ATLRetro

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

THE CUT (2014); Dir. Fatih Akin; Starring Tahir Rahim; Opens Friday, November 6 (showtimes and tickets here); Landmark Midtown Art Cinema; Trailer here.

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, in its mission to bring us thought-provoking works of moviemaking from around the world, delivers once again with Fatih Akin’s THE CUT. A polarizing film, it haunts us with images of violence and atrocity, while exploring a single person’s globe-spanning journey to find some sort of redemption and reconciliation.

Set largely in the aftermath of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, THE CUT follows Nazaret Manoogian (Tahir Rahim)—a lone mute blacksmith—as he returns from torture and imprisonment to search for his two long-lost daughters. This is a journey that not only takes him through the various tragedies associated with the genocide’s implications, but also from Turkey to Lebanon, from Cuba to Florida, and eventually to the barren plains of North Dakota.

Nazaret Manoogian (Tahar Rahim)

Akin’s film is a breathtaking visual achievement. He captures each territory with its own personality, delivering masterful compositions accentuated with expert cinematography and production design (in the latter case, from veteran designer Allan Starski). It’s one of the best-photographed films you’ll see all year. Shot entirely on 35mm film stock in CinemaScope, the visuals are both striking and lush without being overly stylized. And to echo the narrative’s echoes of Hollywood epics and westerns, whenever possible Akin relies purely on “old school” filming techniques. The result is a film that is stylistically aware of its forebears without being derivative of them; working within the same framework of the classics while being wholly contemporary.

Narratively and directorially, however, the film has proven to be divisive, as the mixed reviews from professional critics attest. It’s not just due to the controversial nature of the Armenian genocide—a topic that continues to spark intense debate some 100 years after the fact. It’s also Fatih Akin’s presentation of the material. Akin, with co-screenwriter Mardik Martin (RAGING BULL, NEW YORK, NEW YORK), intentionally holds you at arm’s length from the action, making the viewer an objective witness to the events that unfold, rather than pulling the audience into the story emotionally. He takes a Terrence Malick or Stanley Kubrick approach to the material, which initially seems at odds with the intensely emotional aspects of the film’s narrative. His stated intention is—especially in scenes of violence—to allow the characters to maintain their own dignity and not rely on emotional exploitation to present them. But some viewers may find it overly cold and clinical when a more immersive experience might be preferable.

What cannot be denied, however is the excellence of the performances, in particular that of Tahir Rahim as the largely silent Nazaret Manoogian. His performance is overlaid with intelligence and richness of feeling that in lesser hands might come across as mere physical gesturing. As he appears in nearly every frame of the movie, the burden of carrying the film is on his shoulders and he manages to do so with grace and aplomb. It’s impossible to imagine THE CUT working as well as it does with anyone else in the lead.

Despite the polarizing storytelling stance that Akin takes, THE CUT is a film well worth checking out, particularly for those who appreciate a more cerebral approach to their movie going experiences. It’s a rare exploration of a controversial subject, it’s a beautifully crafted piece of cinema, and it features a standout performance as its central pillar. And even if it holds you at a distance, that distance gives you a unique perspective on images that will linger with you long after the film has unspooled from its reels.

Aleck Bennett is a writer, blogger, pug warden, pop culture enthusiast, raconteur and bon vivant from the greater Atlanta area. Visit his blog at doctorsardonicus.wordpress.com.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Band. James Band, Atlanta’s own rockin’ masterminds and a riotous tribute to a “not-so-secret agent” dish out a night of nostalgia ‘n’ espionage this Friday, Nov. 6 at The Highlander, along with The Shut-Ups, purveyors of new wave power pop, and a whole lotta down ‘n’ dirty noise pop with Map of the Moon! Grab your friends andyour foes, and boogie on down to the slickest free shindig in town while knocking back a couple martinis in celebration of the release of the 24th highly-anticipated Bond flick, SPECTRE, (dir. Sam Mendes) out in theatres that same night. Exploits begin at 9 pm sharp!

Band. James Band. [James Band (guitar/vocals); Kittens Aplenti (keyboard/vocals); Grillz (bass) and Huge Drag (drums)], began their rockin’ covert operation in 2012 and obviously is heavily influenced by the musical masterminds behind the Bond franchise (John Barry, Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, et al.) as well as other ‘60s party bands and tunes. However, they’ve also been known to sling a good ‘80s tune and promise a tantalizing taste of their own “Cold-War Paranoia-Pop” this Friday night! Diamonds may be forever, but this shaken’ (not stirred) shindig is a one-time deal! (This message will self-destruct!)

L-R: Grillz, Huge Drag, James Band and Kittens Aplenti – Photo by HOOPIX

ATLRetro caught up with Kittens Aplenti for a quick interview about her cronies in Band. James Band.; their favorite not-so-secret spy; and the band’s mission to make sure you die another day so you can spy it up this Friday! And while you uncover our little Q&A with Kool Kat of the Week Miss Aplenti, get an earful of Band. James Band’s take on “Secret Agent Man” during their 2012 East Atlanta Strut performance, here!

ATLRetro: Band. James Band; such an ingenious name for a tribute to a not-so-secret agent! Can you thrill our readers with tales of how you and your own agents got together as a band?

Kittens Aplenti: “Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun. And the first one said to the second one there, ‘I hope you’re having fun.”‘ – Oh, wait, those are the lyrics to “Band On the Run.” Beg your pardon, we don’t usually dwell much on our past. After all, you only live twice. Though it has been rumored that an origin story would be revealed this week, hasn’t it? OK, suffice it to say that Kittens Aplenti once had the opportunity to sing “You’re So Vain” – a song that was probably about James.  Then she wanted to perform the theme to “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and she banded together friends and foes to do so – though nobody does it better than Carly Simon.

James Band – Photo by Jenifer Carter

We see that you’ve overtaken the criminal masterminds with an arsenal of ‘60s party music and film theme songs. Which film’s theme is your favorite and why?

We’re quite fond of the theme from ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. The constantly descending chromatic lines reflect the movie’s downhill skiing sequences, a testament to the genius of John Barry. The minions in the band like it because it’s abbreviated in the set list as OHMSS; when chanted aloud, it creates the focus and clarity needed for carrying out codas and counterintelligence.

Your top influences are listed as the musical geniuses behind the James Bond franchise; John Barry, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra, et. al. Can you tell our readers what drew you to the infamous and slickest spy around, as well as his musical cohorts? And why you want to share the love of the genre with your fans?

These melodies and memories are shared experiences across audiences. They guarantee a good time and much more than a quantum of solace. In addition to theme songs and ‘60s spy favorites, readers should be alerted to Cold-War Paranoia-Pop as well. We are likely to deploy a number of ‘80s favorites for those who are as fond of the Reagan era as we are. For your ears only!

Any adventurous tales of when you began to get interested in playing music?

Our leading man began playing piano like a dutiful lad before picking up an axe. The world is not enough for his talent. He axes while other men just balk. “He looks at this world and wants it all. So he strikes, like Thunderball.”

L-R: Grillz, Kittens Aplenti – Photo by O-Jen Ishii Photography

As purveyors of kitschy tongue-in-cheek underground shenanigans, can you tell our readers who are some of your favorite local bands? And why you love the Atlanta music scene?

