter! Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library and catch a screening of Fred Zinnemann’s HIGH NOON (1952) at 10:30am! Get the blues with the Larry Griffith Band at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or catch Bob Page gettin’ down 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! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!

Tuesday, April 12

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema gets intergalactic and continues their “Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll” film series with a screening of Nicolas Roeg’s THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976) at 7pm! Get old timey at The Earl with The Dustbowl Revival and Kool Kat Caleb Warren & The Gents! Rock on down to The Plaza Theater for their screening of QUEEN: A NIGHT IN BOHEMIA at 8pm! Get some action at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your evening with their Tease Tuesday: April Showers edition, shakin’ it up at the Red Light Café! Blues it up with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Frankie’s Blues Mission gets down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! 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, April 13

Get cinematic and time travel with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Jacques Rivette’s LE PONT DU NORD (1981) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! Make your way to Avondale Towne Cinema for a night with Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters and Kenny Howes & The Wow! Stomp on down to Grocery on Home for a night with Jon Dee Graham (The Skunks)! Or rock out at The Plaza Theater with their screening of QUEEN ROCK MONTREAL at 8pm! Get some rockin’ soul with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Hillbilly it up at the Masquerade with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, My Dixie Wrecked and The Muckers! Bluegrass it up with Chatham County Line at Eddie’s Attic! Get some action for a second time at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! 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 Von Grey! 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, April 14

Honkytonk it up at the Clermont Lounge and help celebrate 50 rockin’ shows with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club! You’re your way to The Plaza Theater for their screening of QUEEN: HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY at 8pm! Get old timey and folk it up with the Locust Honey String Band and Fort Defiance at the Red Light Café! Get jazzy with Hot Ice Live at Venkman’s! Get funky with The Velvet Stones and The Space Time Travelers at Smith’s Olde Bar! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva night of surf rock and rockabilly and tasty cocktails! Sweet Betty & The Shadows get down and dirty 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, April 15

Rock out at The Star Bar with The Coathangers (album release party), Paint Fumes, Bad Spell and Paralyzer! Geek it up during TREKLANTA, Atlanta’s Star Trek and Space Opera Con, getting intergalactic through April 17! Duran Duran invades Philips Arena! Funk it up with Kung Fu and Naughty Professor at Aisle 5! Skank on down to the Atlanta Motorama Pre-Party with the Southern Ska Syndicate! Shake a tail feather with Sadie Hawkins at the Red Light Café during her burlesque improv showdown, Last Pasties Standing! The Variety Playhouse dishes out a night with Rumours! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music for a night with Jackson County Line, Bucky Motter and The Good Graces! Blues it up with Mike Lowery at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get some soul with the Smokin’ Novas at Eddie’s Attic! Catch some rockin’ ‘80s/’90s covers with Saved by the Band at Venkman’s! Folk it up with Casey Camp & Co. and The Boy Jones at Avondale Towne Cinema! Catch Jude Amazon during The High Museum’s Friday Night Jazz series! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade 80s it up at Craze Tavern! Stoney Brooks gets the blues at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Jarekus Singleton 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, April 16

Cash’d Out and guests pay tribute to the “Man in Black” Johnny Cash at The Star Bar! The Arts at Oakland presents Illumine, an evening of light and art in the gardens at 6pm featuring a live performance by The Shoal Creek Stranglers! Boogie on down to Club Famous for ‘80s Music Video Dance Night with Kool Kat VJ Anthony! Space is the place with day 2 of TREKLANTA! Make your way to the Fox Theatre for a night with Jethro Tull! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Blind Willie’s! Get some tasty vittles at Historic Grant Park’s Food-O-Rama from 11am-8pm! Get jazzy with Norman Frank at Venkman’s! Or blues on down to the Northside Tavern for their annual Tribute to Sean Costello! Spend the night with Bryan Adams at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre! 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, April 17

Get va-va-vintage at Yaarrab Shriners with a Salvage Spring 2016 event, featuring 50+ venders! It’s day 3 and your last chance to catch this year’s TREKLANTA! The Red Light Café delivers Burly-Q with a twist with the Luxotica Lounge Cabaret! Groove on down to the Fox Theatre for A Night with Janis Joplin! Catch Acoustic Hot Tuna at the Variety Playhouse! Gypsy jazz it up with Rhythm Future Quartet at Steve’s Live Music! Django Earnhardt dishes out some gypsy jazz at Venkman’s! Blues it up with Fatback Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience invades The Georgia Ensemble Theatre through April 24!

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!

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.

KItty Genovese.

THE WITNESS (2016); DIR. James D. Solomon; Documentary; Atlanta Film Festival; Website here. ATLRetro’s Festival Guide here.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

If you saw a person in need of emergency help, what would you do? Most of us would probably say we’d call 911, but would we really? Those trained in first aid know that the best strategy in an emergency is not to scream for somebody to call for an ambulance, but to choose a specific person and tell them to make the call. Otherwise, maybe nobody calls at all.

You may or may not know the name Kitty Genovese, but you’re certainly familiar with the cultural impact caused by her 1964 death in New York City. Genovese, a 28-year-old bar manager, was murdered on the street, half a block from her home, randomly chosen by a man in the midst of a crime spree. Two weeks after her murder, the New York Times published an article detailing the unsettling circumstances of her death. It’s quite possible that Genovese’s life could have been saved, the story goes, if only the 38 witnesses who watched the attack had bothered to call the police. Although her screams ripped through the neighborhood, although she begged for aid, no help came because no help was called. The tragedy became an example of the ways that New York City—and perhaps even America itself—had lost touch with its values of community and compassion. How could Kitty Genovese bleed to death while her neighbors watched? How could so many witnesses produce no action? The case was a major impetus in the creation and marketing of 911 as a national emergency number, and became a centerpiece of a sociological theory of the “bystander effect,” in which the larger the group of people, the less likely any individual is to act in an emergency, due in part to the belief that surely somebody else will be the one.

