ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you dapper fellas and glitzy gals! Cupid got your tongue? “Be Mine”, vintage-style this year and celebrate all that is vintage and Valentine’s in Retro Atlanta! Get romantic, retro-style and see what we have in store for you during this week of love and saucy seduction!

1. Crooners and Red Hot Jazz. Swing on by The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for Douglas Cameron’s 17-piece Big Band at 8pm (Feb. 12)! Rat Pack Now croons on down to the Red Clay Theatre (Feb. 12 at 8pm; Feb. 13 at 1:30pm)! Or jazz it up during the Emory Jazz Fest’s Big Band Night at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, featuring the Gary Motley Trio (Feb. 13) and includes free admission; performance at 8pm. Get lovey-dovey at Rialto Center for the Arts’ Valentine Love Concert featuring Michael Henderson, The Dramatics and Jean Carne, from 7-9pm (Feb. 14)! Venkman’s begins the day with their Valentine’s Day Brunch with the Higher Ground Jazz Duo, and follows that up with a Valentine’s Day Dinner featuring classical jazz with Le Grand Fromage and an a la carte menu prepared by Chef Nick Melvin (Feb. 14)! The Fox Theatre gets some soul and jazzes it up with their Valentine Celebration for Lovers & Friends featuring El DeBarge and Ken Ford (Feb. 14)!

2. Blackhearts Unite. It’s a night of murder ballads made popular by Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Nirvana and a whole lotta’ bloody maniacal mayhem at The Earl with their second annual Bloody Valentine’s event, featuring Kool Kat Aileen Loy with Till Someone Loses an Eye; circus shenanigans with The Thimberling Circus and more bloody romantic fun (Feb. 11)! Boogie down at The Star Bar’s Blackheart’s Ball, featuring The Midnight Larks, Shantih Shantih, Coma Girls, and Emily Marie Palmer & Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer (Feb. 13)! Hey all you Kool Kittens and Kinky Kats! Grab your favorite guy or gal and rock on down to The Earl for their Sadie Hawkins Dance: Valentine’s Day Rock Show/Women’s Shelter Benefit featuring performances by Hymen Moments, Hank & Cupcakes, StarBenders and Kool Kat Kate Jan with SEX BBQ (Feb. 14)!

3. Oh là là! Get sinfully seductive at 7 Stages during Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South’s 9th Annual Vixen’s Valentease Vaudeville & Variety Show (Feb. 12)! The Famous Pub welcomes you to the Spectacular! Come see what’s behind the red curtain at RITUAL’s Moulin Rouge Valentine’s Day Ball featuring The Black Sheep Ensemble and more! $10 gains entrance to this exciting extravaganza starting at 10pm (Feb. 12)! Or shimmy on down to the Shakespeare Tavern for Hearts A’Blaze Entertainment’s Pantheon of Divini-TEASE with Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kool Kate Persephone Phoenix and more! (Feb. 13). Get a little naughty this Valentine’s Day at Paris On Ponce with Valentine’s Mischief with Madeline featuring a little jazzy cabaret with Suzy Sazerac & the Peels and Cat Vigor’s burly-Q troupe, Cat’s Kittens (Feb. 13)!

4. It’s Boogie Time. Boogie down because FUNKY GOOD TIME is coming to Aisle 5 for their Funky Good Time Valentine’s Dance bringing you the best Funk, Soul, Disco, Latin, Boogie, and R&B love songs on some piping hot vinyl (Feb. 13)!

5. Art, Comedy & Theatre, OH MY! Blackhearts and anti-V-day miscreants, rock on down to The Highlander for their Broken Hearts & Bloody Valentines Art Show, delivering a night of multi-media art, including our pal Kool Kat Chris Hamer of Urbnpop and so much more (Feb. 11)! The Highwire Comedy Co. presents their Happy Valentine’s Day Mr. President comedy show at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge (Feb. 12)! The Red Light Café presents two THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES Valentine’s performances, benefitting One Billion Rising at 8pm (Feb. 12 & Feb. 13) at 8pm! Dig up some swell goodies for your sweet/blackheart and make your way to My Parents’ Basement for The Valentine’s Day Bizarre Bazaar featuring 13 local artists and designers, including Kool Kat Chris Hamer of Urbnpop, from 1-5pm (Feb. 13)! The Center for Puppetry Arts presents their Valentine’s Date Night (adults-only) with puppet shenanigans and complimentary desserts (Feb. 13)! The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center transforms into a Parisian bohemian cabaret as the Atlanta Ballet presents “Moulin Rouge: The Ballet”, shaking a tail at 8pm (Feb. 13)!

6. Medieval & Classic. And for all you knights in shining armor, get really retro and romantic with the royal one in your life and joust on down to Medieval Times for their Valentine’s Day Couples Package! $99 gets you 2 admissions, a photo, Valentine’s scroll, champagne in keepsake glasses, a light up rose and 2 admissions to the dungeon! Get classically romantic at Atlanta Symphony Hall as they present their Be Mine performance, featuring songs from the greatest young romances in classical music; Bizet’s “Carmen”; Puccinni’s “La Boheme” and more!

7. Groovin’ Up Slowly. Be a smooth operator and sail on down to Park Tavern in Piedmont Park for Valentine’s Day Eve-Eve (Feb. 12) with Yacht Rock Schooner! It’ll be an evening of smooth 70s and 80s love songs, so put on your dancin’ shoes and come aboard! Doors at 7 pm! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at Venkman’s (Feb. 13)! $15 advance/$20 door. Doors at 9:30pm.

8. Lovin’ on the Silver Screen. ‘Here’s looking at you kid!’ Take a peek at love and romance Old Hollywood-style at The Strand Theater as they screen Michael Curtiz’s classic romantic drama, CASABLANCA (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman at 8pm. Live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for students, seniors, and military (Feb. 13).

9. Cupid’s Culinary Delights! Hula on over to Trader Vic’s and escape into the island atmosphere of love with their Tropical Valentine’s Day special entrée, Hong Kong Sea Bass at $35/person (Feb. 13 & 14). Have a bloody fantastic time and snag a few tasty morsels during Blast-Off Burlesque’s Cardiac Arrest: Eat Your Heart Out Bake Sale at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club from 1-5pm (Feb. 14).

10. We Goth You Covered. For the darkly romantic, The Oakland Cemetery offers their Love Stories Tour, complete with tales of loves past led by a Victorian-era clad docent. Tours last an hour, just long enough to meet a kindred spirit or even a new love! Get loved to death while traversing the land of passionate souls longing for love. Tours haunt 3-5pm! $16 adults/$10 students (Feb. 13 & Feb. 14)! Or for a pre-Valentine’s event (Feb. 11) get your bloody heart ripped out at Mary’s for their Goth Nite St. Valentine’s Massacre event! It’ll be a Goth throw down featuring classic Goth rock, synth pop, post-punk and even tunes from the New Romantic era!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Jane Wodening, first wife to acclaimed experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage, is a central character in the avant-garde film world. Jane is set to speak about her life in and out of cinema, her collaboration and marriage to Brakhage, as well as her own writing, at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center on Sat. Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. Included in this event is the screening of three short films focusing on Wodening, all shot in 16mm: WINDOW WATER BABY MOVING (1959 – 12 min/Stan Brakhage); HYMN TO HER (1974 – 2 min./Stan Brakhage); and JANE BRAKHAGE (1975 – 10 min./Barbara Hammer). “Jane Wodening in Person” is hosted by Andy Ditzler [March 2011; see ATLRetro’s Kool Kat feature on Andy here] and Film Love Atlanta. Don’t miss out on this exciting and rare opportunity to delve into the life of Jane Wodening, in her own words.

Wodening’s marriage to Brakhage spanned three decades (1957-1987). Their marriage and family life, including rarely exposed intimate details, is the subject of many of Brakhage’s filmic endeavors. Although Brakhage is considered one of the of “the most important figures of 20th century experimental film,” Wodening’s collaboration with him is noteworthy in itself. She was not merely the subject, or “muse,” but was an active participant in the production of those films. Additionally, Wodening spent the last few decades churning out her own art; her written words (prose poetry, fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, etc.) can be found on her website here [FROM THE BOOK OF LEGENDS (1988); LUMP GULCH TALES (1993); BOOK OF GARGOYLES (1999); LIVING UP THERE (2013); BRAKHAGE’S CHILDHOOD (2015)] and most recently WOLF DICTIONARY (2016), which she will include at Film Love Atlanta’s event.

