ATLRetro

Splatter Cinema presents CANNIBAL FEROX (1981); Dir. Umberto Lenzi; Starring John Morghen (Giovanni Lombardo Radice), Lorraine De Selle and Robert Kerman; Cinevision Screening Room; Saturday, August 15 @ 8:30 p.m.; IndieGoGo campaign w/ advance ticket sales end July 24; Admission at door is cash only; Trailer here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Splatter Cinema wants to bring you a rare chance to see Umberto Lenzi’s notorious CANNIBAL FEROX, aka MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY on the big screen at Cinevision in all its 35mm glory. Incredibly they’ve scored a fully restored print from Grindhouse Releasing! But the catch is the rental and shipping is expensive, so they are dependent on an INDIEGOGO campaign with advance ticketing. If it doesn’t make its goal, this screening won’t happen. That would be a real shame because Splatter Cinema has really delved into the fetid jungle of grindhouse treasures to unearth this putrescent piece of gut-munching gore. 

As I’ve mentioned here before, the horror genre is, in the eyes of many, disreputable. It’s not hard to see why—its primary purpose is to elicit something negative: fear. Comedy doesn’t get that reaction, because who doesn’t like to laugh? Action films promise thrills and excitement, which generally equals fun. Drama deals with serious topics and explores a wide range of emotion. But horror films conjure up some of our darkest emotions, and thus fall victim to the stigma of being “bad for you.” And some of horror’s subgenres get criticized more harshly than others. The slasher film, for instance, constantly comes under fire for celebrating slaughter. But no subgenre inspires the kind of wholesale, visceral revulsion than does the Italian cannibal film.

The whole craze started in 1972, when Umberto Lenzi helmed THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER. Almost a beat-for-beat remake of 1970’s A MAN CALLED HORSE, Lenzi shifted that movie’s setting from the old west to the Thai rainforest and added a fascination with ritualistic acts, cannibalism, violence and animal cruelty (largely inspired by the worldwide success of exploitative pseudo-documentary Mondo movies such as MONDO CANE and AFRICA ADDIO). Its huge success in Italy and on the US grindhouse circuit led to the subgenre remaining successful for nearly two decades.

Generally speaking, the Italian cannibal film follows a particular pattern: it opens in the “civilized” world—typically New York, though this isn’t written in stone—and some incident occurs that pulls our protagonists into the (again, typically) Asian or South American jungle. There, they encounter some previously unknown, long-lost or much feared native tribe; witness or experience graphic violence, torture and/or rape; and then a bunch of people get eaten and the lone survivors return, battered but wiser. This plot plays out in Lenzi’s CANNIBAL FEROX, which ups the ante on all its predecessors by claiming to be the “most violent movie ever made.” It goes to such extremes that Italian exploitation stalwart John Morghen (aka Giovanni Lombardo Radice) expresses regret that he agreed to act in the movie to this day.

Now, there are a wide variety of reasons why CANNIBAL FEROX and its kin are viewed so negatively. To start off with, there’s the insinuation that entering into some foreign jungle will pretty much guarantee that you’ll become the next meal of some “savage tribe.” It might stop short of actual racism (and my use of “might” is mighty shaky), but short isn’t where most people would prefer to stop. Then there’s the issue of sexual violence and rape. Sexual violence in these movies is almost always a threat, whether it’s perpetuated against indigenous women by the outsiders or against female outsiders entering hostile territory. Sympathetic critics have defended both elements on the grounds that many of the Italian cannibal films are explicitly anti-colonialist in tone and critical of Western capitalism. The conquering white heroes invade a remote locale, rape its women and kill its men, and are dealt retribution in kind. It’s not particularly subtle, but then, neither are these films when it comes to anything else. They’re blunt instruments, the argument goes, meant to shock a complacent audience into examining itself and the violence inherent in the system.

And then there’s the actual animal cruelty depicted in these movies. For some reason, this is a longstanding element of the subgenre, and is the main focus of most people’s revulsion. Defenders of the cannibal genre argue that the presence of actual animal cruelty works as a technique because it causes you to question the reality of what you’re witnessing—if that is real, what else is? Others argue that some of the depictions reflect actual practices of the people populating the film, so it’s an introduction of documentary realism into a fictional framework. Still others argue that these elements are present in any number of critically celebrated films—from Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW and Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE to Tarkovsky’s ANDREI RUBLEV and Godard’s WEEK-END—and that singling out these films amounts to bigotry against the horror genre (“sure, I’ll let Coppola show a water buffalo being slaughtered because that’s art, but all horror is pretty much crap, so this cannibal movie is fair game”). All of which are salient points, to which I’ll add that the raison d’être of horror films—to evoke fear and revulsion—draws more attention to these acts than in other, more mainstream films. There’s no shift in tone to relieve the audience. Not that it makes the viewing any easier.

The genre reached what many consider its apex in 1980-81. Ruggero Deodato’s landmark 1980 film CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST touched on all of these elements and not only set aim at the horrors of colonialism, but turned its sights on the fact that an audience even existed to relish in the horrors he was putting on screen. As with Michael Haneke’s FUNNY GAMES, the viewer is made implicit in the crimes depicted as he or she watches. In making HOLOCAUST, Deodato seemed to be saying, “look upon the disgusting nature of this genre’s demands and know that they exist because you fools pay money to see them!”

Then came 1981’s CANNIBAL FEROX, released in the States as MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY. So uncompromising that its marketing brags about having been banned in 31 countries, the movie sees Lenzi largely eschewing the postmodern moralizing of Deodato (while still picking up on the evils of colonialism and Western capitalism) and going straight for the jugular. It’s brutal, it’s ugly, and it represents one of the twin peaks of Italian cannibal cinema. Lenzi is an accomplished filmmaker and knows precisely how to push buttons and fills his movie with energy to spare. That it’s as well-made as it is only makes the bludgeoning savagery of the film that much more affecting. If it were truly a bad movie, then no amount of outrage would sustain the attention paid to the film over the years. I mean, nobody’s talking about Bruno Mattei’s MONDO CANNIBALE, which sports many of the same superficial elements (heck, it’s basically a remake of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) and it’s only 12 years old. No, CANNIBAL FEROX is a quantifiably good movie—well-paced, intelligently structured, and uniformly follows through on its line of reasoning to an inevitably downbeat conclusion (it’s always hard to judge the acting, because most Italian films were shot without sound and dubbed after the fact even in their home countries, but what is here is perfectly acceptable). It just may be completely reprehensible, depending on your point of view. To paraphrase Walter Sobchak in THE BIG LEBOWSKI, say what you want about the merits of CANNIBAL FEROX, Dude, but at least it’s got an ethos.

But at any rate, it’s a film that demands to be seen, experienced and then talked about. See it with your friends and debate the various controversial aspects of the movie afterward. No matter where you stand on the appropriate nature of the vile events that are depicted in the movie and the philosophical reasoning behind how they’re depicted…well…

It’s definitely something to chew on.

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

Take a peek at all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you in Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, July 13

Start your week off right with some classic cinema! The Salem-Panola Library (Lithonia) offers up Fletcher Markle’s THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY (1963) at 1pm! Or catch a screening of Robert Mulligan’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) at the Charles D. Switzer Library (Marietta), with a pre-show discussion at 6pm! And get dehumanized at the West Cobb Regional Library (Kennesaw) with their screening of Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER (1982) at 6:30pm! It’s a night of rock and ‘60s pop at The Earl with Grand Vapids, Mail the Horse and Sydney Eloise & The Palms! Or rock out at the Masquerade with Guttermouth, Treephort and Rotten Stitches! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Or 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!’ Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a taste of the Pork Belly’s and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, July 14

The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema kicks off their “Tuesday Classics” series with Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT (1982) at 7pm! 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: Patriot Acts event featuring Annette Coquette and more! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for a little murder and mayhem with their screening of John Waters’ SERIAL MOM (1994)! Catch Howard Hawks’ SERGEANT YORK (1941) at the Charles D. Switzer Library (Marietta) at 12:30pm! The Star Bar delivers a night of retro shenanigans with their ‘80s Dance Night! It’s “Bollywood Movie Night” at Chai Pani in Decatur, so make your way for their screening of Ramesh Sippy’s action-adventure film, SHOLAY (1975) at 9pm! Or get classically comedic at Movies ATL 14 with their screening of Billy Wilder’s SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) at 7pm! Get post-apocalyptic at the Diesel Filling Station during Nerd Film Mafia’s rescheduled screening of George Miller’s ‘80s classic action flick, MAD MAX: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982)! Bluegrass it up with Curtis Jones & the Primal Roots at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Boogie down with Atlanta Boogie at Blind Willie’s! Or blues it up with 4 Korners with Cody Matlock at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Alex Guthrie gets folksy at Eddie’s Attic! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Get the blues with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, July 15

Jazz it up with Sal Gentile at the Elliott Street Pub! Rod “the Mod” Stewart invades the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre! Wax on and wax off at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) during their screening of John G. Avildsen’s KARATE KID (1984) at 7pm! Or catch Disney’s classic, CINDERELLA (1950) at the Stonecrest Library (Lithonia) at 1pm! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with The Cazanovas at Blind Willie’s! Get folksy at Eddie’s Attic with The Honey Dewdrops and Caleb Stine! 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, July 16