The story is so well known, in fact, that one might be forgiven for wondering what, exactly, remains to be explored. THE WITNESS, a new documentary that screened Wednesday at the Atlanta Film Festival, spends its first section failing to make this case for itself. The film introduces Bill Genovese (younger brother to Kitty, and an executive producer on the film) who, after struggling with five decades of emotional trauma, finally decides to track down the 38 witnesses and ask them why they let his sister die. There’s a hint of redundancy around his quest. The news show 20/20 tried the same in the 1970s with poor results, and many of the witnesses, elderly even at the time, have long since passed. If this was all the film had up its sleeve, there would seem to be little reason for it to exist at all. But, as it turns out, THE WITNESS has many, many cards to play.

Bill Genovese in THE WITNESS. Used with permission.

Very soon after Bill Genovese begins his quixotic quest, inconsistencies appear. With the sight lines from the apartment building, it wouldn’t be possible for all 38 people to watch Kitty die. Some would have only heard her scream and seen nothing. Only five witnesses were called at trial, so who are the other 33? And what of the woman who raced to Kitty’s side and held her as she died? Why was she absent from the official news story? As the discrepancies pile up, Bill Genovese begins to question the canon, which is no small transition. Genovese, you see, enlisted in Vietnam in the years following his sister’s death, and suffered catastrophic injury, primarily because he refused to be like those people who ignored Kitty, the “silent witnesses” who let tragedy unfold without acting. Was it possible that his choice, and the trajectory of his life, had been based on a lie?

THE WITNESS is an engrossing exploration of the repercussions of trauma. Bill Genovese suffered not only the loss of his sister, but of his own future, and he’s not the only one. Through the careful reveal of information, the film probes how the official story shook the Genovese family, the supposed witnesses, and even the family the murderer, Winston Moseley (who coincidentally died this week in prison, putting the case back into the news), left behind on his way into prison. An astonishing meeting late in the film reveals the fear that the Moseleys have lived with for five decades and reminds us that murders often have more victims than we expect.

The center of the film, however, remains Bill Genovese, who narrates and drives the action as he pieces together the truth, which is not so simple a thing as the ‘facts.’ He doesn’t only want to know what happened, but why, and even how. Confined to a wheelchair due to his war injuries, Genovese is a nonetheless imposing figure as he confronts reporters, lawyers, and even the aging witnesses in an attempt to set the record straight in his mind. (He has a journalist’s tenacity, often asking witnesses if they ever spoke to the police, and then regardless of their answer, revealing that he has their police statement right in front of him.) He is the witness of the film’s title, not present at the event itself, but willing to stand for his sister, to shine light on her vibrant and rich existence (and, in a particularly moving section of the film, her secrets) to reclaim her from the cold register of history and return her, in some way, to life.

If there is a complaint to be found, it’s in the final minutes, in which the filmmakers execute a macabre event that fails to do much more than provide a punchy ending for their film. But this is ultimately a minor complaint in what remains a compelling and complex exploration of the ramifications of “facts.” The Genovese family cannot bring Kitty back, but perhaps it is enough to remind the world that we are not so alone as we thought.

THE WITNESS opens in theaters in New York later this year before rolling out to additional cities. Further information can be found at https://www.thewitness-film.com/ and the filmmakers’ twitter account is @thewitnessfilm.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Top to Bottom: Dave Watkins, Johnny McGowan, Dave Weil, Steve Stone. Photo by Sloan Carroll Rainwater.

Atlanta’s own Dave Weil, head honcho and lead vocals/guitar, along with his partners in crime, The Blacktop Rockets [Johnny McGowan (guitar/vocals); Dave Watkins (drums); and Steve Stone (Bass)] will be raisin’ a ruckus, Sun Records-style, at The Star Bar this Friday, April 8 at 9 p.m.! They’ll be peddlin’ their new full-length CD, “GO!” with fellow rockin’ revivalists, Rodeo Twister in tow! It’ll be a hootenanny you won’t want to miss!

Dave, raised on jazz and crooners like “Ol’ Blue Eyes” Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, got rebellious ‘n’ hell-bent falling head over heels for some good old rock ‘n’ roll. So in 1993, he began dishin’ out tunes and slingin’ guitar with The Blacktop Rockets, and they’ve been revvin’ it up ever since! They’ve stormed the stage with The Blasters, the late Ronnie Dawson, Southern Culture on the Skids, Reverend Horton Heat, Wanda Jackson and so many more influential hell raisers and foot stompers! BTR’s first full-length album, MAKE MINE A DOUBLE,” was released in 1999, preceded by the single “What Ya’ll Have,” in 1996. In other words, it’s high time for a new BTR release.

ATLRetro caught up with Dave Weil for a quick interview about BTR, his take on “American music,” and reviving that old-school R&B and hillbilly twang! While you’re takin’ a gander at our little Q&A with Dave, get an earful of The Blacktop Rockets live at The Star Bar (Nov. 7, 2015) with “Please Don’t Touch” (Nov. 7, 2015).

ATLRetro: The Blacktop Rockets swooped in on Atlanta’s rock revival scene like a bat out of hell during the ‘90s rockabilly resurgence; a rockin’ renaissance of sorts. Can you tell our readers what it is about that genre of music that keeps you coming back for more?

Dec Fest. L-R: Dave Watkins, Johnny McGowan, Dave Weil, Steve Stone. Photo by John Phillips.

Dave Weil: It’s the free-wheeling spirit of it all. The magical blending of black R&B with white hillbilly music that occurred beginning in the late ‘40s-early ‘50s, which led to what came to be called rockabilly and rock and roll. To me, it’s irresistible. When I hear it, I get a smile on my face and I just gotta move!