A-ha! It would be hard to identify favorites. The camaraderie and formidable talent in the Atlanta scene knock the living daylights out of us.  Millionaire developer Mack Zoloft has approached the minions in the band with a scheme. By tearing down all of the local rehearsal spaces to build condos, we can prevent all the other bands from practicing. We’ll dominate!

If you could put together a dream line-up of bands to play with [still around or not], who would it be and why?

We’d love to perform with our local friends Smithsonian and Clashinista. These are both British-inspired send ups as well.

Anything scandalous planned for your shakin’ and not stirred shindig, probing The Highlander on Nov. 6?

The Shut-Ups and Map of the Moon have been licensed to thrill, so you all simply must plan to die another day so

Huge Drag – Photo by O-Jen Ishii Photography

that you can join us. The Man With the Golden Drum is going to shake things up and bang out an electric, nay explosive, addition to the set inspired by a few beloved bonnie Scotsmen.

What’s next for Band. James Band?

Let’s just say our relationships don’t seem to last. There’s always the possibility that we might reboot with a new cast of characters!

Can you tell our readers something you’d like folks to know that they don’t know already?

We could tell you but then we’d have to kill you…This policy does make it a little difficult to promote our shows.

What question do you wish somebody would ask you and what’s the answer?

Q: Do you expect me to talk?   A: No, we expect you to listen!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey kiddies! Retro Atlanta is the Kat’s meow! Shake a tail feather and come see what we’ve dug up for you this week! Live la vida Retro!

Monday, November 2

Rock into this week at the Masquerade with Soul Asylum, the Meat Puppets and Hope Country! Get some rockin’ soul and blues it up with Tommy Castro & the Painkillers with the JP Blues Band at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get satirical and make your way to The Plaza Theater for their screening of Mel Brooks’ classic, SPACEBALLS (1987), running through Nov. 3! 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! Get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club at 8:30pm! And Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta!

Tuesday, November 3

Hey all you miscreants, rock on down to The Star Bar for a night with The Coathangers, The Birth Defects and Paralyzer! The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema dishes out classic cinema with Vittorio De Sica’s UMBERTO D (1952) at 7pm! Get your ‘90s rock fix at The Loft with Everclear’s Sparkle & Fade 20th Anniversary Tour! May all your dreams come true at the Fox Theatre with their presentation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA, running through Nov. 8! Get your Dixieland fix at Steve’s Live Music with La Terza Classe! Or get adventurous at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Catch a 60th Anniversary screening of Fred Zinneman’s OKLAHOMA (1955) AT Cinebistro at 7pm and the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) at 7pm! It’s a night of trivia and corndogs at Pallookaville, with their “Trivial Matters” event! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, November 4

Get funky with BJ Wilbanks at Steve’s Live Music! 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! It’s your last chance to spend the night with Harrison Ford at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Make your way to Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) for their screening of Cameron Crowe’s JERRY MAGUIRE (1996) at 7:30pm! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Blues it up with Lola at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes with Dry Gulch! 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, November 5

The Star Bar dishes out a night of debauchery with Blue Tower, Forsaken Profits, X-Ray Vision, American Discord, Cadillac Junkies and The Red Phantoms! Sex, Drugs & Bluegrass presents a heinous hootenanny with Kool Kat Caleb & The Gents, the Glen DeMerritt Trio and B.R. Lively at the Red Light Café! Get your psych rock fix with The Chris Robinson Brotherhood at the Variety Playhouse! Blues it up with the Karp Foley Band at Steve’s Live Music! Rock down to The Earl for a night with Goodnight Buffalo, Faithless Town and New Terminus! Catch the Georgia Ensemble Theatre’s presentation of Shakespeare’s classic, “Romeo & Juliet”, directed by David Crowe, running through Nov. 22! 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! 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! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, November 6

It’s a night of secret agents and espionage at The Highlander as they celebrate the release of the new Bond film, SPECTRE, with a helluva party featuring Band. James Band (See our Kool Kat interview soon!), Map of the Moon and The Shut-Ups! Get funky with Lettuce at the Buckhead Theatre! Catch Film Love Atlanta’s screening of Andy Warhol’s THE LIFE OF JUANITA CASTRO (1965) at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center at 7pm! Get jazzy at The Plaza Theater as they screen Jeff Lieberman’s documentary, THE AMAZING NINA SIMONE (2015), running through Nov. 12! Rock out ‘80s-style at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with Van Heineken (Van Halen tribute), Radio Cult and performances by Blast-Off Burlesque! Folk it up with the Milk Carton Kids at Atlanta Symphony Hall! Rock out blues-style with Loudon Wainright III at Eddie’s Attic! Get gangsta ‘20s-style at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre with their presentation of “Bugsy Malone”, running through Nov. 8! Stomp on down to the Atlanta Room at Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Skye Paige, The Western Sizzlers and the Todd Prusin Experience. Or funk it up with Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Myles Brown and Alexandria Lushington in the Music Room! Catch a screening of Victor Nunez’ ULEE’S GOLD (1997) at the Toco Hills-Avis G. Williams Library at 1:30pm! Get the Chicago/West Coast blues with the Electromatics at Steve’s Live Music! Get funky with The 200s at the Elliott Street Pub! Stomp on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event and boogie under the dinosaurs with The Villain Family! 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, November 7

Get your fill of some tasty chili and a whole lotta foot stompin’ tunes at the 2015 Chomp & Stomp Chili Cook-Off and Bluegrass Festival, featuring the Packway Handle Band; Smokey’s Farmland Band; Little Country Giants; Pretend Sweethearts; the Jugtime Ragband; the Georgia Crackers; Slim Chance & the Convicts; Ghost Dance; The Bow Weevils; Alex & Todd; the HotHouse Peaches; the Front Porch Session Players, In the Wheelhouse and more, beginning at 11am! Shimmy on down to the Shakespeare Tavern for “Gotham: A Tale of Two Faces” presented by Hysteria Machines, featuring drama, defiance, debauchery and more! Or rev on down to The Star Bar for a night with the Belmont Playboys, The Blacktop Rockets and Kool Kat Spike Fullerton with Ghost Riders Car Club! Rock out to some ‘60s/’70s tunes with the Rainmen and Radar at Smith’s Olde Bar! Yacht Rock Schooner gets down at the Little Black Dress Party at the Buckhead Theatre! Get funky with War at the Variety Playhouse! Gareth Asher & Nicki Thrailkill dish out Love Songs with a Side of Whiskey at Steve’s Live Music! Get the soul of Flamenco with Paco Pena at the Rialto Center for the Arts! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a night with the Grassland String Band! Or get some soul, Americana-style with the Smokin’ Novas at Eddie’s Attic! Blues it up with the Jeff Jensen Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, November 8

Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) presents a 75th Anniversary screening of Joe Grant/Dick Huemer’s Disney classic, FANTASIA (1940) at 2pm and 7pm! Celebrate 25 years of Chris Columbus’ holiday classic, HOME ALONE (1990) in theatres across the Atlanta area at 4:30pm/7:30pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! Rock out with the Toadies and In the Whale at the Masquerade! Kevn Kinney gets down at the Crimson Moon Café! Get groovy as Swami Gone Bananas gets down at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Netherworld Haunted House haunts every weekend through Nov. 8! (LAST CHANCE!)

Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim at Serenbe Playhouse’s chilling presentation of THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 8! (LAST CHANCE!)

Travel back to 1910 Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre with their presentation of Pearl Cleage’s TELL ME MY DREAM, running every weekend through Nov. 8! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Georgia Ensemble Theatre and David Crowe (dir.) present Shakespeare’s classic, “Romeo & Juliet”, running through Nov. 22!

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

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.

Chambers of Horror, Atlanta’s adults-only haunt behind The Masquerade, has come a long way from a torture porn extravaganza to a creepy crawl through a septic, gritty underworld where atmosphere and story are strengths. This year’s storyline involves a plague infection of alien origin now running rampant in the underground of Dr. Splatter’s lurid experiments. This’ll be the last year at this location due to pending construction, so kudos to Luke Godfrey (ATLRetro exclusive interview with him here) and Ian O’Brien of Gorehound Productions for whipping up a must-see attraction, as long as you have a stomach for  extreme violence and the phantasmagorically pornographic. Let’s be clear–you won’t be seeing parasexual activity, but nakedness and deformed organs, including sexual ones, are in view.

If you visited Chambers only in its first two years, you missed its escalation into a full-out immersive performance experience similar to that which made the Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse more than your usual walk-through haunt. Similar to the prelude to a Splatter Cinema evening (also ran and co-founded by Godfrey) begin with a photo op with a grisly prop with a green screen backdrop that by the finished print will reveal additional horrors. That’s followed by a video setting up the outbreak premise. Visitors are scanned for the alien virus and then ushered into an elevator that shakes and shudders to evoke a realistic ride down five stories into the depths that once were TortureCo and are now a US military facility. The point of a haunt is surprise, so without any spoilers, let’s just say that along the journey, visitors encounter scenarios with paramilitary officers, mutilated infected scientists and victims of twisted experiments engaged in disturbing dioramas. Sure, there were some jumpy scares and victims cried out mournfully for help, but haunt-goers are encouraged to linger and listen as the plotline unfolds and torturers threaten and tantalize visitors with a promise of pain.

One warning: Don’t dress in anything which you mind getting wet and even, on one occasion, foamy.

Chambers of Horror is open Wed. Oct. 28 and Thurs. Oct. 29 from 8 pm until midnight, and Fri. Oct. 30 and Halloween from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets are available at the door, or you can purchase them online in advance at Xorbia – Chambers of Horror Tickets

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Calling all ghouls and gals! Come see why we think you should raise hell in Retro Atlanta this Halloween season!

1. Head Rolling Tunes! Get sinister All Hallows Eve (weekend) with a helluva lot of rancid rock ‘n roll! The Star Bar gets hellacious this weekend with Hell Night featuring BigFoot, Timmy James & the Blue Flames and Night Terrors on Friday (10/30)! Or get your horror punk fix with their 24th Anniversary Party & Halloween Bash featuring Horror Business, Pretty Vacant, Salad Days, Road to Ruin and Kool Kats The Casket Creatures on Saturday (10/31)! Get monstrous and go, go Godzilla on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night with the Blue Oyster Cult (10/30)! Rock out retro-style with The B-52s during their “Halloween Scream” show at the Fox Theatre (10/30)! The Earl gets monstrously metal with their Halloween party featuring Wolf Eyes, Timmy’s Organism, Video and Uniform (10/30)! And Smith’s Olde Bar terrifies with their Howl ‘o’ Ween rockin’ tribute night featuring The Cherry Bomb (Joan Jett); Learning to Count (Ramones); and TNT (AC/DC) (10/30)

2. Fangtastic Films! Halloween just isn’t the same without blood-filled horror flicks! If you’re craving the crazed, catch John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) at 7:30pm across town [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan] on Thursday (10/29)! The Plaza Theater delivers killer screenings with Gerald Kargl’s ANGST (1983) (10/29); Victor and Edward Halperin’s monstrous classic, WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) (10/30); and don’t forget to Time-Warp it up with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975), featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight, with special Halloween treats (10/30)! Get bewitched with a screening of Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) at dusk at Atlantic Station during their “Spooky Film Fest” (10/30)! Ghosts invade Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) with their 30th Anniversary screening of Ivan Reitman’s GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) at 7pm/9:30pm (10/30)! Celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm (10/30-10/31)! The 9th Annual Atlanta Horror Film Festival haunts at DooGallery featuring 70 independent horror films from across the world (10/28-10/30)! And get homicidal at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with their screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece, PSYCHO (1960) at 8pm (10/31)!

3. Dance with the Dead. Do the Monster Mash with DJ Evil Jet at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s annual Halloween Bash (10/31)! Pallookaville celebrates All Hallows Eve and their second year of corndogula slingin’ with their Ice Scream Ball & Halloweiner, featuring drink specials, music, tricks & treats, costume contests and more (10/31)! Or get ghastly and groove on down to Mary’s for their Hallo-Weenie Dance Party (10/30), followed by their Scary-oke! shindig and costume contest on Halloween night (10/31)! Or rattle your bones during Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX’s Fright Night Halloween Party, dripping with devilish drinks, costume contests and more (10/30)! Spook on down to Callanwolde Fine Arts Center for their “Halloween Night on Callanwolde Mountain” family-friendly party featuring trick-or-treating, live music with the Callanwolde Concert Band featuring Matthew Kaminski, costume contests and more (10/30)! And party it up in Virginia Highlands with their Halloween Night in the Highlands event featuring costume contests and more (10/31)!

4. Gothic & Ghastly. It’s a night of gothic chills at Atlanta Symphony Hall as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents a night of Danny Elfman’s music from the films of Tim Burton at 8pm (10/31)! Haunt on down to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their annual hour-long Capturing the Spirit of Oakland 2015 Ghost Tours, featuring music, a fortune teller and more! Come on out and tiptoe through the graves, make a few new spirited friends and hear the hallowed tales of some of their eternal residents, running from 5:30pm to 10:30pm (10/29-10/31)!

5. Horrifying Haunts. It’s a gore-fest at Chambers of Horror Haunted House at the Masquerade as they terrify with their adults-only blood-infested splatter-fest [10/29-11/1, 8pm-12am/1am (weekend)]! Or creep on down to Netherworld Haunted House in Norcross and spook it up through Nov. 1 (7:30pm-10:30pm week days; 7pm-midnight weekends)!

6. Thrilling and Chilling Theatrics. Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim and get your bones chilled at Serenbe Playhouse’s thrilling presentation of their immersive spooky attraction and show, THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 8 (Wed-Sun at 8pm; Fri-Sat at 10:30pm)! The Arts Exchange spooks it up with their Halloween 2015 party featuring performance art, a spooky amphitheatre and experimental music at 8pm (10/31)! Get immortal with the Center for Puppetry Arts’ presentation of Jon Ludwig and Jason Hines’ THE GHASTLY DREADFULS: RAISING SPIRITS adults-only spook show filled with creepy stories, devilish dances and more (10/28-10/31; 8pm)!