The Fox Theatre’ 2015 Coca Cola Summer Film Festival delivers Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) at 7:30! Here’s looking at you kid, so come on down to Atlantic Station for their Movies in Central Park series’ screening of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1942) at dusk! Or catch John Waters’ PINK FLAMINGOS (1972) at The Plaza Theater! Get your reggae fix at Terminal West with Morgan Heritage! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Mr. Blue Sky delivers some jazzy ukulele folk at Trader Vic’s during Mai Tai Thursday! Bluegrass it up with the Jon Stickley Trio and the Georgia Mountain String Band at the Red Light Café! Get funky at Smith’s Olde Bar in the Music Room with Voodoo Visionary, Johnny Awesome and Percy Sledgehammer! Or rock out in the Atlanta Room with Riverside Voodoo and Chilhowee Royal! Jazz it up with Karen Briggs at the Suite Food Lounge! Blues it up with Tas Cru at Blind Willie’s! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! 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, July 17

Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & the Hookers dishes out prohibition era pandemonium at Paris on Ponce during their 4th Annual Bastille Day Celebration, with performances by the Thimblerig Circus, the Imperial OPA Circus and more, running through July 19! Rock out horror-style with Unknown Hinson and Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley at the Masquerade! Get funky with the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre! Caleb Warren & the Perfect Gentlemen dish out a night of string jazz and ragtime blues at the High Museum’s Friday Night Music Remix event! Rock out and celebrate 35 years of Pulp at The Earl with Metroscene, Supermagical and Darling Norman! Or stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Eliot Bronson and Kristen Englenz! The Drunken Unicorn delivers a night with The Head, Jonas Sees in Color, Yard Dogs and The Marrows! Sadie Hawkins and friends shake a tail feather during her Last Pasties Standing – Girl Groups event at the Red Light Café! Spend an evening with Kate Pierson (B-52s) at the Variety Playhouse! Get folksy at Steve’s Live Music with Donna Hopkins, the Jess Goggans Band and The Pussywillows! Randall Bramblett delivers the blues at the Crimson Moon Café! Or rock out blues style at the Red Clay Theatre with the Freddy Jones Band! 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! Rock out at 529 with PLS PLS, Houston in the Blind and RRest! Meow with the best of ‘em as the Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Cats” at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, running through July 19! Kool Kat VJ Anthony delivers his 80s Music Video Night at Famous Pub! Stoney Brooks gets down and dirty at the Northside Tavern! Blues it up with Atlanta Boogie at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, July 18

Have a monstrous good time with our pal Kool Kat Shane Morton during the Silver Scream FX Lab Grand Opening Public Tour, from 10am-6pm! Or catch Trader Vic’s The Art of Tiki & Trader Vic’s seminar discussing Tiki décor, art and mugs, at 5pm! It’s a night of mischief and mayhem at The Star Bar with Thelma & the Sleaze, Bad Spell, Midnight Larks and Daddy Issues! Catch Ridley Scott’s ALIEN (1979) at the Aurora Cineplex at 11:59pm! Get your classic rock fix at Terminal West with Allgood, The Bitteroots and Nine Times Blue! Make your way to the Earl Smith Strand Theatre for their Cruisin’ at the Strand with the Creepers car show, from 2-8pm! The Brat Pack invades the Fox Theatre during their 2015 Coca Cola Film Festival screening of John Hughes’ THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985) at 7:30pm! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at the Dixie Tavern! The Plastic Pinks deliver a night of garage rock at 529! Or make your way to Aisle 5 for a night with Escape Vehicle and Jon Harris! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Folk it up with River Whyless at Eddie’s Attic! It’s a night of hill country blues at The Family Dog with the John Sosebee Band! Blues it up with Selwyn Birchwood at Blind Willie’s! The Rainmen dish out some ‘60s and ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Blues it up with Mr. Chapman’s Quarterly Revue at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get groovy with Swami Gone Bananas 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, July 19

Catch a screening of Billy Wilder’s classic film noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) in theatres across the Atlanta area at 2 pm and 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville; and Georgian Stadium in Newnan]! It’s your second chance to catch John G. Avildsen’s KARATE KID (1984) at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 2pm! Get funky with some Georgian soul with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics, The 200s and The Main Squeeze at Park Tavern! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for The Savannah Sweet Tease Burlesque Revue with special guest Sadie Hawkins! Spend the evening with Leon Russell at the Variety Playhouse! Blues it up with Fat Back Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Swami Gone Bananas gets psychedelic at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! And get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

The Earl Smith Strand Theatre doo-wops it up with The Motown Sound through July 26!

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

Hey all you Kool Kat kiddies! Shake a tail feather in Retro Atlanta this week and take a peek at what we’ve found for you! We’ve got a whole lotta rockabilly rumble, classic cinema galore and all the rockin’ shenanigans you’ve been dying for! Get off that couch and live la vida Retro!

Monday, July 6

Get revved up and rock out old-timer style with a little rowdy ragtime blues at The Drunken Unicorn with The Pine Box Boys, Caleb Warren & the Perfect Gentlemen and Blood on the Harp! Blues it up with Bill Sheffield at Blind Willie’s! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! 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! Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a taste of the Pork Belly’s and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, July 7

It’s a night of sleazy blues-tinged rock at The Drunken Unicorn with Gunpowder Gray, U.S. Bastards and Alias for Now! Andrew Black dishes out the blues at Blind Willie’s! Rock out at The Earl with Jacco Gardner, EZTV and Dinner! You may need to get a bigger boat at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Get post-apocalyptic at the Diesel Filling Station during Nerd Film Mafia’s rescheduled screening of George Miller’s ‘80s classic action flick, MAD MAX: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982) at 10pm following NerdCore Trivia every last Tuesday of the month! Or catch David Lean’s classic, BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) at Movies ATL 14 at 8:15pm! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Get the blues with JT Speed at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 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, July 8

Get funky with The Mar-Tans at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Northlake Festival Movie Tavern gives you a second chance to catch a screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Folk it up with Look Homeward at the Red Light Café! Stomp on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with the BooHoo Ramblers! Get some rhythm and soul and rock ‘n’ roll with The Hollidays at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or funk it up with the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra at Smith’s Olde Bar! Get your bluesy “Wednesday Wind Down” at Centennial Park with Shirley Diamond and Frankie’s Blues Mission! 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! Catch Peyton Reed’s BRING IT ON (2000) at the Studio Movie Grill in Alpharetta at 7:30pm. St. James Live! delivers their Hump Days Blues night, getting classic blues-style every Wednesday! And as always, it’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.

Thursday, July 9

Get some swanky soul and rock ‘n’ roll with Bogey & the Viceroy Quartet at Trader Vic’s for Mai Tai Thursday! Bluegrass it up with Bradford Lee Folk & the Bluegrass Playboys and Whoa Nelly at the Red Light Café! Or get old-timey at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Mark Miller and the Classical Mountain Fiddles! Get sweet and low down with Sweet Betty & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Shimmy and shake on down to Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series screening of Emile Ardolino’s DIRTY DANCING (1987) at dusk! Jazz it up with Marc Antoine and Steve Cole at Suite Food Lounge! Cineprov riffs Menahem Golan’s OVER THE TOP (1987) at The Plaza Theater at 7:30pm! 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, July 10

Surf on down to The Star Bar for a night with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and The Disapyramids, The Dirty Doors and Gimme Hendrix! Make your way to The Plaza Theater for a little murder and mayhem with their screening of John Waters’ SERIAL MOM (1994)! Rock out at Union EAV with the Antarcticats, Ghost Foot, The Azalea Project and Outrageous Fun! For a rowdy folksy night, make your way to Vinyl for Killing Kuddles, Hyperspace and The Roadside! Hall & Oates get smooth at Chastain Park! Kool Kat Col. Bruce Hampton and Johnny Knapp invade the Red Light Café! Get the blues and jazz it up with Kool Kat Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo at the Northside Tavern! Dwayne Shivers and Kyshona get bluesy at Eddie’s Attic! Or blues it up with Sly Dog at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Buckhead Tavern delivers a night with Gareth Asher & the Earthlings! Get some rhythm and soul with The Hollidays at The Family Dog! Eighties it up at the Wild Wing Café in Gainesville with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade! Blues it up with Sandra Hall & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Rock out with dangfly while sippin’ a few cocktails under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! Get the delta blues with BJ Wilbanks 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, July 11

Rev on down to the American Tavern in Loganville for a Rockabilly Throwdown featuring a rockin’ good time with Cadillac Junkies, Blacktop Rockets, the Willie Heath Neal Band, Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles and a few of our favorite retro vendors: 2the9s Retro and Jezebel Blue (see our Shop Around feature here), and more! Or get your classic monster and sci-fi fix with Kool Kat Chris Hamer (Urbnpop!) and his Horror Business Solo Art Show at the Diesel Filling Station with Kool Kat Rev. Andy Hawley (Garage71) spinning a night of rockabilly, psychobilly, old-school punk, ‘80s metal and more! Surf on down to Kavarna for Southern Surf Stomp, featuring The Out of Limits, The Surge! and The Backyard Birds! Get a belly full of tasty treats and an earful of happening tunes at Piedmont Park’s Atlanta Street Food Festival featuring performances by Gritz & the Jelly Butter Band, Bird City Revolutionaries, the Wasted Potential Brass Band and Secondhand Swagger! Shimmy on down to Jerry Farber’s Side Door for Cheeky Belles’ Glamour Goddess event, with Kool Kat Kitty Love, Kool Kat Lola LeSoleil, Angelica Vice, JudyAnne Fox, Valkarie Jones and more!