Any twisted tales on how you and The Blacktop Rockets get together and what’s kept you goin’ for so long?

Not really twisted, but it was a bit of a fluke. In 1993, I was doing this duo thing a la Flat Duo Jets called Sweatin’ Bullets and had a gig that the drummer couldn’t do. I had recently met David Watkins (drummer) at Frijoleros (old schoolers know) where we were both working, so I asked him to fill in and the rest is history as they say. Upright bass was added about a year later and then lead guitar. What’s kept us going is, well, all I can think is, we have to! Like Carl Perkins said, “The cat bug bit me and I’ll never be the same.”

Your sound has been described as being the “epitome of American music.” What does that mean to you? What exactly is “American music?”

“American music” is a lot of things and goes back much farther, but in terms of what I’m most familiar with and where BTR fits in, it goes back to what I said about the blending of black R&B with white hillbilly music. Twelve bar blues-based song structures with lyrics that include the tried and true themes of love and loss, regular folks telling stories, and just silly stuff like “Rock Around The Clock.” There were so many things changing in post-war America – culturally, economically, socially – and lots of those changes were reflected in the music being created then.

Even though the bulk of the retro rock ‘n’ roots revival pretty much died off in the late ‘90s, The Blacktop Rockets seem to have made a niche for themselves in Atlanta’s thriving sleaze-nitty-gritty redneck underground music scene. What draws you to the mischievous underbelly of Atlanta’s music scene?

That it’s the underbelly and we love underbelly. So juicy and sweet, mmm, can’t git enough of it.

Any interesting stories to tell our readers about your musical upbringing, or when you became interested in playing music?

My Dad was a musician – a damn good sax and clarinet player, but could find his way around any instrument. There was always music in the house. He was mostly a jazzer who listened to and played a lot of swing. He was also a big fan of crooners like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye back when I got into rock and roll, but he rolled his eyes and tried to tolerate it. I got into guitar like lots of my peers, from listening to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and other Brit bands. Through buying those bands’ records and reading the writing credits, I learned about the great American bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Elmore James. Later on in the late ‘70s I did a similar thing when I heard the Robert Gordon/Link Wray records. I started digging deep into Rockabilly music and found Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and, of course, the legendary Sun Records material.

L-R: Johnny McGowan, Dave Watkins, Dave Weil, Steve Stone. Photo by Jeff Shipman.

We see that you’ve shared the stage with The Blasters, the late Ronnie Dawson; opened for Southern Culture on the Skids and Reverend Horton Heat; and backed the “First Lady of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson and so many more! Can you tell our readers what it’s like getting to fire it up with all those movers and shakers?

Those opening spots have been some really fun shows. I feel like BTR truly deserves to be on those stages and we can bring it as well as anyone. As far as being the backing band for the legends, it’s a tremendous honor and kind of like living a dream! It’s definitely a set where you really, really want to be on your “A” game and not make any clams! Sure don’t want to get a dirty look from Wanda, ha!

You released your first album (full-length) MAKE MINE A DOUBLE in 1999, making that one long 17-year itch! Why did it take so long to get to GO, and how can our readers get their grubby little hands on a copy?!

We actually put out “What’ll Ya’ll Have” in 1996, so this is our third album. We also did a Christmas 45rpm and recorded songs here and there for compilations, but 17 years between actual full length releases is a bit ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m not sure what took so long other than I suppose the time was finally right.  You can buy one at the show on Friday, of course, plus it’s on CD Baby, iTunes and perhaps other online places. The commerce section of our website <here> is under construction now, although it might be running by show time.

If you had to choose your top three musical influences, who would they be and why?

The Star Bar: Photo Credit by Sloan Carroll Rainwater (L-R: Johnny McGowan, Dave Watkins, Dave Weil, Steve Stone)

I think it’s really hard to pinpoint influences per se, but I can tell you who I am always happy to hear on my stereo or anyone else’s. No particular order and I’m leaving plenty of others off – Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Ronnie Dawson, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry…you get the picture.

What can ATLRetro readers expect to experience at your honkytonkin’ hootenanny and CD Release Party, April 8, at The Star Bar?

The Blacktop Rockets still pack a punch in our live show like very few acts you will see. We have a great time doing what we do and it shows. The current BTR line up is sounding better than ever. Drummer David Watkins and I are into our third decade playing together so it’s a pretty special connection there. Anyone who has heard him play knows he’s one of the top drummers in Atlanta and beyond. He can bash ’em or lay back, but he always knows exactly the right part to play for our songs.

Many of your readers know lead guitarist Johnny McGowan from not just this band, but several other cool projects he’s involved with. Johnny plays with so much fire and creativity, plus amazing technical ability that he’s constantly blowing minds and making jaws drop, including mine! Johnny joined BTR around 1996, then left for a bit around 2000, but has been the guy now since around 2009. On stage, there is no one I’ve had this much fun with. It’s just a hoot because we have little musical inside jokes and he’ll play something goofy or weird and then shoot me a quick look like, “Did ya hear that one?” and then crack up laughing.

The new guy is Steve Stone on bass. He’s another very accomplished multi-instrument player who has been a lot of fun getting to know and assimilated into the band. I love playing music with these guys and I consider myself fortunate to share the stage with such outstanding players! Plus our pals, the excellent band Rodeo Twister are opening the show!

What’s next for The Blacktop Rockets?

A lot more gigs this year than we’ve done the past several and probably another album or at least EP in the fall.

Anything else you’d like to tell ATLRetro readers about you or the band?

