ATLRetro

Persephone Phoenix. Photo credit: Tim Fox Photography. Used with permission.

Oh, Happy Days! Fat Cat Cabaret, one of Atlanta’s newest Retro entertainment troupes, is sneaking a peek behind closed doors to home life in the post-World War  in their 1950s Burlesque Holiday Show this Saturday Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. at Andrew’s Upstairs. The sassy shenanigans set to the music of the birth era of rock n roll include iconic foods, props and include special guest and recent Kool Kat Talloolah Love, the Sweetest T in the South, as the hottest neighbor on the block, and Nashville self-proclaimed Dieselpunk Prophet of Pop Culture Big Daddy Cool, as the Ultimate Entertainer. Also on the roster are Sketch Macquinor as the comedic neighbor and bearer of all things funny; Ben Gravitt, as Jerry, your humble narrator and all-around hip cat; and another Kool Kat, Ruby le Chatte, as Jerry’s other half and the life of the party!

To find out more, we caught up with Fat Cat’s Creative Director Perspehone Phoenix, a true Kool Kat’s Meow in her own right. So yeah, we asked her a bit about her path to fabulous frivolity, too!

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What’s the secret origin story of Persephone Phoenix?

As the Head Haunchess of Hell and the Princess of Purgatory, I emerged from a previously mundane, muggle existence, and with a fiery glory, was reborn as a creature of the dark side known as burlesque performance. I am currently an aerial instructor with Play Hard Gym and creative director for Fat Cat Cabaret, as well as freelance performer, splitting my time between performance, organization and community involvement.  An aerialist for nearly four years, I initially took burlesque classes with Syrens of the South, and after my debut combining both aerial arts and strip tease, I have not looked back. I have performed all over the Southeast and am a member of or have performed with such groups as Fat Cat Cabaret, Syrens of the South, Musee du Coeur, Cheeky Belles, Bible Belt Burlesque (Perry, GA), Spooky LeStrange and Her Billion Dollar Baby Dolls (New Orleans) and recently, in front of an audience of over 1000 people at DragonCon’s Glamour Geek Revue.

One of the things that initially attracted me to this group was that, unlike many other troupes whom I have worked with, Fat Cat attempts to tell a story with their productions. Each number is thoughtfully placed, with consideration being given to how it advances the story, explains the characters, or provides more era-related background for the audience. Using costumes, music and dialogue, you will follow a central character through a semi-period-accurate environment, and will be entertained the whole way through. It’s an intellectually challenging project, and it really takes burlesque/variety productions to a new level in my opinion.

I have a penchant for A Line skirts, crinolines and short gloves. For someone who is often wearing little to no clothing, I have never felt more feminine, sexy and empowered than I did wearing these pieces. I see the ladies fashions from this decade as the delicate veil over what was the rising sexual revolution.

It is both a play and a series of burlesque/variety vignettes. Each number is played out by characters who are in some way related to Jerry: a neighbor, a friend, a coworker, family member. The production tightly organized to bring continuity to the storyline and to entertain the audience.

As Jerry was a character first introduced in Fat Cat’s Holiday Show last year and this is a continuation of his storyline, home life was the natural subject to explore in this show, since the characters naturally fit as members of his community. But that doesn’t mean that other ’50s concepts aren’t touched on in this show.

Persephone Phoenix. Photo credit: Tim Fox Photography. Used with permission.

Will it be the ‘50s through the lens of the present day or is Fat Cat trying to create something contemporary to the time in humor, etc.? Or a combo of both? If the latter, then how did you research? What was most challenging?

Since the ’50s wasn’t a particularly sexually liberated era, and there will be copious dirty jokes and sexual humor, the production will not be entirely period accurate. However, using music, costumes and dialogue, we attempt to immerse the audience in a comical cross-section of 50’s home life. Research was conducted on music which fits the time, phrasing and subjects for comedy which were true to the era. The most challenging aspect of this show, which continues to be challenging, is sloughing off modern terminology and incorporating antiquated phrases. Since we’re adlibbing quite a bit, it’s likely a struggle that our audience will find comical.

Lets just say that relationships can be very messy. Especially when there’s food around..

The fantastic artists of 2the9’s Retro and Jezebel Blue handmade jewelry will be hawking their unique wares at our show.  Also Deep Eddy Vodka will be on special, and DJ Huda Hudia will be spinning modern tunes into the wee hours of the morning.  The party doesn’t stop after the show is over, so we encourage everyone to stick around and enjoy the fantastic venue!

Photo courtesy of Persephone Phoenix.

Anything else you’d like to add?

The team creating this show are some of the most talented, professional, creative folks I have ever had the joy of working with. They are committed to bringing this shared vision to life, and have made personal sacrifices to devote the time necessary to make it happen. I am grateful for that, and can’t wait to show the audience all of our hard work.

Also, I took over creative directorship from my predecessor, who I count amongst one of my best friends. The theme and concept of this show was very much dependent upon her inspiration, and I’m thankful to have worked with her on this and previous projects.

Well, I have recently devoted my entire professional life to art and artistic endeavors, so I look forward to seeing where that will take me. The transition from a full-time professional muggle career to freelance artist is an intimidating one. However, I’m really lucky to be surrounded by an amazing community with lots of opportunities and support.  I am hopeful to travel some for performance, volunteer more in the performance community, and continue building my aerial student base.

As for Fat Cat Cabaret, we will begin formulating our next show, to be revealed early next year. All of the players in Fat Cat will no doubt be seen around the Atlanta community, so keep your eyes and ears out!

Splatter Cinema presents JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES (1998); Dir. John Carpenter; Starring James Woods, Daniel Baldwin and Sheryl Lee; Tuesday, Nov. 12 @ 9:30 p.m. (pictures and merch table open @ 9:00 p.m.); Plaza Theatre; Trailer here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Still feeling unsatisfied after all of the horrors that Halloween and the Buried Alive! Film Festival had to offer? Not a problem! Splatter Cinema and the Plaza Theatre keep the gore flowing with their presentation of JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES! Turn up early to have your photo taken in a recreation of one of the film’s tableaux and check out the merch table!