The Star Bar dishes out a rockin’ scumbag revival with Nine Pound Hammer, Dusty Booze & the Baby Haters and Night Terrors! Spend the night with Vincent Vega at the Aurora Cineplex during their midnight screening of Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION (1994)! Rock out during the Woodstock Concert Series featuring Departure (Journey tribute) and Electric Avenue! Dino it up at SCADShow’s screening of Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK (1993) at 7pm! Get melodically morose with Kool Kat VJ Anthony at Famous Pub during his BLACKOUT: Goth/Industrial Dance Night, featuring dark ‘80s, goth, dark wave and synth pop! Make some memories at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville with The Temptations! Bluegrass it up with Cedar Hill and Shaky Jane at the Red Light Café! The Family Dog gets old-timey with The Blue Ribbon Healers! Smith’s Olde Bar jams it up with Tribute! Roxie Watson dishes out a night of old-time bluegrass and country at Eddie’s Attic! Lola and the Blues Ladies get down and dirty at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Shake it up with House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! The BadAsh Allstar Team pays tribute to the Grateful Dead at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Blues it up with Steve “The Blues Dude” at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Or get some rockin’ blues with Big C & the Velvet Delta at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blues it up with Ike Stubbefield 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, July 12

Rock on down to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre for a night with the Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes and Colin Hay! Hot rod on down to the Three Taverns Craft Brewery for their Kustom Kulture Event featuring a revvin’ good time filled with hot rods, music and tasty food at 2:30pm! Groove on down to Aisle 5 for a night with The Southern Belles and The 200s! Blues it up with Fat Back Deluxe at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Swami Gone Bananas gets psychedelic at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And it’s a night of indie art rock at the Masquerade with Mitski, Elvis Depressedly, Eskimeaux and Fox Wound!

Ongoing

The Earl Smith Strand Theatre doo-wops it up with The Motown Sound through July 26!

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

Rock out in Retro Atlanta this week and celebrate America’s 239th birthday! Come see all the shakin’ shenanigans we’ve found for you. From rockin’ surf, to down and dirty blues, to a whole lotta old-school garage, rock ‘n’ punk! And don’t forget to catch all the classics on the big screen! Get off that couch and live la vida retro!

Monday, June 29

Genki Genki Panic dishes out some rockin’ mischievous horror surf at the Kennesaw Food Truck Park! Get your rockin’ spoken word Lou Reed-esque fix with Hamell on Trial at Smith’s Olde Bar! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! 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! Beat the heat and catch Nick Park and Peter Lord’s CHICKEN RUN (2000) at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) at 11am, running through July 3! Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! And for a night of tasty blues, make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, June 30

The Earl delivers ‘70s British punk legends, Slaughter & The Dogs, along with Dinos Boys and Magoos Heros! Get post-apocalyptic at the Diesel Filling Station during Nerd Film Mafia’s screening of George Miller’s ‘80s classic action flick, MAD MAX: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982) at 10pm following NerdCore Trivia every last Tuesday of the month! Or catch Martin Scorsese’s RAGING BULL (1980) at Movies ATL 14 at 7pm! The Charles D. Switzer Public Library screens Robert Mulligan’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) at 12:30pm! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Get the blues with the Cody Matlock Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, July 1

The Red Light Café is scorchin’ with Southern Spitfires: An Evening of Burlesque with Deanna Danger, Kool Kat Lola LeSoleil, Gigi Holliday and Sadie Hawkins! 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! Folk it up with a little ‘60s pop at Eddie’s Attic with Book Club and Sydney Eloise & The Palms! Rock and roll ‘60s and ‘70s-style on down to The Plaza Theater as they screen John Pirozzi’s documentary, DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN: CAMBODIA’S LOST ROCK AND ROLL (2014)! 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, July 2

Get your garage rock ‘n’ punk fix at The Star Bar with The Cynics, The Forty-Fives, Black Linen and the Cherry Pits! Or rock on down to Union EAV for Kool Kat The Joy Kills, Karbomb, Shehehe and the Seagulls! Get some soul and blues it up with AJ Ghent and The Tin Man at Smith’s Olde Bar! It’s a night of prog rock and funky psyche fusion with Indeedface, Chelsea Shag and Big Brutus at 529! Get old-timey at Terminal West with Larry Keel, Dangermuffin and the Jugtime Ragband! Get some action at Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series screening of Roland Emmerich’s INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) at dusk! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers a tribute to Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s, so surf on down for some rockin’ island tunes! 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, July 3

The Star Bar delivers a night of rockin’ blues with Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, Sonic Graffiti, SWOTS and Momcat! Or rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with James Hall, David Bowie tribute PINUPS and Angela Wolff! Doo-wop on down to Earl Smith Strand Theatre for The Motown Sound, a musical revue running through July 26! Jump in your TARDIS and take a trip to the Doctor Who Bash! presented by TimeGate, at the Perimeter Center West Barnes and Noble! Get the root of it all at Eddie’s Attic with Cody Marlowe & the Dead Flowers and Foxhollow! Royal Thunder and Wild Throne rock out at The Earl! Make your way to the Kennesaw Historic Train Depot for their pre-Independence Day salute to America with the Journey tribute, Departure! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers The Spirit of Rush! The Katie Martin Band and Hey! Alligator dish out a night of blues, folk ‘n’ soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Blues it up at the Northside Tavern with the Cody Matlock Band! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, July 4

Happy Birthday, America! Come celebrate with us retro-style! Our pals at Pallookaville are throwing one helluva birthday bash with their Fourth of July Independepallooza, featuring the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, the Thimblerig Circus, a parade and of course, a whole lotta corndog shenanigans! Or celebrate ‘90s grunge style at Hottie Hawgs BBQ with their Hawgapalooza – Grungefest, featuring Pure Ed, Bleach Garden, Randyl Bishop and some tasty BBQ! Bluegrass it up at Barrington Hall (Roswell) during their BBQ & Bluegrass event featuring the Smokerise Bluegrass Band! Or get the blues with The Alexis P. Suter Band and Beverly “Guitar” Watkins during the Brookhaven BBQ Bash! Decatur delivers their Fourth of July Pied Piper parade, fireworks and the Callanwolde Concert Band! Blues it up with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and friends with their laid back holiday bash at the Northside Tavern! And fly on by the Aurora Cineplex for their screening of Tony Scott’s TOP GUN (1986) at 11:59pm! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, July 5

The Variety Playhouse delivers a night of ‘80s British alt-rock with World Party! Or rock on down to Park Tavern for the Radio Birds, Radiolucent and Sara Rachele! Swami Gone Bananas dishes out his Grateful Dead Tribute at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And rock on down to the Crimson Moon Café for their Boomers Gone Wild event, delivering a night of ‘60s and ‘70s covers!

Ongoing

William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum’s, “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendek in His Own Words and Pictures” getting wild through July 5! (LAST CHANCE!)

The Earl Smith Strand Theatre doo-wops it up with The Motown Sound through July 26!

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

Stan Bowman, a.k.a. “Stan the Zombie”, has become a local legend within Atlanta’s homegrown bloody fangtastic horror scene, staggering his way through cons and events donning rotting flesh while reeking of the undead. He’s been dressing up in bloody-gore-filled costumes since he was a teen and has made dining on the flesh of locals his go-to thing. So much so, that in 2010, he trade-marked “Stan the Zombie” and has been cast as such in several film and television productions, including his first taste of the biz, Giles Shepherd’s ACE THE ZOMBIE: THE MOTION PICTURE (2012). “Stan the Zombie” has also made appearances on the talk-show SCARY TIMES in 2014, and has had roles in AJ Caruso’s horror short, Z.14.12 (2014); a comedy TV series, ZOMBIE SOCKS in 2014; Jason Lumberjack Johnson’s video short, SUPERMANN TREE SERVICE (2015) and more! “Stan the Zombie” will even have his own stand-alone film, STAN THE ZOMBIE: THE MOVIE, which is currently in pre-production and will take viewers down his deep dark path of his hellishly undead past. For a sneak peek teaser and fleshy taste of the upcoming film, grab a copy of the comic book, STAN THE ZOMBIE!

Although Bowman is largely known as one of Atlanta’s favorite reanimated human corpses, he’s been busy working on non-zombie productions as a professionally trained actor as well. Presently, he’s playing a role in Keith Bailey’s TEST GROUP, which is currently filming. He’s also played “Dr. Acula” in Giles Shepherd’s comedy-horror film ATLANTA VAMPIRE MOVIE (post-production); “Mastermind” in the fan web-series UNCANNY X-MEN in 2012; and plays the role of “Detective Mike Jordan” in Naz Pankey’s action-horror film I THOUGHT YOU WERE A NICE MAN (post-production). So, if you haven’t had the chance to experience “Stan the Zombie” and/or Stan Bowman the actor, you’ll want to haunt on down to one of Atlanta’s many conventions and horror events for a fleshy taste of the undead!