I think you will really dig the new record! We’re still doing some straight-up rockabilly, but there’s more to it in terms of the songwriting. This was the first time Johnny and I collaborated and we figured out we can write really well together. We simply let the songs be what they were going to be and didn’t try to put them in a specific box like rockabilly or swing or country. If I had to say what that sounds like, I guess I’d have to nod towards The Blasters or Rockpile. We’ve added electric bass on stuff where we used to use upright only, and that gives it a feel that I think reflects well on the newer songs especially. In addition to playing guitars all over the recording, Johnny produced the album and did a knock-out job. One of the things he did that I’m most happy with was to bring in friends to play some different instruments on a few songs. There’s piano, sax, trumpet and steel guitar that are added here and there that are really nice touches.

And last, but not least, what question do you wish somebody would ask you and what’s the answer?

For here or to go? The answer is always GO! 

Photos provided by Dave Weil/The Blacktop Rockets and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get a piece of Retro Atlanta this week and come see what we’ve found for you!

Monday, April 4

Shimmy on down to Firefly Studio in Decatur for a night of Burly-Q shenanigans with the Atlanta School of Burlesque! Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library and catch a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at 10:30am! 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! The first Monday of every month is Vinyl Night at the Red Light Café, so come on out and make it funky! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!

Tuesday, April 5

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema gets bizarre and continues off their “Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll” film series with a screening of Peter Greenaway’s THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (1990) at 7pm! Catch a screening of Joe Grant and Dick Heumer’s FANTASIA (1940) at the Stonecrest Library in Lithonia! Burly-Q it up with a night of Twirly Whirly Burly-Q dishin’ out a night of old New York at the Red Light Café, with special guest Sadie Hawkins! Rock out with Ace Frehley at the Variety Playhouse! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the BooHoo Ramblers! Mandi Strachota gets the blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! 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, April 6

Get cinematic and time travel with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Eric Rohmer’ LE RAYON VERT (1986) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! Rock out ‘70s Brit blues style with Robin Trower and Josh Taerk at the Variety Playhouse! Get folksy with Driftwood at Eddie’s Attic! 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! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Get the blues with Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! 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 La Terza Classe! 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, April 7

Make your way to the Center for Puppetry Arts as the 40th Annual Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) presents the Puppetry Shorts Block and reception, including entry into the Worlds of Puppets Museum featuring the Jim Henson Collection at 7pm! Experience some “fiercely independent” short films at SCADShow’s presentation of the Black Maria Film Festival! Boogie with Prince at the Fox Theatre during his “Piano and A Microphone” tour! Get to the root of it all with Dangermuffin at the Red Light Café! Get funky with Secondhand Swagger at Venkman’s! Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience invades The Georgia Ensemble Theatre through April 24! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva night of surf rock and rockabilly and tasty cocktails! Sweet Betty & The Shadows get down and dirty 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, April 8

Rev on down to The Star Bar for a night of rockin’ ‘billy shenanigans with The Blacktop Rockets during their CD release party (catch our Kool Kat article soon) with Rodeo Twister! Make your way to the Variety Playhouse for a night with They Might Be Giants! Hey you guys! SCADShow eighties it up with a screening of Richard Donner’s THE GOONIES (1985) at 3pm! Or hang out with the Goblin King as the Center for Puppetry Arts presents Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986) at 7pm! Blues it up with The Breeze Kings and Bonemeal Baker at Avondale Towne Cinema! Celebrate 77 years of Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at the Northside Tavern! Electric Avenue dishes out an ‘80s MTV Bowie experience at Park Tavern! Get funky with the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra at the Elliott Street Pub! The Tannahill Weavers deliver a night of traditional Scottish tunes at the Red Light Café! Blues it up with George Hughley & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Get funky and rock out at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with The Georgia Flood! 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, April 9

Surf on down to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp! featuring King Pelican, Drop Dead Nasty and Genki Genki Panic! Or get rocked revival-style at The Star Bar with Tiger! Tiger!, The Woolly Bushmen and Deadly lo-fi! It’s a night of old-time jazz ‘n’ ragtime at Terminal West with Pokey Lafarge and The Cactus Blossoms! Get old-time and hell-bent at the Masquerade with Stevie Tombstone, Ralph White and I Want Whisky! Folk it up with Kool Kat Mary Fahl at the Red Clay Theatre! Kool Kats The Casket Creatures dish out a time warp blood bath at Mule Camp Tavern! The Highlander will be throwing one helluva 24th Anniversary Party! Get another chance to hang out with the Goblin King as the Center for Puppetry Arts presents Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986) at 4:30/7pm! Departure pays tribute to Journey at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! Get some soul with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Roy Lee Johnson gets the blues at the Northside Tavern! 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, April 10

Catch the 40th Annual ATLFF’s 30th Anniversary screening of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986) at The Plaza Theater at 12:30pm! Or you’re your way to the Center for Puppetry Arts for their screening at 5pm! Rock out with the Melvins, Napalm Death and Melt Banana at the Masquerade! Gypsy jazz it up with Django Earnhardt at Venkman’s! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Charming Disaster and Joe McGuinness! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The 40th Annual Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF), runs through April 10! (LAST CHANCE!)

Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience invades The Georgia Ensemble Theatre through April 24!

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!

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.

Cinephiles rejoice! Now in its 40th year, the Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is back in bloom from Friday April 1 through Sunday April 10. ATLFF has long been known for a huge line-up of more than 200 diverse and offbeat features, shorts and documentaries from local to international filmmakers, and this year has one of its most exciting line-ups to date with some gems to warm our Retro heart.

Because it can be challenging to wade through such a wide-ranging schedule, we’ve taken the time to sort out some productions that you, our Retro readers, might particularly find of interest including a number of cult and classic revival films screening for free. We’ll also be running social media coverage and reviews of some of our favorites, so be sure to check back. And because we can’t mention everything, be sure also to check out the full festival schedule because there are lots more great films you won’t want to miss.

All screenings below are at the festival HQ at the Plaza Theatre, unless otherwise indicated. 