7. Psychotically Psychedelic. Rattle your bones and get psychedelic at the Red Light Café with their Night of the Dead Halloween Party featuring gr8FLdude & frenz and Dead Affect (10/31)! Or jam it up with Honeywood during their Halloween show at the Crimson Moon Café (10/31)! And it’s “Hawgtoberfest” at Hottie Hawgs BBQ with Swami Gone Bananas (10/31)!

8. Tricks or Tikis! Trader Vic’s takes a big hairy bite out of you with their Werewolves of London Halloween dinner event, featuring a prix fixe menu ($35/person) including monstrous starters, entrées and desserts. Werewolves & Pina Coladas, OH MY! Trader Vic’s calls all werewolves to come in & enjoy Pina Coladas à la Warren Zevon‘s “Werewolves of London” this Halloween! Costumes are encouraged & are worn best if your hair is perfect! Doors Open at 5:00 p.m. (10/30)!

9. Decaying Eighties. ATL Collective delivers two nights of rotting flesh as they raise the dead with their performance of Michael Jackson’s Halloween classic, “Thriller” at Vinyl (10/30-10/31)! Or do the Monster Mash at Steve’s Live Music as they dish out a spooky night with The Lizardmen and Devomatix (Devo tribute) (10/31)! Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade deliver a rockin’ ‘80s Halloween show at the Dallas Public House (10/31)!

10. Groove Like a Ghoul! It’s a night of boos and blues as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Atlanta Horns get down at their annual Halloween Bamboo Au Go Go Party with The Reverend & the Lady and Yoshito Kiyono at the Northside Tavern (10/31)! Put on those dancin’ shoes groove like a ghoul at The Basement as they get down with forty thousand years of funk during their Keep on Movin’ Halloween Dance Party (10/31)! And get ghastly and groove on down to the The Music Room for the Dangerfeel Newbies’ Soul of Jazz Halloween Jam (10/31)!

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Hey all you Retro kiddies and blood-lusting miscreants! Get out and get spooked this week as Retro Atlanta gets gory, gussied up and ghostly in celebration of the most haunted and eerie time of the year! Retro Atlanta has everything your wicked little black heart could ever desire, from rockin’ tunes to nightmare-inducing flicks to horrifically exciting Halloween parties you won’t want to miss! So, come on out and haunt with the rest of us!

Monday, October 26

Start your week with a classic with LeFont Theatre’s screening of Orson Welles’ CITIZEN KANE (1941) at 7pm! Or make your way to The Plaza Theater for their killer screening of Gerald Kargl’s ANGST (1983), running through Oct. 29! Rock on down to Atlanta Symphony Hall for a night with Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)! Blind Willie’s delivers the blues with Fatback Deluxe! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! 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!’ 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 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, October 27

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema gets really retro and screens Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s THE RED SHOES (1948), during their “Midtown Cinema Classics” weekly event, at 7pm! Or get beastly and make your way to the Chamblee Library for a screening of Don Taylor’s film adaptation of H. G. Wells’ THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1977) at 1pm. Rock out with heavy cello at The Earl with Rasputina! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! Celebrate the Atlanta Chamber Players’ 40th Anniversary Season at the Shakespeare Tavern! Cody Matlock delivers the blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Bluegrass it up with the Elie Cohen Quartet at Steve’s Live Music! Or take a soulful trip down the yellow brick road to the Charles D. Switzer Library for their screening of Sidney Lumet’s THE WIZ (1978) at 12pm! Get your Steam Punk/neo-classical fix with Fable Cry, The Extraordinary Contraptions and Sarah and the Safe Word at Red Light Café! Get the blues with Cadillac Assembly at Blind Willie’s! Or get the blues with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of trivia and corndogs at Pallookaville, with their “Trivial Matters” event! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, October 28

Get old-timey and rock out at The Earl with Rrest, Book Club, Kool Kat Caleb & the Gents, Ben Trickey, Sydney Eloise & the Palms, Ian Fisher and The Quaildogs! TCM Presents a diabolical double feature with the English and Spanish versions of Tod Browning’s DRACULA (1931) at theatres across town at 2pm/7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; GTC Merchant’s Walk Stadium 12 in Marietta; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! The 9th Annual Atlanta Horror Film Festival kicks off at DooGallery featuring 70 independent horror films from across the world, and runs through Oct. 30! Catch a 50th Anniversary screening of George Cukor’s MY FAIR LADY (1964) at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema at 7pm! Babes in Toyland rock out at the Masquerade! Get satirical and make your way to The Plaza Theater for their screening of Mel Brooks’ classic, SPACEBALLS (1987), running through Nov. 6! Get the blues with the Electromatics at Blind Willie’s! Rory Block delivers a night of country blues at Red Light Café! Get your rhythm ‘n’ soul and rock ‘n’ roll fix with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! 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, October 29

Rock out ‘70s post-punk style with Jowe Head (Swell Maps), Cole Alexander (Black Lips), Omni and Flight Mode USA at Eyedrum! Make your way to The Earl for a night with The Lonely Biscuits, Flower and Kaleigh Baker! Get haunted in Atlanta this week with screenings across town of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) at 7:30pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! Rock out with Black Linen at The Star Bar! Get old-timey with The Law Band, The Darnell Boys and Marshall Seese at Smith’s Olde Bar! Vinyl delivers a night of roots and Americana with Bronze Radio Return and The Roosevelts! Funk it up with The Mar-Tans at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Get jazzy with Ronnie Laws and Tom Browne at Suite Food Lounge! Bluegrass it up with Earth by Train and 22 Kings at the Red Light Café! Maria Muldaur dishes out a night of folk ‘n’ blues at Blind Willie’s! Blues Rendezvous gets the rockin’ blues at Steve’s Live Music! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva island party with The Mystery Men? and Kool Kat Caroline & the Ramblers! 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! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And get gothic at Mary’s during their Goth Nite Dance Party!

Friday, October 30

Spooky shenanigans ensue as Retro Atlanta kicks off Halloween weekend! ATL Collective raises the dead with their performance of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at Vinyl! Go, go Godzilla on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night with the Blue Oyster Cult! Rock out retro-style with The B-52s during their “Halloween Scream” show at the Fox Theatre! Ghosts invade Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) with their 30th Anniversary screening of Ivan Reitman’s GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) at 7pm/9:30pm! Get hairy and hula on down to Trader Vic’s for their Werewolves of London & Pina Colada event! Or rattle your bones during Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX’s Fright Night Halloween Party, dripping with devilish drinks, costume contests and more! It’s Hell Night at The Star Bar, so come on down and rock out with BigFoot, Timmy James & the Blue Flames and Night Terrors! The Earl gets monstrously metal with their Halloween party featuring Wolf Eyes, Timmy’s Organism, Video and Uniform! Get ghastly and groove on down to Mary’s for their Hallo-Weenie Dance Party! UnionEAV hosts DooGallery’s Day of the Dead Art Show, featuring 20+ artists and life music with the Clibber Jones Ensemble, Misery Loves Chachi and more! Smith’s Olde Bar terrifies with their Howl ‘o’ Ween rockin’ tribute night featuring The Cherry Bomb (Joan Jett); Learning to Count (Ramones); and TNT (AC/DC)! Spook on down to Callanwolde Fine Arts Center for their “Halloween Night on Callanwolde Mountain” family-friendly party featuring trick-or-treating, live music with the Callanwolde Concert Band featuring Matthew Kaminski, costume contests and more! Haunt on down to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland 2015 Ghost Tours, spooking through Oct. 31! Tiptoe through the graves, make a few new spirited friends and hear the hallowed tales of some of their eternal residents! Atlantic Station screens Kenny Ortega’s HOCUS POCUS (1993) during their “Spooky Film Fest” at dusk! Catch Victor and Edward Halperin’s monstrous classic, WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) at The Plaza Theater! Stick around and Time-Warp it up with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975), featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight, with special Halloween treats! Or celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm!