ATLRetro caught up with Stan Bowman for a quick interview about the history of “Stan the Zombie”; George Romero; his immersion into Atlanta’ horror film scene; and his current film shenanigans! And while you’re takin’ a peek at our little Q&A with Bowman, listen to his interview with Project IRadio’s “Nerdvana” here, as well as an interview with “Stan the Zombie” and John Farris of Dead, Buried and Back at Comic Con 2013 here.

ATLRetro: “Stan the Zombie” causes quite a rotting ruckus across Atlanta! Can you tell our readers a little bit about your undead back story?

Stan Bowman: Well, I’ve been a zombie fan since I was a kid, a big George Romero fan. I started dressing up like a zombie when I was teenager for

Project IRadio

Halloween. Then in 2007, a friend brought me to Dragon Con. I saw a lot of people dressed up in costume, so I came back the next day in zombie, and was a hit! Every year I would try something and work on making it better. In 2010 I decided to coin the name “Stan the Zombie.”

What brought you to the deep dark underbelly of Atlanta’s monstrous film community and what keeps you coming back for more?

Pure luck? Nah, just going out there and doing my thing with one thing leading to another. After being discovered at Dragon Con for ACE THE ZOMBIE, some SCAD students tracked me down and asked me to be in a short movie with them. It just kept growing from there.

We’ve read that your “Stan the Zombie” character is highly inspired by George Romero films. Which would you say had the most influence and why?

Yes, like I mentioned, George Romero inspired me. It was the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the black and white one. My sister and I used to beg our parents to let us stay up late and watch it. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched it!

Can you tell our readers a little about your first film, 2010’s ACE THE ZOMBIE, directed by Giles Shepherd, and how you landed the role? Any behind-the-scenes shenanigans you’d like to share?

Well, the cameraman approached me at Dragon Con and asked if I wanted to be in a movie. Of course, I agreed. When I showed up on set in Milledgeville GA, no one recognized me without makeup. So they cast me as a ZCF Doctor. The second time I was on set, the AD asked me to come in my zombie makeup. When I showed up, everyone recognized me. Ha! It was a fun crew to work with, but with long days and nights on set. We had to be a little crazy to make it though. Ha!

Which other films, directors or actors have inspired you the most? If you could choose your favorite old-school director (besides Romero), who would it be and why?

If you’re referring to horror and zombie films, I would say Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi and Alfred Hitchcock. My favorite would be Wes Craven, because I’m also a big fan of THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies.

Atlanta’s independent horror film scene seems to be thriving!  What do you think draws the crowds to the lower budget independent films? And why?

Stan Bowman – The man behind the rotting flesh.

I guess I would have to say the original stories, the hard work everyone puts in. And THE WALKING DEAD being filmed here doesn’t hurt. Atlanta has a lot of horror film fans. We took over being the zombie capital of the US from Seattle several years ago.

You’ve recently branched out beyond the rotting undead and have played some non-zombie roles, including comedy-horror flick, ATLANTA VAMPIRE MOVIE, also directed by Giles Shepherd, where you play “Dr. Acula.” Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about this production, which is set to release in October 2015?

It’s basically a spoof of BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, but it’s very original in its own right. Everyone put a lot of time and energy into it, and we had an excellent writer. As far as a release date? Not sure, it’s still in post-production right now.

We hear there’s a STAN THE ZOMBIE: THE MOVIE in the making. Can you tell us a little about that and the comic which came out in May 2014?

Well, a Hollywood producer recommended that I come out with a comic book to add more legitimacy to my character. So I contacted a friend of mine, Zak Vaudo, and we began working on it. Zak was already half-way through the script for the movie, so we just borrowed scenes from it for the book. And Alison Cundiff did the illustrations for the comic.

You do a lot of guest appearances at horror events across town. Can you tell us a little about those? Which is your favorite annual event and why?

That’s a tough one, because I like them all; Dragon Con and Walker Stalker, of course. But the smaller ones like Days of the Dead, Twisted Fears and now Wizard World are nice, too. My favorite is still Dragon Con. It’s crowded, but that’s where STZ got his start.

Your first speaking role without makeup was in the web-series, the UNCANNY X-MEN in 2012, where you played “Mastermind.” How did that experience differ from your usual zombified performances?

It was a little unnerving. When you’re in makeup, it’s like a mask. But, without it and having to hear your own voice, well, that’s why I started working with a coach afterwards. Ha! But I liked it. It was a challenge and I look forward to more. It’s fun! But I’ll keep doing zombie as long has my body holds out. Ha!

You’ve also played a few detective roles, including “Detective Mike Jordan” in I THOUGHT YOU WERE A NICE MAN, which is in post-production. Can you fill our readers in a bit on this role?

Well, I’m under a nondisclosure agreement, so I can’t say too much. I play a homicide detective protecting his fiancé’s daughter. Sadly, can’t say more. But, you’ll have to see it when it comes out!

If you could put together a monster movie with all your favorite actors/actresses (alive or not), who would you choose and why?

Hmm. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Having “The Terminator” is always cool!), Kevin Spacey (I love his acting and dry sense of humor.), Kathy Bates (A great actress and she can play the creepy roles.), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Because she’s hot!), Debby Ryan (Because she’s hot and I met her..lol), Sid Haig (He can scare you too death. Ha!). I can go on and on, but those are some who come to mind.

So, what’s next for Stan Bowman? For “Stan the Zombie”?

Well, we are presently in the budget/script editing/shot list phase of STAN THE ZOMBIE: THE MOVIE. Putting together a feature isn’t as easy as people think. It’s a lot of work. We are hoping to start shooting before the end of the year, but that’s a long shot. You never know. In the mean time, I have more non-zombie roles on the docket, and hope to show that I’m more than just another pretty zombie. Ha!

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

Let’s see, I have always been a big time apocalyptic movie fan, and post-civilization (PLANET OF THE APES, OMEGA MAN, etc). I’m a big history buff and love to explore other cultures. And, I’m actually a pretty private person when I’m not doing conventions or on set.

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

Ok, I’ve been asked most through the years, but no one asked me if I could live anywhere I wanted, where would it be? Answer: In the country with three big dogs, off the grid and completely self-sufficient. Can you tell I’m an apocalyptic movie fan? Ha!

All photos courtesy of Stan Bowman and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

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

Monday, June 22

Jump ‘n’ jive with Atlanta Boogie at Blind Willie’s! Get adventurous at the Stonecrest Library in Lithonia with their screening of Martin Campbell’s THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998) at 2pm! Skye Paige, “Queen of Slide Guitar” rocks out at the Little Vinyl Lounge! Or 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!’ Get some ‘90s blues and soul with Joan Osborne at Eddie’s Attic! Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia, “True Crimes” edition at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And for a night of tasty blues, make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, June 23

Spend the night with Ol’ Blue Eyes during Movies ATL 14’s screening of John Frankenheimer’s THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) at 7pm! Blues it up Brit-style with The Steepwater Band and American Roommates at Smith’s Olde Bar! The Northlake Festival Movie Tavern delivers a night of ‘80s time travel with their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues at Blind Willie’s! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 24

Make your way to the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge as SCENE MISSING Presents: Dr. Strangelanta, featuring music, comedy and all around shenanigans based on the films of Stanley Kubrick, at 9pm! You may need to get a bigger boat for the 40th Anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), screening in theatres across the Atlanta area at 2 pm and 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; Movies ATL 14; Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville]! The Northlake Festival Movie Tavern delivers a second night of ‘80s time travel with their screening of Robert Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Or try to save the world at Movies ATL 14 with their screening of James Cameron’s THE TERMINATOR (1984) at 7pm! You won’t want to miss the Serenbe Playhouse’s presentation of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” running through June 28! Eddie’s Attic delivers a night of rockin’ folk with Kevn Kinney (Drivin’ ‘n’ Cryn’) and Peter Case! Rock on down to the Masquerade for Local H and Aeges! It’s a night of rockin’ blues with The Georgia Flood at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Blind Willie’s delivers a night of Chicago and West Coast blues with the Electromatics! 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, June 25

Honkytonk it up at The Star Bar and help wish our pal Kool Kat Julea Thomerson a rockin’ farewell, along with Slim Chance & the Convicts, Chickens and Pigs, Dry Gulch, Vito Romeo, Colangelo, Rodeo Twister, Kool Kat Spike Fullerton with the Ghost Riders Car Club and more! Make your way to Terminal West as ATL Collective presents Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” at 9pm! The Capitol City Opera Company dishes out their Dinner & a Diva Series with “The Best of Gilbert & Sullivan” at Petite Auberge! Get some rockin’ blues with Beverly “Guitar” Watkins at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! The Red Light Café delivers a bluegrass pickin’ party! Heather Luttrell gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s, so get some ‘60s and ‘70s Jamaican soul with Lloyd’s Rocksteady Revue! 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, June 26