ATLRetro caught up with Jane Wodening for a quick interview about her life and collaboration with Stan Brakhage, her artistic influences,  the importance of the written word and her desire to write the biography of the Universe.

ATLRetro: You were a necessary component in the films of Stan Brakhage, as his wife and “muse.” Did you ever see yourself as something greater than the films themselves, or did you consider yourself a necessary part of the whole that was Stan Brakhage?

Jane Wodening: Naturally, I thought of myself as myself, but I felt that he was saying that I inspired him.

Stan’s films delved deeply into your marriage and family life. Did you ever feel overly exposed to the public? And how did you deal with that exposure?

When we were filming, we were alone. When the films were made and shown and people would ask me that, I’d say, well, that was then, and this is now. What I am is here before you, and I’m not those images.

Can you tell our readers about the roles you played in Brakhage’s films? Meaning, we see you onscreen, but did you assist in the techniques used? Did you work with Stan behind the scenes, preparing the films?

Yes. They were his films, always, but I did a lot. The world he photographed was my world; the children were under my guidance. Sometimes I’d run the camera, help him with editing, change things. We always discussed it if I did. Once or twice, I was the Sound Man. He said many times that “by Brakhage” meant by me also, AND the kids, and there was some truth in that. I was surely devoted to him and his work.

Stan, Jane – Still from WINDOW WATER BABY MOVING (1959)

What are your thoughts on WINDOW WATER BABY MOVING? Were you supportive of Stan filming the birth of your first child? Looking back, what do you feel now that maybe you didn’t feel then?

I was agreeable to it. We were in this together. This was our life and he was a film artist. Naturally, he would want to film the birth. He filmed every birth. I liked having him there with me.

There must be an interesting story about how you and Stan met. Can you fill our readers in on your meeting?

I saw him twice before we met. The first time, I was coming out of the opera house with my date. We had gone to the matinee, and there on the street were two guys dueling. My date said, “Yes, they have a very off-beat little theatre in a tent.” But we didn’t have time to go to it. The duelists were Stan and Larry Jordan. The second time I was working across the street from Rockefeller Center in New York and I’d go to the Rockefeller Plaza to eat my sack lunch. When it rained I went into the mall where I found a Brentano’s Bookstore and bought books from him, but he would not look at me.

The third time was when I was introduced to him. He was renting a little house in Denver and my boyfriend at the time introduced me to him, said he was a genius. He started teaching a class unofficially with the film club, and my cousin Betsy and I sat in the back row giggling about “The Great Brakhage” because he seemed to be presenting himself that way. But one moment we stood together under a tree and fell in love. I was amazed when he didn’t contact me. He was with another girl who knew me, and finally said to him, “I think Jane Likes you.” By this time I was horribly depressed and sent him a letter, so he called me up and said he loved me and to come and visit him. It was about six weeks later that we married.

The ‘50s and ‘60s were a time filled with art and stories and experimentation in all forms. Can you tell our readers a little about your and Stan’s life in art before your children were born?

I entered the scene in 1957, and while the children were being born, we traveled a lot and met and befriended as many of the artists in all fields as we could. It was a very lively scene. We were all gods. We were very poor and we were going to change the world. We all knew each other, were drawn to each other like magnets, and we all agreed. It was exhilarating. And we did change the world.

We see that your most recent book, BRAKHAGE’S CHILDHOOD, is a retelling of Stan’s Depression-era childhood, as told to you in the ‘80s in conversations with Stan. In what ways do you think Stan’s formative years affected his art, his career, his family?

He was born a precocious child. He loved to get attention and he loved theatre. As a child, he put on shows, sang in the church, whatever. He had a rough childhood, pillar to post. He never outgrew being the center of the world.

Can you tell us a little about your most recent book, WOLF DICTIONARY?

I have it here. As a child, I ran with dogs, learned what they were communicating. I’ve always thought I learned dog language first and English as a second language. In my early 20s, I wanted to write a dog dictionary. Years later, three people told me about the time when they lived “way up the road beyond where the snowplow went across a winter and they watched a wolf and his mates.” I was very charmed by this story, but couldn’t figure how to present it. I finally realized that I could write it from the viewpoint of the wolf. But even then, people would read it and still they wouldn’t learn the language. So I added notes, talked about why the animal made that gesture, what it meant. To me it seemed obvious as pie. So that’s WOLF DICTIONARY. It’s a key to start understanding animals and what they are communicating.

How has your writing evolved over the years? Has there been a change in subject-matter? Tone? In your youth did you feel the need to express ideas that you don’t quite feel the need to express now?

In fact, I didn’t start writing until I was nearly 40, but even then, across the last 40 years, I have changed a lot in my writing. I never was interested in writing fiction. I always wanted to write to understand something that came to my attention. At first, I felt obliged to write a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, but then I got really excited about the realism of form that anecdote gave. Now I feel that biography can get to understanding the life if the motives and drives are shown and develop into acts and responses and perspectives. I’m now considering writing the biography of the earth, to clarify the legend that the scientists are excited about. It will be a sort of translation. I’m hoping I can show it as adventures.

Which writers (poets, novelists, etc.) influenced you the most?

I think my first big influence was Rembrandt who looks at me through his eyes and we look at each other. He tells me to work, to pour out vitality. Gertrude Stein is reassuring. She tells me it’s perfectly okay to be an odd-ball. Henry James tells me it’s all right to talk at great length about little details; just dance it, and I’ll have it right. Poe shows me how to put rhythm into my writing, to write the percussion and the beat. Vivaldi says to make living landscapes with whatever media. My father taught me to be blown away by a squirrel or an anthill or a bush.

With regards to filmmaking and art, who were your and Stan’s biggest influences?

I think I was his and he was mine.

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

Ken Jacobs, Ernie Gehr, Nathaniel Dorsky, all close to my age. I wonder if there are any young people doing art? I know there’s much that has been done in comic format. Rap seems full of energy, but it seems hard to avoid selling a message. I don’t know. It may be an in-between time, or possibly I’m unaware of what’s going on with the young. There is always talent, and talent is a beautiful thing, no matter what one does with it, but great periods like Baroque music or the Impressionists seem to be the blooming times.

What is your take on compartmentalizing art and films into genres? Do you think these types of creative outlets can be properly tucked away into a single box? Or do you think most art (including film) overlaps several different genres?

When I tried to get agents or publishers to publish me, they’d say, but what is your genre? Evidently, if you’re writing in a genre, you know what you have to do and you get published. This doesn’t interest me. I write what I write.

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

Whatever you do you’ll do what you’re told. The question is, who do you want to listen to? – The shop boss? There’s a steady job. – The pulse of the culture? – If you do that, you might starve and/or become famous. How about that inner voice? – How about writing what you want to know? – That’s where I’m at – I write to think.

What’s next for Jane Wodening?

I want to write the biography of the earth. There is some possibility that it will be the biography of the Universe. I’d like to put it all into common English, so anyone could know at least the theory of the moment – the amazing adventures of this planet and the life on it. I have a mess of little pieces of writing I’d like to put into shape – animal biographies, other thoughts. I really enjoy thinking. There’s nothing more fun than thinking.

Can you tell our readers what they can expect at Film Love Atlanta’s event, “Jane Wodening in Person,” on February 13?

They can expect to be surprised about a number of things.

We know you’ve done plenty of interviews, but is there something you’d like to tell our readers that they don’t know already?

I’m not sure what to say to this. I’m hoping they have open minds.

Photos courtesy of Jane Wodening and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you lovers and hep vintage rockin’ romantics! It’s a week of love and lust and romance, oh my! So, if you’re searching for that Funny Valentine or would prefer to forget the day, we have everything your wretched little heart could desire! So, come on out and take a peek at what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!