 Friday April 1

Opening night brings a red carpet of stars at the Atlanta premiere of THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING directed by Rob Burnett and starring Paul Rudd, but we know our readers will be more ready to get back to the 70s with a rare chance to see Richard Linklater‘s hilarious comedy DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993) at 9:30 p.m., followed by Lips Down on Dixie as they present their extremely popular midnight performance of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975). Although a Plaza staple for years, the show gets even better when seen with a festival crowd of fervent movie fanatics.

Saturday April 2

Things get badass crazy with the world premiere of FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS (2016) at 9:30 p.m., which kicks off the MORPHINE DREAMS horror/weird series. The homegrown 1970s-style neo-exploitation feature promises to be even more over-the-top than its precursor DEAR GOD! NO! (2011) (Read our Retro Review here).  Just about everyone involved with this feature is a dear friend to ATLRetro and lots of the cast and crew will be there, including star Lawrence R. Harvey (HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 & 3), so we wouldn’t miss it even if we might have to cover our eyes once or twice. Read our Kool Kat of the Week interview with Director James Bickert for a pretaste of the ultraviolent insanity (WARNING: not for everyone!). Just $10 but buy in advance as we betcha it’ll sell out. Facebook event page here.

Also on Saturday: Get your bizarro horror fix started early at Noon with THE WOOL shorts segment which includes the award-winning GWILLIAM by Kool Kat Brian Lonano and more of what the ATLFF describes as “other-worldly fibers.” 1979 (do we detect a theme here?) is the setting for GOOD OL’ BOY (12:30 p.m.), about the challenges of assimilating into a new culture for a 10-year-old boy who moves with his Indian family to an American small town and has a crush on the girl-next-door. Then EVERYBODY WANTS SOME! (2016), Richard Linklater’s new “spiritual sequel” to DAZED AND CONFUSED set in the world of 1980s college life, screens at 7 p.m. Actors Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin and Blake Jenner are scheduled to attend. Also at 7 p.m. and free with RSVP at the Hill Auditorium at The High, RUBY IN PARADISE (1993), Ashley Judd‘s film debut as a Florida girl struggling to escape her working class life and achieve her dreams during Pensacola spring break, gets a rare return to the big screen as part of a retrospective of director Victor Nunez‘s career. A PECULIAR NOISE (2015) at 7:30 p.m. (7 Stages), is a sentimental documentary of the DIY underground music scene in the college town that spawned such alt-favorites as The B-52s, R.E.M. and Pylon. Director Jorge Torres-Torres is scheduled to attend.

Sunday April 3

Festivities kick off at noon with a 25th anniversary screening of Southern foodie comedy classic FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (1991) (free with RSVP). If you’re hungry afterwards, for just $20, there’s a Food on Film after-party at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center from 2-4:30 p.m. CONCERTO, at 5:15 pm (7 Stages), is a documentary about brothers Christopher Rex (Principal Cellist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1979) and Charles Rex (a first violinist with the New York Philharmonic since 1981) who struggle to overcome a childhood at the hands of a disturbed but brilliant composer father. At 6 p.m., head to the Rialto Center for the Arts to revisit the explosive 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings where Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment in HBO Films’ docu-drama CONFIRMATION, filmed in Atlanta.

The second installment of the MORPHINE DREAMS series at 7:15 pm at 7 Stages, THE FORBIDDEN WORLD (2015), directed by Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, is seriously crazed with a side of William Hope Hodgson : “A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that’s been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.” Then rush back to the Plaza if you like crazy Japanese trippy Weird animated horror for MD#3, Eiichi Yamamoto‘s legendary BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (1973), a real event being that it was previous unreleased in the USA. Based on SATANISM AND WITCHCRAFT by Jules Michelet, young and innocent Jeanne is ravaged by the local lord and makes a pact with the Devil. According to the description: “The Devil appears in phallic forms and, through Jeanne, incites the village into a sexual frenzy. In a new restoration using the original camera negatives, this erotic and psychedelic trip of a film springs to life.”

CHEERLEADER

Monday April 4

Get your dose of bubblegum, side ponytails, ’80s music and revenge in the 7 p.m. world premiere of CHEERLEADER, a witty satire of an all-American pastime.  Director Irving Franco and Producer Nathan Marcus are scheduled to attend. Then at 9:15 p.m., THE FOUNDERS goes back to the 1950s and the 13 women who fought male chauvinism to found the Ladies Pro Golf Association (LPGA). Co-Directors Charlene Fisk and Carrie Schrader, Producer Phoebe Brown and Actor Caleb Messer are scheduled to attend.

Tuesday April 5

At 7 p.m., the COTTON documentary shorts series at 7 Stages includes HOTEL CLERMONT, about residents of the notorious seedy and recently closed Atlanta landmark (yes, we said landmark), and THE NEW ORLEANS SAZERAC, about the quintessential Big Easy cocktail. Released first in 2005, HANDMADE PUPPET DREAMS (also 7 Stages, 9:15 p.m.) doesn’t date back to the 20th century in itself, but puppetry is a Retro art, right? This handpicked selection of puppet film shorts has received tons of international acclaim and just looks friggin’ cool, plus it’s introduced by Jim Henson‘s daughter Heather Henson. Read our Kool Kat of the Week interview with her here.

Bill Genovese in WITNESS.

Wednesday April 6

At 7 p.m., THE WITNESS reopens the famous Kitty Genovese murder, which 38 witnesses watched from nearby apartments and did nothing. Forty years later, her brother Bill Genovese, who was 16 at the time of his sister’s death, digs into the case and “uncovers a lie that transformed his life, condemned a city, and defined an era.” Bill Genovese, Director James D. Solomon and Producer Melissa Jacobson are scheduled to attend.