Okay. Let’s be honest: the end of the 1980s was probably the worst thing that could have happened to John Carpenter. After a decade and a half of superior filmmaking—capped off by 1988’s savage and darkly comic take on Reagan’s America, THEY LIVE—the road suddenly became very bumpy for the director. Misfires like 1992’s MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN, 1993’s Showtime Networks project BODY BAGS and 1995’s VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED were interspersed with deliberate attempts to recapture past glories. 1995’s IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, surprisingly, worked; it succeeded in closing off his Lovecraftian “Apocalypse Trilogy” which began with THE THING and continued with PRINCE OF DARKNESS. But his re-teaming with Kurt Russell on 1996’s ESCAPE FROM L.A. was hardly a patch on ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. It wasn’t even 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS, for crying out loud. And when a quickly-made cash-in knock-off by Enzo G. Castellari is a more entertaining follow-up than the official one, then something is rotten in the state of Carpenter. Realizing that he just wasn’t having fun making movies anymore, John Carpenter decided to retire.

Why, then, did Carpenter change his mind after just two years and film an adaptation of John Steakley’s VAMPIRE$? He largely rejected the plot of the source novel, and pretty much tossed aside the two screenplay drafts that were offered to him, so it wasn’t the story that pulled him back into the game. A good guess is that he saw this as a chance to once again have fun. And how? By making the western that he’d always wanted to make.

He’d attempted to make a western once before with his second feature, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. It was originally set in the Old West as a cross between RIO BRAVO and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. However, budgetary restrictions forced him to update the scenario to a present day urban setting. And while Carpenter had long integrated elements from his favorite western filmmakers into his work (Howard Hawks, John Ford and Sergio Leone among them), he had never explicitly returned to the genre. VAMPIRES’ Southwestern setting and revamping (no pun intended) of a “hired guns” trope allowed him to explicitly return to his own favorite genre.

The storyline is relatively simple. A crack team of Vatican-backed vampire hunters takes out a cell of vamps holed up in a New Mexico house. Afterward, an ambush back at their motel leaves only the team’s leader, Jack Crow (James Woods), his partner Tony Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) and a prostitute (Sheryl Lee). Crow pulls together a new team in order to take out the vampire’s leader and his army. There’s some supernatural gussying-up going on (the vamps are after an ancient relic, there’s a climactic exorcism ritual as a plot turn), but as you can see, this is largely a “cowboys vs. Indians” story disguised as a horror movie.

Is it successful? Well, not entirely. It actually makes a fairly good run at turning THE WILD BUNCH into a horror flick, its action sequences are well-staged and deftly shot, it sports a typically good score from Carpenter and it’s more lively than almost anything Carpenter had done in the decade following THEY LIVE. But the leads are woefully miscast. James Woods is sufficiently vicious as a hired killer, but—let’s face it—there’s nobody among us that wouldn’t have rather seen Kurt Russell as the lead of this John Carpenter horror/western hybrid. Daniel Baldwin is…well…Daniel Baldwin, as unfortunate as that might be, and Sheryl Lee is merely okay in her role as Katrina, the prostitute-turned-vampire. But they’re all serviceable in their roles; it’s not like any of them are really bad actors. They’re just not quite right for the project. So while all of this may make this sound like it’s just one of Carpenter’s weaker films, why is it so poorly regarded?

Ultimately, JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES falls victim to its placement in his filmography. It came at the end of a “lost decade” of sorts, when his career needed a severe revitalization, and when he desperately needed to make an Important John Carpenter Film. And this movie is blissfully unimportant. Carpenter just wanted to have some fun once again, and if it had landed somewhere around BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA in his oeuvre, it would be seen as a nice little detour. Not a damaging entry into his work history, just a fast-paced bit of vampire killing with western flair. But in the context of his career, it was the wrong movie at the wrong time.

So, my advice is this: take the movie out of context. Forget what Carpenter needed, and focus on what it is: a beer-drinking, hell-raising, rip-snorting, ass-kicking, heart-staking, head-cutting, over-the-top, balls-out bit of fun. Don’t even look at it as a horror movie. Because it’s really not, once you get past the surface. Look at it as a blood-soaked action/western with vampires as the villains and James Woods chewing up the scenery like it was made out of cheeseburgers. And have a ball, because everyone making it appears to have been having one.

And thank your lucky stars that it’s not GHOSTS OF MARS.

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

So much to do in Retro Atlanta this week!  What will you choose?  A little sultry burlesque? Take in a flick or two?  How about some revved up rockabilly and honky-tonk?  Or maybe you’ll get a little spaced out and groove to some good ‘ole psychedelic space funk!  Retro Atlanta’s where it’s at, so get hip to the jive, leave the bore behind and get really Retro!

Monday, November 11

Knock out those Monday blues with the lethal funk of Kung Fu at Smith’s Olde Bar! Or get adventurous with Masaki Kobayashi’s HARAKIRI (1962) during The Plaza Theater’s Samurai Series at 7:30 pm! 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!’ Stroll on over to Blind Willie’s for a little hillbilly blues swagger with Brandon Reeves! Pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And make your way to the Cinefest for a retreat into fantasy in Federico Fellini’s masterpiece, 8 ½ (1963), which runs until Nov. 16^th!

Tuesday, November 12

Shimmy on down to The Shelter and get fed with the tasty treats of Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and her Sirens of the South as their Tease Tuesday: Thanksgiving Edition feeds every fantasy! Spend a spicy evening with Ruby Redmayne, Nicole Nedley and many more! You can’t beat 10 acts for 10 bucks, so, come on and get teased with a little burlesque, a little Vaudeville, a little variety and everything savory and tasty!