Stomp on down to Grocery on Home for a night with Julia Haltigan! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Jazz it up with Elgin Wells at the Crimson Moon Café! Or blues it up with Tinsley Ellis at the Red Clay Theatre! Honkytonk on down to Terminal West for Whitey Morgan & the 78s! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles rev it up at Motorheads in McDonough! Folk it up with Shawn Phillips at Red Light Café! Steve’s Live Music gets the blues with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins! Or blues it up with Sandra Hall & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Travel back to 1910 Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre for their presentation of Pearl Cleage’s TELL ME MY DREAM, running every weekend through Nov. 8! And hear your favorite ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s favorites with the Way Back Band at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Saturday, October 31

IT IS FINALLY HERE! Get mischievous all you miscreants, spooks and ghouls! Pull out your ghastly costumes and get spooky and see what gory galas Retro Atlanta has in store for you! Get creepy and murderous at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre with their screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece, PSYCHO (1960) at 8pm! It’s a night of gothic chills at Atlanta Symphony Hall as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivers a night of Danny Elfman’s music from the films of Tim Burton at 8pm! Do the Monster Mash with DJ Evil Jet at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club’s Annual Halloween Bash! Denim Arcade (Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch) delivers a rockin’ ‘80s Halloween show at the Dallas Public House! The Arts Exchange spooks it up with their Halloween 2015 party! ATL Collective raises the dead with their second performance of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at Vinyl! Get psychotic and psychedelic at the Red Light Café with their Night of the Dead Halloween Party featuring gr8FLdude and Dead Affect! Make your way to My Parent’s Basement in Avondale Estates for their Halloween Comic Fest at 11am! Hop across the pond to Steve’s Live Music for a spooky night with The Lizardmen and Devomatix (Devo tribute)! Or party it up in Virginia Highlands with their Halloween Night in the Highlands event featuring costume constests and more! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Atlanta Horns deliver their annual Halloween Bamboo Au Go Go Party with The Reverend & the Lady and Yoshito Kiyono at the Northside Tavern! Get your horror punk fix at The Star Bar with their 24th Anniversary Party & Halloween Bash featuring Horror Business, Pretty Vacant, Salad Days, Road to Ruin and Kool Kats The Casket Creatures! Pallookaville celebrates Halloween and two years of slingin’ corn dogs with their Ice Scream Ball & Halloweiener! The Basement dishes out forty thousand years of funk with their Keep on Movin’ Halloween Dance Party! It’s a night of Scary-oke! and costume contests at Mary’s Halloween night shindig! Jam it up with Honeywood during their Halloween show at the Crimson Moon Café! Smith’s Olde Bar rocks out for Halloween with Kool Kats Blackfoot Gypsies and a rockin’ Bowie tribute, PINUPS! Groove on down to the The Music Room for the Dangerfeel Newbies’ Soul of Jazz Halloween Jam! It’s “Hawgtoberfest” at Hottie Hawgs BBQ with Swami! Sci-fi it up during the Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival presented by The Multi-Cultural Sci-Fi Organization at the Fulton County Aviation Community Cultural Center from 1pm to 9pm! Get another chance to celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm! 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, November 1

Get your Rodgers & Hammerstein fix at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) with their 60th Anniversary screening of Fred Zinnemann’s classic, OKLAHOMA (1955) at 2pm/7pm! Jazz it up with Emile Worthy at Steve’s Live Music! Or get sinfully sultry at the Masquerade with the Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque! Get the Dixie blues with Seminole Jackson at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

“The Ghastly Dreadfuls: Raising Spirits” spooks at the Center for Puppetry Arts, through Oct. 31! (LAST CHANCE!)

Chambers of Horror Haunted House terrifies with their adults-only gore-fest and blood-splattering through Nov. 1! (LAST CHANCE!)

Netherworld Haunted House haunts every weekend through Nov. 1! (LAST CHANCE!)

Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim at Serenbe Playhouse’s chilling presentation of THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 1! (LAST CHANCE!)

Travel back to 1910 Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre with their presentation of Pearl Cleage’s TELL ME MY DREAM, running every weekend through Nov. 8!

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

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.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Consistently ranked as the nation’s best Halloween attraction, NETHERWORLD is also completely homegrown rather than corporately conceived. Founders Billy Messina and Ben Armstrong and a dedicated team of designers, painters, sculptors and other artists deserve every kudo imaginable for crafting a Gothic wonderland in a Norcross commercial space. Every year it gets bigger and more creative and this year’s theme of THE ROTTING is no exception. Chock full of nightmare-inducing monsters, horrorific special effects and a sinister atmosphere, NETHERWORLD does not disappoint! NETHERWORLD also always features a second haunt, VAULT 13 UNEARTHED that is more slasher/contemporary horror in its bent–read toxic waste, laboratories gone awry and chainsaws.

This year’s NETHERWORLD went above and beyond with their army of bloodthirsty spirits released to devour your soul with a ravenous hunger. The first and largest, THE ROTTING is phantasmic, gore-gous and gothically grotesque, reeking of death, decay and supernatural eeriness! The ATLRetro team does not scare easily. However, during this year’s visit, while taking in the bizarre beauty from graveyards to mirrored mazes, decadent dioramas inhabited by slithering soul eaters and other ghastly creatures, we felt a wicked spine-tingling chill! Be bold! Be brave! But also, be prepared to scream (a lot!). NETHERWORLD’s ability to conjure a shriek, from even the most daring, keeps us coming back for more! Their second attraction, VAULT 13 UNEARTHED is a modern haunt, with mad scientists, ghastly creatures and gore for all of you lovers of torture and the weird! NETHERWORLD is definitely a haunt you won’t want to miss this Halloween season!

NETHERWORLD is open every night in October.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Retro Atlanta massacres this spooky season with all the haunting and bone-chilling madness your little black hearts desire! We’ve got horror and slasher flicks! We’ve got sinister seduction and the unruly undead! We’ve got ghosts and goblins and monsters, oh my! Become one with the creatures of the night this week and rock out with a helluva lot of spooktacular shenanigans!

