ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Baby, it’s cold outside! But no worries!  Retro Atlanta promises to get you warm and toasty with a week of rockin’ good times, filled to the brim with nostalgic holiday goodness! So get hip to the jive and come on out to see what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!     

Monday, December 16

Forget the horrors of Monday and get rocked at the Masquerade as they get mischievous and primal with an evening of punk rock and horror with the Misfits, The Attack, Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures and Burn Like Fire! 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. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And make your way to Blind Willie’s and get your blues fix with The Ringers!  

Tuesday, December 17

For an evening of family-friendly holiday nostalgic goodness, join Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer at The Strand Theater as he and TT Mahoney offer a jazzy musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score in their annual ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ show (See ATLRetro’s review here)!  The Show will open with Jeffrey Butzer’s regular gig, Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters followed by Chad Shivers & The Silent Knights’ Beach Boys Christmas Tribute! This holiday show has become an Atlanta tradition and one you won’t want to miss!

Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and there’s no need to cry at Blind Willie’s as the Boo Hoo Ramblers get rockin’ bluesy! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! Stomp on down to  Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a bluegrass jam with the fiddlin’ stylings of Joe Craven! And get cozy with the Griswolds at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 18

Get low-down, dirty and horror-struck holiday-style at the Clermont Lounge tonight at their rockin’ Slaytanic XXXmas Show promising to slay the stage with Kool Kat Shane Morton and Super X-13, Legion X and a little latin rock and horror punk fusion with Los Meesfits and a photo-op with Santa Circus Envy!  Rock on over to The Earl for their 8^th Annual Keith Richards Bash hosted by and featuring Chicken and Pigs, plus over 20 guest singers as they salute the ‘world’s least likely septuagenarian’!  Proceeds benefit ovarian cancer research through the Ovarian Cycle Atlanta, so rock out to a good cause! It’s a night of ‘gentlemen’ at Vinyl tonight as Neil Cribbs & The Rough Gentlemen get you revved up with their rockin’ blues and soul followed by Caleb Warren & The Perfect Gentlemen’s old timey string jazz and ragtime blues!  Or let Frank Barham jazz you up at the Elliott Street Pub! Swing on over to Blind Willie’s and catch a glimpse of Old Blue Eyes as The Electromatics revive a little Sinatra and a little of that Chicago/West Coast blues and swing!  Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Or maybe splash on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues, soul and funk with Georgia Flood! Get old-school heavy at The Shelter for their Dark Retro Night for an evening of hard electro, industrial and dark retro at 9 pm! And experience the mayhem that is the holidays at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 19

Krampus is coming so make sure the wee ones are safely tucked in their little warm beds while you rock on over to 7 Stages for their 4^th installment of Krampus Xmas! Experience the wickedly enticing desires of Dr. Faust and celebrate in true rock n roll style with The Little Five Points Rock Star Orchestra, the ever seductive Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her Syrens of the South and the 7 Stages Hand Bell Choir! It’s an evening of holiday mischief and mayhem you won’t want to miss!

Fiddle on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an evening of bluegrass and folk with Rachel Baiman and Caroline Spence followed by Donna Hopkins offering up some foot-stompin’ rock n soul! Or make your way to The Family Dog as The David Ellington Trio with Kayla Taylor gets jazzy in their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score  in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”!  Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Or make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Blind Willie’s promises a jamming good time with the sounds and ‘blues woman power’ of Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And let the Griswolds show you how the holidays are done at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 20

Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer and TT Mahoney with Robby Handly are at it again as they offer their musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s 40 minute PEANUTS score for 2 nights in their 6^th annual ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ adult show at The Earl!  The Show will open with Jeffrey Butzer’s regular gig, Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters followed by The Small Reactions’ Rock n roll Christmas Extravaganza of rockin’ Christmas covers by The Sonics, the Ramones, The Wailers and many more! So, get jazzy and nostalgic at The Earl tonight!

Atlanta pays tribute to some rockin’’ bands this evening!  Smith’s Olde Bar has the Yacht Rock Review’s Please Please Rock Me paying homage to The Beatles, those famous lads across the pond while Abbey Road Live!, the world’s premier cover band rocks out to The Beatles’ vast catalogue with complete album performances at the Variety Playhouse! For a tribute to some good old southern rock, boogie on down to Vinyl as Revival’s An Allman Brothers Experience celebrates the 40^th anniversary of the classic “Brothers and Sisters” album offering an evening playing the album in its entirety!

Rev on down to The Star Bar as they get deliver their two-day Toys For Tots Benefit Show featuring a variety of honkytonkin’’ rockabilly and surf retro tunes with the Black Top Rockets, Cletis & His City Cousins, Kool Kat Julea Thomerson & Her Dear Johns and The Mystery Men!  It’s Pin-Up Girls & Rockabilly Night at Stix Bar in Villa Rica, so rev on over and rock out with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! The Red Clay Theater gets holiday nostalgic with Robert Henson & Friends as they get jazzy with their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” score! For an evening of folk and swing, make you’re your way to Crimson Moon Café for their Winter Solstice Show with the Solstice Sisters! Sandra Hall & The Shadows gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack has some rockin’ blues with Rough Draft while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues offers a night of British blues and rock with Marty Manous! Big Tex gets retro and jazzy with Myles Brown! Cha-cha on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and dance the night away at their Salsa Dance Night featuring the Salsambo Dance Studio! And The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 24!

Saturday, December 21

Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Kingsized Rock-n-roll Orchestra is putting on his Kingsized Holiday Jubilee at the Variety Playhouse featuring Dames Aflame and a Really Big Santa!  So, get dolled up and don’t forget your dancin’ shoes and boogie on down for a little signature glitz and glamour and dance the night away to some tinsel-tune traditions with the sounds of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, the Grinch and more!

Get jazzy and rock on over to The Earl for a second night of Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer and TT Mahoney’s musical tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s 40 minute PEANUTS score, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ show! It’s night two of The Star Bar’s Toys For Tots Benefit Show featuring the Ghost Riders Car Club with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton, Dusty Bones & The Baby Haters, Bully, The Serenaders and Kenny Howes & The Wow!  Or make your way to the Red Clay Theater for an evening of holiday southern rock and bluegrass at Barry Waldrep’s Jingle Jam! And it’s your last chance to celebrate all that is wickedly enticing and mischievous at the Krampus Xmas show at 7 Stages!

Rock on over to the Red Light Café and catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm along with Madrid Express featuring Bill Sheffield!  The Basement gets rockin’ as Electric Western presents their Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! So, put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and some jumpin’ blues! Get sticky sweet at Eddie’s Attic for a blues, rock n roll roots jam with Soul Suga’ featuring Yonrico Scott and Diane Durrett! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with “Muddy’s Rising Son”, Big Bill Morganfield! Or rock on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues and get funky with the Georgia Flood! Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs hosts a Men of Jazz night with the Baraszu Brothers, Frankie Lee Robinson and Tommie Macon & The Gentle Men of Jazz! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern for a blues showdown as Eddie Tigner and Lola offer an evening of dueling pianos! Get funky at Big Tex with the Georgia Soul Council!  Or head out to the Crimson Moon Café for some southern-fried blues with EG Kight! Groove on down to The Family Dog as they get funky with The Heritage! 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, December 22

It’s a Diva Christmas at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Deb Bowman, Audrey Shakir, Theresa Hightower and Karla Harris! Or make your way to The Earl as they get funky with Vito Romeo! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and rock out with Snake Legs! It’s your last chance to catch The David Ellington Trio with Kayla Taylor as they get jazzy in their rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s PEANUTS score  in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at The Family Dog! And swing on down to Eddie’s Attic as Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra takes the stage big band-style!

Ongoing

The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 24!

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22! (LAST CHANCE!)

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29!

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL Scrooging through December 23.

ARTStation presents A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL through December 22!  (LAST CHANCE!)

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.

This weekend, unwrap a Monstrosity Championship Wrestling (MCW) double header at Club Famous, starting with a Silent Night, Deadly Night Friday the 13th Holiday Horror Show Dec. 13 at 9 p.m., followed by a special all-ages Holiday Matinee  on Dec. 14 starting at 2 p.m. We’ve heard rumors of a seasonal showdown between Santa and Krampus, as well as those rowdy redneck Wolfmen taking on the trio of Dragula, Natureboy Paul Lee and the “Leatherback of Notre Dame” End Zone in a two-out-of-three-falls match and ” The Lethal Dose ” Stryknyn defending the MCW Championship against The Dark Mon! Not to mention raffle prizes from the likes of Diamond*Star*Halo, Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse, Chocolate F/X and more!

Providing the music between the mayhem is the The Joy Kills! We caught up with frontman Eric Haugh and guitarist Mike Westberg recently to find out more about what the fearsome four have planned for Friday night, as well as a sneak peek at their new EP, due out in February from  Blood Drunk Records. [FYI Spooky Partridge play the Saturday show; if you missed it, you can catch up with our Kool Kat interview with Atlanta’s rockin’est mom Katy Graves here.]

ATLRetro: What’s the secret origin story of the Joy Kills and how did you get your name?

Eric: If I told you, then you’ll be carrying a life-threatening secret you must guard from the likes of the FBI, the CIA and PETA.

Michael: Which is to say we met on OKCupid. The date didn’t work out, but we decided for form a band anyways.

Eric: The Joy Kills came out of our drummer’s mouth by mistake. It’s the best mistake he ever made. He’s to blame for such irony. After much amusement with the name I finally realized that the Joy DOES Kill. It kills us all. The Joy Kills mean life, and how brief and fun and scary it can be for everyone. The Joy will kill you too.