Monday, February 8

Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library for their screening of Daniel Petrie’s classic, A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1931) at 10:30am! 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, Country Music edition, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! 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! Bill Sheffield dishes out his acoustic roots and blues at Blind Willie’s! 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! 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, February 9

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema delivers their “Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road” series with a screening of THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977) at 7pm, with an intro and Q&A after the screening! Let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South spice up your evening with their Tease Tuesday: Hearts & Heartbreakers edition getting’ naughty at the Red Light Café! Paul Leder’s documentary, GOIN’ TO CHICAGO (1991), chronicling the migration of African Americans from the rural south to northern cities after WWII, screens at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center at 4pm! Catch the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s 40th Anniversary screening of Martin Ritt’s THE FRONT (1976) at the Lefont Theatre at 7:20pm! Get funky Big Easy style on Avalon Avenue in Alpharetta during their Mardi Gras Pub Crawl! Or get your Cajun fix and Mardi Gras it up with Hair of the Dog at Steve’s Live Music! Get funky with The Mar-Tans at Blind Willie’s! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! 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, February 10

Get cinematic with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Francois Truffaut’s THE SOFT SKIN (1964) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! Catch a screening of Jerry Zucker’s GHOST (1990) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) at 7:3opm! The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents its second 40th Anniversary screening of Martin Ritt’s THE FRONT (1976) at the UA Tara Theatre at 11:30am! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with Sans Abri! 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! 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! Get the blues with Frankie’s Blues Mission at Fat Matt’s! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, February 11

It’s a night of murder ballads made popular by Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Nirvana and a whole lotta’ bloody maniacal mayhem at The Earl with their second annual Bloody Valentine’s event, featuring Kool Kat Aileen Loy with Till Someone Loses an Eye; circus shenanigans with The Thimberling Circus and more bloody romantic fun! Blackhearts and anti-V-day miscreants, rock on down to The Highlander for their Broken Hearts & Bloody Valentines Art Show, delivering a night of multi-media art! Or, for the black-hearted, make your way to Mary’s for their Goth Nite St. Valentine’s Massacre dance party featuring classic Goth anthems!

Mark Michelson & Friends pay tribute to The Eagles at Steve’s Live Music! Joe McGuinness and Bill Sheffield get down and dirty at Eddie’s Attic! Rock out with Wilco at the Tabernacle! It’s a night of gypsy jazz and bluegrass with the Jon Stickley Trio and Control Burn at the Red Light Café! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at The Pointe (Conyers)! Sweet Betty & The Shadows get the blues at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Fatback Deluxe dishes out a night of blues at Venkman’s! It’s a night of Texas country and old-time shenanigans at Smith’s Olde Bar with Kinky Friedman, Brian Molnar and The Jugtime Ragband! 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, February 12

Valentine’s Day Eve-Eve is chock full of retro shenanigans! Swing on by The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for Douglas Cameron’s 17-piece Big Band! The Famous Pub gets kinky cabaret-style with RITUAL’s Moulin Rouge Valentine’s Day Party, featuring The Black Sheep Ensemble! Get smooth and make your way to Park Tavern for an evening of silly love songs with Yacht Rock Schooner! Or get sinfully seductive at 7 Stages for Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and the burly-Q gals of Syrens of the South’s 9th Annual Vixen’s Valentease Vaudeville & Variety Show! The Highwire Comedy Co. presents their Happy Valentine’s Day Mr. President comedy show at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge! The Red Light Café presents THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES benefit performance for V-Day’s One Billion Rising at 8pm!

Jade Lemons hosts “We Can Be Heroes” celebrating the life and music of David Bowie at Smith’s Olde Bar! Rock out at The Star Bar’s Leather Jacket Night featuring performances by M.O.T.O, The El Caminos and The Go Nowheres! Jazz it up with Anat Cohen and the Gary Motley Trio during the Emory Jazz Fest at the Schwartz Center! Cannibal Corpse invades the Masquerade! Rat Pack Now croons on down to the Red Clay Theatre! Catch the premiere of MacGillivey Freeman’s 2013 documentary, NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE, commemorating the U.S. National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at the Fernbank Museum’s IMAX! Kool Kats, The Head rocks out at the Drunken Unicorn! Make your way to Center Stage for a night with Todd Rundgren! ‘80s it up at Wild Wing Café in Dunwoody with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! Get old-timey with Kool Kat Caleb Warren & the Gents at Nik’s Place! Funk it up with the Atlanta Funk Society at the Elliott Street Pub! Bluegrass it up with the Yonder Mountain String Band at Variety Playhouse! Get to the root of it all with The Donna Hopkins Band at Steve’s Live Music! Blues it up with George Hughley & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Ralph Ellis and The Breeze Kings deliver the blues at the Northside Tavern! Pay tribute to Tom Petty as Refugee rocks out at Venkman’s! Get folksy under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with Lilac Wine! Get some soul with Dark Water Rising at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! 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, February 13

Shake a tail feather this Valentine’s Day Eve! Boogie down at The Star Bar’s Blackheart’s Ball, featuring The Midnight Larks, Shantih Shantih, Coma Girls, and Emily Marie Palmer & Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer! Find some goodies for your sweet/blackheart and make your way to My Parents’ Basement for The Valentine’s Day Bizarre Bazaar featuring 13 local artists and designers, including Kool Kat Chris Hamer of Urbnpop! Ghosts and love collide at the Historic Oakland Cemetery with their Love Stories of Oakland tours running through Feb. 14! Catch a screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 8pm! ATL Collective presents Sade’s “Love Deluxe” at Venkman’s! Shimmy on down to the Shakespeare Tavern for Hearts Ablaze Production’s Pantheon of Divini-TEASE with Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kool Kate Persephone Phoenix and more! The Center for Puppetry Arts presents their Valentine’s Date Night (adults-only) with puppet shenanigans and complimentary desserts! Get funky and boogie on down to Aisle 5 for their Funky Good Time Valentine’s Dance! The Red Light Café presents a second performance of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES benefit performance for V-Day’s One Billion Rising at 8pm!

It’s a night of avant-garde and experimental film with Film Love Atlanta’s (Kool Kat Andry Diztler) Jane Wodening in Person event at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center at 7pm [Keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview with Jane Wodening (Brakhage’s first wife)]! Surf on down to Kavarna for Kool Kat Chad Shivers’ Southern Surf Stomp! featuring performances by the Beech Benders, Blacktop Rockets and Gemini 13! It’s Big Band Night with the Gary Motley Trio at the Schwartz Center! Catch a screening of John Singleton’s ROSEWOOD (1997) at the Scott Candler Library at 1pm! Rat Pack Now croons it up at the Red Clay Theatre! The Park Tavern presents Oysterfest, featuring live performances by the Shawn Spencer Band, Secondhand Swagger, Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & the Hookers and Moontower! Get jazzy New Orleans-style with Ruby Red’s Band at Venkman’s, during their Bottomless Mimosa Brunch! Bluegrass it up with the Yonder Mountain String Band at Variety Playhouse for a second time! Get the juke joint blues with The Scissormen at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Dirty Bourbon River Show delivers New Orleans gypsy brass circus rock with Rodeo Twister at The Earl! Get folksy with Tom Rush at Eddie’s Attic! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets down at Blind Willie’s! Blues it up with Ike Stubblefield 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, February 14

It’s V-day folks and you know what that means! We’ve dug up a variety of rockin’ vintage shindigs taking place tonight, that we know will get your blood pumping and all set for that shot to the heart, so, keep your eyes peeled for our top picks and comprehensive guide for all things Retro and Valentine-y!

Celebrate 30 years of Howard Deutch’s ‘80s classic, PRETTY IN PINK (1986), screening at several local theatres, including AMC Barrett Commons 24 (Kennesaw); AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Lawrenceville); Cinemark Tinseltown 17 (Fayetteville); Regal McDonough Stadium 16; Georgian Stadium in Newnan and Regal Hollywood Stadium 24 (Chamblee) at 2pm/7pm! Get really retro and catch the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s 85th Anniversary screening of Sidney M. Goldin’s HIS WIFE’S LOVER (1931) at Lefont Theatre! Get funky and rock out with Meshell Ndegeocello at Terminal West! Get the blues with Steve “The Blues Dude” at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center transforms into a Parisian bohemian cabaret as the Atlanta Ballet presents “Moulin Rouge: The Ballet”, shaking a tail feather through Feb. 13! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Actors Express murders with their presentation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8pm, killing through Feb. 28!

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.

It’s crazy how time flies and also totally terrifyingly awesome that the Days of the Dead will be celebrating its fifth frightening year at Sheraton Hotel Atlanta, this Friday-Sunday Feb. 5-7. Our favorite part is that this horror media convention celebrates not just contemporary cinema but retro classics. In other words, there’s plenty to please both the gore-fan and the Famous Monsters Kid. Here are 10 of our top things to do this year.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Award-winning illustrator, Mark Maddox teams up with jack-of-all creative trades, Jim Adams (actor, radio personality, NERDVANA podcast co-host, Project iRadio PR liaison), to let loose upon the unsuspecting public a monstrous creation, their podcast MONSTER ATTACK! via Project iRadio! Their beastly baby aired its first episode on January 11, 2016 (catch it here), diving head first into the monster madness that started it all for these two monster kids [William Castle’s spine-chilling, THE TINGLER (1959), starring Vincent Price, and Douglas Hickox/Eugene Lourie’s THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959)]. MONSTER ATTACK! airs weekly and covers topics that run a gory-fying gamut from scary creatures that go bump in the night, to old-school sci-fi, to radioactive monsters, mad scientists and more! Take a listen, get your bones a rattlin’ and catch the craze that is, MONSTER ATTACK!