Monday, October 19

Glam it up with The Struts and Karma Killers at The Earl! Get blood-splattered during The Plaza Theater’s screening of Brian De Palma’s CARRIE (1976), running through Oct. 22! Make your way to the Variety Playhouse for a night with Elvis Costello! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! 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! 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 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, October 20

Shake a tail feather during The Star Bar’s Halloween Burlesque Show with Roxie Roz, featuring performances by Candi Lecoeur, Kitty Capone, Luna Lynx, Annette Coquette, and rockin’ tunes by Kool Kat Joshua Longino and The Disapyramids! The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema screens Stanley Kubrick’s BARRY LYNDON (1975) in 35mm, during their “Midtown Cinema Classics” weekly event, at 7pm! Boogie on down to Terminal West for a night with Vintage Trouble and Greg Holden! Spook it up with William Castle’s HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) at the Chamblee Library at 1pm! Spend the night with Audrey Hepburn at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) and Cinebistro (Brookhaven) during a 50th Anniversary screening of George Cukor’s MY FAIR LADY (1964) at 7pm! Catch Peter Bogdanovich’s WHAT’S UP DOC? (1972) at the Decatur Library at 9:30am! Or take a trip down the yellow brick road to the Charles D. Switzer Library for their screening of Walter Murch’s RETURN TO OZ (1985) at 12pm! Folk it up with War & Treaty at the Red Light Café! Bluegrass it up with Alex & Todd at Blind Willie’s! Or get the blues with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of trivia and corndogs at Pallookaville, with their “Trivial Matters” event! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, October 21

The day you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! BACK TO THE FUTURE mayhem ensues as Atlanta gets its ‘80s time travel fix with screenings of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy all over town! Catch BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985); II (1989) and III (1990), starting at 4:30pm at AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; AMC North Dekalb Mall in Decatur; AMC Fork & Screen in Buckhead; AMC Parkway Pointe and AMC Phipps Plaza! To catch the trilogy at 5pm, make your way to Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Regal Perimeter Pointe 10; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Regal Atlantic Station! BACK TO THE FUTURE II (1989) screens at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at 7:30pm; Landmark Midtown Art Cinema at 7pm; several show times at the Aurora Cineplex; the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 7pm; and the Charles D. Switzer Library (free) at 6:30pm! Or make your way to Movies ATL 14 for their screening of BACK TO THE FUTURE I and II at 7pm! Then make your way to the Masquerade for their Back to the Future Party!

Make your way to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center for a night with John Cleese & Eric Idle! Get funky with Bosley at Smith’s Olde Bar! Emory Cinematheque presents Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997) at 7:30pm! Get down and dirty with Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds with Autumn Attics at Aisle 5! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Get your rhythm ‘n’ soul and rock ‘n’ roll fix with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! 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, October 22

Get your fill of Kool Kats galore at The Star Bar during the Butzer Birthday Bonanza with performances by The Compartmentalizationalists, Bruce Joyner & Atomic Clock, Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer & the Bicycle Eaters, DJ Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, a puppet show and more! Film Love Atlanta is back with Kool Kat Andy Ditzler, so come on out to Beautiful Briny Sea in Grant Park for their Film & Site event, featuring avant-garde screenings of ‘70s films by Robert Smithson and J.J. Murphy at 7pm! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with The Membranes, Bataille and Eureka California! The Atlanta Bluegrass Cartel pays tribute to Tony Rice’s “Manzanita” at the Red Light Café! Get your old-timey and delta blues fix with the California Honeydrops and Caryn Womack at Smith’s Olde Bar! Jazz it up with Joey Sommerville at Suite Food Lounge! The Atlanta Independent Film Fest presents a screening of Kool Kat Ricky Hess’ web series HORROR HOTEL at the Pinch ‘n’ Ouch Theatre at 7:30pm! Make your way to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center for a second helping of John Cleese & Eric Idle! Lazer Lloyd gets the rockin’ blues at Steve’s Live Music! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva island party! 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! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, October 23

Get immersed with Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse’s Dead-End event, presented by Red Robin Realtors, haunts through Oct. 24! If ghastly things are your preference, haunt on down to the Historic Oakland Cemetery for their annual Capturing the Spirit of Oakland 2015 Ghost Tours, through Oct. 31! Tiptoe through the graves, make a few new spirited friends and hear the hallowed tales of some of their eternal residents! Get your Kool Kat fix at The Star Bar with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, Deadly Lo-Fi and Kool Kat Sen. Artie Mondello! Get sultry spook-style during DJ Doctor Q’s Spookeasy Electro Swing event at the Red Light Café, featuring performances by Kool Kat Persephone Phoenix and more! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Low Cut Connie, The Howling Tongues, Tesla Rossa and The Dirty Souls! Make your way to the Variety Playhouse for a night with Leo Kottke! Atlantic Station screens Barry Sonnenfeld’s THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991) during their “Spooky Film Fest” at dusk! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a night with Paul Thorn! Kool Kat VJ Anthony delivers his 80s Music Video Dance Party at the Famous Pub! Celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm! Blues it up with Albert White at the Northside Tavern! Get the blues with Funky Bluester at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get your folksy jazz fix under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with Mr. Blue Sky! 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, October 24

The Star Bar dishes out a rocking musical lineup with their Corndogorama #19 with Shocked Minds; The People; Love Letter; Rrest; Uncle Van; Twin Trances; Memes; Hip to Death; The Meeks Family; Muleskinner; Kool Kat Aileen Loy with Till Someone Loses and Eye; The Boy Jones; Chickens and Pigs; The Skylarks; and The Stixx! Haunt on down to DooGallery for their 12th Annual Haunted Art Show, featuring over 20 artists (including Kool Kat Shane Morton), live music, costume contests, raffles and more! Or catch The Halloween Puckin’ Fuppet Show at the Village Theatre! Make your way to LeFont Theatre as they screen Orson Welles’ classic, CITIZEN KANE (1941) at 10:30am! Andra Day gets some soul at Eddie’s Attic! Stomp on down to the Red Clay Theatre for a second helping of Paul Thorn! Gypsy jazz it up with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet along with 9-String Theory at the Red Light Café! Vinyl rocks out with The Black Cadillacs and Future Thieves! Paul Melancon does Ziggy Stardust at Kavarna! Shimmy on down to Jerry Farber’s Side Door for a night of Cheeky Belles Burlesque with performances by Kool Kat Kitty Love, JudyAnne Fox, Valkyre Jones and more! Get your old-time fix at the Variety Playhouse with The Devil Makes Three and The Deslondes! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets down and dirty at Northside Tavern! Get another chance to celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets down with The Hollidays! 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, October 25

Stumble on down to Chambers of Horror Haunted House as Kool Kat Luke Godfrey leads the 10th Annual Zombie Walk Atlanta, haunting from 4-11:45pm! The Earl Smith Strand Theatre creeps it up with organist and Kool Kat Ron Carter during their screening of Paul Leni’s silent classic, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928) at 3pm! TCM Presents a diabolical double feature with the English and Spanish versions of Tod Browning’s DRACULA (1931) at theatres across town at 2pm/7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; GTC Merchant’s Walk Stadium 12 in Marietta; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) delivers a second screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE II (1989) at 7pm! Hillbilly it up at The Earl with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and The Muckers! Or spook on down to the Fox Theatre as they get haunted during their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, chilling your bones through Oct. 29! Get the blues 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 Fox Theatre spooks with their annual Fox Theatre Ghost Tours, running through Oct. 29!

“The Ghastly Dreadfuls: Raising Spirits” spooks at the Center for Puppetry Arts, through Oct. 31!

Historic Oakland Cemetery’s Capturing the Spirit of Oakland 2015 Ghost Tours, haunt through Oct. 31!

Chambers of Horror Haunted House terrifies with their adults-only gore-fest and blood-splattering through Nov. 1!

Netherworld Haunted House haunts every weekend through Nov. 1!

Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim at Serenbe Playhouse’s chilling presentation of THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 1!

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

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 spooked in Retro Atlanta this week! The days are creeping closer and closer to that most haunted pinnacle of fright and terror and we’ve dug up all the spooktacular events in Retro Atlanta this week! Atlanta gets Retro this week with monsters and spooks and gore, oh my! And don’t forget, Retro Atlanta always offers a retro-rockin’ good time! Don’t be a scaredy cat! Come on out and play! We can’t promise you’ll make it home alive, but we can promise you a horrifying good time!

Monday, October 12

Get terror-filled and catch Roger Corman’s MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964) at The Plaza Theater, running through Oct. 15! Rock on down to The Earl for a night with Jeff the Brotherhood and Stonerider! Or rock out and funk it up with Flow Tribe and Saturn Valley at Smith’s Olde Bar! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues it up with Bill Sheffield at Blind Willie’s! The Little Vinyl Lounge is rockin’ with a night of retro shenanigans with Kool Kat Jeff Clark and Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, followed by the “Queen of Slide Guitar” Skye Paige! 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!’ Blast-Off Burlesque starts your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, “Superstitions & Pagan Traditions” edition, 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 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, October 13

It’s a night of burly-Q shenanigans with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South, at the Red Light Café with their Tease Tuesday Burlesque: Boolesque Spooktacular! event featuring performances by Ada Manzhart, Bunny Wigglebottom, Anna Coquette, Fianna Flowerchild and more! Or come to pieces at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Catch John Brahm’s THE LODGER (1944) at the Chamblee Library at 1pm! Or follow the yellow brick road to the Charles D. Switzer Library for their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) at 12pm! Bluegrass it up with Curtis Jones & the Primal Roots at Steve’s Live Music! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up at Blind Willie’s! Or get the blues with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a night of trivia and corndogs at Pallookaville, with their “Trivial Matters” event! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their Retro-Soul, Funk ‘80s & ‘90s Dance Party! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, October 14

The Earl rocks out with Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, Telekom and Twisty Cats! Get your ‘70s punk rock fix with the Barreracudas, Shocked Minds, Deaf Wish and GHB at 529! Get spooked and be the Headless Horseman’s next victim at Serenbe Playhouse’s chilling presentation of THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, through Nov. 1! Or catch “The Ghastly Dreadfuls: Raising Spirits” opening at the Center for Puppetry Arts, featuring a costume contest, games, creepy tales, devilish dances and more, creeping through Oct. 31! Evil ensues at The Plaza Theater with their screening of Tobe Hooper’s ‘80s horror classic, POLTERGEIST (1982) at 7:30pm! Or come come on down for your last chance to come to pieces at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Get some soul with Liz Vice at Eddie’s Attic! Folk it up with Ben Sollee and Mother Falcon at Terminal West! Here’s looking at you kid! Make your way to the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) for their screening of Michael Curtiz’ classic CASABLANCA (1942) at 7:30pm! Jazz it up with The Gordon Vernick Quartet at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the BooHoo Ramblers! Get your rhythm ‘n’ soul and rock ‘n’ roll fix with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! It’s a hootenanny and a half at The Star Bar with their Cowboy Karaoke event, featuring live-band old-time country and western tunes! 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, October 15

Get your old-school post-punk goth rock fix in Hell with The March Violets at the Masquerade! Joe Jackson dishes out a night of old-school punk and new wave at Center Stage! Catch the opening reception for “The Atlanta Matriarchs of the Civil Rights Movement”, from 5-8pm at Mammal Gallery! Get old-timey with the Bumper Jacksons and Patrick Kinsley & a Fistful of Dollars at the Red Light Café! Folk it up with Patty Griffin at the Variety Playhouse! Get some soul with Aaron Neville at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center! Rock out with the Old 97’s and Banditos at Terminal West! Cooper Tisdale gets funky at Steve’s Live Music! It’s Mai Tai Thursday, so surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a helluva island party! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Heather Luttrell! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! And as always, get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village.

Friday, October 16

Get your down and dirty rockin’ scumbag revival fix with Dusty Booze & the Baby Haters, The Hooten Hallers, The Atom Age and Phantom Killers at The Star Bar! It’s prohibition pandemonium at Matilda’s Under the Pines with Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & the Hookers! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for Sadie Hawkins’ Last Pasties Standing: One Hit Wonders event! Atlantic Station screens Richard Donner’s THE GOONIES (1985) during their “Spooky Film Fest” at dusk! Take a bite out of RITUAL’s 7th Annual Vampire Ball at Famous Pub! Make your way to the Arbor Place Mall Books-A-Million (Douglasville) for two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, Joe McKinney’s signing of the latest in his Dead Land series, THE DEAD WON’T DIE, from 6-7pm! Prom it up at The Plaza Theater for their screening of Brian De Palma’s horror classic, CARRIE (1976) at 7pm! Get your jazzy folk fix with Rasheeda Ali & Mr. Blue Sky at the High Museum! Bluegrass it up with the Packway Handle Band at Eddie’s Attic! It’s Beatle Mania at Atlanta Symphony Hall with the Classical Mystery Tour! Celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm! Blues it up with Stoney Brooks at the Northside Tavern! The Rainmen dish out a night of ‘60s and ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll at Steve’s Live Music! Get the outlaw blues with Blue Roads at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blind Willie’s delivers a night of rockin’ blues with Blues Hall of Famer, Lazy Lester & the Shadows! It’s Salsa Dance Night at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event, so cha-cha under the dinosaurs with the Salsambo Dance Studio while sippin’ a few cocktails! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, October 17

Today is the day all you ghosts and goblins have been waiting for! Little 5 Points business district hosts its annual L5P Halloween Festival & Parade! So, come on out dressed to the bloody nines in your spookiest Halloween costume and get horrorifically haunted! Get fed! Get rocked! And get your flesh to the biggest Halloween parade in the south! The event wakes from the dead at noon and haunts until 11 pm, with an artists’ market, food venders, as well as two stages for live entertainment, The Finley Plaza Stage and the Main Stage. The spooktacular parade of horror runs from 4 to 6 pm on Euclid and Moreland and promises to spook even the bravest of the brave, so pick a spot and hold on tight! Get your faces rocked off with Kool Kats galore and more at the Finley Plaza Stage, with chilling retro-esque performances by the Starbenders, The Mystery Men?, Kool Kat Caroline & the Ramblers, Rumours, Dry Gulch, Metal McDonald and The Dirty Doors! Or rock on down to the Main Stage for Kool Kats The Blackfoot Gypsies, Midnight Larks, The Coathangers and The Biters! Get ghastly, grotesque and rock out at the wildest Halloween party in town! Or cruise on over to the B3 Bar & Grill for their Mama Casino’s Midnight Mass Drive-In Creature Feature at 9pm! Or maybe get monstrous at Hellbender’s Harley Davidson in Marietta during their Monster Mash Anniversary Bash featuring live music, freakshows, a performance by Ghouella Deville, monster pin-ups and more!