Get retro on the big screen tonight as Atlanta offers a smorgasbord of flicks you won’t want to miss! Get horror filled at The Plaza Theater while getting your fix of blood-sucking fiends and get hunted as Splatter Cinema presents John Carpenter’s VAMPIRES (1998) at 9:30!  Or make it a night of sword-yielding warriors in The Plaza Theater’s Samurai Series as they present Kihachi Okamato’s SWORD OF DOOM (1966) or maybe even make your way down to the Midtown Art Cinema for their screening of Akira Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW (1963) in their Midtown Cinema Series at 6:45 pm with a Q&A afterwards!  And Christmas gets really retro at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern with an evening of Bing Crosby at their screening of Michael Curtiz’s WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Let The Southern Belles of Richmond, VA fill you to the brim with their boogified psych-Americana at Smith’s Olde Bar or get groovy and head on over to The Earl for an evening of psychedelic folk 60s-inspired rock with Midlake and Nicole Adkins! Get rootsy rambunctious and retro and stroll on over to the Buckhead Theater for a night of folksy rock revival with The Head and The Heart, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and Quiet Life! Ed Kowalczyk, former singer of the 90’s Live goes solo with some post-garage, hard rock at Eddie’s Attic! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or rock on over to Blind Willie’s for the BB King and Ray Charles sounds coming from Timo Arthur! For a night of some Cajun blues and honky-tonk, boogie on over to Steve’s Live Music as Hair of The Dog takes the stage! 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!

Wednesday, November 13

Get retro, Norwegian-style with Bernhoft and their vintage rockin’ soul with Miracles of Modern Science delivering their orchestral space-pop at Smith’s Olde Bar! Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue delivers a night of swampy, voodoo soul and funk at the Buckhead Theater! Rock on over to 10 High for some rockin’ tunes delivered by Zangaro, a little Siouxie and the Banshees-inspired classic cabaret rock with Karma Lingo and a little boot stompin’ moonshine rock with 1978 Champs! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues or get groovy and make your way to Big Tex for some deep, southern-fried funk and psychedelic soul with Deep Blue Sun! Head on over to Blind Willie’s for some blues, jazz and southern soul with Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo 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! Spend an evening with Woody Allen and his neurotic quest for love and an eccentric understanding of existence as Emory’s Cinematheque screens ANNIE HALL (1977) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm or get rebellious warrior-style and make your way to The Plaza Theater for their screening of Masaki Kobayashi’s SAMURAI REBELLION (1967) in their Samurai Series at 7:30! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  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 don’t forget to get holiday retro as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens Michael Curtiz’s WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) in their Home For The Holidays series matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 14

Rock on out to a night of 80s heavy metal at 10 High as they present their 2013 Crue Fest benefiting The Official Skylar Neil Foundation, promising a night of party rock anthems from ’81 to ’91 with a rockin’ musical line-up paying homage to Motley Crue in the name of charity!  So, come on out, get rocked and hardcore all the while supporting a great cause! Get hardcore and heavy with a line-up of Hellyen, Spand-XXX, the ISSUES, Alchemy, ElctrOFlesh, Blood @ 6pm, Stickman, Twotley Crue (an all-female Motley Crue tribute band), Shotgun Orchestra and so  much more!

Tonight is Bluegrass Thursday at the Red Light Café, so come get your fill of the The Porch Bottom Boys! Or stomp on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a little ‘barnyard stomp’, a little jazz and some bluegrass reggae funk with Twiddle!  The Earl’s got some old school soul with Lee Field & The Expressions while ATL Collective covers Elton John’s Tumbleweed in its entirety at Eddie’s Attic!  Or pop on over to Mary’s in East Atlanta for their OFFyerHEAD event guaranteeing a fab evening of BritPop and Indie Music Videos while DJs Dennis Millay and Todd Rivera spin some classic BritPop and Indie keeping you on your toes and boogying all night long!

Get hazardous and explore the Samurai life in Kihachi Okamoto’s near parody, KILL! (1968) during The Plaza Theater’s Samurai Series at 7:30 pm! Or spend the evening in Paris! In the sultry, down and dirty dive bars of Paris that is, as The Plaza Theater screens Francois Truffaut’s cinematic ode to film noir, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960) in their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30 pm!   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. Blues it up at Blind Willie’s with Paul Geremia and his old-school blues while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs has The Barry Richman Band rockin’ out to some bluesy classic rock!  It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails and a night with Grinder Nova and their funky, dirty surf mariachi! And it’s your last chance to hang with Bing as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens Michael Curtiz’s WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) in their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 15

For a night of retro monsters and a spookin’ good time, crawl on down to the Diesel Filling Station in Virginia Highland as they play host to the Atlanta Monster Pub Crawl with special guests zombie pin-up extraordinaire, Ghouella Deville, Circus Envy and the ever cool, Kool Kat Reverend Andy, DJ of Psychobilly Freakout on Garage 71 Internet Radio!  Discover your inner monster and get dressed to kill in your deadliest, monstrous duds and come help strike a little fear and ferocious fun into some innocent bystanders! Spook your way to five different pub stops down the Virginia Highland stretch and enjoy five complimentary monster-themed shots at each stop venue!  Shenanigans begin at 7 pm and don’t forget the after-party of rockin’ retro proportions as Reverend Andy supplies all the psychobilly you’ve been hankerin’ for until 2 am!