Jim Adams and Mark Maddox

Maddox, monster kid, artiste extraordinaire and recipient of a Rondo Award (2011’s Artist of the Year) and Pulp Factory’s “Cover of the Year” award, hails from Tallahassee, FL and his artistic seed has spread like wildfire! He’s illustrated many a magazine cover [SCREEM MAGAZINE (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”; “Universal Monsters”; MST3K’s 25th Anniversary Issue; “American Horror Story”); HORRORHOUND MAGAZINE; LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS; UNDYING MONSTERS; MAD SCIENTIST MAGAZINE, just to name a few], book covers, films [Warner Brothers’ 3D Blu-ray of HOUSE OF WAX, Cortlandt Hull’s DVD THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA UNMASKING THE MASTERPIECE] and so much more! Maddox has also become an officially licensed artist through the Vincent Price estate, having illustrated a vast library of Vincent Price book and magazine covers. If you haven’t caught a glimpse of Maddox’s artistic endeavors, you may want to haunt on down to your local purveyor of monsterific lit, or catch him at one of many classic monster conventions, including Atlanta’s own Monsterama, Louisville, KY’s Wonderfest and more!

Adams, New Yorker by birth and Atlantan at heart, began co-hosting Project iRadio’s “Nerdvana Interviews” in 2014. He has been a professional actor for 30-plus years, was a morning wake-up show radio personality for twenty years, and dabbled in newspaper reporting. Adams is a fixture in the metro Atlanta theatre scene, having served on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Theatre Conference and served as the Senior Artistic Director for the Canton Professional Theatre. He is a devout monster movie matinee fanatic and is a true monster kid, boasting having once owned a collection of classic and modern monster/horror films that exceeded 1,500 titles. Adams can also be found lurking around classic monster and horror conventions, camera and microphone in hand, seeking his prey as the next charming victim for his Project iRadio interviews.

ATLRetro caught up with Adams and Maddox for a quick interview about their love of classic monster movies, their take on classic and modern special effects and tales from their monster kid childhoods. While you’re reeling in on our little Q&A, catch MONSTER ATTACK!’s second episode, “The Werewolf” here!

Jim Adams and Veronica Carlson

ATLRetro: Congratulations on “The Premiere” episode of your new Project iRadio podcast, MONSTER ATTACK!, which aired January 11, 2016. Classic monsters and “monster movies” in general are right up ATLRetro’s alley and we’re pretty excited to have a podcast devoted to old school monster flicks and those who dreamed them up. Can you tell our readers how you two partnered up to put together this show?

Jim Adams: Mark and I met at the first Monsterama convention in Atlanta two years ago. His table was located next to Veronica Carlson‘s table and I was heading to speak with her when I spotted a print from the movie INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN. As a kid, it was one of my favorite films, and I stopped to purchase the print. As we talked about the film and many others, it became pretty clear that Mark and I grew up appreciating most of the same monster movies. A few weeks later, Mark was a guest on my podcast, NERDVANA, and we blasted through the entire hour without taking a breath, talking about our favorite films. But it was the following year at the next Monsterama convention that we began talking about doing a podcast together. The idea took form and we recorded our first show just before Christmas.

Mark Maddox: Jim and I had met at a couple of conventions and realized we had a rapport when it came to talking about films. He had a common affinity for classic horror films and the idea to do a podcast came from that. We seemed to work well together talking about them.

In the premiere episode, you both discussed your first taste of monsters in film land, with Mark’s being William Castle’s spine-chilling THE TINGLER (1959), starring Vincent Price, and Jim’s being Douglas Hickox/Eugene Lourie’s tale of a giant dinosaur radiating London in THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959). Although these were your first tantalizing tastes of terror, can you fill us in on your favorite classic monsters and why?

J: For me, my favorites have always been the classics – vampires and werewolves. I loved THE WOLF MAN with Lon Chaney Jr., and it still remains one of my all-time favorites. Fred F. Sears’ THE WEREWOLF (1956) is also one I really enjoy and it is the subject of our second MONSTER ATTACK! podcast. Vampires have always been favorites as well. I am a huge fan of the Hammer films featuring Christopher Lee, although the best vampire film, in my opinion was THE BRIDES OF DRACULA with David Peel playing the vampire. The Count Yorga films are also ones I enjoy watching very much. Bela Lugosi’s DRACULA (1931) has a warm place in my heart. I don’t have much use for some the contemporary takes offered like the TWILIGHT series. I think they sometimes forget that vampires are monsters, not love interests. I am not a fan of what I call “90210 with fangs.”

M: My first favorite monster as a child had to be Frankenstein’s Monster, by far – the film version. The flat head and makeup along with his strength just captivated me. I first saw him on the cover of a magazine fighting The Wolfman and my love for monsters was set. From there, it spread to King Kong, Dracula and on and on.

Which classic monster and/or movie would you say is the most neglected and what do you think makes them worthy of attention?

J: The original THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff is a work of absolute genius. The horror is very subtle, but powerful. I love the lighting and set design and Karloff‘s performance the very best of his illustrious career. To many folks, the film may be too “talky” compared to the action-packed horror films of today, but true film lovers should be able to appreciate the incredible artistry The scene where the Mummy first reveals himself to one of the archaeologists is absolutely one of the best horror scenes I have ever witnessed.

M: I think Bela Lugosi‘s DRACULA and Boris Karloff‘s THE MUMMY are both neglected. A lot of people would say they are both slow and not much happens. Bull! They are just incorporating the same kind of techniques that would later be used by Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch – the kind of pacing that brings its own tension. The settings for Dracula and Lugosi’s portrayal are both so weird that it’s like a broken arm that’s been set. Everything looks all right, but there is just something that feels wrong. I think the film has been dismissed too quickly by people.

Can you tell us a little about some of your favorite “monster kid” memories?

J: The one I tell a lot is one that happened watching an OUTER LIMITS episode entitled “The Architects of Fear.” I was eight years old and the monster was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. My bedroom at the time had several maps on the walls. I loved maps as a kid, and during the night a fly got stuck one of them. The sound it made was exactly like the sound the creature made on the show, and I was panic-stricken. It was about four or five years later before I dared watch that episode again, but I decided to take a chance. When the monster appeared, my body physically shook. It was almost 20 years before I saw “Architects” again. I purchased the episode on VHS and when I watched it, it still bothered me a bit. I cannot think of anything that affected me quite as powerfully as that one did.

M: One of my favorites was the night that I found out the local TV station was going to show a double-feature of FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) because I had never seen either one. Another was my mom letting me stay up on a Wednesday night to watch KING KONG (1933) and I was ecstatic. A couple memories that Jim and I have in common are one, checking out the new TV GUIDE every week and looking to see what “Monster Movies” were going to come on that weekend. The other was going to the newsstand and seeing the latest copy of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. (Note: One of Jim’s also included going to the neighborhood drug store and watching for the latest Monster Model releases by Aurora and Revell.)

Despite the invasion of modernized and extreme terror tactics, what do you think it is that keeps generation after generation returning to classic monster movies? What is it about these films that continue to draw you to them?

J: There is true artistry to them. I love that we can do so much today with special effects, but sometimes having that luxury creates lazy or sloppy filmmaking. I believe anyone who looks at these classic monsters – even the low-budget ones – cannot help but be blown away by the love the filmmakers poured into them. But, on another note, even the bad ones are just so damn entertaining to watch. Even today, watching the old films I grew up with for our podcast, I find myself re-experiencing those wonderful times growing up with optimism and youthful exuberance from my childhood.