The Joy Kills in a urinal. Photo courtesy of The Joy Kills and used with permission.

We’ve heard the Joy Kills called  “garage-punk,” but that you also have a heavy blues edge and are influenced by Black Sabbath. In a few words, how would you describe your music to the uninitiated?

Eric: Music for the dining banquet of a mental health institution, in Hell! For tonight, you’ll be entertained by a lovely three-piece with an escapee from the institute leading them in the charge.

Michael: You’re so glib… I like to say we’re all over the place with our influences and can’t make up our mind.  I think one thing we can agree on, though, is we like to be in that little spot between punk and rock. That way we can have our cake and eat it too, while moshing.

What are three acts and/or bands which influenced you and why?

Eric: Iggy and The Stooges, Jay Reatard and Butthole Surfers have all equally scarred me with wild, intense sounds that attacked my pleasure senses of my brain in a way that seems inappropriate for the some viewers. All of them were known for being kick-ass live shows to see back in the day that was both revolutionary as well as fleeting.  All of them are now defunct. Something about the brief and candid explosiveness of their time(s) really inspires me to do more with music than just explode. So I hope to stick around.

Michael: Iggy and The Stooges still play!  Although their original guitarist, Ron Asheton, died not too long ago.

The Joy Kills Capturing Her First Prize in Charm City. Photo courtesy of The Joy Kills and used with permission.

You recently did a holiday song. Why you did you go for such a scary aspect of the holidays as “Black Friday”?

Michael: Because the holidays are scary! It’s such a petulant time; family you don’t really like, and an obligation to buy crap for other people who are just going to be disappointed you didn’t get them something better.  I remember one Christmas I got a STAR WARS action figure from a distant relative, but it was some crappy “B” character from the Mos Eisley’s cantina scene.  I will not see this relative again until their funeral, when I shall place the unopened figurine in their casket.

Eric: It’s really funny. All the songs on that compilation appear to carry the same tune of very jaded view of the December holiday. We didn’t realize this until AFTER the release on Blood Drunk Records. We must all hate the holidays! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Short answer: Our singer Eric was born three days before Christmas Day. Since that day it he’s been competing with Jesus ever since to offer YOU low prices.

Why play a wrestling show?

Both: Why not? It’s America!

Which MCW wrestlers are you rooting for this Friday and why?

Eric: All of them. I will make them fight for my affection.

Michael: Eric is an only child, see?  We’re only here on this Earth for his amusement.

The Joy Kills' Eric flying! Photo courtesy of The Joy Kills and used with permission.

Do you have any special plans for this Friday’s gig?

Eric: Possible costume requirements: mask, silly string and a chainsaw… you do the math…

Michael: Is that why you asked to borrow my chainsaw and my plague doctor’s mask?

Can you tell us anything about your second CD? It’s coming out in February, right?

Michael: It’s a secret! The kill collar around my throat will activate if it senses me even muttering anything about the new rec…

Eric: But we can tell you it will be a four-track EP available only on vinyl and digital release. Keep an eye out with us and BloodDrunkRecords.com.  Oh, and if you want a taste, we had a prerelease of one of the songs, “Betsy,” on our Blood Drunk Compilation.  Which I highly recommend everyone go and get now! [Listen to 01 Betsy!]

Michael: I’d like to reiterate that as well!  It’s worthwhile to support your local music scene, and not just your friend’s band. There’s a lot out here in ATL and beyond, and a lot of these bands bust ass to make music for people to enjoy.  I suggest going to random shows and trying new things.

Eric: We always try to keep things interesting, not just in our live show, but with little videos and quirky updates.  Get people wanting to be fans, and keep the fans engaged is the name of the game!

For more on the Joy Kills:

Preview teaser for Friday the 13th Holiday Horror Show

Interview with Wrestling with Pop Culture’s Jonathan Williams

Forget a War on Christmas! A John Waters’ Christmas, Thursday Dec. 12 at Variety Playhouse, prefers X-Mas and puts a refreshingly raunchy “X” into it with a darkly comic adults-only one-man show of holiday mayhem and mischief. The variety show pays homage to the tradition both of the holiday album and the TV special, but for those who cringe at listening to Christmas carols, Waters digs out the most cringe-worthy of holiday tunes. But he delivers the kitsch with the mastery he’s known for as a twisted storyteller and showman, sharing anecdotes as much as music – offbeat stories drawn from his personal holiday experiences and a voracious appetite for scouring the media. From all accounts, the result is the absolutely perfect  glam/gross-out gift we expect from the director of PINK FLAMINGOS (1972), the odoramic POLYESTER (1981) and the knock-it-out-of-the-closet hit HAIRSPRAY (1988).

In a recent TIME Magazine interview about the tour, Waters laments so many lost opportunities for Christmas albums from Pussy Riot to rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He seems genuinely giddy that Johnny Mathis has a new one out! But that’s Waters’ charm–his absolute enthusiasm and embrace of the tacky, the trashy and the odd–and sometimes even the insanely mainstream. If Pia Zadora ever recorded a holiday tune, you know Waters would be proudly playing it. And since she’s now torch-singing in Vegas, who knows?!

Waters’ Christmas live show takes off from his own 2004 compilation of hellacious and hilarious holiday tunes, from ditties that celebrate Santa’s weight like “Here Comes Fatty Claus” by Rudolph and Gang and the jazzy, jingly “Fat Daddy” by Paul “Fat Daddy” Johnson, Baltimore DJ and the “300-pound King of Soul,” to the twangy, whispery  “First Snowfall” by Chicago lounge-core band The Coctails. There’s also “Little Mary Christmas,” by Roger Christian, who co-wrote Jan and Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve” and several Beach Boys tunes,  head an excruciating sentimental and horrible tale of a crippled orphan named Mary who finds new parents on Christmas Day. Tiny Tim, perhaps the most frightening pop star ever, creepily croons the worst ever warped version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and Waters, never afraid to push our racial comfort boundaries, also includes the chirpy and controversial “Santa Claus is a Black Man,”  a soulful revision of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” sung by AKIM, the daughter of  Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Teddy Vann with his Teddy Vann Production Company. It wouldn’t be Waters, without indulging his inexplicable love for the ear-shatteringly squeaky with Alvin and the Chipmunks‘ “Sleigh Ride.” Oh, and nothing may be more horrifying than Little Cindy’s “Happy Birthday, Jesus (A Children’s Prayer). Little Cindy apparently also released such singles as “If Santa Was My Daddy” and the B-side “It Must Have Been the Easter Bunny.”

What else can we say about John Waters except that we’d be happy to listen to him read the phone book! Because we know by the 10th name, he’d have an anecdote to unleash which would make us laugh and maybe gag, too. After all, this man is the master of the gross-out from his one-time comment that every filmmaker can afford a barf scene to Divine devouring dog poop. With that in mind, to get you into the Merry Mondo spirit, here are five more things you may or may not know about John and Christmas!

1) His favorite Christmas movie is the B-horror CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980). From the TIME interview: “It’s about the guy who is so obsessed with Santa Claus that he gets a job at a toy factory and spies on all the children to see if they are good or bad. And then he gets stuck in a chimney on Christmas Eve. It’s really good. It’s hard to beat CHRISTMAS EVIL.”

2) For the past five years or so, he’s tried to make a kids’ Christmas movie called FRUITCAKE which had Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey attached to star.

3) John hates the Easter Bunny. (Source: The Gothamist).

4) Don’t give John a fruit basket for Christmas. “I can buy a pear, you know? It’s not so hard to find a pear. I think gift baskets should be drugs or cigarettes, things you’d never buy for yourself. I don’t take drugs or smoke cigarettes anymore, but I think a gift basket filled with them would terrific.” (Source: Oh, No, They Didn’t)

5) He sends out lots of Christmas cards. Over 1,700 according to TIME!

ATLRetro hopes to see you Thursday at the Variety! For $35 general admission or $100 VIP tickets, click here. Oh, and don’t forget to wear a “nice” sweater!

Splatter Cinema presents CHOPPING MALL (1986); Dir. Jim Wynorski; Starring Kelli Maroney, Tony O’Dell, Russell Todd, Barbara Crampton, Dick Miller, Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov; Tuesday, Dec. 10 @ 9:30 (photos and merch table open @ 9); Plaza Theater; Trailer here; Facebook Event Page here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

In the middle of the holiday season, when shopping centers are teeming with masses of bargain-hungry consumers, who doesn’t wish that a few bloodthirsty killbots could be unleashed to thin out the crowds? Look no further than the Plaza Theatre for some vicarious thrills as Splatter Cinema presents CHOPPING MALL!

You know, there was a time when a Jim Wynorski movie meant something. Granted, it didn’t mean much. But you knew what you were getting when you saw his name on the screen—an exploitation movie that didn’t take itself seriously in the least, and that sent itself and the genre up for affectionate ribbing. In short, a kind of low-rent Joe Dante flick (which makes sense, as both directors came from the benches of Roger Corman’s New World Pictures farm team). This is best exemplified in his two most fully-realized movies: his 1983 feature debut THE LOST EMPIRE (a comic variation on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME but with a lot more nudity) and his more successful follow-up, CHOPPING MALL.