The Earl gets obscure and psychedelic as they host a groovy evening with Os Mutantes’ Tropicalia-infused 60’s rock, with special guests, Capsula rockin’ out to their Argentinian garage rock and Adron delivering some neo-tropical funky soul!  Boogie on down to The Star Bar for the hard-core rockin’ and 70s bad-assery of Big Foot with the ‘Zeppelinesque’ boogie band The Six Shot Revival and a little sleazy bluesy rock with Gunpowder Gray!  Roll on down to 37 Main in Buford for an evening with The Jagged Stones, delivering a rockin’ tribute to the Rolling Stones! Stroll on over to the Masquerade for some retro-inspired rockabilly-inspired and screamin’ vintage rock with Mona, and a little 80s synth and indie electronic with The Limousines and then maybe a little light party rock with the Dresses! Or get groovy and head on over to The Shelter and boogie the night away at their Mad Psyentists event for a night of psychedelic trance at 9 pm! Blind Willie’s gets rootsy with the legends of blues, The Nighthawks! Or get a taste of The Sweet & Salty Blues Band at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues or maybe take a trip to the Northside Tavern as Stoney Brooks delivers some old school blues! Eddie’s Attic has The John Cowan Band delivering rockin’ bluegrass and soul while 38^th Parallel get’s heavy and soulful at Big Tex!  Rumble on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night with the Radio Ramblers rockin’ out to some blues and Americana or make your way to the Red Light Café for Thomas Oliver and a little roots rock! Or maybe get your Americana roots rock fix at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Webb Wilder! Get jazzy at the High Museum at their Friday Jazz event featuring the Steve Dancz Sextet! 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!

Saturday, November 16

Shimmy on down to Andrews Upstairs and get retro saucy at Fat Cat Cabaret’s 1950s Burlesque Holiday Show!  Get sultry and spend the evening with Kool Kat Talloolah Love, Kool Kat Ruby le Chatte and many more teasing tasty tartlets!  Big Daddy Cool gets magical while Ben Gravitt, a.k.a. Jerry is your hip narrator for the night! Take in some vintage tunes, scrumptious food and all all around rockin’ retro time!

Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt will be rockin’ out with the Psycho-DeVilles at The Alamo in Newnan, so get your dancin’ shoes on and rev on over! Or rumble on down to The Star Bar and get super retro with a night of rockabilly and honky tonk with JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers, Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah and his dark and dirty blues and Kool Kat Jeffrey Butzer as he delivers his unique and nostalgic tunes!  Or head on over to Wonderroot for their 7^th Annual Homebrew Hootenanny delivering homebrews, soul food and rockin’ roots music benefiting the Music Maker Relief Foundation! So, rumble on down, get your boogie on, support a great cause all the while getting an earful of Kool Kat Phil Stair and Grim Rooster’s rockabilly honky-tonk and a whole ‘lotta roots rock with Rolling Nowhere, I want Whiskey, Migrant Worker and The Whateverly Brothers!

Get glam and rock out as Sir Elton John and His Band take over Phillips Arena at 8 pm while War spreads their legendary funky rock n roll jazz at the Variety Playhouse! Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta gets swingin’ with The Hungry Monks and Banna De Dha!  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 at 10 pm!  Get funky and southern-fried at The Drunken Unicorn with some old-school soul of The Pimps of Joytime, Champagne Room and Secondhand Swagger! Blues on over to Blind Willie’s and rock on out to Too Slim & The Taildraggers! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs gets swanky as Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet gets to rockin’ with their Django gypsy-jazz! Head on over to the Red Clay Theater for an evening of the blues with Francine Reed & Friends! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty with The Cazanovas! Or rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Hop on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some good ole BBQ and the rockin’ blues of The Jumpin’ Jukes! 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 17

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with Banjolicious at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Get jazzy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an afternoon with the Bria Skonberg Quartet! It’s your last chance to catch Francois Truffaut’s SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960) at The Plaza Theater’s Fall Focus on Director’s series’ 1 pm matinee! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ retro inspiration with Shannon and the Clams’ vintage garage punk, the Night Beats’ psychedelic rockin’ soul and Shantih Shantih’s desert psychedelic rock! Smith’s Olde Bar has Dixieghost rockin’ Americana-style! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Francine Reed while Tony Bryant gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And spend the evening with the ever sultry Rickie Lee Jones and her thirty years of smokin’ bluesy rock n jazz at the Variety Playhouse!

Ongoing

Cinefest screens Federico Fellini’s fantasy masterpiece, 8 ½ (1963), which runs Nov. 11 to Nov. 16.

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

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.

Buried Alive! Film Festival; Friday, Nov. 8 @ 7:00 p.m. – 1:30 a.m.; Saturday, Nov. 9 @ 3 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.; Plaza Theatre; Schedule here; Tickets $40 (all access, both days), $10 per programming block, available here and at the Plaza Theatre box office.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Who says that Halloween has to end with the month of October? Take a journey into the future of horror with a weekend of groundbreaking short-and-long-form cinema as the Buried Alive! Film Festival takes over the Plaza Theatre this Friday and Saturday November 8 and 9!

The festival was founded by local horror fiend Luke Godfrey, whom you’ll know as the co-creator of Chambers of Horror (Atlanta’s only adult Halloween attraction and this year’s ATL Retro pick for Haint of the Season) and the award-winning film series Splatter Cinema, as well as being the undead head of Zombie Walk Atlanta. Buried Alive! Film Fest has proven year after year to be one of the many reasons that Atlanta is recognized as among the horror capitals of the world, and this year proves to be no exception as Festival Director and filmmaker Blake Myers has loaded the schedule with the acclaimed, the weird, the wonderful and the outright outrageous.

The festival opens Friday night at 7:30 with the “Evil Everywhere! Shorts Program.” Transgressive German horror auteur Jörg Buttgereit (NEKROMANTIK 1 & 2, DER TODESKING, SCHRAMM: INTO THE MIND OF A SERIAL KILLER) reverently opens the show with A MOMENT OF SILENCE AT THE GRAVE OF ED GEIN. From there, we are treated to a series of shorts focusing on the presence of evil in the most unlikely of places. Atlanta-based explorations into this dark realm are represented by the memory-triggering subterranean chamber of CHLORINE, the hidden horrors of a quaint bed and breakfast in BURIED BENEATH and the dangerous efforts of a father and son to rescue a loved one from a cult in BAIT. Other standouts in this selection are the surreal and hellish underground Miami fighting ring of C#CKFIGHT, the promise of an innocent ride home detoured in NEXT EXIT, the trials of a boy thwarting a bullying monster in the acclaimed dark fantasy of SHHH… and the menacing, encroaching shadows of shelter in REFUGIO 115.