M: Classic films have a lot of dedicated people working for them – writers, directors, actors, technicians, etc. I think that quality is what makes people return to them. With modern horror films, the ones that say something new (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CABIN IN THE WOODS, and HOSTEL) were all different than their predecessors and that’s why they succeeded. The old films always had the backing of the major studios which helped with the quality. Even the “B” pictures were of high quality

In “The Premiere” episode you discuss the special effects in films like Edward Ludwig’s THE BLACK SCORPION (1957) (Willis H. O’Brien – special effects supervisor) and Eugene Lourie’s THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) (Willis Cook/special effects; Ray Harryhausen/animation). The techniques and art of “old school” special effects has influenced many modern SPFX artists. What do you consider the pros and cons of the advent of computerized SPFX and the more hands off approach to filmmaking? And what is your favorite “old-school” special effect that you think should be used more often in modern film-making?

J: As I said earlier, sometimes I find that filmmakers get a little sloppy and lazy with access to CGI and other computerized effects. I love practical effects because they seem more realistic and I think using those effects helps the performers deliver a better performance. I also believe that the best “scary” movies leave something to the imagination. The human brain will fill the gaps with far more frightening imagery than any effect can. Films like ALIEN (1979), the original THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951), and IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958) have shown that. I also miss really good stop-action effects. Done well, I believe they can really sell a film. Films like MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) and any of the other Ray Harryhausen films are still favorites of mine and are always enjoyable.

M: I think that if it is handled well, you should use whatever tool in the toolbox you have to get the job done. That does not mean you use that tool when it is not necessary. Filmmaking is still about storytelling. JURASSIC PARK (1993) needed its special effects to make the dinosaurs seem alive. Some films overuse computerized effects at the expense of the story.

Mark, it’s no secret that your artistic resume and portfolio is quite prolific with your art spanning the covers of SCREEM MAGAZINE; HORRORHOUND MAGAZINE; LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS; MAD SCIENTIST MAGAZINE (and so many more!); your illustrations being used for Warner Brothers Blu-ray releases; and your Vincent Price magazine and book covers leading you to becoming an officially licensed artist through the Vincent Price estate. Can you tell our readers what drew you to your art and why this particular subject matter? And who would you say is your greatest inspiration/influence and why?

M: I loved comic books, monster movies and science fiction. I would draw the things I loved, and the things I loved were my muses. The muse fed the wish to draw, to create more of what I loved. When it came to films, the love of films made me want to draw and the drawing made me love films even more. As far as my influences, the first person who made me want to draw was Dr. Seuss. But the person who really made me want to become an artist, because I loved their work tremendously and still do to this day, was Jack Kirby. That moved me from comic book art to realistic art, portraits and realism with people like James Bama, who did the Doc Savage covers and stills does great Western art to this day.

Jim, we see that you’ve been in radio for quite some time, having been a radio personality in the metro-Atlanta area

Jim Adams

for a couple decades and now with the invent of podcasts, began co-hosting Project iRadio’s “Nerdvana Interviews” in 2014. Project iRadio not only has brought underrated and almost unknown subjects to light with its podcasts, but it’s made it easier for fans to access knowledge and information delivered by a wide range of industry professionals. What do you hope to achieve with MONSTER ATTACK! and what do you want our readers and your audience to take away from the show?

J: I am so excited about the future of Project iRadio, especially with the incredible hosts we have. After seeing the success of horror writers like Brian Keene, James Moore, Jonathan Mayberry and the others on the network, it appeared there was a need for a look at old horror as well as the new, and that’s where Mark and I fit in. I would love to see MONSTER ATTACK! open up that world to a new generation of fans. Jess Roberts, founder of Project iRadio, is about half my age and he recalls how he fell in love with the older films when he first watched THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). There are several generations who have never watched any of these magnificent films and maybe listening to the podcast will help whet their appetites to try them out.

We hear that you were going to initiate a Patreon for subscribers and funding for Project iRadio. Can you tell us a little about that effort?

J: I’m a rookie at Patreon, but from what I have been told, it is a terrific vehicle for helping the network grow and expand. Right now, we are all doing what we do out of love, but bills have to paid and the overhead of maintaining a large podcast network has to be met. Patreon allows those who love what we do help take some ownership in this incredible adventure. I’m still being educated about some of the incentives we will be offering in the near future. You can visit our Patreon site here.

Can you both tell our readers something about yourself that they don’t know already?

J: Wow, that’s a tough one. There is not too much I am private about except my beliefs. I consider myself a very spiritual person – not religious, spiritual. I believe this is one incredible adventure that will set the table for the next adventure to follow after I physically leave this planet. I do believe that energy will come back for another round, and I am a big believer in the concept of “soul families.”

M: I’m taller than Jim. No, seriously I am an artist first, and then I’m a motivational person. I believe that somehow I would be involved in motivational speaking or therapy if I weren’t an artist.

And of course we want to know what’s up next for both of you. Any exciting plans in the near future?

J: If MONSTER ATTACK! succeeds, we would love to launch another podcast where we can talk about all of our other favorite films and TV shows  that don’t fit into the category of old monster movies.

M: A lot more art, a lot more podcasts – even ones that will cover films that are not horror films and hopefully a lot of conventions. You never really know where life is going to take you, but it’s going to be exciting!

All photographs are courtesy of Mark Maddox and Jim Adams and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Shake a tail feather in Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, February 1

Make your way to the Alpharetta Branch Library for their screening of Stanley Kramer’s classic, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (1967) at 10:30am! 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! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! The Cody Matlock Band delivers a night of blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta!

Tuesday, February 2

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema delivers their “Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road” series with a screening of KINGS OF THE ROAD (1976) at 7pm, with an intro and Q&A after the screening! Or join the miscreants in the land of detention at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of the John Hughes’ ‘80s classic THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Bluegrass it up with Control Burn at Steve’s Live Music! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Downtown Tuesday Night Dance Party featuring retro-soul, funk, ‘80s, ‘90s and more! Catch a screening of Harold Ramis’ GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7:30pm! Andrew Black fires up the blues 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, February 3

Rock out with Super X-13, The El Caminos and Lust at the Clermont Lounge! Or get the garage rockin’ blues with Jared Swilley (Black Lips), Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and Old King Cole Younger at 529! Get cinematic with “La Nouvelle Vague” at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Francois Truffaut’s SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents the 40th Anniversary edition of John Schlesinger’s MARATHON MAN (1976) at the GTC Merchant’s Walk Stadium (Marietta) at 7pm! Geek it up at Battle & Brew during their Science Fiction Geek Trivia Night at 8pm! The Variety Playhouse delivers a night of rock with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes! It’s your last chance to make it to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their screening of the John Hughes’ ‘80s classic THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Atlanta Boogie dishes out a night of Kansas City and West coast blues at Blind Willie’s! Make your way to The Earl for a night with Low! Eddie’s Attic delivers a night with Parker Gispert (The Whigs) and Slow Parade! 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 In the Wheelhouse! 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! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for 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, February 4

Rock out and honkytonk it up at The Star Bar with The Legendary Shack Shakers, Pine Hill Haints and The Gartrells! It’s a night of gritty rock ‘n’ roll at 529 with Bear Girl, The Fire Tonight, Swank Sinatra and Plague of Pilgrims! It’s “Exile on Amsterdam Avenue” at the Red Light Café with Caroline Aiken, Drew de Man, Jon Waits and Noel Sumrall! Blues it up with Tab Benoit at the Variety Playhouse! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets down at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva beach party! Mojo Davis dishes out a night of blues ‘n’ jazz at Venkman’s! It’s a night of tributes at Smith’s Olde Bar with Stone Tribute Pilots (Stone Temple Pilots) and Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)! 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, February 5

Get traumatized and HORROR-fied this weekend as the Days of the Dead Convention kills it at the Sheraton Atlanta hotel for three days of ghastly gore-filled events, running through Feb. 7! You won’t want to miss monstrous retro celebrity guests Ted Raimi (EVIL DEAD II); Heather Langenkamp (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET); Oliver Robins and Martin Casella of POLTERGEIST fame; John Dugan (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE); C. Thomas Howell (E.T.); masked menace Kane Hodder of FRIDAY THE 13TH fame; Tony Todd (CANDYMAN); the 48-Hour Horror Film Fest; a hell raisin’ Friday night party featuring Celebrity Scaryee-Okee and more! So, get your fill of the blood-bath that is, Days of the Dead!