CHOPPING MALL answers the age-old question, “what would happen if mall security was handled by robots, and a freak lightning storm caused them all to go kill-crazy on a bunch of teens partying in a furniture store after-hours?” This question has plagued theologians, philosophers and scientists for centuries, and finally found all of its potential ramifications explored in full, rich, intellectual detail in the hands of Jim Wynorski. The answer, of course, is “well, the kids would start dying in hilariously bloody ways, and it would look a lot like DAWN OF THE DEAD if, instead of zombies, there were really cheap robots that looked kind of like Number 5 from SHORT CIRCUIT, yet acted like the ED-209 from ROBOCOP.”

Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov in CHOPPING MALL (1996).

Wynorski’s direction is perfectly adequate for this. It’s not pushing any envelopes or even trying to be groundbreaking in any way, but it’s tight and well-paced, creating a fun sense of tension while at the same time allowing you to chuckle at the complete outlandishness of it all. The movie hides its cheapness reasonably well, making the most of its Sherman Oaks Galleria setting, and features a host of familiar faces to distract you from the low budget. Among the teens getting slaughtered are Kelli Maroney from NIGHT OF THE COMET, Tony O’Dell from HEAD OF THE CLASS, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2’s Russell Todd and scream queen Barbara Crampton of RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND fame. Cameos are provided by the always-welcome Dick Miller (as Walter Paisley, his character name from A BUCKET OF BLOOD) and the delightful team of Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov, reprising their roles of EATING RAOUL’s Paul and Mary Bland.

In short, CHOPPING MALL is just a whole hell of a lot of fun, and one of the better (and bloodier) ways to blow off steam this time of year. If you want to turn your over-taxed, shopped-out brain off and have a riotously good time, you could hardly do better than watching a shopping mall turn against the idiots populating it. And don’t forget to show up early and get your photo taken in a gore-filled recreation of one of the movie’s scenes! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

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

The Fox Theater gets in the retro holiday spirit as they host their annual Larry, Carols & Mo event featuring an organ concert and sing-a-long followed by a screening of Bob Clark’s classic holiday shenanigan-filled flick, A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) at 7 pm!   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!’ Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Or make your way to Blind Willie’s and get bluesy with Bill Sheffield!  And stomp on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for an evening of soulful bluegrass and Americana with The Grahams and garage polka folk singin’ with Eliot Bronson!

Tuesday, December 10

Get your shopping done early and slash on down to The Plaza Theater as Splatter Cinema presents Jim Wynorski’s murderous robot-filled horror sci-fi flick, CHOPPING MALL (1986) at 9:30 pm!  Or, get saucy and shimmy on down to The Shelter and spend the night with Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her Syrens of the South at their Tease Tuesday event where $10 gets you 10 sultry acts, from a little spicy burlesque to acrobats and aerialists! For a little 50s and 60s rockin’ soul, make your way to Terminal West for a night with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Drive By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood!  Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and grind it out at Blind Willie’s with the down and dirty blues of Little G Weevil! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! For a night of bluegrass pickin’, stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a bluegrass jam with Georgia Railroad! And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern fills your holidays with a little dark humor family-style as they screen Bob Clark’s classic, A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 11

The Plaza Theater gets retro 80’s holiday-style at their Ha Ha Holiday Doubleheader featuring Jeremiah Chechik’s holiday cult classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) and Joe Dante’s creepy, holiday creature-feature, GREMLINS (1984) at 7:30 and 9:30 pm! Leave the kiddies at home and make it hot retro date night at The Plaza with the Grizwolds and the Gremlins while munching on some tasty holiday snacks and festive adult beverages! Get geeky and sexy at The Shelter during their Night of Mystery Science Theater 3000 Viewing Party! Drinks, robots, heckling! What’s not to love?! Rock on over to Blind Willie’s for some blues, jazz and southern soul with Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo!  Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Or maybe splash on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues, soul and funk with Georgia Flood! And skip school and hang out with Ralphie at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their matinee screening of Bob Clark’s classic, A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 12

Put the ‘X’ in X-mas with John Waters at the Variety Playhouse as he delivers his raunchy and darkly comic adults-only one-man show of holiday mayhem and mischief at A John Water’s Christmas! For an evening with the infamous Scrooge and a triple threat of ghostly friends, make your way to the New American Shakespeare Tavern as the Atlanta Shakespeare Company presents Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL through December 23. Or for a jazzy, comical version, dance on over to ARTStation as they present A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL filled to the brim with holiday cheer and parodies of your favorite Broadway tunes until December 22!

The Rockaholics pay homage to the blues, rock n roll and soul at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for Bluegrass Thursday for an evening with the Chattahoochee Chain Gang and Dixieghost! David Bromberg delivers decades’ worth of bluegrass, folk and jazz at Eddie’s Attic! Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a rockin’ beach party and a couple cocktails with Kool Kat Joshua Longino of Andrew & the Disapyramids!  Ghost Riders Car Club with Kool Kat Spike Fullertonhonkytonks it up at theClermont Lounge! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Blind Willie’s gets soulful with the Sean Chambers Band! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance to shoot your eye out at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Bob Clark’s classic, A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 13

Come celebrate the life of Atlanta’s beloved friend, chef and rockin’ owner of Ria’s Bluebird, Ria Pell at the Variety Playhouse’s Ria Riot!! as they host the ‘Remembering Ria – A Tribute to Ria Pell’ event featuring tasty food, DJs, performance art and rockin’ live music with The Rent Boys, Tweezer, The El Caminos and Slim Chance & The Convicts!

It’s Friday the 13^th, so, all you kiddies who need a Halloween fix during this wintry retro holiday season, tonight’s the night! Get your fill of monster wrastlin’ with Dragula, Dark Mon, The Wolfmen and much more at Club Famous as Monstrosity Championship Wrestling and Kool Kat Shane Morton hosts their Friday the 13^th Holiday Horror Show with The Joy Kills delivering some rockin’ tunes! Or have a haunted holiday and benefit the Songs For Kids Foundation at Vinyl during Mix-Tape Atlanta’s 5^th annual, The Nightmare Before X-Mix event featuring a rockin’ retro evening with James Hall, The Electric Sons, Aerobics Cube, Wesley Cook, Mel Washington, Yosef and a special appearance by the Yacht Rock Review! And get a little more haunted in Halloweentown, where everyday is Halloween, at The Shelter for RITUAL’S Nightmare Before Christmas Party for an evening of goth/industrial! So, don your most frightening getups and celebrate the holidays in haunted style! And get bloody with Santa at The Plaza Theater as they screen Charles Sellier’s horror holiday cult classic, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (1984)!

It’s a rockin’ night of retro classic tribute bands! For a Brit rock showdown and extravaganza, battle your way to The Loft as they host, ‘Beatles vs Stones’, a benefit for Poverty is Real. So come on and get rocked for a good cause with Bobby Bare, Jr., Please Please Rock Me, The Shadowboxers, The District Attorneys, The Jagged Stones, Eliot Bronson, Gurufish, Seven Handle Circus, The Damages, An English Place, Back on the Freakout, Faded Bill and Johnny Clash!   Or get groovy for the holi-daze and make your way to the Red Light Café for Grateful Dead Night featuring Escape Vehicle and gr8FLdude & frenz! It’s the 3^rd annual Tom Petty Show at Smith’s Olde Bar with The Sundogs and special guests, The Dirty Souls! To get a taste of the Beach Boys and the Ventures’ Christmas albums, surf on over to The Earl for Chad Shivers and The Silent Knights! And if you’re craving something a little bustier, a little more countrified and uber sweet, make your way to Eddie’s Attic as ATL Collective covers Dolly Parton’s entire holiday album, ‘Home For Christmas’!

Get folky and bluesy at the Red Clay Theater with the Bitteroots while Adron and Kristen Englenz rock out to some 60’s Brazillian Tropicalia! Zydefunk takes over at the Northside Tavern with their Louisiana groove and funk while Francine Reed gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack rocks out with Willy Jackson and Darwin’s Burgers & Blues has the Sean Chambers Band! And make your way to Big Tex for a night with The Rainmen!

Saturday, December 14

Come witness a battle royal between Santa and all your classic monster champs as Kool Kat Shane Morton and Monstrosity Championship Wrestling releases all that is unholy during their all-ages Holiday Matinee featuring the rockin’ tunes of Spooky Partridge at Club Famous!  The Yacht Rock Review gets smooth and groovy at the Variety Playhouse at their Holiday Special! Shimmy on down to the Elliott Street Pub and get teased with a little holiday spice as Kool Kat Kitty Love gets steamy at her Cheeky Belles Holiday Show! The Drunken Unicorn gets funky and electronic with Judi Chicago and special guests White Gold!

Get saxy at Blind Willie’s with Eddie Shaw & The Wolfgang!  Or make your way to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for Brandon Santini’s blues and jazzy roots! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack delivers a rockin’ good time with Mr. Chapman’s Quarterly Review and Roxie Watson honkytonks it up at the Crimson Moon Café! The Family Dog gets deep and funky with AJ & The Jiggawatts and The Grips! For your retro holiday viewing pleasure, make your way to The Fernbank for their screening of the holiday classic, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUSE (1974) during their Holly Jolly Film Fest! Get up close and personal with some creepy holiday puppet action at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they screen Joe Dante’s cult holiday horror classic, GREMLINS (1984)! 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, December 15

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with Banjolicious at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  The Family Dog gets bluesy with Jez Graham Trio and Francine Reed! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and rock out with Snake Legs! Or get folky at the Variety Playhouse with Over the Rhine! Everything is Terrible (EIT), the kings of found footage, gets super retro and nostalgic at their classic Holiday Special at The Earl, delivering a millennium’s worth of VHS memories surrounded by a tacky winter wonderland of puppets, a sing-a-long, candy, fake snow and of course our favorite red-suited hairy fella, Santa! Or jazz on over to The Marlow House for a jazzy Christmas concert featuring Kayla Taylor and Steve Moore! And the ‘Girls in Gowns’ Holiday Jazz Concert kicks off benefiting the Students Without Mothers organization at The Loft at Colony Square offering an evening with three fabulous ladies of jazz; A’ngela Winbush, Chandra Currelley and Darlene McCoy!