This all leads to the 9:30 opening night feature, PIECES OF TALENT, preceded by the short film TERRITORIAL. While TERRITORIAL paints a darkly comic tale of a man settling in for a nice weekend, PIECES OF TALENT takes a more harrowing path, as aspiring actress Charlotte is swept into the plans of charming local filmmaker David. David is obsessed with creating a piece of “true art”—and that creation means a series of brutal on-screen deaths, with Charlotte as the climactic setpiece.

Following the screening, the opening night party of the festival will be held at The Workshop on North Highland (one mile from the Plaza) from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Episodes of [adult swim] favorite YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL (with effects and art direction from ATL Retro Kool Kats of the Week Shane Morton and Chris Brown) will be projected outdoors, while filmmakers from around the world will congregate to talk movies and generally have a fantastic time.

After you’ve rested and recuperated from the opening night party, the festival picks up once again at 3:00 p.m. with the “Weird and Wild Shorts Program.” As the title promises, this series takes a more off-the-wall (and at times darkly humorous) approach to the genre. Local highlights on offer here depict some unexpected changes under the light of the full moon in WEREHOOKER, the nefarious plans of an innocuous-looking clown in ALL YOU CAN EAT, and the comic domestication of the living dead in WELCOME TO THE BUBS. Among the other films, standouts are the insane comedy of the self-explanatory GIANT RUBBER MONSTER MOVIE, the gloriously bizarre visuals of DRACULA IN SPACE and the incredibly inventive “zombie apocalypse from a dog’s eye view” depicted in PLAY DEAD.

5:30 brings us “International Terror: Shorts From Around the World,” and reprises Germany’s A MOMENT OF SILENCE AT THE GRAVE OF ED GEIN and the UK’s NEXT EXIT. In addition, Brazil is represented by the plight of the journey of the blind Rafael in AS ÓRBITAS, Australia by the masked terror of CAT SICK BLUES, Canada by the existential dread of FOR CLEARER SKIES and Spain by the television-fueled insanity of BARIKU LIGHT.

We reconvene at 7 p.m. as the Atlanta chapter of the international film and animation association ASIFA joins forces with BA!FF to present the “Drawn and Quartered: Animation Program.” In addition to the intricately-constructed HERMAN BLUE, which local artist Ian Mark Stewart created using over 250 carved pumpkins, highlights include the Valentine’s Day-set NIGHT OF THE LOVING DEAD and the brilliantly macabre stop-motion of ABYSSUS ABUSSUM INVOCAT.

As the clock strikes nine, we explore the realm of body horror with the “Wave of Mutilation Shorts Program.” Local collective New Puppet Order delivers a horrifically funny tale of home invasion when a man discovers that an inter-dimensional gateway has opened up in the back of his skull in ED IS A PORTAL. And in addition to reprisals of BARIKU LIGHT and FOR CLEARER SKIES, another short you won’t want to miss is OTHER, which depicts a doctor’s extreme experiments in ridding his body of a rapidly-growing cancer. When an unforeseen development occurs with his equipment, he is determined to take his experiment all the way to witness the results.

The closing night feature delves further into body horror with an encore of AS ÓRBITAS, followed by the feature film THANATAMORPHOSE. This Canadian film poses the question, “what would you do if you woke up to find yourself slowly rotting away?” A bravura acting turn from Kayden Rose and amazing makeup effects from David Scherer and Rémy Couture combine with Éric Falardeu’s claustrophobic and intimate direction to create a bleak—and ultimately moving—portrait of sexuality, abuse, loss of control, alienation and liberation.

At $10 per screening block, or $40 for an all-access pass, Buried Alive! Film Festival continues to be the best bargain in town for anyone interested in the future of horror cinema, and the visionaries who push the boundaries of the genre.

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

So many swell happenings in Retro Atlanta this week! Take a break from the mind-numbing daily grind and see what we have in store for you!  Be the bee’s knees and get filled to the brim with the best Retro acts in town! Get rocked, boogie-on-down, rev on out and swing on by as Retro Atlanta offers you a week of ramblin’ good times!

Monday, November 4

Rock on down to Terminal West and get psychedelic with King Kahn & The Shrines and rock out with The Coathangers as they get down and dirty! For an evening of some Motown-inspired soul-infused indie pop, skip on over to the Buckhead Theater for a night of Fitz & The Tantrums and Capital Cities! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a rockin’ good time with Bill Sheffield! 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. And pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.

Tuesday, November 5

For a little biting satire of the French persuasion, stroll on down to the Midtown Art Cinema for their screening of Jean Renoir’s THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939) in their Midtown Cinema Classics Series at 6:45 pm with a Q&A afterwards! Boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for some 60s soul and rock n roll with the The Hollidays! Steve’s Live Music hosts the Georgia Crackers as they lead their vintage 20s hillbilly bluegrass pickin’ and folk sing-a-long! 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 an evening of old-school industrial, get electric with the ultra-heavy pioneering beats of KMFDM at Terminal West! Get ready for some down and dirty Christmas-Eve action at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as Bruce Willis gets rowdy in John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, November 6