Get experimental with Film Love Atlanta as Kool Kat Andry Diztler presents “An Evening of Stan Brakhage Films” at Emory White Hall at 7:30pm, featuring all 16mm prints [Keep your eyes peeled for our Kool Kat interview with Jane Wodening (Brakhage’s first wife)]! Geek it up at Medieval Times for Dragon Con Night! New Wave it up at Avondale Towne Cinema with Devomatix and The Fantastic Plastics! Rock out with Colin Hay at the Variety Playhouse! Make your way to the Buckhead Theatre for a night with Graham Nash! The Buggs shake it up at Steve’s Live Music! The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center transforms into a Parisian bohemian cabaret as the Atlanta Ballet presents “Moulin Rouge: The Ballet”, shaking a tail feather through Feb. 13! Funk it up with Cadillac Jones at Venkman’s! Rock on down to the Masquerade for a night with Led Zeppelin 2! Pay tribute to Motorhead at The Highlander with Bitch! Get funky with Zydefunk at the Northside Tavern! Boogie under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Lethal Rhythms! Rock out roots-style with The Donna Hopkins Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Get saucy and blues it up with Sandra Hall & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! 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, February 6

It’s Day 2 to get spooked at the Days of the Dead Convention at the Sheraton Atlanta! Get your blood curdling fill of monsters galore with “Mistress of the Dark” Elvira (today only in full costume!); Billy Dee Williams (STAR WARS); the Son of Celluloid Show; a Chaostume Showdown; and an epic dance party a.k.a. Carnage at 11pm, that will have you rattlin’ your bones deep into the night!

Hollyfest VIII invades The Star Bar with a night of rockin’ tributes to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, with performances by the Southern Ska Syndicate, Rodeo Twister, Dusty Booze & the Baby Haters, Johnny McGowan, Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers, The Mystery Men?, Skye Paige, Superpill, The Honey Lungs and Burning Truck! Punk rock it up with The Queers, Antagonizers ATL and DDC at the Drunken Unicorn! Snag a new look with a vintage Valentine’s clothes pop-up at Vintage Soiree, from 11am-6pm! Or rock out with Europe at the Masquerade! Get your swampy ragtime fix at Avondale Towne Cinema with Mayhayley’s Grave and Cold Heart Canyon! Make your way to the Georgia Freight Depot for The Pancake & Booze Art Show, featuring 60+ emerging artists, live music and free pancakes, from 8pm-2am! New Wave it up at the Variety Playhouse with The Producers and Indianapolis Jones! Get to the root of it all with Delta Moon at Blind Willie’s! Fire up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Northside Tavern delivers the Allman Brothers Tribute Band! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville! Funk it up New Orleans-style with The Mar-Tans 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, February 7

It’s Day 3 and your last chance to experience the rockin’ blood and horror fest, the Days of the Dead Convention! Today’s events include horrorific panels, including a POLTERGEIST panel, so, come on and check out all the swell and retro horror goodness while you can! You won’t want to miss the Super Sunday Collector’s Con, featuring comics, toys and more at the Atlanta Marriot Century Center from 11am-5pm! The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents the 60th Anniversary edition of Max Nosseck’s SINGING IN THE DARK (1956) at the Lefont Theatre at 11am! Jazz it up with Francine Reed at Eddie’s Attic! Rock on down to the Crimson Moon Café for their Boomers Gone Wild event, delivering a night of ‘60s and ‘70s covers! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center transforms into a Parisian bohemian cabaret as the Atlanta Ballet presents “Moulin Rouge: The Ballet”, shaking a tail feather through Feb. 13!

The Actors Express murders with their presentation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8pm, killing through Feb. 28!

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.

Atlanta author Chesya Burke finds a mystery in 1920s Harlem in THE STRANGE CRIMES OF LITTLE AFRICA, her debut novel  from Rothco Press which has its launch party Friday Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Charis Books and More in Little Five Points. The innovative and much anticipated story features as its protagonist feisty would-be detective Jaz Idewell, daughter of the first African-American officer in the New York Police Department, and as her best friend a young Zora Neale Hurston.

Chesya has been turning heads with her short fiction, unabashedly bringing an African-American  woman’s perspective to horror and spec-lit. Her first story collection, LET’S PLAY WHITE, came out from Apex Publications in 2011, and other recent publications include “In the Quad of Project 327,” in CASSILDA’S SONG, an all-women authors’ collection of stories inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ THE KING IN YELLOW which featured in HBO’s TRUE DETECTIVE.

ATLRetro was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at STRANGE CRIMES and enjoyed it so much we couldn’t help but make her Kool Kat of the Week.  We caught up with her recently to find out more about the book, the festivities at Charis and what’s next for this innovative author.

ATLRetro: What’s the “secret origin story” behind how you came to write THE STRANGE CRIMES OF LITTLE AFRICA?

Chesya Burke: STRANGE CRIMES isn’t much of a secret. A fellow writer and I thought that a black woman detective novel would be fun to write, Harlem would be a great setting and now there’s my Little Africa. Which I hope captures just a little of the real Little Africa.

How much of an impact has Zora Neale Hurston’s writing had on you personally, and did you feel at all intimidated bringing such a literary icon onto the page?

I love ZNH! Just love her. I love everything about her. Researching her, reading her biography, her own story, written by her, true and false—she was known to…subvert the truth when she saw fit—was fascinating. I’m a huge fan and I enjoy her work. I’m not sure how much influence she has on me, probably quite a bit, but less than some authors such as Octavia Butler. I think what I take most from Hurston is dialogue. She really got to the essence of rural black dialect.  I hope I can be half as good as she one day! 

I was nervous to write about Hurston. I have this idea of the woman that she was in my head, but it’s not real. I had to realize that I could never get the real Zora on the page, only a bit of the mystery of her as I could imagine.

Zora is not the only real-life character from the Harlem Renaissance. Briefly, can you tell us about a few of the others, such as the enigmatic Madam St. Clair, who also appears in your story “I Make People Do Bad Things”?

There are so many. I researched a lot for the book. Stephanie St. Clair, Bumpy Johnson, Anderson Charles and several others. Even her father, Rueben Idawell was based on the first black traffic cop in NYC.

What did you do to research the book, and what was the most challenging piece of information to find/fact-check?

I’ve been to New York a bunch, and I went to Harlem specifically to do research. I spent hours and hours in the museum, walking the streets and just trying as hard as I could to get a feel for it. But, of course, I hadn’t been to 1920s Harlem, so I looked at old articles and pictures and newspaper clippings from the time. That’s where I got the name, “Little Africa.” I hadn’t [known] it was called that until I read it in a newspaper from the time.   

Jaz, the protagonist, is the daughter of the first African-American officer in the NYPD. Are there any lessons that you hope readers will bring to the present from your depiction of race and justice/injustice in the Harlem Renaissance?

Racial injustice and police brutality have only changed in measures since the era of the novel. We don’t have to read historical novels to see this. Anyone reading STRANGE CRIMES will see parallels. And that is unfortunate.   

Your acclaimed short story collection LET’S PLAY WHITE is horror/spec-lit. Especially over the past decade more African-American horror writers have risen to prominence from Tananarive Due to Victor LaValle, and some would say that Toni Morrison’s BELOVED is one of the best horror novels of all time. Are you encouraged by more diversity in the genre community or do you still see significant challenges/barriers for writers of color?

Of course. I hope that in the future we will see even more.

You just completed a master’s thesis at Agnes Scott College about Storm of Marvel Comics’ X-MEN and started a doctoral program at the University of Florida-Gainesville. Is it challenging to be both a graduate student and an author?

Oh. My. God. Yes. It’s most difficult because it seems that I’m being pulled in so many directions and both careers are doing relatively well. But it’s the problem to have, so I’m not complaining. Love every minute of it!

You still consider Atlanta home, though. Is that why you wanted your official book launch here at Charis? Can you tell readers a little about the festivities on Friday night?

Yes. Atlanta is home. Always will be. The book launch is on Friday and I will be reading from STRANGE CRIMES. Charis is also home and is the perfect place for the release party of my first book. I’m also reading at Agnes Scott College on Wednesday evening!

What’s next in fiction for you? The end of STRANGE CRIMES seemed to hint that you might have a sequel in mind?

Yes. I’m working on the next book in the series. At least, I should be. I’m working on a few short stories and comic stuff. Most of it, I can’t talk about unfortunately. 

Any other current or “lost/forgotten” writers you’d like to recommend to ATLRetro readers?

Octavia Butler, who is not lost, but everyone should know about. Maurice Broaddus. Jennifer Brissett. Victor LaValle. Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Kiese Laymon. Shane McKenzie. Laird Barron. I know I’m missing lots of people. 

Chesya talks more about THE STRANGE CRIMES OF LITTLE AFRICA and other works in this recent interview on THE OUTER DARK podcast on Atlanta-based Project iRadio.