Ongoing

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22!

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29!

New American Shakespeare Tavern presents Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL Scrooging through December 23.

ARTStation presents A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL through December 22! 

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.

Retro Atlanta gets old school and rockin’ this holiday season, promising to keep you warm and hoppin’!  So, come out and see what we have in store for you! Whether you’re lookin’ to boogie-woogie or take in some old school blues, Retro Atlanta’s where it’s at!     

Monday, December 2

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. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, December 3

Smith’s Olde Bar rocks out tonight with former guitarist and singer of the English punk group, The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell while getting bluesy with Jetsam in The Noose! Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Drive By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood & The Downtown Ramblers!  Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots or hit up Blind Willie’s for some 60s soul and rock n roll with the The Hollidays! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! For a night of bluegrass pickin’, stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a taste of the Georgia Crackers! For a night of fantasy, head on down to the Midtown Art Cinema as they screen Wim Wenders’ epic WINGS OF DESIRE (1987).  And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern gets 90s holiday retro as they screen Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 4

Take a trip to Purgatory where every day is Halloween, as the Masquerade horrifies with a night of sci-fi horror punk with The Koffin Kats, The Stitches and Fifty Two Ways! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some straight out blues and rock and roll with the foot stompin’ sounds of Andrew Black! Or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! Put on your dancin’ shoes and skip on over 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!  Spend an evening with the kings of 90’s comedy, The Farrelly Brothers, as Emory’s Cinematheque screens their gross-out comedy, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm!  And don’t’ forget to get left behind 90’s holiday-style at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s screening of Chris Columbus’ family comedy HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 5

The Masquerade gets 70’s bluesy with the retro rock sounds of Monster Magnet, Royal Thunder, Anti-Mortem and Demonaut!  Shimmy on down to the Elliott Street Pub and spend the evening with Kool Kat Talloolah Love et al. as the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Society hosts their monthly meeting for all interested in the ultra spicy art of Burlesque at 8 pm! It’s Bluegrass Thursday at the Red Light Café, so come on down for a foot stompin’ evening with Blackbird Revival and The Matchsellers! Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. For a little blues, rock and soul, make your way to the Clermont Lounge for a rockin’ evening with Tom Hill & The Midnight Suns! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Heather Luttrell offers up some bluegrass and Americana at Blind Willie’s! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Heckle on down to The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s John McTiernan’s Christmas classic, DIE HARD (1988) at 7:30!  And it’s your last chance to catch the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s ultra 90s family holiday flick as they screen Chris Columbus’ HOME ALONE (1990) during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 6

Get old-timey retro and boogie on down to the Variety Playhouse for an evening filled with 20s and 30s-inspired jazz with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the boogie-woogie 40’s sounds of Bombadil! For some Tom Waits-inspired dark soul and gothic pop, rock on down to The Earl for an evening with The Locksmyth, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Leopold & His Fiction and Lightnin’ Ray & The Mystics!

For an evening of magical retro-holiday goodness, make your way to the Fox Theater as they kick off their annual Holiday Tours which run until December 29, where you’ll enjoy an exclusive meet-n-greet with the cast members of The Atlanta Ballet’s THE NUTCRACKER, a magic show with Drew Thomas, some tasty treats and family pics and will have a chance to mingle with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978!  For more classic holiday fun, head on over to The Strand Theater as they kick off their ‘A Christmas Tradition’ song and dance review which runs until December 22, featuring holiday classics and a pre-show sing-a-long with Ron Carter on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ!

The Plaza Theater gets rockin’ retro-style as they screen Sini Anderson’s documentary about badass punk rocker and femme fatale riot girl, Kathleen Hanna who fronted Bikini Kill and Le Tigre in their screening of THE PUNK SINGER (2013)! And you won’t want to miss The Plaza Theater’s screening of Frank Capra’s ultra holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)! Get psychedelic at The Family Dog with Trucks, Herring, Feltman and Graham or make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar for a little Louisiana roots with Tab Benoit! The Northside Tavern gets bluesy with The Breeze Kings! Rumble on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an evening of blues, rock and soul with Rumblefish! Or get funky at Blind Willie’s with the rockin’ soul of Nick Moss!  And Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets funky with the blues sounds of Motor City Josh!

Saturday, December 7

Rev on over to Buford as Grease Inc. Magazine and Garage Seventy One as they  host their Holiday Open House & Art Show from 11 am to 7 pm, in conjunction with the North Georgia Art Ramble!  Hang out with builder, Jeff Watts of Kilowatts Kustoms and Creations and Curt Green of Bare Bones Leather as they show their eclectic collection of one-of-a-kind creations!  Come for the art and stay for the rockin’est music on air during the Rockabilly Christmas after party!  It’s an event you won’t want to miss this holiday season!

For a super rockin’ beach party, surf on over to The Star Bar and spend an evening with Kool Kat Joshua Longino of Andrew & the Disapyramids while taking in the garage blues surf punk of Deaf Poets, Eel Pie and Koko Beware!  For a little ragtime and toe-tapping bluegrass punk, make your way to the Variety Playhouse for their 5^th Annual Merry Y’all Tide Celebration featuring Whiskey Gentry and Blair Crimmins & The Hookers! Roll on over to the House of Rock as The Jagged Stones, deliver a rockin’ tribute to the Rolling Stones at their Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree Christmas Party at 7 pm! Smith’s Olde Bar gets rockin’ with the 80’s retro sounds of the White Animals and their British invasion-inspired 60’s garage punk with The Head opening with a little kitschy retro 60’s and 70’s rock in The Music Room while Hot Sauce & Honey delivers their old-school saucy burlesque rock in The Atlanta Room!  Get rocked mountain folk and Deliverance country style with Pioneer Chick’n Stand at The Family Dog!   Or stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for a little rockabilly, bluegrass and Americana with Bluebilly Grit! Or get bluesy and rock on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs has Heather Luttrell while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern to catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm! Or get terminated in a bloody rampage as the Cinefest screens H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) at 7 pm! 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, December 8

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Georgia Mountain Stringband at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  Or swing on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a Jazz Lunch with the (Little) Big Band and their classic jazz, mambo, madcap swing, 30s and 40’s tunes! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ old timey country blues with Georgia Slim and The Stovetop Ramblers! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Snake Legs and you won’t want to miss the ABS Holiday Party from 2 to 7 pm at Blind Willie’s! And it’s your last chance to experience H. Tjut’s Djalil’s LADY TERMINATOR (1989) and her killing spree at the Cinefest at 7 pm!

Ongoing

Fox Theater Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978 and all sorts of goodies runs until Dec. 29!

The Strand Theater’s ‘A Christmas Tradition’ holiday classic song and dance review runs until Dec. 22!

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29! 

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
Contributing Writer

Hey all you Retro Atlanta kiddies! Start some new holiday traditions this year and let Retro Atlanta guide the way! Whether you’re lookin’ to escape or just needing to get out and breath, we’ve got a cornucopia of holiday rockin’ fun lined up that will fill you to the brim with giddy! So, come on out and get Retro holiday-style!

Monday, November 25

Get stompin’ and let the Masquerade grind out those Monday blues with some old-school British Oi! featuring The Business along with a little gritty punk rock of the Drink and Destroy Crew and Magoo’s Heros! Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  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!’ If that doesn’t whet your willy, chill on out with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, November 26

The Shelter gets French-folky and steampunky, cabaret-style with Frenchy & The Punk and The Extraordinary Contraptions!  For a modern twist on some classic Rolling Stones, Joan Jett and Hank Williams-inspired tunes, rock on down to Eddie’s Attic and get gritty with Sonia Leigh! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and grind it out at Blind Willie’s with the down and dirty blues of Little G Weevil! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. And The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! Get saucy and shimmy on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the lively and energetic sounds of Cristian Puig as he plucks out those Flamenco tunes while Julie Baggenstoss shows you where it’s at Flamenco-style! And the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern lets us have another week with Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, November 27

It’s Turkey-Eve, so rock on down to The Earl for their annual Pre-Turkey Party for a rockin’ evening of post-punk, psych-rock and dark garage with Hip to Death, Sex BBQ, Twin Trances and Air Wolves! Or get your dancin’ shoes on and give thanks at The Shelter at their Give Thanks for the 80s event and rock out to all things 80s from new-wave to goth! Boogie on over and spend Turkey-Eve with the Yacht Rock Review rockin’ out to their finest renditions of some 70’s rock at the Fox Theater! Or spend the evening with Parker Smith & The Bandwith as In Cahoots, paying tribute to The Band as they play their “Last Waltz” album in its entirety at The Family Dog! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues or head on over to Blind Willie’s for a night of red hot blues with the Electromatics! Or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! And skip on down the Yellow Brick Road at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their additional screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 28

Now that you’re stuffed to the gills and merry, rock on down to The Earl for some dreamy Italo-glam new-wave with Del Venicci! Or make your way to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern presents the blues of Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance to take a trip over the rainbow with Dorothy and her pals at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 29

Rev on down to The Strand Theater and spend an evening with the T-Birds and Pink Ladies of GREASE (1978),  for a live organ pops variety show and sing-a-long while dreaming of those summer nights with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John at 7:30 followed by a screening of the film at 8:00 pm!  Or get all 90’s retro with knee socks and plaid skirts and make your way to The Shelter for an evening out with the Betties and Baldwins at their Clueless: A Shindig of Epic Proportions event filled to the brim with 90’s tunes, costume contests and go-go dancers!  Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles will get your engines churnin’ at Henry’s Louisiana Grill in Acworth! Get folk and poppy at Eddie’s Attic with Ellis Paul or get your fill of roots rock Americana at Smith’s Olde Bar with Migrant Worker, Waller and Cicada Rhythm! For a night of brassy horns and indie prog rock, make your way to the Drunken Unicorn for the ever rockin’ sounds of Mercury Orkstar, Bahnhof and the Clibber Jones Ensemble!  Blind Willie’s gets bluesy and deep with Sandra Hall & The Shadows! Or stroll on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night of blues with Donna Hopkins! The Northside Tavern gets down and dirty with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! Get wild and rock on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an evening of Dixie blues with Seminole Jackson! Boogie on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a little traditional jazz with the Tommy Dean Quartet! Get your dancin’ shoes on and jazz it on over to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and get soulful with Kayla Taylor and her jazz standards!