Groove on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of boogie-woogie with the energetic 50s and 60s soul-inspired goodness of Kool Kats Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics and the soulful, jazzy reggae of Juliette Ashby. For a night of rootin’ tootin’ folky Americana, head on over to Smith’s Olde Bar as Dan Bern takes the stage and stay for a taste of some ‘gyspy swingin’, fire breathing circus freaks’ with Caravan of Thieves! 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!  Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Get red hot and low-down at Blind Willie’s for the saucy blues 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! Head on over to Steve’s Live Music for a foot-stompin’ good time with the Russian gypsy tunes of Debauche! Or spend the night with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as Emory’s Cinematheque gets darkly comedic in their screening of Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS (1967) during their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  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 don’t forget to get in on the action as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, November 7

Rock on over to the Red Light Café and get cosmic as they celebrate and honor the legendary Gram Parsons with their Gram Parsons’ Birthday Tribute!  You are guaranteed a stellar evening filled with the dancin’ and dreamin’ tunes of Cosmic West, beltin’ out Parsons covers and old western American melodies while Whiskey Belt takes the stage with some nitty gritty, boot stompin’ honky-tonk reminiscent of the 50s Grand Ole Opry and Interstate, following in the legend’s footsteps with their West Coast cosmic American rock! Take a trip to The Star Bar for some psychedelic rock with deadCAT or float on over to The Earl for Nik Turner’s Hawkwind rockin’ some 60s and 70s space rituals!

The Plaza Theater gets criminal and New-Wave French-style as they screen Francois Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical first film, THE 400 BLOWS (1959) in their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30 pm!  Get wickedly thrilled and head on over to the Georgia Ensemble Theatre in Roswell as they present Ira Levin’s 1978 theatrical thriller, DEATHTRAP which runs until Nov. 24^th, directed by Robert J. Farley! 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. Groove on over to The Loft for some 60s and 70s surf rock and soul doo wop’n rock n roll with The Mowglis, the Kopecky Family Band and The Rocketboys! 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. Get teary-eyed and blues it up at Blind Willie’s with Weepin’ Tommy Brown & The Shadows while 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. 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 Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance to jump in on the action as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988) in their Home For the Holidays series’ at 7:30 pm!

Friday, November 8

Spook on over to The Plaza Theater as they kick off their 8^th annual 2-day Buried Alive Horror Film Festival!  You won’t want to miss out on the gore and terror in Atlanta’s premier horror film festival showcasing true underground filmmaking and the best independent horror in the Southeast! The heart-stopping fun begins at 7:30 pm with their ‘Evil Everywhere’ Shorts Program featuring dark and spooky tales of Ed Gein, dark secret rooms, gruesome discoveries, Dante’s Inferno, creepy hitchhikers and monsters galore! At 9:30 their Opening Night Feature is a tormenting tale of murder and mayhem, PIECES OF TALENT, by Joe Stauffer and will be followed by the Opening Night Party at 11:30 pm, held at The Workshop, where you can haunt with the filmmakers from all over the globe and even catch a few episodes of “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” being projected outdoors.  So, if you’re looking for an evening of blood curdling fear, make your way to The Plaza Theater and get creepy cozy with the murderous monsters of filmmaking mayhem!

If you can’t stomach the horror and need something a little more action-packed and adventurous with a hint of comedy, come on by The Plaza Theater anyway as they begin their Samurai Series with Akira Kurosawa’s THE HIDDEN FORTESS (1959) at 7:30! Or cross the pond and make your way to Smith’s Olde Bar as they present Yacht Rock Review’s Beatles Tribute band, Please, Please Rock Me in the Main Room at 8 pm! Head to the Atlanta Room and rock out with the Geisha Hit Squad and their retro-inspired indie prog rock! Get your fill of monster wrastlin’ with Dragula, Dark Mon, The Wolfmen, the MCW Phantom and much more at Club Famous as Monstrosity Championship Wrestling and Kool Kat Shane Morton celebrates their 1^st gore-filled anniversary and belated monstrous Halloween Party with Crypt 24’s horror-inspired psychobilly! Or make your way down the rabbit hole and get mad, mad, mad at The Shelter as they present their Alice in Wonderland Costume Ball!

Rock on over to The Star Bar for a night with former Pleasure Club singer, James Hall! Or get a taste of some garage glam folk with the sounds of He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister at Terminal West! Blind Willie’s gets down with Burnt Bacon and their smoky blues and Creole jams while Biscuit Miller & The Mix get funky at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! For a little bluegrass and folksy Americana, head on over to Eddie’s Attic for an evening with Sierra Hull! Get funky at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and boogie on down to the New Orleans’ sounds of The Mar-Tans!

Saturday, November 9

It’s Day 2 and your last chance to get terrorized at The Plaza Theater’s 8th annual Buried Alive Horror Film Festival! Today’s events include: the ‘Weird and Wild’ Shorts program which promise to leave you in shock and awe with a little time travel, serial killers, werewolves, clowns, nightmares, medieval executioners and much more, the ‘International Terror: Shorts From Around The World’ program which begins at 5:30 pm, the ‘Drawn & Quartered: Animation’ program which begins at 7:00 pm and the ‘Closing Night Feature’, THANATOMORPHOSE, a grisly tale of a girl and her rotting flesh, by Eric Faladreau at 11:00 pm followed by the Awards Ceremonies! So, come on down and spend your weekend with some wonderfully warped and morbid creators!

Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt will be rockin’ out with the Psycho-DeVilles at the Dixie Tavern in Marietta, so get your dancin’ shoes on and rev on over! Shimmy on down to the Red Light Café and spend the night with Amy Sigil of Atlanta Fusion Belly Dance for their Belly Dance Gone Strong event, featuring over 25 dancers at 8 pm! Or head back to high school and get bloody royal at The Shelter’s Atlanta Monster Prom featuring a monster make-up competition, monster costume contests and the crowning of Ghoul King and Ghoul Queen, with special guest Roy Wooley of Syfy’s Face Off! Get adventurous and head on over to The Plaza Theater for Akira Kurasawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) featured in their Samurai Series’ screenings at 2 pm and 7:30 pm! The Gr8fl Dude rocks out with his renditions of the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and others at The Family Dog while Rosco Bandana’s gypsy fan-fare blues Americana takes the stage at Smith’s Olde Bar! Groove on over to Terminal West and boogie down with The Werk’s psychedelic dance funk or get your second helping of Burnt Bacon at Blind Willie’s! Stomp on over to the Crimson Moon Café to catch the Grassland String Band or skip on over to hear The Greencards at Eddie’s Attic! Head on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some good ole BBQ and SaNa Blues! Get experimental and bluesy with The Ori Naftaly Band at Darwin’s Burgers & 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, November 10

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Kris Youmans Band at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Jump, jive and wail on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for their Jazz Lunch featuring Big Band Atlanta and their 18-piece band swingin’ to some swell tunes!  It’s your last chance to catch Francois Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS (1959) at The Plaza Theater’s Fall Focus on Director’s series’ 1 pm matinee or maybe learn a few new moves as you take in Akira Kurasawa’s YOJIMBO (1961) during their Samurai Series’ 2 pm matinee! Stomp on over to The Earl for some rockin’ old timey country blues with Georgia Slim and The Stovetop Ramblers! Catch Lisa Marie Presley as she gets down and bluesy at Eddie’s Attic or rock on over to Center Stage to catch a little folk punk rock with Frank Turner & The Sleepy Souls! 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! Uncle Sugar gets soulful at the Northside Tavern. And for a night of sultry kink, black leather and broken hearts, make your way to the Masquerade for their Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque event!

Ongoing

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

Atlanta Lyric Theater gets jazzy with the GUYS AND DOLLS from Oct. 25 through Nov. 10.

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

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 Anthony Taylor
Contributing Writer

Fans of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, rejoice; most of the show’s cast descends on Atlanta’s Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel and America’s Mart this weekend for the Walker Stalker Convention. The highly rated show based on Robert Kirkman’s award winning comic book series of the same name lenses just down the road in Senoia, Georgia.

Cast members Andrew Lincoln, who plays series hero Rick Grimes, and Norman Reedus – breakout post-apocalyptic heartthrob Daryl Dixon – will appear to meet fans, sign autographs and pose for photos (the last two for an additional fee). Also appearing are THE WALKING DEAD producer and makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero, and series stars Laurie Holden, Lauren Cohan, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Steven Yuen, Chandler Riggs, Sonequa Martin-Green, Sarah Wayne Callies, Scott Wilson, Irone Singleton, Chad L. Coleman and Emily Kinney, who is also performing in concert Saturday night. Other cast members are also scheduled to appear, see the website for a full listing.

In addition, actors from BREAKING BAD, GREMLINS, FRIDAY THE 13TH and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and makeup effects artists from the Syfy Channel’s FACE OFF will be on hand. The convention ALSO features a large vendor’s room as well as panels and talks given by the guests, and evening activities including a Zombie Bash Party Saturday night.

Founded by Eric Nordhoff and James Frazier of the Walker Stalker podcast, the convention began life in a Kickstarter funding campaign in June, which raised $16,782.00.  Though the podcasters are based in Nashville, Atlanta was the only city where the convention could take place; the availability of the actors to appear depended on their proximity to the venue. With almost everyone in town for production of the shows’ fourth season, Walker Stalker Convention was go. The pair has said that they expect as many as 10,000 attendees for the convention.

Cable television’s AMC network recently announced plans for a spin-off series for 2015 and renewed THE WALKING DEAD for its fifth season.

Walker Stalker Con takes place Fri-Sun, November 1-3, at Americas Mart at 240 Peachtree St NW #2200, Atlanta. Hours are 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm Friday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Saturday, and 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday. Tickets are available online or at the door.

Anthony Taylor is a writer and an expert on retro-futurism, classic science fiction and horror films and television, and genre collectibles. He is the author of ARCTIC ADVENTURE!, an official Thunderbirds™ novel based on the iconic British television series by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. His website is https://Taylorcosm.com.

Tuesday, October 29

If you’re craving some old-school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for the rockin’ blues of The Cazanovas! For a night of vintage pop and retro doo-wop rock n roll, make your way to The Earl and take in a little Lightnin’ Ray & The Mystics, Schooner and Fox Grin! Steve’s Live Music hosts Brillig, hailing all the way from Australia to deliver their toe-tapping traditional Americana and folk rhythms! Get rebellious and rock on over to the Masquerade for a night of ska, punk and old-school roots with Big D and The Kid’s Table, Survey Says!, Rebuilder, Red City Radio and Look Alive! 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 electric voodoo boogie, check out Black Mother Jones along with the rockin’ Americana blues of Frank Bang & The Secret Stash at Smith’s Olde Bar! And come on out for a slashing good time at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as Michael Myers massacres his way through John Carpenter’s classic HALLOWEEN (1978) in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, October 30

It’s Halloween-Eve, so come get haunted and rocked at the The Star Bar as they host their Night Before Halloween Party featuring a goodie-bag of retro tribute goodness!  The Deluxe Interiors punk it up with a tribute to The Cramps while TV Dinner’s Tivo gets new-wavy and electronic with their covers of Devo!  Get ready for a bloody, gory night of shock rock as Gwar massacres with their ‘blood, guts and screamin’ steel’ at the Masquerade! Or, spook on down to The Goat Farm Arts Center for a horrorific evening of blood-sucking monsters and terror with their screening of F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (1922) with an eerie live original score from Felipe Barral at 8:30 pm! Dress up as your favorite dead celebrity and boogie on over to Mary’s for their Dead Celebrity Awards Bash featuring DJ King Atlas and a killer party you won’t want to miss! Emory’s Schwartz Center hosts a night with Count Dracula and a Transylvania March as Timothy Albrecht terrifies in this spooktacular organ recital at 8 pm! Head on over to Emory’s White Hall for a night of absurdity as Emory’s Cinematheque screens Preston Sturges’ THE LADY EVE (1941) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda in their American Comedy Classics series at 7:30 pm! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Get red hot and low-down at Blind Willie’s for the rockin’ blues of the Electromatics! Or come get funky at the Elliott Street Pub for the retro jazzy prog rock sounds of Myles Brown! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  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 don’t forget to let John Carpenter mess with your mind at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as his classic, HALLOWEEN (1978) has you on the edge of your seat in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, October 31