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! From juke joints to musicals to tantalizing burlesque, Retro Atlanta has it all! Come on out and see what we’ve found for you!

Monday, January 25

Get really retro at the Alpharetta Branch Library during their screening of Frank Capra’s classic, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) at 10:30am! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Rock out ‘90s industrial-style with Tool and Primus at the Gwinnett Center! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Get down and dirty and blues it up with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Catch a screening of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s LOVE & BASKETBALL (2000) at the Georgia Tech Student Center Theater at 7pm! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! 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!’ 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! And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out a night of BBQ with a side of The Pork Bellys!

Tuesday, January 26

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema kicks off their “Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road” series with a screening of ALICE IN THE CITIES (1974) at 7pm, with an intro and Q&A after the screening! Rock out and pay homage to David Bowie with Jerome Newton & the Band Who Fell to Earth at 529! Union EAV rocks out with their Punk Rock Karaoke ATL, and every last Tuesday of the month! It’s a battle of rock ‘n’ roll proportions at the Red Light Café with the BadAsh Allstars and their Sun Records artists vs. Chess Records artists showdown! Bluegrass it up with Cedar Hill at Steve’s Live Music! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues at Blind Willie’s! Or blues it up with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 27

Get cinematic with “La Nouvelle Vague” double-feature at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Francois Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS (1959) and ANTOINE AND COLETTE (1962) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! Stomp on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night with Robert Earl Keen and The Roosevelts! Or folk it up with City Mouse, Frankie Boots and The Darnell Boys at Eddie’s Attic! 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 The Whiskey Gentry! Kool Kat Scott Glazer & his Mojo Dojo dish out a night of blues, jazz ‘n’ soul at Blind Willie’s! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for 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! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 28

The Star Bar delivers a hootenanny and a half with The Hooten Hallers, Deadly Lo-Fi and Georgia Slim! Skank it up with Reel Big Fish, The Maxies and Suburban Legends at the Masquerade! Jim White and Kristin Diable dish out a night of bluegrass and Americana at Grocery on Home! Folk it up with The Brookses and The Glumson Brothers at the Red Light Café! The Variety Playhouse delivers a triple threat with three nights of ZOSO, the ultimate Led Zeppelin experience! Make your way to Steve’s Live Music for a night with Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands! 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! Blues it up with Sweet Betty & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Get your old-timey kicks with Kool Kat Caleb Warren & The Gents at Venkman’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! 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, January 29

Shake it up at The Star Bar with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and The Disapyramids, the Night Terrors and Sonic Graffiti! Bluegrass it up with Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out at Eddie’s Attic! Swing on by the Red Light Café for DJ Doctor Q’s Atlanta Speakeasy Electro Swing! It’s a night of prohibition era pandemonium at Venkman’s with Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & the Hookers! Celebrate 60 years of Johnny Mathis at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center! Get mysterious during the ‘20s Haarlem Renaissance with Chesya Burke’s first novel; THE STRANGE CRIMES OF LITTLE AFRICA at Charis Books (see our Kool Kat interview soon)! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for their screening of Robert Greenwald’s XANADU (1980), followed by an after party at Mary’s! Get funky with Voodoo Visionary, the Kinky Aphrodisiacs (King Koda) and The Night Shift at Smith’s Olde Bar! Make your way to the Buckhead Theatre for a night with Art Garfunkel! Rock out with the Paradocs at the The Earl Smith Strand Theatre! The Variety Playhouse delivers night two of ZOSO, the ultimate Led Zeppelin experience! Eighties it up at the Craze Tavern (Duluth) with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Jim White and Kristin Diable dish out a second night of bluegrass and Americana at Grocery on Home! Get your Chicago/West Coast blues fix under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Electromatics! Domino delivers their Van Morrison tribute at Steve’s Live Music! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets the blues with the Non Stop Blues Band! Get saucy and blues it up with Sandra Hall & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! 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, January 30

Rev on down to The Star Bar for Rockabilly Night with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles, Crazy Man Crazy and V-8 Death Car! Get intergalactic at the Fox Theatre with Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage, delivering 5-decades of Star Trek soundtracks at 8pm! Jazz it up at Venkman’s with their Bottomless Mimosa Brunch with the David Ellington Jazz Trio, followed by Saved by the Band dishing out ‘80s and ‘90s tunes! It’s a night of Big Band music at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center with their presentation of “In the Mood: A 1940s Musical Review” at 2pm/8pm! Get old-timey at the Red Light Café with Don Gallardo, The Vaudevillains and The Waymores! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Tedo Stone, Oak House and Sydney Eloise & The Palms! Jazz it up with Ramsey Lewis and help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of “The In Crowd” at the Rialto Center for the Arts! It’s a night of ‘70s-era disco pop with the Susi French Connection at Eddie’s Attic! Get Cozy and boogie on down with DJ Cozy Shawn at 97 Estoria every Saturday night as he spins a night of classic vinyl! It’s your last chance to rock out with ZOSO at the Variety Playhouse! Get your ‘80s industrial and new-wave fix at the Famous Pub with Dark 80s: New-Wave Music Video Night with Kool Kat VJ Anthony! The Stoneberrys rock out to the tune of The Rolling Stones at Steve’s Live Music! Make your way to The Earl Smith Strand Theatre for their I Knew You When: A Tribute to Billy Joe Royal event! It’s a night of rockin’ tributes at Smith’s Olde Bar with Rumours (Fleetwood Mac), The Dirty Doors (The Doors) and Refugee (Tom Petty)! Get to the root of it all with The Rosin Sisters at the Crimson Moon Café! Make your way to the Red Clay Theatre for a night with the Randall Bramblett Band! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets the rockin’ blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get down with Robert Lee Coleman at the Northside Tavern! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues deliver a night of blues, swing and soul with The 24th Street Wailers! Blues it up with George Hughley & 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, January 31

Tiki it up The Earl with performances by Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer’s The Compartmentalizationalists, Tag Team, A Drug Called Tradition, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor and Nest Egg! It’s a night of horrorific mischief and mayhem at Big Ass Horror Bash 2, the official Days of the Dead 2016(DOTD) pre-party, presented by Son of Celluloid and DOTD at the American Tavern in Loganville, featuring performances by Kool Kats The Casket Creatures, Crypt 24, Graveyard Gospel and more! Or for something a bit less sinister, The Park Tavern presents, “Americana in the Park” with performances by Donna Hopkins, Cigar Store Indians, Milagro Saints, Roxie Watson and Russ Still & the Moonshiners! Get folksy and jazz it up with Lilac Wine during Venkman’s Bottomless Mimosa Brunch! It’s a night of rockin’ blues at the Crimson Moon Café with the Whispering Gypsies! Jamie Laval gets folksy at Steve’s Live Music! Get some soul and 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

The Actors Express murders with their presentation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8pm, killing through Feb. 28!

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

Retro Atlanta is the Kat’s meow! Get revved and rock out in Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, January 18

Rock out with the Subsonics and Debbey Richardson (Magic Bone) at 529! Get possessed with a gargantuan love of art at Lefont Theatre’s screening of Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s documentary, PEGGY GUGGENHEIMM: ART ADDICT (2015) [see our Retro Review here]! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out a night of BBQ with a side of The Pork Bellys!