Saturday, November 30

The Fernbank Museum gets festively retro and kicks off their Holly Jolly Film Fest with the Peanut Gang in A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965) at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30!  Make your way to the Alliance Theater and get spooked while spending the evening with Scrooge and his four ghostly visitors in Charles Dickens’ classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL which runs until Dec. 29^th!

Step right up and witness all that is monstrous about one of Retro Atlanta’s BFF monster artists, Jeff Riggans as his studio, Monster Art Studio, opens its doors to the public for the first time at their Monster Art Studio Open House Party at 2 pm!  Step into his monstrously creative world filled with circus side-show freakishness and guerilla art at its finest!

Come on out and rock out with the freaks, geeks and rock n rollers at The Star Bar for an evening of down and dirty rock and the ballyhoo that is Till Someone Loses and Eye, Bad Friend and Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters of the ‘late scumbag revival’ beltin’ out those rockabilly tunes!  Get 80s and dancin’ with a little new-wave and psychedelic dream pop at The Earl with The Romenz, New Animal and Easter Island! Smith’s Olde Bar offers a night of old-school rock n roll with The Last Waltz Ensemble rockin’ out to some Dylan and The Band tunes, the rockin’ jazzy sounds of The Pergantis Trio and Tim O’Donovan & The Long Shot Saints delivering their Cheap Trick and The Replacements-inspired tunes! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for some cello fusion funk from Pink Floyd to Vivaldi with Montana Skies!  It’s Albert’s Birthday Bash at the Northside Tavern, so come on out and get bluesy with Albert White & The Four Souls! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Or get bluesy with your BBQ at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Kerry Hill Band!  Darwin’s Burgers & Blues offers a History of the Blues featuring Tom Holland & the Shuffle Kings with their Muddy Waters and John Primer Chicago-style blues! 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, December 1

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Porch Bottom Boys at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 2 pm.  Then rock on over to the Red Light Café for the ‘Always with Love’ Benefit featuring a cornucopia of rockin’ retro sounds with Chaos Soul, True Grits, Frankie’s Blues Mission, Grim Rooster with Kool Kat Phil Stair, The Breeze Kings, Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck and the Swamp Funk Quartet!  Or swing on over to Oglethorpe University’s Museum of Arts for a little soulful jazz with Francine Reed and the Brent Runnels Trio in their ‘Swingin’ with the Santas’ event at 4 pm!  Get swanky with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet at The Earl as they deliver some boot stompin’ Django gypsy-jazz! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Tony Bryant gets bluesy with Snake Legs at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

Alliance Theater presents Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL which spooks through Dec. 29! 

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.

Jezebel Blue and Nathaniel Self.

Some of Atlanta’s finest burlesque performers will be gracing the stage this Saturday night at Tits for Toys for Tots, the seventh annual holiday fundraiser for charity produced by Syrens of the South. But tassels won’t be the only reason not to miss the show, local artists/vendors Jezebel Blue and 2the9’s Retro, aka Nathaniel Self, will be selling everything you need to dress to the Retro max or wrap up under the tree for your honey this holiday season.

Jezebel crafts jewelry with vintage images from pin-up girls to movie idols to steampunk style. Nathaniel sells men’s vintage shirts, jackets and zoot suits, as well as ties, small suitcases and custom-designed Retro purses. Best of all, the couple’s prices are as sweet as they are. ATLRetro caught up with the dynamic duo to find out more about their way-cool wares, what they have planned for Tits for Toys for Tots and also where else you can find them vending this holiday season.

ATLRetro: You two are one of Atlanta’s swankiest Retro couples, hair and clothes to the 9s. There must be a swell story behind how you met, and don’t lie to me, you do own the actual cat’s pajamas, right? 

Nathaniel: First off, thanks for the compliments. I don’t know about how swank we think we are – pretty sure we consider ourselves to be two of the biggest goofy nerds in Atlanta. And as for owning the cats PJ’s, we don’t own them, but if 2the9’sRetro can find them for you, we will, and Jezebel will make the accessories to match.

How we met is sort of a trip to Jerry Springerville. A couple of years back we met at a great mutual friend’s event, The Rockabilly Lounge, put on by the wonderful Mon Cherie. We were both getting out of relationships, and I was actually sort of flirting with her sister at the time, but that didn’t work out, so I decided to step into the land of Jerry Springer and started chatting up Jezebel. Me being a photographer, I loved her look and her fun attitude, so we hit it off right away. I knew it was a good match on our first date when people at Cafe Intermezzo wouldn’t stop interrupting us to take our photo and to say how lovely she was. By the time we left, it was around the restaurant that we were professional swing dancers. Which is very entertaining, because I have two size 12 1/2 left feet and Jez has arthritis and can’t be on her feet for long periods of time, let alone swing dance.

Jewelry by Jezebel Blue.

How did each of you get started on your path to righteous Retro craftiness? 

Nathaniel: I’ve always been an artist, started out sketching as a kid, drawing fake tattoos on classmates. Then on to photography, which I do part time with my other business, Self Images Photography. After meeting Jez, I started selling clothes and vintage luggage. Her creativity rubbed off on me, so I started designing bags in sort of the same kustom kulture/pin-up vein as some of her jewelry. I’m still getting used to doing it. Jez has the hard job making her jewelry. I’m just her carnival barker. My bread and butter is getting lucky being able to find great Kustom Kulture shirts and suits for resale.

Jezebel: I actually took a beginner jewelry-making class when I was in high school, about 24 year(and now I feel old).  I had learned how to crochet from my grandmother when I was about five and always liked making things, but the minute I laid my hands on pliers, a spool of wire and some mandrels I was thoroughly addicted.

Jezebel, how do you select the images for your pieces?

Jezebel: I really have no rhyme or reason. I have a little over 3000 electronic images and folders full of old books, calendars, postcards and photographs. I look through them and wait for something to ‘strike’ me. It could be the colors or composition. It could be something as simple as I just really like the dog in it or the woman’s expression. I wish I knew myself sometimes.

Nathaniel, what are your top three tips for a man who wants to outfit himself as a true gent.

Nathaniel: If you’re serious about wanting to go all out and make an impression:

1.) Do your homework. There are so many variations on vintage style you can really stand out if you want. Make the style your own, do your own thing with it, but I’ve found if you arent comfortable in your own skin you’ll never be comfortable in a three-piece suit.

2.) Find clothing that fits you and the occasion. You don’t need your own personal tailor – it wouldnt hurt –  but you can look ace on a budget, trust me. Don’t step out in a suit that’s all bunched up at the feet and a suit jacket two sizes too large. I’m a hard fit, so I know it’s not always easy, but it can be done if you’re serious about looking ace. Nothing makes you stand taller than a good suit. Dressing for the occasion is a must. You don’t always have to be in a suit. You can look just as ace in a lounge-style button-down and jeans if i’ts a casual night out. It’s all in the details.

3.) If all else fails, go and see a couple of my friends, New Orleans Jon and Chad Sanborn as they perform and take some hints from their style. Those two fellas are the best dressed in Atlanta in my opinion. Jon was really like a mentor and not afraid to tell me what I needed to work on with my gear when I first started out with 2the9s: “Lose the creepers man, find yourself some real shoes.” Haha. He has it pegged down on every detail.

What’s a favorite piece or pieces that you have right now for sale for each of you, and why? 

Nathaniel: Hmmm, that’s a hard one. I can’t even get into all the shirts I have, because I typically like them all so much I want to keep them, but that wouldn’t bode well for my store. I’ve got a couple of pieces of vintage luggage that I have right now that I’ve never seen before. One of my best is a large round blue luggage. Those in such a large size and good condition are becoming hard as hen’s teeth to find. I recently just sold a 1950’s oxblood tuxedo jacket with gold thread throughout. It’s hard to explain, but it got a lot of looks. It was definately one of my favorites just because it was such a great showpiece.

Jezebel: For me, my absolute favorite pieces are the rings I have made with vintage chantons, a fancy word for a pointy-backed rhinestone. The sparkle is unreal; it rivals and, in my opinion, outshines Swarovski. My second favorite piece is an image I use often called “Til Death Do Us Part.”  It is a couple in Day of the Dead makeup done in a school tattoo flash style that I purchased the rights to. To me, it is just a beautiful synthesis of Victorian aesthetics with the couple facing each other but done in a modern rockabilly style – and it talks to my romantic side.