Brian Wilson delivers some good vibrations at the Fox Theatre with Rodriguez! Pay tribute to The Smiths and The Clash at Terminal West with Smithsonian and Clashinista! Mambo on down to the Red Light Café for Speakeasy Electroswing Atlanta’s Summer Salsa Night featuring performances by Benjamin Elizabeth, Sin Tillating, Lucy Purr, Annette Coquette and DJ Doctor Q! Goth it up old-school style at the Famous Pub with Kool Kat VJ Anthony and his Coffin Classics: Digging Up the Best of Goth event! Let Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles rev you up at Motorheads in McDonough! The Earl delivers a night of ‘70s-esque rock with the Sealions, MammaBear and Hot Gaze! Get old-timey with Caleb Warren & the Perfect Gentlemen, I Want Whisky and Raven Claw Hammer at The Star Bar! Stomp on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Brandy Zdan in the Music Room! Or make your way to the Atlanta Room for Oliver’s Antics, Time Sawyer, Starting Fires and The PG’s! Rock out with Capitol Arms, Kool Kats The Joy Kills, Sister Helen and Bear Girl at The Drunken Unicorn! Get the Chicago/Delta blues with The Breeze Kings at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Jazz it up with Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s Jazz on the Lawn event with Joe Gransden! Or get classy with chanteuse Natalie Cole at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center! It’s ‘80s night with DJ Quasi Mandisco at The Family Dog! Sandra Hall & the Shadows get down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! Jazz ‘n’ folk it up at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event under the dinosaurs with Mr. Blue Sky! The Ori Naftaly Band dishes out the blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Blues it up with Sana Blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, June 27

The Star Bar dishes out some red-hot rockabilly with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles, Beau & the Burners and Motel Ice Machine, and you won’t want to miss the hot rod car show in the parking lot! “The Dude” bowls over the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema with their screening of the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) during their Midnight Bowling and Cocktail Party! David Bowie it up at the Aurora Cineplex with their screening of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH (1986) at 11:59pm! Groove on down to the Elliott Street Pub for a night with Kool Kats Spirits and the Melchizedek Children and Hello Ocho! Get some rockabilly blues with Atomic Boogie at the Dallas Public House! Get comfy with Indy at SCADShow’s screening of Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) at 7pm! Rock on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with Roger “Hurricane” Wilson and White Winged Dove! Get your fill of Cracker with two shows at Eddie’s Attic! The Sundogs and The Liberators pay homage to old-school blues ‘n’ psyche rock at Smith’s Olde Bar! Boogie on down to the Opera Nightclub for Kool Kat VJ Anthony’s Clash of the Decades music video dance party! Folk ‘n’ rock it up with Monk Parker, Book of Colors and Ben Trickey at The Drunken Unicorn! Boogie woogie on down to Kavarna for their Last Call Blues Dance! Or put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and more at The Basement for Electric Western’s Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! Get your fill of ‘80s and ‘90s salon pop music at Mary’s! Get some soul with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics and some old-school funk with Lettuce at Terminal West! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at The Family Dog! Shake it up with Escape Vehicle at the Red Light Café! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! Big Bill Morganfield dishes out the blues at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! Get some rockin’ soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues with Dark Water Rising! Get your outlaw blues fix with Blue Roads at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, June 28

Eddie’s Attic dishes out their Out on the Weekend Neil Young Tribute with Brian Collins, Eliot Bronson, Jared & Amber, The Bitteroots, Doria Roberts, The Southern Gothic, Rex Hussman, Mike Killeen and Kristen Englenz! Folk it up at the Red Light Café with the Good Graces, Love Me Till My Heart Stops and Garner Sloan! Or get folksy at Park Tavern with Little Tybee and Carolina Rose! Mipso delivers their Appalachian string band tunes at the Crimson Moon Café! Rock out at Aaron’s Lakewood Amphitheatre with Def Leppard, Styx and Tesla! Get jazzy Flamenco-style at the Variety Playhouse with Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra! Or jazz it up with Emile Worthy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Bluegrass it up with Humdinger at Smith’s Olde Bar! Swami Gone Bananas gets down at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with Snake Legs!

Ongoing

Out of the Box Theatre presents Peter Hardy’s “Sally and Glen at the Palace” through June 27! (LAST CHANCE!)

Serenbe Playhouse presents Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” through June 28! (LAST CHANCE!)

William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum’s, “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendek in His Own Words and Pictures” getting wild through July 5!

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, followed by ‘80s Dance Night at 10pm, 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 Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Atlanta filmmaker Brian Lonano has been garnering raves on the festival circuit for humorous horror short CROW HAND!!!, which makes all of us at ATLRetro laugh like crazed lunatics every time we see it. Now he  is on the cusp of bringing us another heaping helping of the hilariously bizarre with GWILLIAM, a tender tale about the love between a man (William Tokarsky of TOO MANY COOKS and YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL) and a goblin (an animatronic puppet). But he needs your help! That’s why he’s running an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign, promising an insanely inventive and perfectly perverse variety of rewards for donors.

The short film has long been the weird nephew in the motion picture family. Since theatrical exhibitions largely abandoned the “selected short subjects” of days gone by (aside from, say, Pixar’s commitment to the form) in favor of more movie trailers and before-the-show advertisements, it’s been a constant struggle to get short films in front of large audiences. Sure, film festivals routinely devote chunks of programming to shorts, but the audience is always limited to the people in attendance. In recent years, however, that has changed. Say what you will about the Internet’s impact on the film industry, one thing is indisputable: it’s provided makers of short films with a platform that allows more people to see their work. That, in turn, has had an impact on television programming. Animated TV series have used the “two cartoons in one half-hour” format for a long while now, but some networks—most notably Cartoon Network and its [adult swim] programming block—have embraced the 11-minute episode as a standalone entity. And [adult swim] has taken that short film format into live action, with series like Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim’s multiple offerings (such as TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB! and CHECK IT OUT! WITH DR. STEVE BRULE), YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL and that twilight zone of weirdness at 4:00 a.m. where things like TOO MANY COOKS show up.

Brian Lonano – SXSW

That’s where we cross paths with Kool Kat of the Week Brian Lonano. Lonano has been making short films for a decade now. His nine shorts have screened at festivals from SXSW to Fantasia International Film Festival, from Canada to Cambodia. And here in Atlanta, he’s been shown at the Atlanta Film Festival and the Buried Alive Film Fest. (He’s done promotional bumper shorts for many festivals around the world as well.) His shorts are typically a deft mix of wacky comedy, horror or sci-fi tropes and inventive practical effects.- a combo no better seen than in last year’s CROW HAND!!! His 10th film, GWILLIAM, is currently in preproduction, and to raise the funds for this endeavor (because while the Internet is a convenient platform, it’s really hard to monetize it), Lonano has turned to the new audience that the Internet has provided for assistance via this IndieGoGo campaign.

ATLRetro caught up with Brian Lonano to ask him about the campaign, his history in short films, what GWILLIAM is all about and what’s on the horizon.

ATLRetro: You’ve got nine short films under your belt in the past decade, including the inspired THE TRANSMISSION and the utterly berserk CROW HAND!!! What first drove you to dive into filmmaking?

I grew up watching films that featured a lot of special effects and puppets. I am a big fan of Jim Henson, Tim Burton, Spielberg and classic STAR WARS. JURASSIC PARK came out when I was 10 and I wanted to make movies ever since. I became obsessed with seeing any and every movie that Industrial Light & Magic did the special effects for. I didn’t have a camera for a long time so I drew comics and made puppets. As I get older I seek out more bizarre film oddities like HAUSU, THE VISITOR and A FIELD IN ENGLAND. Those kinds of films coupled with what I grew up worshiping keep me inspired to make movies.

You’re not only known for your short films, which have screened all over the world, but you’ve also been recognized by the industry for your commissioned work for festivals and television, something our readers might not immediately know about. What does Brian Lonano do when he’s not dreaming up weird short films?

My full time job is working at a post-production facility that processes dailies for TV shows and movies that shoot in town. The commissioned work I make is mostly for film festivals. I would direct a short film called a bumper that advertises the film festival and I would more or less have creative control which is great. I’m very grateful to film festivals that show my work so when I’m asked to make a bumper for one, I put a lot of effort in making a kick ass bumper to show how bad ass the festival is.

It’s a tale as old as time: a man and a goblin in love. What attracted you to this story, and just how disgustingly screwed up can we expect the end result to be?

GWILLIAM came about from a drawing my brother did back in 2011. He was drawing a picture of this weird little man—it just looked completely wrong in the best way possible. We laughed about the picture and decided we had to name the weird man. So we asked ourselves, what’s a gross name that would fit this monstrosity? And we decided on Gwilliam. After that we came up with a strange story where a different man was prowling at night and has an encounter with Gwilliam…I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. I’m excited about how gross this movie is going to be because it’s not gore centric like my previous film CROW HAND!!!. It’s a whole new kind of disgusting.

The preliminary sculpt you’ve shown on the website is impressive even in this early stage. Who’s behind the design of the Gwilliam puppet?

The sculpt of Gwilliam is actually created by Splatter Cinema super team Blake Myers, Luke Godfrey and Nick Morgan. They will be responsible for making the creature puppet for the film.