Honkytonk on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Bottle Rockets and Mark Olson (The Jayhawks) in the Music Room! Or rock on over to the Atlanta Room for a night with the Stacktone Slims, Mike Borgia & the Problems and Aneurysm! Catch another book signing by Joe McKinney at the Canton Marketplace Books-A-Million from 4:30-6pm! Get a helping of the Classical Mystery Tour at Atlanta Symphony Hall! The Buried Alive Film Festival and Contraband Cinema presents a screening of Shinya Tsukamoto’s TETSUO: THE IRONMAN (1992) at Eyedrum! Boogie on down and get zombified at the Variety Playhouse as Yacht Rock Revue presents a tribute to Michael Jackson’s THRILLER! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for their Rum Tasting Seminar event! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Dixie Tavern! Zoo Atlanta begins their “Boo at the Zoo” event! Folk it up with Collins Drive at Kavarna! Get the blues with Steve “The Blues Dude” at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Evil ensues once again at The Plaza Theater with their screening of Tobe Hooper’s ‘80s horror classic, POLTERGEIST (1982) at 7:30pm! Catch Don Henley at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center! Grant Green, Jr. gets the blues at Northside Tavern! Get another chance to celebrate 40 years with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Jim Sharman’s cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) at AMC Phipps Plaza at 10pm! Get your ‘80s fix with The 80ators at Steve’s Live Music! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack delivers a night of jump, West Coast and Chicago blues with Toots & the Traffics! 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, October 18

The Red Light Café gets wildly frisky and risqué as they host the madness that is Freaksheaux to Geaux, the live musical and Vaudevillian extravaganza of debauchery that hails from the Big Easy and will be dispersing their twisted brand of flair! Their show will feature the Tinderbox Circus Sideshow, Atlanta’s very own Sadie Hawkins, and a rockin’ cornucopia of music and circus sideshows with a southern gothic twist! It’ll be a shocking night of shenanigans you won’t want to miss! Spend the night with Audrey Hepburn at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta) during their 50th Anniversary screening of George Cukor’s MY FAIR LADY (1964) at 2pm/7pm! Polka on down to Steve’s Live Music for a night with The Georgia Polka Connection! Get the blues 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 Ghastly Dreadfuls: Raising Spirits” spooks at the Center for Puppetry Arts, through Oct. 31!

Chambers of Horror Haunted House terrifies with their adults-only gore-fest and blood-splattering through Nov. 1!

Netherworld Haunted House haunts every weekend through Nov. 1!

Be the Headless Horseman’s next victim at Serenbe Playhouse’s chilling presentation of THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE, haunting through Nov. 1!

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

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.

Keith White. Photo Credit: Jersey Boys.

JERSEY BOYS, the rocking musical that chronicles the rise of The Four Seasons, is back at the Fabulous Fox Theatre Tuesday Oct. 6 through Sunday Oct. 11 presented by Fifth Third Bank Broadway Atlanta. This true story of how four blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks has become one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were 30. The show features all their hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Oh What A Night,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Working My Way Back To You.”

ATLRetro caught up with Augusta, Georgia native Keith White, who has been performing in the ensemble for the past 13 months, to find out about what it’s like to tour with one of the longest running Broadway shows and why even though there’s been a movie, nothing beats seeing it live on stage.

ATLRetro: Did you grow up with a love for musical theater and/or retro rock n roll? What was your favorite retro band as a kid?

Keith: Both. I grew up with a love for imitating things. In fourth grade, I acted in my first play, and I kind of didn’t really stop. The retro rock ‘n’ roll thing happened in middle school when my dad gave me my first Led Zeppelin album. It was Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and setting up a band in the garage with my friend. I played drums and he played guitar. We were all about that classic rock.

What parts do you play, and what roles did those characters play in the story of The Four Seasons?

I’m in the ensemble so I play multiple parts including recording artist Billy Dixon. I sing one of his songs, “Trance.” I also play some gangsters. One’s named Donnie, and he ‘s trying to swindle some money out of a young Frankie Valli, which really happened. These are real people. I also play a bouncer at a nightclub named Knuckles, who was a real person, too. And I play a music agent at 1619 Broadway, the Brill Building, which was the center of the music world in the 1960s. Songs like “Come Fly With Me” were recorded there, and a lot of Paul Simon and Carole King was recorded there. I’m also the understudy for Nick Massi, the bass player in the Four Seasons and Gyp DeCarlo, the organized crime/mob boss guy.

Photo credit: Jersey Boys.

What’s your favorite scene that you perform in?

I really enjoy doing Billy Dixon because I get to sing. If you get to see the show, it’s funny because Billy Dixon gets to sing for only about 10 seconds, but I get to sing and do some really wild stuff in that time.

Any story about why you especially wanted to be part of JERSEY BOYS and/or your audition?

I saw JERSEY BOYS in 2007 when I was 16 or 17, and it was so good. I truly loved it. I went to the Boston Conservatory to train for theater, and I knew that JERSEY BOYS was still playing – it’s now one of longest running shows in Broadway history. I never thought I would I be in it until I went in for an audition. I didn’t know if I’d cut it. I went through four callbacks. To me, this is huge! The big gig. It was what I was working towards since I was a kid—a national tour of a Broadway musical.

How do the touring performances compare to the Broadway company?

The only difference is that the set has been made travelable so it’s a little condensed. Instead of three LED screens, we have one, but it tells the same story. Whereas on some other tours, you’ll just get a backdrop, you get all the spectacle that is JERSEY BOYS still when you see the tour.

Did you do anything special to prepare?

When first joined the tour, I had to play drums. That’s what really cool. There’s no orchestra pit. Some actors are musicians in the orchestra and they’re out there on stage. It was kind of full circle in that I started playing drums in the garage and now I got to play drums on stage. That’s been the most fun. I was playing Billy Dickson and Knuckles the bouncer and also I was playing the drums

“Walk Like A Man.” Photo credit: Jersey Boys.

Did the Four Seasons have to come from New Jersey? What’s your take after working on the show?

Did they have to come from Jersey? I think maybe they did. That was their destiny. I think that also was their appeal to the masses. They’re blue collar guys. The people are hard there in the best way. There’s a toughness. And being so close to New York, they knew about the hustle of NY. It’s authentic Jersey no doubt. The writers asked Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio a lot of questions. Yeah, maybe they did have to be from Jersey. They are the Jersey Boys.

Do you have anything special planned to do while you’re here in Georgia? Will you be visiting any old haunts?

It feels very cool to be back in Georgia but as a kid, I only went to Atlanta to go to the airport, and I went on a fieldtrip there once and I saw [The Center for Puppetry Arts] with its Jim Henson exhibit. I’m actually going to Augusta later in the tour, and that’ll be a little surreal. I grew up there until I was 10 and all of my extended family is there—my mom and dad’s side. My family will get to see what I’ve been doing.

As an Augusta native, what might ATLRetro readers enjoy doing if they?

Augusta is where James Brown was born and raised, so that history runs rampant. There are statues of him on the Riverwalk downtown. The Soul Bar also is dedicated to James Brown. There’s obviously also the golf culture with the Masters. So you can feel all that. They’re very proud of their golf there.

Is there anything else that you’d like to tell people about JERSEY BOYS?

The show does a great job of making it feel like you’re watching one of those East Coast mob movies set in the 1950s. It captures that really well. It still holds up. It’s special.

All photos are provided by Broadway Atlanta and used with permission.