Jezebel, how much time does it take for you to make a piece of jewelry and how do you price your pieces? Always seems to us that your prices are very reasonable, so in other words, how do you do it?

Jezebel: Simple pieces like my $8 anchor earrings take about 20 to 30 mins. Some of the more elaborate pieces can take three to 18 hours depending on the techniques used. The jewellers grade resin I use takes three to four days to fully cur,e and that is after a minimum of three hours work. I try to keep my prices down by not overly marking up the pieces. I know jewelry is a luxury for most of us, as a single mom, even $10 can make a difference and I would rather make a little and make someone happy, than mark up a piece and put it out of reach of someone who would really truly appreciate it. It drives my family and Nathaniel insane. They constantly tell me I am under-pricing based on the amount of work I do.

Nathaniel, vintage luggage is making a comeback. Why do you think that is, and how do you select your pieces? 

Nathaniel: All things pin-up and Burlesque are making a comeback or so I find. Thanks to the tattoo shows, suicide girls and rockabilly hitting the mainstream, everyone is looking for that little something extra to set themselves apart in a group of girls trying to ape the Bettie Page style. For some it’s just nostalgia. I can’t count the number of times I hear “Ohhh my grandmother had one exactly like that!” when I’m vending at shows.

I try to stay away from the plain Jane pieces. I like a lot of character. Sometimes I have to pay more than I want to get them, but it’s worth it when you know that what you have is a cut above the ordinary. Whatever I can do to keep them from being turned into a boombox speakers.

Nathaniel Self and Jezebel Blue.

What can we expect to find at your tables this weekend at Tits for Toys For Tots?

Nathaniel: I’ve gotten a few more shirts and suits, from high-end Valentino suits to vintage double-breasted pinstripe gangster suits and an eclectic mix of shirts from garage, lounge, western and even some Hawaiian and tiki stuff. I still have the great vintage luggage and train cases, as well as a few hand-decorated bags with pin-ups and tattoo graphics and maybe even a couple of new Lux DeVilles if I can find the room.

Jezebel: I will have a little bit of everything: vintage chanton rings, negligee necklaces, pin-up and steampunk-inspired pieces, locker tag bracelets, honestly you never know.

Where can we expect to see you next, and also where can we find your products online? 

Jezebel: The easiest place to find me online is Facebook.  Single mommy-dom is time-consuming, but I can throw things up on FB and answer any questions as needed and it makes it more personal. I will be at Hayes Elementary on Dec 7 from 9-11 a.m. for a breakfast with Santa. I am not sure of anything after that, but I do post my itinerary on Facebook.

Nathaniel: We’re going to be at the Tits for Toys for Tots obviously. After that I’m looking into being a vendor at some of the East Atlanta Village craft shows and the EAV Santa Parade. After that, the future is unwritten. Matter of fact we’re open to anyone who might want to have us at their concerts, car shows or craft festivals. We don’t discriminate, so feel free to get in touch with us. The best place to find me is on 2the9’s Retro on Etsy.com or 2the9’s Retro on Facebook. We look forward to seeing you out and about. Stop on by our booth and say hello.

All photographs are courtesy of Jezebel Blue and 2the9s Retro and used with permission.

Jeff Clark, Editor/Publisher of Stomp and Stammer, costumed as Alice Cooper for the 2012 L5P Halloween Parade.

Happy Birthday, Stomp and Stammer! There’s no way we’re missing your badass two-day party this weekend at The Earl including Prince Rama headlining on Friday Nov. 22 and legendary soul man Swamp Dogg at the helm on Saturday Nov. 23. Here’s why:

Maybe ATLRetro ought to think of Stomp and Stammer as the competition–and yeah, we’ve been known to sneak more than a peek at their calendar when putting together This Week in Retro Atlanta. But I’d much rather call Atlanta’s independent rock music tabloid an inspiration and Publisher/Editor Jeff Clark a good friend and a kickass music journalist with a no-holds-barred attitude for telling it as he hears it. Sometimes that pisses off folks, sure, but with Jeff’s encyclopedic knowledge of rock from its roots to the present, we think he’s earned the right to call out some pretenders. I’ve joked a few times that I gave Jeff his first big break when I was editing Tuesday Magazine, what the features and entertainment section of Georgia State University‘s student newspaper The Signal was called way back in the 1980s. But I think it was actually my predecessor Brad Hundt. In any case, while I was lucky to have many fine writers back in the day, I stand by the assertion that Jeff was and still is the best.

In any case, Atlanta is damned lucky to have a great free music print tabloid like Stomp and Stammer, especially in this online era. While Jeff has assembled a mighty swell staff over the years, it takes the right pilot and a hefty dose of passion to keep something this awesome going for so many years. If that doesn’t make Jeff a Kool Kat, we don’t know what does, and we’re mighty excited to have the chance to ask him about his own musical roots, how he got into writing, the origin story of Stomp and Stammer, the killer line-up he has booked for The Earl this weekend, and when he plans to throw another of his famous yard sales.

ATLRetro: With your musical knowledge, we wonder if you were listening to a stereo in the womb. Seriously where do your musical roots start? What age and what did you listen to?

Jeff Clark: Hard to remember any specific moment or time, truthfully. I do recall having a little red transistor radio when I was a kid. It was pretty small, about the size of a juice box, and I think it only played AM stations. Back then there was a lot more music on AM than there is today, and I was significantly enthralled by the sounds that were coming out of that thing. I used to carry it around with me all sorts of places, and I think at some point I somehow attached it to my bicycle, probably with tape or rubber bands, so that I would have a radio to listen to while I was zippin’ through the neighborhood doing wheelies.

I used to crudely record songs from the radio onto cassette tapes, and make my own mix tapes that way. Keep in mind that this was early/mid ’70s AM radio, WQXI and stuff, so a good deal of the songs were from cheesy one-hit wonders and such, but to me it was the epitome of cool. I also remember listening to that little radio late one night, in bed, with the volume very low so my parents wouldn’t know I had it on, and you know how on the AM band, especially at night, storms, even at a great distance away, cause interference with muffled crackles and electric frizzle? So “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac came on, and with all the soft crackly static bursts punctuating the verses intermittently, in the dead of night, alone in my room, it was probably the spookiest song I’d ever heard. “Thunder only happens when it’s raining…” To this day, it’s one of my favorite songs.

A few years later, my older brother was going to Georgia Tech and ended up doing some work at WREK, the college station there. So I started listening to WREK simply because he worked there, even though he wasn’t one of the DJs. That was a major revelation, because that station’s always been so adventurously programmed. I heard all sorts of weird, wonderful music, some of which stuck with me and piqued my interest in the underground scene. I specifically remember hearing the Velvet Underground for the first time on WREK and loving it, although I’ve long forgotten which song it was.

Eye Candy, featuring Shonna Tucker (Drive-By Truckers).

Other memories stick out, like seeing bands on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in its early years, when they actually had cool, interesting musical guests. Watching the local TV coverage of the Sex Pistols‘ US debut at the Great Southeast Music Hall. Being introduced to the Ramones by a really cool girl I had a crush on in high school, I have no idea whatever happened to her. Laughing at CREEM magazine. Seeing PiL on AMERICAN BANDSTAND, still one of the weirdest, most anarchic TV appearances by a band I’ve ever seen. The first really big concert I went to was The Who at The Omni. That was 1980, I think. After that it was The Kinks, Dylan, Zappa, all at the Fox, I think. Got a job at Turtle’s Records not too long after high school, and that provided another great avenue to discover new music, and meet fellow fans. By that point I was going to shows at 688, the Agora, the Moonshadow Saloon, etc, all the time, and there ya go.

Did you ever consider being in a band yourself? If yes, what instrument did you play or would you have played?

When I was a kid, like a lot of kids I would fantasize about how cool it would be to be a big rock star in a band that toured the world playing to millions of fans. I had an electric guitar for a while, but never really learned to play it very well at all. I know I should’ve kept at it, but after a certain point I realized I was better suited to channel my deep interest in music in other ways. Besides, I’m pretty certain I would write terrible songs and I’d have to give myself a scathing review, and then I’d let a bitter grudge against myself fester for months upon months until I physically attacked myself in a drunken rage in public one evening. And that would just be embarrassing.

When did you do your band interview, who was the band and when/where was it published? How did it go?

My first band interview was probably not for a publication, but an on-air interview for WRAS when I was attending Georgia State University, late ’80s. But I did lots of interviews for them, and I can’t remember which was the first. My first published interview was for for The Signal, the GSU student newspaper. I started writing for it after I was temporarily canned from 88.5 at some juncture. So my first published interview for The Signal was either Dinosaur Jr (Lou Barlow) or Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (not Edie but their guitar player, can’t remember his name). I hope it was Dinosaur Jr, because that’s at least cool, but then the first band I ever saw play was Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (a terrible, hokey ’70s act) at Six Flags, so I’ve never really had the cool factor in my favor. As an aside, I started both writing and doing radio while at GSU, and I’ve pretty much consistently done both ever since.

Legendary soul man Swamp Dogg headlines Stomp and Stammer 17th Birthday Weekend, Night Two.

Ha, I think the first rock band I ever saw live was Paul Revere and the Raiders at Carowinds. You’ve watched the Atlanta music scene for over two decades now. What local band are you saddest to say had the most potential but never made it out of here?