MANOMAN, directed by Simon Cartwright, UK

Thursday April 7

Head to the Center for Puppetry Arts at 7 p.m. for WOOD, a screening of international puppetry shorts, followed by a reception in the Atrium and free entry into the new Worlds of Puppetry Museum featuring the Jim Henson and Global Collections, which includes rare artifacts from Henson-related films such as THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) and LABYRINTH (1986) and a selfie opportunity with Muppets Kermit and Miss Piggy.

LOA

Friday April 8

During COPPER, a special presentation by the always intriguing Contraband Cinema at 7 Stages at 7 p.m., see contemporary and classic avant garde and experimental shorts with some of the filmmakers in attendance. At 9:15 p.m. also at 7 Stages, director George Koszulinski and other members of his creative team will be on hand for a screening of the “mystical, experimental” Haitian documentary LOA about the life of the Extanta Aoleé, a local houngan or ‘Vodou man.” And ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW screens again at midnight with Lips Down on Dixie audience participation floor show (see Fri. April 1).

Saturday April 9

In HUNKY DORY, at 12:30 p.m., “Sidney—an artist of many things but an extraordinaire of nothing at all—struggles to live up to the expectations of his glam rock dream.” Director Michael Curtis Johnson, Producers Tomas Pais and Jacqueline Johnson and Actor Chad Hartigan (who also directed “closing night feature” MORRIS FROM AMERICA which screens Sat. at 7:30 p.m.) are scheduled to attend. At 2:30, the GOLD documentary shorts series includes SAULTOPAL, in which Atlanta-based artist Susan Cofer invites Georgia-born filmmaker John Henry Summerour (SAHKANAGA) to spend a year documenting Saultopal, an 1100-acre farm in northwest Georgia populated by Longhorn cattle, gigantic rock sculptures and Carl, her husband in his 80th year, and TOURIST about a Vietnam vet revisiting the nation where he once fought.

Sunday April 10

The last day of the ATLFF is pretty Retro-kickass, we have to admit. See David Bowie live again on the big screen as the iconic Goblin King in a 30th anniversary screening of LABYRINTH (1986). Then in the much-anticipated MILES AHEAD at 2:45 p.m., Don Cheadle directs and stars as legendary jazz man Miles Davis. Not a full biopic, it centers on the period of five years in the late 1970s when Davis was holed up in his home with chronic hip pain and a fictional encounter with a music reporter which leads to a quest for a stolen tape of his most recent compositions. There’ll also be some Encore screenings yet to be announced, so keep checking the schedule if you miss a screening and/or it sells out.

Of course, these films represent just a tiny portion of the events, shorts, seminars, screenings and receptions/parties taking place. For a complete list, again you need to check out the official Atlanta Film Festival Schedule. And keep an eye on ATLRetro throughout the fest for coverage on all the fun and films. Enjoy this year’s ATLFF, movie lovers!

Lauren (Tiffany Engen) dances with shoes on her hands in the Broadway tour of KINKY BOOTS. Photo courtesy of Austin Northenor.

By Geoff Slade
Contributing Writer

Broadway hit KINKY BOOTS opens the Atlanta leg of its national tour on Tues. March 29 and runs through Sun. April 3 at the Fox Theatre. Multiple Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (TORCH SONG TRILOGY) wrote the book, and Tony, Grammy, Emmy and my heart winner Cyndi Lauper (mostly this and this) wrote the music and lyrics. Check here for show times and ticket availability.

The musical chronicles a shoe factory in trouble and reborn thanks to a performer’s desire for sturdy stilettos. Inspired by true events and based upon the 2005 film of the same name, KINKY BOOTS premiered in Chicago in 2012 before its Broadway debut in 2013. It was a huge success and earned 13 Tony nominations, winning six, including Best Musical and Best Score for Lauper (the first woman ever to win that award by herself!). It began its US tour in 2014.

Kool Kat of the Week Tiffany Engen (Lauren) is one of many actors among the principal cast with impressive Broadway, Off-Broadway, film and television roles under their belts (including Jim J. Bullock). She previously performed in the Broadway and first national tour productions of LEGALLY BLONDE, the movie HAIRSPRAY (2007) and the TV shows RAISING HOPE and SMASH.

Tiffany took a few minutes before the opening of this week’s Atlanta run to chat with ATLRetro about the musical, her favorite roles and a little bit about life on the road.

Where are you from? How did you become an actor? What was your first production? How old were you?

I am originally from Minnesota. I have loved singing, dancing, acting since I was a kid.  My parents took me to see shows whenever productions would be in town. In second grade I played a chicken in THE GOOSE AND THE GOLDEN EGG. I had one line. I’ve been hooked ever since!

KINKY BOOTS on tour. Photo courtesy of Austin Northenor.

Which of your past performances are you most proud of?

I feel very lucky to have worked on some incredible shows.  LEGALLY BLONDE, HAIRSPRAY, ROCK OF AGES all have held a special place in my heart. I’m most proud of this role and this show. The role of Lauren is so fun to play. She is tough, bold, vulnerable, funny and sassy. This show is so special and has touched so many people. I’m so proud to be a part of a show that is changing people’s hearts and minds.

If you had to play one role for the rest of your career, what would it be?

This one!!!

Before taking on the role, were you familiar with the KINKY BOOTS movie? The Broadway production?

Yes, I was a fan of both the film and the Broadway production. I actually got to see a run-through of the Broadway production before they moved to the theater. And even in a rehearsal studio with no lights or costumes you could feel that this show was special. 

What should we know about your character?

Lauren is a factory worker at Price and Son. She is not afraid to speak her mind to her new boss, Charlie. I love that she is the one who says the factory needs to find a niche market to cater their product to. She provides the lightbulb moment for Charlie. 

KINKY BOOTS on tour. Photo courtesy of Austin Northenor.

How long will you guys be on the road? Where else are you performing?