I see designer Rachel De Urioste mentioned in the IndieGoGo campaign. What she’s bringing to the table? Rachel De Urioste is a local artist, fabricator and designer and she’s designing the GWILLIAM perks for IndieGoGo. She designed the crow totem that was featured in CROW HAND!!!. When we were on the festival circuit with CROW HAND!!! I asked Rachel to make some plastic versions of the Crowtem so I could plant them in theaters and see if anyone would pick them up. I loved the idea of something tangible to take away from the movie. CROW HAND!!! is so short that I wanted to make a big impact with the promotion of it. So with GWILLIAM I wanted to make a new prize to give out to potential donors. If I was giving to a campaign, I would want something cool like a toy. I think people gravitate towards tchotchkes like that.

The variety of rewards you’re offering investors range from the innocuous (digital downloads, credit listing) to the utterly depraved (a Gwilliam sex doll???). How did you come up with these ideas?

I brainstormed ideas for prizes with Rachel and my wife/co-producer Victoria Cook. We all agreed the totems from CROW HAND!!! were a great idea and we wanted to take it a step further. Rachel had never dabbled in designing toys and I am a big fan of Archie McPhee‘s novelty finger puppets so I thought a Gwilliam finger puppet would be a great prize to give out. As I said earlier, if I was donating to something, I would want to get a cool toy. Rachel is making full painted Gwilliam finger puppets but she is also making rainbow editions of the Crowtem and Finger Puppet as well as solid color Gwilliams (we’re calling it the ROY G BIV collection) and even glow in the dark finger puppets! The blow up is another prize we all came up with. The doll would be life size (meaning Goblin size) and the goal is make it a functioning doll. We wanted our campaign to stand out and I figured weird finger puppets and blow up dolls would do the trick!

You’ve lucked up in nabbing William Tokarsky fresh off the TOO MANY COOKS brouhaha, but he’s also popped up in projects ranging from THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE to YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL. How did your paths cross, and how did you know he was the right man to romance a goblin puppet?

William was very easy to get in touch with. I sent him a message on Facebook asking if he would be interested in working together on a project. We agreed to meet in person and I gave him the script to read. I didn’t say much about it until he read it. Thankfully, he was laughing at the script and said he would absolutely be a part of it. So far working with William has been terrific. He’s easy going, very funny and a great team player. I look forward to shooting so I can direct him.

On the local front, you’ve worked with the Buried Alive Film Festival as a judge, you’ve shot a great bumper for them, and you’ve had your shorts exhibited there as well. Any hope you’ll be bringing GWILLIAM to BAFF screens in the future?

If the film is completed in time I would absolutely love to screen it at BAFF this year. But because I am friends with Blake and the whole team (and they are also working on the film), it would be an out of competition entry. I love screening my work here because the audience gets what I am trying to do and they all seem to really enjoy it!

CROW HAND!!! from !ROBOT HAND! on Vimeo.

All photos courtesy of Brian Lonano and used with permission.  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

Shake it up in Retro Atlanta this week! Get your fill of red-hot blues, tasty tease, hootenannies galore and more! Get off that couch, get hep to the jive and live la vida Retro!

Monday, June 15

Garage rock it up at 529 with The Hussy, Lowbanks, The Mumzees and the Immaculate Collection! Blues it up with Fatback Deluxe at Blind Willie’s! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month! Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! 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! And for a night of tasty blues, make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast and a plate full ‘o finger lickin’ BBQ!

Tuesday, June 16

Come celebrate sixteen sweet years of Videodrome, Atlanta’s last remaining video store, with a Sweet Sixteen Party, rockin’ out at the Highland Inn Ballroom, which also includes a special screening of David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME (1983) at 7pm! Make your way to the Decatur Library for a screening of Harry Keller’s THE BRASS BOTTLE (1964) at 9:30am! Get old-timey at Smith’s Olde Bar with City Mouse, Sour Bridges and Alex & Todd! Chelsea Shag gets some old-school soul at the Red Light Café! Bluegrass it up with Curtis Jones & Primal Roots at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Lola gets down and dirty at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Joe McGuiness delivers a night of roots and Americana at Blind Willie’s! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 17

Get adventurous with Atreyu at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) with their screening of Wolfgang Peterson’s THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984) at 7pm! Funk it up with The Get Right Band and Dr. Strangelove at Aisle 5! The BadAsh Allstar Team (BAAT) pays tribute to Billy Idol, Heart and Blondie at the Red Light Café! Jazz it up with Sal Gentile at the Elliott Street Pub! It’s a night of rockin’ blues with The Georgia Flood at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with The Gypsies! Little G. Weevil gets the blues at Blind Willie’s! 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, June 18

The Star Bar delivers a night of glam rock and sleazy blues with The Tip (record release party), Gunpowder Gray, the Damned Angels, Vito Romeo and Adam Anzio! The Fox Theatre’s 2015 Coca Cola Summer Film Festival continues with Tim Burton’s BEETLEJUICE (1988) at 7:30pm! Get old-school punk style with Punk Rock Tribute Night at Smith’s Olde Bar with Horror Business (Misfits), Pretty Vacant (Sex Pistols), The Cherry Bomb (Joan Jet) and Road to Ruin (Ramones)! Or rock on down to 529 for a night with Air Wolves, Frick, Swing Set and Awkward Sounds! The Earl delivers The Baseball Project (with members of R.E.M.) and AM Gold (with Kool Kat Jet Bryant and Jim Stacy)! Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night with Paul Thorn, the “Mark Twain of Americana”! Boogie on down to Vinyl for a night with Exwhy and The Dead Woods! The Red Light Café delivers a night of folksy bluegrass with My Brother’s Keeper and Casey Camp! Get saucy and blues it up with Sweet Betty & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s, so hula on down for a night of smokin’ hot island tunes with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and Tonga Hiti! 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, June 19

The Sonics and The Forty-Fives deliver a night of garage rock ‘n’ proto punk at The Earl! Swing on by the High Museum for a night with Joe Gransden! Rock out at The Star Bar with The Wet Ones, Hip to Death, The Marrows, Air Wolves and Hot Gaze! It’s a down and dirty retro rock revival at Smith’s Olde Bar with The Dreaded Marco, Ledfoot Messiah and Goodbye June! The “Monsters of Rock” invade the Masquerade with Back N Black (AC/DC tribute) and Retallica (Metallica tribute)! Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for two additional shows with Paul Thorn, the “Mark Twain of Americana”! Groove it up slowly to Park Tavern for a night with Yacht Rock Revue! Beverly “Guitar” Watkins gets down and dirty at Blind Willie’s! It’s Salsa Dance Night at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event, so cha-cha under the dinosaurs with the Salsambo Dance Studio while sippin’ a few cocktails! Stoney Brooks delivers the blues at the Northside Tavern! It’s a night of juke joint blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues with The Scissormen! Blues on down to Hottie Hawgs BBQ for a night with Little G. Weevil! Make your way back to the ‘50s through the ‘70s with the Way Back Band at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, June 20

It’s a night of garage punk and rock ‘n’ roll at The Star Bar with Jack Oblivion & the Shieks, Highriders and the Mystery Men?! Stomp on down to 529 for a night with Blake Rainey & His Demons, Tom Cheshire and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer! The Fox Theatre’s 2015 Coca Cola Summer Film Festival continues with Rob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) at 7:30pm!Let Hysteria Machines Productions put a sultry spell on you at the Shakespeare Tavern during their Sexspelliarmus: Whimsical Wizarding Burlesque Revue Part II! Go way back at the Center for Puppetry Arts with their screening of Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK (1993) at 8pm! Get spooked during Dok Lazlo’s “Mad Alchemy Walking Tours” with his Haunted History Tour of Marietta Square from 7:30-11pm, with a free tarot reading after party! Learn about Atlanta’s prohibition during the Historic Oakland Cemetery’s Malts & Vaults event! Get funky with the Wasted Potential Brass Band at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre in Mableton! Let Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles rev you up at Dixie Tavern in Marietta! Polka it up at Chastain Park with Weird Al Yankovic! Cloudship delivers a night of Americana at the Elliott Street Pub! The Atlanta Rhythm Section rocks out at Eddie’s Attic with two shows! Get old-timey with the Front Porch Session Players at The Family Dog! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Blues it up with Corey Harris at Blind Willie’s! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! The Bush League delivers a night of rockin’ blues at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Blues it up with Ron Cooley & the Hard Times at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Get rootsy with Sparky & Rhonda Rucker, followed by the James Taylor tribute band, Taylor Made, at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, June 21

You may need to get a bigger boat for the 40th Anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), screening in theatres across the Atlanta area at 2 pm and 7pm [Hollywood Stadium 24 in Chamblee, Perimeter Pointe 10; Movies ATL 14; Avalon Stadium 12 in Alpharetta; AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 in Lawrenceville; AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 in Cumming; AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw; AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow; Regal McDonough Stadium 16; and Cinemark Tinseltown 17 in Fayetteville]! It’s your last chance to hang with Atreyu at the Studio Movie Grill (Alpharetta/Duluth) with their screening of Wolfgang Peterson’s THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984) at 2pm! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a night with Cloudship! It’s a garage rock revival at Park Tavern with The Whigs! Get some ‘90s blues and soul with Joan Osborne at Eddie’s Attic! Bluegrass it up with .44 Smokeless at Smith’s Olde Bar! It’s Sultry Sunday at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs, so get jazzy with Tommie Macon and Charles Fellingham as they bring you the tunes of Sinatra & Fitzgerald! Swami Gone Bananas gets down at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar! And slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with Snake Legs!