There have been lots of them! For a long time, no one paid much attention to Atlanta bands. Like, on a national scale. In the ’80s Atlanta was overlooked because there was so much attention paid to Athens, and in the 1990s, the rap/urban thing started getting huge with So So Def and LaFace and all their acts, so that sort of became known as “the Atlanta sound.” You had exceptions, for sure, like the Georgia Satellites and Indigo Girls and whatnot, but I tended to prefer the more offbeat ensembles. Things like Opal Foxx Quartet, Smoke, Dirt, Magic Bone, King-Kill/33, these were all amazing bands in their own way, but I wouldn’t say that any of them were really destined for mainstream acceptance. Interestingly, in some circles Benjamin (Smoke, OFQ) has posthumously become a small scale celebrity. I mean, there was a multimedia dance performance in New York recently based loosely on his life, featuring Smoke songs. That, to me, is rather bizarre.

These days, with the major label system barely a factor as far as signing new talent, especially in the rock realm, most bands aspire to getting attention from Merge or Vice Records or In the Red or other established indies, if they have any label aspirations at all. Often a band can cultivate a solid following by releasing music themselves, putting it online, using social networking, blogs and word of mouth and touring with other likeminded bands that already have a dedicated fan base. It seems like the potential rewards are far less than they once were, but the ability to make a living playing music is actually more acheivable if a band is good, smart and works hard.

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires will be be backing up Swamp Dogg on Saturday Night. Photo credit: Barry Breicheisen.

Anyway, back to your question. In the past couple of years, I thought both Knaves Grave and Ghost Bikini were amazing bands that certainly had the talent and potential to break out of Atlanta, at least on the indie label, fill-a-small-club scale if not greater. Both of them broke up a few years after forming. That sort of thing happens everywhere in every city’s scene. It’s disappointing, but what can you do? Bands are often volatile, it’s like a three or four or five-way marriage, and in many cases the personalities aren’t the most mature.

Before Stomp and Stammer, you were writing for multiple news venues, including national outlets like Details? Why did you decide to devote your energies to creating a damned fine local music zine instead?

I think it’s probably because it gives me the freedom to do what I want. I wrote pieces for a few national publications – Details, Raygun, Alternative Press, a few others. That was cool, but I really get more personal satisfaction doing the stupid stuff I do with S&S. That’s probably crazy, I suppose. Also, there aren’t that many national magazines covering good music anymore (meaning, music that interests me) in the print world, and at this point I’d probably make less money doing that anyway. Having S&S gives me an anchor that I know will be there month to month, and I don’t have to keep pitching stories as a freelancer to editors that don’t give a shit about Kid Congo or whoever I’m inspired to write about that day.

Also, for the most part, I hate writing. I do it because I can, and I’m not bad at it, and I’m writing about things that interest me. But most times I’d rather just be able to enjoy music without having to think about it. On the other hand, I have a lot of strong opinions (who knew?) and writing certainly allows an outlet for them. And that’s another thing – I don’t know of a national publication that would let me say some of the things I say. Everyone’s so fucking afraid of offending somebody.

Prince Rama headlines Friday night of Stomp and Stammer's 17th Birthday Weekend.

How did Stomp and Stammer get started? It must have been challenging paying print costs in the beginning, but then you already had a long rolodex of contacts in the music industry and local scene to hit up for advertising.

My friend Steve Pilon started it with me in 1996. Both of us were working at 99X at the time, and we were sort of in charge of putting together this little free monthly music magazine they did for a while to promote the station and the music they played. In retrospect, from 99X’s perspective it was a mistake to put me in charge of such a thing. They did it because I’d been writing for Creative Loafing for several years; therefore, in their minds, I knew how to put together a free magazine. I had no idea what I was doing. Shortly after 99Xpress started in early 1995 I got Steve the job of doing the layout for it. He and his wife had a record label at the time called Long Play Records, they put out Smoke, Opal Foxx Quartet, Big Fish Ensemble, a few other acts, and Steve did the design work for the CDs. Anyway, basically we used that year to experiment and put all sorts of silly things in the 99X magazine, some of which included mocking some of the acts they were playing, which was clearly a mistake and I’m sure ultimately contributed to my dismissal from the station. But we learned how to plan issues, and layouts, and deal with advertisers, and PR people, distribution locations, etc. We learned how to make a magazine.

So it was Steve’s idea to start Stomp and Stammer. He was the publisher, I was the editor. At first it was just an online zine. This was, I think, April 1996. I guess it was sort of ahead of its time, in that respect, so ahead of its time that we found it incredibly difficult to find anyone willing to pay for advertising in an online-only music magazine. So in November ’96, the first print edition came out. I think it was a mix of Steve’s and my contacts in the local scene as well as national labels that allowed us to have a pretty solid advertising base from the get-go. Steve left the fold a few years later to focus on other, more lucrative endeavors. Delusionally, I opted to stick it out. And while everyone tends to treat me as if I AM Stomp and Stammer, we have many talented writers, designers, photographers, distributors, advertisers, etc contributing to every issue, and they deserve a huge chunk of the credit for keeping the operation going.

White Woods is on Stomp and Stammer's Friday night line-up.

Why do you still distribute printed copies of Stomp and Stammer versus going online only? And it’s free, too. Is it challenging staying print in an online world?

As far as getting advertising and paying printing costs, that’s always a challenge. I’ve gone through some extremely lean patches at times. Why do we still distribute printed copies? I guess I’m old fashioned. And I think there’s still a significant part of the population that enjoys picking up such things at the record store, or reading while they eat their burrito, or while they’re at the bar, or taking a crap or whatever. There are certain qualities that printed matter can provide that online cannot. Everyone and their mother has a blog nowadays, and I just don’t know if I’d want S&S to just be another one cluttering up the internets. Instead, we’re killing trees and cluttering up the window ledge at Eats. I’ve found it extremely hard to make any significant advertising profit online, then again printing costs are crazy and keep rising. Is one way better or worse? I don’t know.

You have some pretty killer and also diverse line-ups for both nights of Stomp and Stammer birthday shows. Did you have any particular goals in the kind of music/musicians you wanted to include?

I always want to put on a great show and showcase bands that we’re really digging, especially new local bands. If possible, I also like doing things that are a bit out of the ordinary, like people that have never played Atlanta or if they have, then not in a long time. So that usually entails bringing in acts from out of town. Some years I’ll just stick with local bands to keep costs lower, but this year I decided to go for broke and fly in a few headliners that wouldn’t have played here otherwise, and that I think really need to be seen and experienced. I also don’t like repeating myself, so every year I try to get bands that have never played our birthday shows before. And I like to mix up genres a little bit, not just do the same sort of thing.

Zoners play Friday night. Photo Credit: Bobb Lovett.

Can you tell our readers a bit about the different acts and what makes them special? Anything else you’d like to make sure they know in advance?

Well, as far as the first night (Friday, Nov. 22), Prince Rama are just one of the most creative, fun, strange, fascinating bands I’ve heard or seen in the past few years. They are two sisters in their 20s who grew up in rural Texas and in Florida in a Hare Krishna community, and now they are based in New York. They have really interesting, inventive ideas about music, art, film and fashion, and they combine all of it together with Prince Rama. Their current music is sort of an amalgmation of dance music, psychedelia, pop and various ethnic sounds from cultures the world over. And they are just really cool people.

Zoners are a fairly new Atlanta band on the scene that look like a bunch of misfits tossed together but have a really tight, punchy pop-punk sound. Catchy original songs, and they cover the Dickies and 999, and that works for me! White Woods is Julia Kugel of the Coathangers. She’s put out two White Woods singles on Suicide Squeeze but has never played a White Woods show ’til now. She’s put together a band including Matt from Zoners. I don’t know exactly what it will be like, but I’m certain it will be wonderful.

Sodajerk opens Saturday night of Stomp and Stammer's 17th Birthday Weekend.

The next night, Saturday, Nov. 23, we have Swamp Dogg playing what he says is his first show in Atlanta, even though he recorded and produced at studios in Macon, Muscle Shoals and elsewhere in the South throughout the ’70s. He’s a really great soul singer, but his material is a bit more off-the-wall than most of his peers. He’s a funny, wacky character who says “motherfucker” a lot, has tons of stories to tell about his life, and is enjoying a significant comeback this year with the re-release of much of his back catalog via Alive Naturalsound Records. His backing band will basically be Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, a gritty, raw, powerful, working class outfit based mainly in Birmingham although Lee himself lives in Atlanta. The Glory Fires also recorded for Alive, but I found out Lee was a big Swamp Dogg fan after he and the Glory Fires recorded a version of “Total Destruction to Your Mind,” probably Swamp’s best known song. So a few issues back, I had Lee interview Swamp for S&S, and that turned out so well I thought it’d be cool to take it one step further and have his band and Swamp Dogg collaborate on some shows. They’re also playing together in Athens at the 40 Watt the night before our show.

Speaking of Athens, the Drive-By Truckers are certainly one of Athens’ more popular bands of the past decade-plus, and that’s where Shonna Tucker cut her chops for many years. Now she’s doing her own thing with her band Eye Candy, featuring fellow ex-DBTer John Neff and other longtime Athens players. They have a debut album just out called A TELL ALL, which to my ears combines the sound of prime Muscle Shoals, classic Nashville country and ’70s AM radio playlists. I’m very pleased to have them on our bill this night. Opening the show will be Sodajerk, an Atlanta four-piece who haven’t been playing much lately so I was happy to find out they could do the show. They specialize in loud, crunchy, concise redneck rock ‘n’ roll, perfect for fist-pumping and PBR-pounding.