I joined the company in November and we have played wonderful cities. The tour has dates booked well into 2017, so I’m so excited that it has been embraced by theaters across the country. After Atlanta we head to Kansas City then LA, Seattle, San Francisco—the list goes on.

What should Atlanta audiences expect?

A joyous, thought-provoking, entertaining night of theatre. This show won six Tony awards including Best Musical. We love it when people say that this is the best show or their favorite show they have ever seen!

How would you describe the music?

Cyndi Lauper has written and incredible musical score that is unlike anything you’ve heard before. She writes ballads that will break your heart and then turns around and writes a foot-stomping finale that radiates joy in every line. 

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Get exploited and come see what’s shakin’ in Retro Atlanta this week! We’ve got the Atlanta Film Festival, classic cinema, saucy shenanigans, rock ‘n’ roll, the blues and more!

Monday, March 28

Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah dishes out a night of rockin’ garage blues with the release of a new 7” at 529, with Deadly lo-fi! Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library for their screening of David Butler’s ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942) at 10:30am! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with the blues 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!” Blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Polka it up with Blast-Off Burlesque as they celebrate Dyngus Day with classic live Polka at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta!

Tuesday, March 29

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema gets bizarre and kicks off their “Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll” film series with a screening of David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DR. (2001) at 7pm! Rock out with a night of prog rock in the French persuasion at Aisle 5 with Magma, Muuy Bien and deadCAT! Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL every last Tuesday of the month! Spend the night with the Goblin King at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30pm! Or celebrate 75 years of the Tuskegee Airmen with a special 7pm screening of Denton Adkinson’s IN THEIR OWN WORDS: THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN (2012) at theatres across Atlanta [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 (Cumming); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and AMC Southlake 24 (Morrow)]! Broadway it up at the Fox Theatre’s presentation of “Kinky Boots” featuring tunes by Cyndi Lauper, running through April 3! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet 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! 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, March 30

The Clermont Lounge kinks it up with a night of horror punk with The Living Deads and Cadillac Junkies! Get cinematic and time travel with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Alain Resnais’ JE T’AIME, JE T’AIME (1968) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! “Swing into Spring” at Steve’s Live Music with the Marlatov Cocktail Swingers! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Heather Nova! Get the blues with the Electromatics at Blind Willie’s! Spend one last night with the Goblin King at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986), 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 Honeywood! 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, March 31

It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva night of surf rock and rockabilly with The Mystery Men? and Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers! Folk it up with Angie Aparo at Eddie’s Attic! Or make your way to Venkman’s for a night with Alex Guthrie & The Pussywillows! Catch MORE LIGHT: Media Art from Atlanta at Eyedrum! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Heather Luttrell! 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! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, April 1

Tonight kicks off the 40th Annual Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF), running through April 10, delivering a smorgasbord of independent films and classics throughout the city! Alright, alright, alright! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for the ATLFF’s screening of Richard Linklater’s DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993) at 9:30pm (free with RSVP)! Folk it up with The War & Treaty, Band of Lovers and Fairshake at the Red Light Café! The Earl rocks out retro-style with Rockin’ Bones, Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause and James Hall! Spend April Fools Day at The Star Bar and rock out with The Wild Injuns, Fiend Without a Face, Whiskey Dick and Night Terrors! Swami Gone Bananas gets groovy at Avondale Towne Cinema! Get your ‘70s folk rock fix with America at Atlanta Symphony Hall! The Rainmen dish out a night of ‘60s and ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll at Steve’s Live Music! Get artsy pop culture-style at DooGallery at their “Beats ‘n’ Brushes” event featuring Arthur M. Ball of Above Average Art! Get funky NOLA-style with the Wasted Potential Brass Band at the Northside Tavern! Honkytonk on down to Blind Willie’s for the Golden State Lonestar Revue! Blues it up with JP Blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Boogie on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event gettin’ down under the dinosaurs with Lethal Rhythms! 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, April 2

It’ll be double the exploitation, double the bloody ruckus at the red carpet world premiere of Kool Kat James Bickert’s FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS at The Plaza Theater! Honkytonk it up at The Star Bar during their Tribute to Merle Haggard featuring Slim Chance & The Convicts, The Downer Brothers, Dry Gulch, Wade Sapp, Georgia Slim & The Crankbaits, Al Shelton and more! Catch ATLFF’s screening of Victor Nunez’ RUBY IN PARADISE (1993) at the High Museum at 7pm! Make your way to Piedmont Park for the 3rd Annual Atlanta Persian Festival, featuring Persian art, food, dance and more! The Atlanta Beltline Boil dishes out life performances by the Darnell Boys, All the Locals, Radiolucent, the Wasted Potential Brass Band and more! The Artifice Club presents the KURIOS Pub Crawl beginning at Twain’s, featuring a special performance by The Ghosts Project! Shimmy down with Kool Kat Kitty Love and Cheeky Belle’s 3rd Annual Flashback event featuring acts celebrating every decade going back to the ‘30s at Taverna Plaka! Celebrate ten years of the Elliott Street Pub with their Decade Party! Geek it up at Hair of the Dragon V, Atlanta’s premier costume photo party at Studio Space Atlanta! Eighties it up at the Basement during their Heyday – ‘80s Dance Party! Get some soul with Francine Reed at Blind Willie’s! Or blues it up with Albert White at the Northside Tavern! Get your stringband/rockabilly fix with Roxie Watson at Eddie’s Attic! Nameless Nameless pays tribute to Nirvana at Venkman’s! Funk it up at Terminal West with Earphunk and the Georgia Soul Council! Head over to Center Stage for a night with Belinda Carlisle! Stomp on over to the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival and catch The Whiskey Gentry and The Southern Gothic! Bluegrass it up with the Sweetwater Creek Bluegrass Band and Honey Be Nice at the Red Light Café! Rock out Radar at Steve’s Live Music! 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, April 3

Catch the 40th Annual ATLFF’s 25th Anniversary screening of Jon Avnet’s FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (1991) and after party at The Plaza Theater at 12pm! Rock on down to Steinbeck’s in Decatur for their Smoke & Glory Cook-Off featuring live performances by Kool Kat Spike Fullerton’s Russian Roulette Band, The Lizardmen and Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers! Get folksy at the Red Light Café with Bay Station, The Stoplight Roses and Stephen Chopek! 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!