Ongoing

Out of the Box Theatre presents Peter Hardy’s “Sally and Glen at the Palace” through June 27!

William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum’s, “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendek in His Own Words and Pictures” getting wild through July 5!

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

HepCat’s Hop gets swingin’ every second Wednesday of the month at the 57th Fighter Group Restaurant!

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

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar delivers Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, followed by ‘80s Dance Night at 10pm, every Tuesday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month.

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Quintron and Miss Pussycat, hailing from the Big Easy, will be dishin’ out a night of interstellar swampy electro mischief and Technicolor puppet mayhem and pandemonium this Sat. June 13, at The Earl, along with punk rock outfits Predator and Enoch Ramone & the Ebola Boys. They’re bound to leave you mesmerized and begging for more of that garage rock spacey avant-garde swamp noise!

Quintron, mad musical scientist and inventor of his own instruments [including his patented Drum Buddy (a light activated analog synthesizer), owned by some musical notables as Laurie Anderson and Nels Cline (Wilco)], has been delivering his New Orleans “genre-defying noise and swamp tech dance music” for over 15 years. Insert Miss Pussycat, who adds her own twisted eccentricities by way of her Technicolor puppet shows, and you’ve got one helluva electrifying live performance! Quintron’s latest LP SPELLCASTER II: DEATH IN SPACE (October 2014), featuring Miss Pussycat on their garage-rock-y “Do the Raid,” was released by New Orleans’ Pizza Burglar Records and is the successor to his 1996 LP AMAZING SPELLCASTER (Live at Pussycat Caverns) (Bulb Records). And if that isn’t enough, you’ll just have to get your grimy little hands (if you can) on his other earlier releases [1994’s INTERNAL FEEDBACK 001-011– released by Bulb Records; 1996’s THE FIRST TWO RECORDS – released by Bulb Records; 1997’s PLAY 9 SONGS WITH MR. QUINTRON – released by Crypt Records; 1998’s SATAN IS DEAD – released by Bulb Records; 1999’s THESE HANDS OF MINE – released by Rhinestone Records/Skin Graft Records; 2000’s UNMASKED ORGAN LIGHT-YEAR OF INFINITY MAN – released by Bulb Records; 2001’s DRUM BUDDY DEMO VOL. 1 – released by Rhinestone Records/Skin Graft Records; 2003’s ARE YOU READY FOR AN ORGAN SOLO – released by Rhinestone Records/Skin Graft Records; 2004’s THE FROG TAPE – released by Skin Graft Records; 2005’s SWAMP TECH/ELECTRIC SWAMP (with Miss Pussycat) – released by Tigerbeat6 Records/Rhinestone Records; 2008’s TOO THIRSTY FOR LOVE – released by Rhinestone Records /Goner Records; and 2011’s SUCRE DU SAUVAGE – released by Goner Records)].

ATLRetro caught up with Quintron for a quick interview about his latest album, SPELLCASTER II: DEATH IN SPACE; his long list of musical projects [Weather Warlock; First!]; and his upcoming show with Miss Pussycat at The Earl! And while you’re taking a gander at our little Q&A with Quintron, get an eye ‘n’ earful of Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s “Face Down in the Gutter”!

ATLRetro: Science and puppetry! What a great combination. What’s the scoop on how you and Miss Pussycat got together to entertain the masses?

Quintron: I was touring as Quintron through New Orleans back in the day. At that point I was doing more of a power noise and percussion thing with this huge home-built drum rig and a bunch of electronics that I had built into the octopus. I booked the tour myself on the phone and so I talked to her about my show in New Orleans at her secret 9th ward club (now defunct) called Pussycat Caverns. I think I kinda fell in love with her on the phone actually. Best voice in the biz. The rest, as they say, is a footnote to actual history about wars and politics and shit.

We’ve read that the majority of your 14 full-length albums are filled to the brim with that psychedelic soul of traditional New Orleans party music. Who would you say in the realm of traditional New Orleans party music are your retro music influences?

I know that your site is called “ATLRetro” and I do not mean any disrespect here but I have always shied away from anything which attempts to blatantly recreate the past – and that is what the word “retro” (in music anyway) means to me. I do think it is important to acknowledge, appreciate, and study the past but as an artist to live in it is a form of death – and he’s my enemy.  So, just saying, I’m not really gonna play along with that word. But I think what you are asking is “Who from the past has influenced me musically in New Orleans?” That said, my biggest New Orleans influences are Ernie K-Doe, King Louie (who is actually younger than me), and Mannie Fresh. K-Doe was one of the all time great New Orleans R&B singers, and I had the honor to be able to play and record with him in his later years. King Louie is a punk rock god of a songwriter (Kajun SS, Exploding Hearts, Kondor, Missing Monuments, Black Rose, etc) who actually broke away from a band that, in my opinion, was so obsessed with the past that they kind of neutered themselves artistically. They were great, just not exciting to me personally. So I watched Louie break away from this band and do his own thing, and it had a huge influence on me. He started making real vital immediate punk rock that was still referencing his musical roots in Louisiana but the lyrics weren’t about ‘50s shit. Mannie Fresh is the musical genius behind all of the early Cash Money Records hits. You know him even if you don’t know you know him. I actually think he lives in ATL now. I got to jam with him once or twice too – incredible.

Photo by Gary Lavourde

Your sound has been described as being an eccentric, artsy twist on swamp rock, which you like to call “Swamp Tech”. Can you fill our readers in on what exactly “Swamp Tech” is?

I didn’t make it up – some writer in the UK did, and I liked the sound of it. I think they mean that it is a drum machine-based take on traditional Louisiana / Texas style “Swamp Pop.”

We see that you’ve played organ on a number of other artist’s records, even having one of those albums nominated for a Grammy (Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys’ “Grand Isle”, which contained your song “Chatterbox”). What is your go-to instrument?

I was a drummer first and an organ player second, but at this point I’m much more comfortable on organ than anything. I’m also playing guitar in Weather Warlock. I’m a pretty remedial guitar player.  Actually, I’m pretty remedial on everything.

Can you tell our readers a little bit about your latest LP, SPELLCASTER II: DEATH IN SPACE?

I was commissioned to score a science fiction film soundtrack for a local filmmaker named Brent Joseph and ended up recording so much material that I decided to put some of it out. The title is a reference to my second LP called AMAZING SPELLCASTER – LIVE AT PUSSYCAT CAVERNS. That album was also a soundtrack “mood” type album, and I had always wanted to make a continuation – a part 2 – and this is it.

You seem to have a lot of musical projects going at once, from your solo act to Weather Warlock and First!, which is a hardcore band consisting of you, Miss P and three other New Orleans musicians. First of all, how do you find the time?! And secondly, can you explain the method to your musical madness?

I am VERY VERY sorry to tell our Atlanta fans that FIRST! will not be performing at the show due to a death in our guitar player’s family. It totally sucks because if anyone would get FIRST!, it’s you people. FIRST! is just me and a bunch of my best friends making the most simple punk we can on instruments we are not comfortable playing, and the lyrics are of supreme importance.  It’s almost like a really, really fast poetry reading with some 8-year-olds trying to play like Fang in the background.

Weather Warlock is a heavy drone / noise / metal  improv band based on this weather controlled synth I have been building. You can listen to it online 24/7 here.

Can you tell our readers a little bit about the time you shut yourself up in The New Orleans Museum of Art for three months to create your double LP “Sucre Du Sauvage”, released by Goner Records in 2011?

I can tell your readers that I do not recommend attempting to get any actual work done in a public place full of noisy, rude children and tourists. I did most of that album at night after the doors were closed. Never again will I conduct such an idiotic experiment. Taking drugs and sleeping in the park was fun though. I got a lot of good duck recordings.

Photo by Tony Campbell

Miss Pussycat’s new album and VHS tapes are being released by Terror Vision in the near future. Can you tell our readers a little bit about her album?

The album is called ANTHROPOMORPHIZER and it’s a pretty deluxe gatefold / color vinyl thing. It’s all puppet story soundtrack stuff – like a very psychedelic kid’s record. And a bunch of her older films are being released by this label Terror Vision who only do VHS – which is kinda retro, huh? The label seems to think it will work and people will be into it.  Based on merch table sales on this tour, I would say that a lot of people got their VCRs fixed.

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 are on tour with NOTS from Memphis right now and I can’t think of anything more dreamy than that actually – and Hawkwind, and Keith Frank (Zydeco gangster from Lafayette), and Manatees, and Babes, and Gary Wrong, and the Willem Breuker Kollektief, and Barreracudas, and COPS, and umm – the original Ramones but with Markey AND Tommy playing drums and Andrew W.K. kinda off to the side singing but without a mic, so you can hear Joey but you can kinda see Andrew too jumping around. Oh and Brian Eno is our touring sound guy, and he has free license to do whatever the fuck he wants – like backwards phase-verb on everything – whatever!  Also, we will have at least one or two days off in between every show and all of the major museums in every city will open their doors to us at any time of day or night at no cost. Oh yea and The Black Lips would be there too, because they like to party. This is gonna be awesome.  Still working out the details with agents and stuff.