Jeff Clark (center) channels SCARY MONSTERS era Bowie for the 2013 L5P Halloween Parade.

I honestly think these are really strong lineups, and even though they may not be household names, I stand behind every one of these bands and I guarantee these shows are gonna be a blast. I hope you and your readers come out and make party with us!

Finally, we’ve gotta ask, when is your next yard sale?

Next spring. April. Hopefully on one of the first beautiful Atlanta springtime Saturdays of the season.

Creative Loafing just ran a nice little piece on Jeff, too. Check it out here. 

All photos are courtesy of Stomp and Stammer and for promotional use only.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you old-school kiddies!  Forget the daily grind and come out and let Retro Atlanta fill you to the brim with a week’s worth of swingin’ good times!  Get off that couch and see what we have in store for you! We’ve got steamy burlesque! We’ve got flicks of yore! And all the low-down dirty blues you could ever want! So, get out and get Retro!

Monday, November 18

Shake off those Monday blues and boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  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. Get revived and take a stroll over to Blind Willie’s for a night of old school blues with Midnight Revival! Pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And hop into Woody Allen’s version of Fellini’s 8 ½, in a recollection of life and love in STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) at the Cinefest which runs until Nov. 24^!

Tuesday, November 19

The Masquerade gets shady and gritty retro-style with some dark-wave and synth pop/electronic delivered by William Control, a little gutter and grit with Davey Suicide, some horror punk from the unknown with Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures and the Fearless Vampire Hunters rocking out to some Bowie-esque and kinky death pop! Or rock on over to The Earl for a night of foot-stompin’ Americana and bluegrass with Ha Ha Tonka, Samantha Cain and Heather Luttrell! Eddie’s Attic delivers Otis Redding-inspired soul and funk with Billy Buchanan and some old-timey country with special guest Elise Davis! Head on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a rockin’ hootenanny with The Night Travelers and special guest Lou Wamp! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues. Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues at Blind Willie’s! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. And The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! Get eccentric and come-of-age with Titta as the Midtown Art Cinema screens Federico Fellini’s AMARCORD (1973) in their Midtown Cinema Series at 6:45 pm with a Q&A afterwards!  And get really retro at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, November 20

Smith’s Olde Bar gets nostalgic and old-school with a rockin’ evening of Americana, glam and soul with Anna Vogelzang, Sarah Lou Richards, Russell McGlaughlin and City Mouse in the Atlanta Room! Make your way to the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge for a night of belly-laughs as A Write Club Atlanta presents Scene Missing Episode 4: The Films of Chevy Chase, offering six performances of essays and comedy based on Chevy Chase flicks at 9 pm! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues or head on over to Blind Willie’s for a night with the Cazanovas! Or rock on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of “Frankie Lee” Robinson belting out some smoky blues in his Frankie’s Blues Mission! Head back to college and spend the night with John Belushi and his kooky frat brothers as Emory’s Cinematheque screens the ever-hilarious NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! Get old-school heavy at The Shelter for their Dark Retro Night for an evening of hard electro, industrial and dark retro at 9 pm! And skip on down the Yellow Brick Road at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 21

Shake yer booty and get funky at Terminal West with Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band and Consider the Source for an evening of interstellar, intergalactic groovin’ energy and sci-fi psychedelic funk! Or rock on over to The Star Bar for their Foresee Films Benefit Show with an evening of gothic Americana and foot-stompin’ old school rock featuring Lily & The Tigers, Cute Boots, On Holiday and The Johnny Rebs! Get revived and boogie on over to the Clermont Lounge for a night of psychedelic boogie with The Six Shot Revival and a little sleazy hard rock with Ledfoot Messiah!  Head on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their weekly Occupy Edgewood event featuring DJs Rene Dellefont & Brian Parris as they offer up the sounds of The Smiths and The Cure and all the morose tunes your black little heart desires. Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern presents the classic 50s Chicago-style blues of The Breeze Kings. Blind Willie’s gets sugary sweet as Sweet Betty & The Shadows delivers some sultry blues while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Boogie on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs as Donna Hopkins offers some foot-stompin’ rock and soul!  It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Beach party it up with Kool Kat Joshua Longino and Andrew & the Disapyramids and a few cocktails as they throw a rockin’ beach party at Trader Vic’s!  Hey all you fan boys and girls! Get vengeful and witness a widow track down her lover’s killers in Francois Truffaut’s THE BRIDE WORE BLACK (1968) during The Plaza Theater’s Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30 pm! Hey all you fan boys and girls! Come check out the SCAD Interior Design students’ presentation of their Visions for DragonCon Retail stores for steampunk, faeries, Cosplay Superheroes, Star wars, Star Trek fan groups at the INDS 210 Studio II Open House at 6 pm! And it’s your last chance to take a trip over the rainbow with Dorothy and her pals at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 22

Boogie on down to the Smith’s Olde Bar to catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm with Johnny Awesome and The Bitteroots! Or rock on over to the Masquerade as 80’s rock band King’s X delivers some progressive metal funky soul at 7:30! Get super 80s and slip on down to The Strand Theater for Slippery When Wet, The Ultimate Bon Jovi Tribute with live arrangements from Bon Jovi tours! Or get dolled up in your tackiest poofy pink dresses and boogie on down to Mary’s for their ‘Quinceanera’, celebrating 15 years of dance parties galore in East Atlanta! Eddie’s Attic offers you two chances to experience Bobby Yang and his maddening, rockin’ bluegrass violin! The Fox Theater gets bluesy with the Irish and British-inspired blues of Joe Bonamassa! Blind Willie’s gets bluesy and rocks out with Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows! Or stroll on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for a night of blues with The Funky Kings! The Northside Tavern promises a jamming good time with the sounds and ‘blues woman power’ of Beverly ‘Guitar’ Watkins! Big Tex delivers some 60s and 70s rock n roll with the Rainmen! Get wild and rock on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of super tasty BBQ and some rockin’ blues with AJ & The Wild Oats! Or stomp on over to the Red Light Café for some rebel roots-grass and swashbucklin’ folk with Rootstand and Scott Warren & The Booze Mountaineers!  Rock on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a little “Dylan meets Petty at a Replacements show” sound with Jim McCaffrey and a little Americana rockin’ soul with Jimmy T and the Tune Train! Jazz it up at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and boogie on down with CC Booker III featuring Will Scruggs!

Saturday, November 23

Get fabulous and retro and start your holiday shopping in style at the Ambient Plus Studio for the two-day ICE (Indie Craft Experience) Holiday Shopping Spectacular 2013 featuring 120+ venders, artists, crafters, vintage treasures and tasty food! Or head on over to DR No’s Comics & Games for artist extraordinaire Francesco Francavilla’s Afterlife with Archie Signing Event from 2 to 4 pm!  Jump in your T.A.R.D.I.S. and help celebrate the longest-running sci-fi television show at the 50 Years of Adventure: Doctor Who event commemorating interstellar time-travel at the Holiday Inn Atlanta – Perimeter featuring videos, costumes, panels and more!

Get saucy and shimmy on down to the Main Stage at 7 Stages and ring in the season hot toddy-style while helping out the kiddies as Syrens of the South Productions presents their 7^th Annual Tits for Toys for Tots burlesque show! Get a taste of some sultry tease with Kool Kats Katherine Lashe and Ursula Undress, the Atlanta School of Burlesque, Bourgeois Betty, a little magic with ATL Retro’s favorite magic man, Chad Sanborn and so much more! So, come on out, bring a toy and get spicy!

Rock on over to The Earl and come celebrate with Jeff Clark, editor and founder of Stomp & Stammer during their 17^th Birthday Weekend – Night Two with some lost 70’s classics featuring the southern soul madman, Swamp Dogg, backed by Lee Bains III & Glory Fires along with Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy and Atlanta’s Sodajerk! Or get down and dirty at 529 for a night of sleazy garage pop and rock n roll with The Stents, Kings of the F***ing Sea, The Delusionaires and Poni! The Variety Playhouse gets retro with the King of Pop as Who’s Bad takes the stage as the ultimate Michael Jackson tribute band at 8:30 pm! Rock on down to the Masquerade for some old-school rock and punk with the Swingin’ Utters, the Blacklist Royals and the gritty Social Distortion/Rancid-inspired rock of the Antagonizers ATL!  Grant Green, Jr. gets groovy at the Northside Tavern! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for Francine Reed & the Shadows! Or get spicy and have a side order of gumbo with your BBQ at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with the New Orleans, Memphis soul and jazz of the Swamp Funk Quartet!  And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, November 24

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with Cedar Hill at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  It’s day 2 of the ICE (Indie Craft Experience) Holiday Shopping Spectacular 2013 at the Ambient Plus Studio, so come on out and get retro fabulous! Get jazzy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an afternoon of high-energy Hotlanta Dixieland Jazz! For an old-timey finger pickin’ bluegrass hootenanny, head on over to The Earl and get a taste of Alex Commins & Todd Prusin! It’s your last chance to catch Francois Truffaut’s THE BRIDE WORE BLACK(1968) at The Plaza Theater’s Fall Focus on Directors series’ 1 pm matinee! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Joe Gransden while Tony Bryant gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!

Ongoing

Georgia Ensemble Theatre presents Ira Levin’s 1978 theatrical thriller, DEATHTRAP runs Nov. 7 through Nov. 24. (LAST CHANCE)

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.