Tuesday, January 19

Gypsy jazz it up with the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet at Steve’s Live Music! Spend the night with the dinosaurs during the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK (1993) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Or catch George Ray Hill’s THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (1964) at the Decatur Library at 10am! The Imposeurs play R.E.M. at the Red Light Café! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! Make your way to Pallookaville for Tuesday Night Trivia at 7pm! Get some soul with The Hollidays at Blind Willie’s! Blues it up with Little G. Weevil at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Or blues it up with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 20

Catch a screening of George Ray Hill’s classic, BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) during TCM’s “Big Screen Classics” series in theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! Get cinematic French-style at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Claude Chabrol’s LES COUSINS (1959) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! Get funky New Orleans-style with The Mar-Tans at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Get a second chance to catch Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK (1993) during the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Madonna, the “Material Girl” invades Philips Arena! It’s a night of adventure at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) with their screening of Richard Donner’s THE GOONIES (1985) at 7pm! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with Battlefield Collective! Get the Chicago/West coast blues with the Electromatics at Blind Willie’s! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for 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! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 21

It’s a night of mayhem and rockin’ madness at Terminal West with Reverend Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson and Nashville Pussy! 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! Rock out and pay tribute with Built For Speed (Motorhead) and Pretty Vacant (The Sex Pistols) at The Star Bar! Bluegrass it up with The Bluegrass Playboys and Dusty Roads at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Heather Luttrell! Yacht Rock Revue dishes out a night of rockin’ retro tunes at Venkman’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! 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, January 22

Get down and dirty with Bad Friend, Bold Ashes and Russian Roulette at The Star Bar! A night of mystery and suspense ensues at SCADShow with their screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHES (1938) at 7pm! Folk it up during The Kennedys’ 20th Anniversary Triple CD Release Party at the Red Clay Theatre! Sadie Hawkins presents The Men’s Room: A Burly Brolesque & Virile Variety Revue at the Red Light Café! Rock on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night with Nils Lofgren! Get folksy with Dylan Leblanc and Anthony Aparo at Eddie’s Attic! Get your traditional jazz fix with Madoca during Colbeh Persian Kitchen’s “Live on the Square” event! Steve’s Live Music rocks out with Tribute! Groove on down to the Northside Tavern for a night with Swami Gone Bananas! The “Ambassador of the Blues” James Armstrong gets down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Get the rockin’ blues with The Bobby Thompson Project at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! 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, January 23

It’s a colossal fight of monstrous proportions at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with a screening of Ishiro Honda’s KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1962) at 8pm! Andrea Colburn performs “Sad Songs & Switchblades” (CD Release party) with Kool Kat Caleb & The Gents and Cold Heart Canyon at The Basement! The Actors Express murders with their opening night presentation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8pm killing through Feb. 28! Rock out with Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) & the BFGs and Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown at the Variety Playhouse! The Vegabonds and the Dead 27s dish out a night of Zeppelin-esque rock and southern soul at Aisle 5! Get some old-school soul with the Ben Wade Band and The Ormewoods at the Red Light Café! Boogie on down to the Opera Nightclub for Clash of the Decades: Music Video Dance Party with Kool Kat VJ Anthony! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Glen Iris, The People and Springwild! 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! Julie Christensen (Divine Horsemen) folks it up at the Red Clay Theatre! Make you way to Venkman’s for their Brunch with Dusty’s Ragtime & Silent Movies event! Blues it up and get funky with Funky Bluester at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get absurd and rock out with Kool Kat Col. Bruce Hampton at the Northside Tavern! Make your way to Steve’s Live Music for their Bob Dylan Tribute Jam! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty with The Cazanovas! 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, January 24

Go on an adventure to the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) for their screening of Richard Donner’s THE GOONIES (1985) at 2pm! The Georgia Crackers deliver a night of vintage ‘20s string tunes at Steve’s Live Music! Get some soul and 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

The Actors Express murders with their presentation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8pm, killing through Feb. 28!

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm!

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

Get back in the swing of things with Retro Atlanta! Take a peek at all the swell shenanigans we’ve found for you!

Monday, January 11

Get really retro at the Alpharetta Branch Library during their screening of Mark Sandrich’s TOP HAT (1935) at 10:30am! Celebrate the birth of “The King” at the Lefont Theatre with their screening of Denis Sanders’ documentary ELVIS: THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (1970) at 7pm! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Joe McGuinness! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! 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!’ Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! And Fat Matt’s Rib Shack dishes out a night of BBQ with a side of The Pork Bellys!

Tuesday, January 12

Rock out at 529 with Glen Iris and Out of the Fire! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café as Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South present their Tease Tuesday Burlesque 2nd Anniversary Show, featuring performances by Circus Bitties, Bunny Wigglebottom, Annette Coquette, Fianna Flowerchild and more! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! The Boohoo Ramblers get to stompin’ at Blind Willie’s! Get old-timey with The Jakob’s Ferry Stragglers at Steve’s Live Music! Geek it up at My Parents’ Basement with their weekly Tuesday night Nerd Trivia at 8pm! Get the blues with Cody Matlock at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Or blues it up with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 13

Hey all you mischievous miscreants, make your way to The Earl for a night of old-school punk and mayhem with X___X, Obnox and Shocked Minds! Get cinematic French-style at Emory Cinematheque’s screening of Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR (1955) during their “French New-Waves: Classics & Rediscoveries” series at 7:30pm! It’s Chicken Picken’ Wednesday at Venkman’s, so come on out for a night with the Georgia Crackers! Get your vintage Kansas City/West Coast swing fix with Atlanta Boogie at Blind Willie’s! Spend the night with the Pink Ladies at Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) with their screening of Randal Kleiser’s GREASE (1978) at 7:30pm! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to The Star Bar for 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! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 14

Glam it up at The Earl for T.T. Mahoney’s Bowie In Sweats event, celebrating Bowie’s 69th birthday with Alexa Dexa, Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer & the Bicycle Eaters and The Compartmentalizationalists! Get your post punk dark-wave fix with The Soft Moon at Terminal West! Riff Trax Live gets intergalactic with a screening of Paul Verhoeven’s STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997) across Atlanta at 7:30pm [Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; Perimeter Pointe 10; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! ATL Collective presents Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” at Eddie’s Attic! Get experimental and rock on down to The Star Bar for a night with Eat Lightning, Lilac Shades, Think Never and the Dirty Magazines! Bluegrass it up with The Band of Desperate Men and In the Wheelhouse at the Red Light Café! Railroad Earth delivers a night of rockin’ bluegrass at the Variety Playhouse! Get down and dirty with Sandra Hall & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Get funky New Orleans-style with The Mar-Tans at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Jazz it up with Jeff Lorber and Andy Snitzer at Suite Food Lounge! Yacht Rock Revue dishes out a night of rockin’ retro tunes “unplugged” at Venkman’s! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a night of cool island tunes and a couple Mai Tais! 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, January 15

Get your throwback to the ‘70s rock fix at The Star Bar with Bigfoot, Beitthemeans and The Stacktone Slims! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Sportsline Bar in Lawrenceville! Lloyd’s Rocksteady Revue gets down with a night of ‘60s and ‘70s Jamaican soul at Venkman’s! Get the blues with Mike Farris at the Buford Community Center! It’s Friday Night Jazz at the High Museum, so come on out for a night with Mike Walton! Get your second helping of Railroad Earth at the Variety Playhouse! Hop on down to the Red Light Café for Sadie Hawkins’ Last Pasties Standing event! Atlanta Boogie gets down at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Steve’s Live Music delivers a night of “The Material Girl” with The True Blue Madonna Experience! Blues it up with George Hughley & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Make your way to the Northside Tavern for a night with Stoney Brooks! 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! Get down with The Rhythm Yard at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! 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, January 16

The Star Bar dishes out a hootenanny and a half during their All-Star Benefit for Greg, featuring Deke Dickerson, the Blacktop Rockets, Rodeo Twister, Kool Kat Caroline & the Ramblers, Slim Chance & the Convicts, plus Kool Kat Julea Thomerson will be spinnin’ your favorite classic country and rockabilly tunes! Catch Robert Mulligan’s classic, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) on the big screen at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre at 8pm! Make your way to Steve’s Live Music for a night with Norman Frank & The Ghost Dance and The Dirty Doors! Get old-timey with Tray Dahl & The Jugtime Ragband at Venkman’s! Back in the Saddle, Gwen Hughes and Matthew Kaminski present “The Other Side of Johnny Mercer” at the Red Clay Theatre! Get the blues at night two of Mike Farris at the Buford Community Center! Eighties it up at Wild Wing Café (Gainesville) with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! Get revved with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Dixie Tavern in Marietta! Rock out at the Variety Playhouse with The Grapes and The Jeff Mosier Band! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins dishes out a night of rockin’ blues at Blind Willie’s! The Steel City Jug Slammers dish out a night of Delta blues and old-time jug music at the Crimson Moon Café! It’s a night of ‘30s-‘50s jazz standards at the Red Light Café with The Moonlighters Jazz Band and the “Little” Big Band Atlanta! Get bluesy with Bill Sheffield at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Blue Roads at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, January 17

Catch a screening of George Ray Hill’s classic, BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) during TCM’s “Big Screen Classics” series in theatres across Atlanta at 2pm/7pm [Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! Get your bluegrass, punk ‘n’ folk fix at the Masquerade with Gallows Bound, Blood on the Harp and I Want Whiskey! The Shoal Street Stranglers folk it up at the Crimson Moon Café! Cristian Puig dishes out a night of Flamenco at the Red Light Café! Get some soul and 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

Blast-Off Burlesque geeks it up with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday at 8:30pm!

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 Star Bar delivers Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, every Tuesday!

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.