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

Are you hep to the jive? ‘This Week’ in Retro Atlanta promises the jolt you’ve needed to kick Old Man Winter’s tail and spring into action like the good little misfits and miscreants you are! So come on out, make a little mischief and rock out with the rest of us! Come check out all the swell shenanigans we’ve found for you!

Monday, March 21

Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library for their screening of Gregory La Cava’s STAGE DOOR (1937) at 10:30am! Get some soul with Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires at the Variety Playhouse! Blues it up with Barrelhouse Bob Page 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! Blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with The Pork Bellies! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only “SCI-FI” trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta!

Tuesday, March 22

Groove on down to the Red Light Café as the BadAsh Allstar Team pays tribute to Prince! Penny & Sparrow dish out a night of Americana ‘n’ roots at Eddie’s Attic! Blues it up with Joe McGuinness at Blind Willie’s! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! 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, March 23

Get cinematic with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Alain Resnais’ HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! It’s a night of comedy and sketches at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge with Scene Missing’s ATLabyrinth! Terminal West presents “A Night of David Bowie” with The Ziggy Stardust Tribute! TCM presents their Big Screen Classics 60th Anniversary screening of Cecil B. Demille’s epic , THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) at 2pm/7pm in theatres across Atlanta [Avalon Stadium 12 (Alpharetta); Regal Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Georgian Stadium (Newnan)]! Make your way to Atlanta Symphony Hall for a night with Joe Satriani! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for their Albert Collins Tribute! Join the Muppet mayhem at the Decatur Library as they screen James Frawley’s THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979) at 1pm! Folk it up with Barnaby Bright at Grocery on Home! Jaap Blonk delivers a night of sound poetry celebrating the Dada Centennial at EyeDrum! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with Dusty Roads! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! 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, March 24

Rock out at The Star Bar with The Supersuckers, Jesse Dayton and Dead Soldiers! Get the Led Out pays tribute to Led Zeppelin at the Fox Theatre! Get some Appalachian soul with Upstate Rubdown and Cortez Garza at the Red Light Café! “Grace Slick meets Led Zeppelin” with The Broadcast as they rock out at The Earl with Autumn Attics! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Get funky New Orleans-style with The Mar-Tans at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Make your way to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for their Eagles/Alabama Tribute concert! Get smooth at Venkman’s with Yacht Rock Schooner! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with George Hughley & The Shadows! 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! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! And as always, boogie down at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, March 25

Kool Kats The Blackfoot Gypsies deliver a night of rockin’ garage blues with The Yawpers at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get some ‘50s and ‘60s Georgia soul with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics at The Earl! Or make your way to the Variety Playhouse as Yacht Rock Revue performs “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “Abbey Road”! DJ Doctor Q presents his Speakeasy Electro Swing Atlanta at the Red Light Café featuring the Swingrowers! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Deep South Pub in McDonough! “Swing into Spring” at Steve’s Live Music with the Marlatov Cocktail Swingers followed by the Electromatics featuring Jon Liebman! The 9th Street Stompers dish out a night of hillbilly swingin’ hot jazz at Venkman’s! Sandra Hall & The Shadows get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! The Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event turns into a ‘20s/’30s speakeasy with The HoboHemians! Make your way to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for their Eagles/Alabama Tribute concert! And as always, time-warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, March 26

It’s Rockabilly Night at The Star Bar, so rev on down for a night with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles, The Royal Hounds and Little Lesley & The Bloodshots! It’s a night of psychobilly and horror punk at The Highlander with Burns Like Fire, Wolfspider and Crypt 24! Dad’s Garage Theatre gets porky with Baconfest 2016 featuring carnival games, piggies galore, live performances by The Honkytonk Extravaganza (Kool Kat Rich Desantis), Blast-Off Burlesque, and more! Rock on down to the Park Tavern for their Oyster & Crawfish Fest featuring Cowboy Mouth! Or shuck on down to Tin Roof Cantina for their Sham Jam Shuckfest featuring live performances by Chicago Joe’s School of Rock, Kool Kat Caleb & the Gents, Little Country Giants, Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & The Hookers, Heavy Chevy, Cousin Dan and more! Get really retro in Marietta at the grand opening of The Viking Alchemist Meadery from 12-8pm! Shake a tail feather on down to the Little Vinyl Lounge for their “Twistin’ in the Lounge” event and boogie the night away as Dusty Booze dishes out the weirdest and kookiest ‘50s/’60s rock ‘n’ roll! Byrne & Kelly dish out a night of traditional Irish folk at the Red Light Café! Rock out with Rusted Root at the Variety Playhouse! Steve’s Live Music gets down bluegrass and Dixieland style with La Terza Classe and Escape Vehicle! Jazz it up with the Elgin Wells Group at the Elliott Street Pub! Honkytonk on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Dale Watson & His Lonestars and Cold Heart Canyon! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty with Little G. Weevil! Blues it up with Bob Margolin at Blind Willie’s! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Get the blues with Grant Green, Jr. at Venkman’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, March 27

Get sinfully saucy at Smith’s Olde Bar as The Candybox Revue presents their Bunny Bash with Delinda D’Rabbit, Kool Kat Ursula Undress, Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kool Kat Roula Roulette and more! Mike Farris dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at Eddie’s Attic! Jazz it up with Matthew Kaminksi at Venkman’s! 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!

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.