Anything special planned for your show at The Earl on June 13?

Miss P & Q

Brand new puppet show and lots of new songs! Otherwise, we are not big planners. Who knows, I might punch someone in the face or make out with a dog – but it will be totally unplanned.

What’s next for Quintron and Miss Pussycat?

Weather Warlock will be releasing a full-length this week (I will have it at the show) and will be touring in September. Miss  P is working on a new puppet film and has several releases in the can ready to come out on Terror Vision. Also a full Q and P tour of the Gulf Coast and Florida in December.

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

There is no possible way I could know what all others don’t know already and if I did know such information, why would I not have publicly disclosed it many years ago, unless it was a secret which I desired to keep to myself.

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

Q: What question do you wish somebody would ask you and what’s the answer?
A: Can you repeat the question please?

All photos courtesy of Quintron and Miss Pussycat and used with permission.

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

Take a peek at what’s on the Retro menu this week!  

Monday, June 8

Orson Welles it up at the Lefont Theatre’s screening of Chuck Workman’s documentary, MAGICIAN: THE ASTONISHING LIFE & WORKS OF ORSON WELLES (2014) at 7pm! Get some soul with Brandon Reeves at Blind Willie’s! Or 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!’ Join Blast-Off Burlesque as they start your week off right with a night of adults-only trivia at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, every Monday night at 8:30pm! Truett Lollis delivers a night of blues and soul at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! And get folksy with Jamie Laval at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs!

Tuesday, June 9

Have a bloody fangtastic time at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema during their screening of Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979) during their “Werner Herzog Retrospective” series at 6:45pm! 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 event featuring Ruby Redmayne, Cheri Mina Dupont, Annette Coquette, Franki Sin and more! It’s a night of vengeance and mayhem at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Tim Burton’s BATMAN (1989) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! Movies ATL delivers a night of Bond, James Bond, with Guy Hamilton’s DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971), during their Carmike Cinemas Classics series at 7pm! Bluegrass it up with Curtis Jones & Primal Roots at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Or get the blues with Cadillac Assembly at Blind Willie’s! Rock out old-school style with the Pat Travers Band and 68-75 at Eddie’s Attic! Surf on downstairs at The Star Bar to a hidden paradise, in the Little Vinyl Lounge, for Summertime Tuesdays with Poolboy Pietro and Chase the Chum-Man Taylor! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! And as always, The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana at the Northside Tavern!

Wednesday, June 10

Kool Kat Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo delivers a night of blues, jazz ‘n’ southern soul at Blind Willie’s! Sell your soul at the Red Light Café with Reverend Hylton & The Devil’s Hands and The Horse Traders! It’s your last chance for a night of vengeance and mayhem at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their screening of Tim Burton’s BATMAN (1989) during their “Classic Films on the Big Screen” series at 7:30! 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, June 11

It’s a night of dust-bowl era folk and rockin’ hillbilly at The Earl with Ben Trickey (7” release party), Jeremy Ray and Moses Nesh! Get some soul two times over with Booker T. Jones at Eddie’s Attic! The Red Light Café delivers a night of rockin’ blues with Danny Vinson & the Second Hand Devils, Herbie D & the Dangermen and Tiffany Huggins Grant! Make your way to Atlantic Station’s Movies in Central Park series for their screening of Steven Brill’s HEAVY WEIGHTS (1995) at dusk! Blues it up with House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! It’s Mai Tai Thursday at Trader Vic’s, so hula on down for a night of swanky soul ‘n’ rock ‘n’ roll with Bogey & the Viceroy Quartet! 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, June 12

Get cinematic, live-theatre style with Out of the Box Theatre’s presentation of Peter Hardy’s “Sally and Glen at the Palace”, which takes place in a ‘70s movie theatre lobby, running through June 27! Rock on down to The Star Bar for a night with Tiger! Tiger!, Friendship Commanders and Mattiel! Geek it up at the Sci-Fi Summer Con Atlanta 2015, taking place at the Holiday Inn North Perimeter, running through June 14! Or take a trip back to the ‘90s with Radar Atlanta’s Back to the ‘90s Comedy Party at Big House on Ponce! Glam it up at Famous Pub with Kool Kat VJ Anthony and his From Glam to Goth – Glitter in the Gutter event featuring glam, rock, punk and goth! Get to the root of it all with Migrant Worker at Aisle 5! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café for Sadie Hawkins’ Cheap Thrills: Burlesque on a Budget event! Get your Australian folk fix at the Variety Playhouse with Tommy Emmanuel! Rock out ‘90s-style at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre during Summerland Fest 2015, featuring Everclear, Fuel and The Toadies! Let Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles fire you up at the Mule Camp Tavern in Gainesville! Blues it up with the “Ambassador of Blues”, James Armstrong at Blind Willie’s! Honkytonk it up with the Villain Family while sippin’ a few cocktails under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues dishes out a night of rockin’ blues with Victor Wainwright! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers a night of Russian gypsy tunes with Debauche! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, June 13

Rock out at the Historic Oakland Cemetery during their “Tunes from the Tombs” event, featuring performances by Matthew Sweet, Michelle Malone, Little Tybee, Eliot Bronson, Kool Kat Blair Crimmins & the Hookers, the Sweet Auburn String Band, Caleb Warren & the Perfect Gentlemen, Blood on the Harp, Sourwood Honey, Max & Maggie, the Atlanta Sacred Harp Singers, Kool Kat Amy Pike & The Bonaventure Quartet and more! Get your fill of rockin’ science, artsy puppetry and “swamp tech” at The Earl with Quintron & Miss Pussycat (see our Kool Kat interview soon!), Predator, Enoch Ramone & the Ebola Boys and First! Get bizarre as Contraband Cinema presents their “Short, Strange & Southern Fried” screenings, examining the oddities of the south, including Kool Kat Blake Myers’ MUNCHING YOUR MOTHER FUCKING NUBS, which will be presented in 16mm, at Eyedrum! Kool Kats Spirits & the Melchizedek Children dish out their ‘70s psychedelia with Must Be the Holy Ghost at Live Free Tattoo! Celebrate 30 years of Steven Spielberg’s THE COLOR PURPLE (1985) at The Plaza Theater! Or steer clear of the water at SCADShow with their screening of Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) at 7pm! Landmark Midtown Art Cinema continues their “Ghibli Collection” screenings with a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO (1992) at 10:30am, and his SPIRITED AWAY (2001) at 1pm! Dance the night away at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre during their screening of Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) at 8pm! Sailing to Denver and Ocean Street get rootsy and folksy during the Brookhaven Beer Fest 2015! Get some satisfaction at Smith’s Olde Bar with Stephen Skipper’s Rolling Stones Tribute Band! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for their “History of Rum & the Tiki Cocktail” seminar, covering the ‘40s to the ‘50s ($20 gets you a Tiki platter and cocktail samples)! Eighties it up at with Kool Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade at Wild Wing Café in Suwannee! Blues it up with Sandra Hall & the Shadows at Blind Willie’s! Get freaky at Red Light Café during the Southern Fried Side Show featuring El Capitan & the Band with No Name and shenanigans by Captain & Maybelle! It’s your second chance to get your Australian folk fix at the Variety Playhouse with Tommy Emmanuel! Rock out old-school style at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre with Boston and Kansas! Rev it up with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt & the Psycho-Devilles at Cinema Tavern in Villa Rica! St. James Live! delivers their Tribute to the Legends night every Saturday night! Get revived with a little mischief at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues with Sal’s Soulful Sinners! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers a Billy Idol/Heart/Blondie tribute band! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, June 14

Get jazzy ‘20s and ‘30s style with Mary Sigalas at the Red Light Café! Bluegrass it up with Tom Hill & the Midnight Suns at Smith’s Olde Bar! Landmark Midtown Art Cinema gives you a second chance to catch their “Ghibli Collection” screenings with a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO (1992) at 10:30am, and his SPIRITED AWAY (2001) at 1pm! Celebrate 30 years of Steven Spielberg’s THE COLOR PURPLE (1985) at The Plaza Theater! Make your way to the Variety Playhouse for a night with the Richard Thompson Trio! Folk it up with In the Valley Below at Park Tavern! Swing on by Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with Garrison Elliott! Get sweet and low down blues-style at the Northside Tavern with Uncle Sugar!

Ongoing

Out of the Box Theatre presents Peter Hardy’s “Sally and Glen at the Palace” through June 27!

William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum’s, “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendek in His Own Words and Pictures” getting wild through July 5!

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

HepCat’s Hop gets swingin’ every second Wednesday of the month at the 57th Fighter Group Restaurant! Nerd Film Mafia screenings at the Diesel Filling Station following NerdCore Trivia, every last Tuesday of the month!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar delivers Stomp & Stammer’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia at 8pm, followed by ‘80s Dance Night at 10pm, every Tuesday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month.

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.