AND IT IS FINALLY HERE! That most haunted and sacred day of spooks and ghouls, so pull out your costumes and get spooky and see what ghostly galas Retro Atlanta has in store for you! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a couple Mai Tais and a spooky Halloween beach bash featuring Kool Kat Joshua Longino and Andrew & the Disapyramids and the spooktacular go go showgirls, Dames Aflame! Or, spook on down to The Goat Farm Arts Center for a horrorific evening of blood-sucking monsters and terror with their screening of F.W. Murnau’s terrifying  NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (1922) with an eerie live original score from Felipe Barral at 8:30 pm! For a night of Halloween tribute bands and horror rock, make your way to the Clermont Lounge as The Red Phantoms rock out to the tunes of the Misfits, the Pelvis Breastlies give an all-female rockin’ tribute to the ever devilish and sexy Elvis and Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures wake you from the dead with their horror punk from the unknown! The Shelter shakes it up with their Retro 80s/90s Halloween Night Bash haunting the night with rare Halloween music videos, costume contests and spooky goodies! Boogie on down to Mary’s and show off your crazy at the Pandemonium Halloween Takeover promising a night of Glitter Rock Euphoria, Bowie and the like! The Euclid Avenue Yacht Club gets wicked at their Annual Halloween Bash haunted by DJ Evil Jet and a night of spooky tunes and creepy good times! Or rock on over to The Star Bar for their 23^rd Annual Halloween Blowout for a night of rock and shock featuring Cousin Dan, Little Tybee, Cute Boots, Conveyer and much more! And it’s your last chance to get terrified with Michael Myers and his psychosis as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern screens John Carpenter’s classic HALLOWEEN (1978) in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

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. Get a taste of some ramblin’ rockin’ blues at Blind Willie’s with the Stooge Brothers while Rick Booher & The Soul Machine liven’ it up with their high energy funky soul at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs or maybe head on over to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Stomp on over to the Variety Playhouse for a night of foot stompin’ Polyethnic Cajun ‘slamgrass’ reverberating from Leftover Salmon and The Packway Handle Band with special guests Col Bruce Hampton and Count Mbutu!  Catch the bluesy folk jazziness of The Cumberland Collective at Eddie’s Attic!  The Red Light Café delivers some traditional blues and new-school soul with the Cedric Burnside Project and an energetic night echoing New Orleans’ jazz and ragtime Dixie land with The Jugtime Rag Band! And rock on over to The Earl for the raw, glam vocals of Sonic Youth’s founder Thurston Moore’s new project, Chelsea Light Moving!

Friday, November 1

Today is Day 1 of the Backbone Fest celebrating creative and rockin’ women! So, guys and gals, come get sassy and make your way to the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge for the saucy burlesque of Kool Kat Darcy Lemmonier, Kitty Capone and Josephine la Boheme! DJ Taradactyl gets retro as she spins some classic dance and Disco! Delicious food and good times will be had, so, come on out and spend the night with some rockin’ chicks and insane talent!

Rock on over to Smith’s Olde Bar and support the Atlanta Food Bank during The Smithereen’s Green Thoughts 25^th Anniversary Tribute event featuring the sounds of Starr*Hustler, Nine Times Blue, Jonathan Gale, The Bitteroots, Kenny Howes and The Wow! and many, many more! So, come on and dance the night away and rock out to support a great cause! Get dolled up and pin-striped and head on down to The Ferst Center for the Arts as they get swingin’ with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!  Or get low-down and dirty with the outlaw, psychedelic junkyard folk sounds of Rolling Nowhere, the nitty gritty foot-stompin’ sounds of the Villain Family Band and the ‘gypsy punk garage grass’ of Strung Like A Horse at The Star Bar! Get funky at the Crimson Moon Café with Missy Raines & The New Hip! Boogie on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and dance the night away with the rollicking blues of The Breeze Kings!

Saturday, November 2

It’s Day 2 and your last chance to spend a day with some kick-ass ladies at the Backbone Fest held at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge!  Get your fill of the Americana, punk-swing nostalgic sounds of the 20s with Megan Jean and the KFB or take in the rockin’ soul of Sioux City Sue!  Sex BBQ gets kinky and will take you on a rockin’ haunted journey while Lily & The Tigers deliver their gothic Americana rock! So, don’t miss this day chock full of lady kick-assery!

Today’s your last chance to kick some zombie tail and exterminate the undead at the Atlanta Zombie Apocolypse (AZA)!  Come on out, prepare to cry and come get your zombie fightin’ skills on! Michael “Papa Nez” Nesmith, formerly one-quarter of The Monkees, takes over the Variety Playhouse with a soulful, folky set! The Red Light Café gets swanky as Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet gets to rockin’ with their Django gypsy-jazz! Get your dancin’ shoes on and 40’s attire and swing on by the Kennesaw State University Center as they kick off their 6^th Annual ‘1940s Swing Dance’ for an evening of live Big Band music with The Peachtree Jazz Edition’s 18-piece orchestra! Rock on over to The Star Bar and get an earful with Spindrift jammin’ out to their ‘psychedelic spaghetti western grind-house’ rock, John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives, Blake Rainey & His Demons and the foot-stompin’ bluegrass of the Skylarks! Slip on down to The Shelter as DJ BC hosts Atlanta’s monthly mashup bootleg party, Bootie ATL #15! Dress like a pirate, get in free! You don’t want to miss DJ Supercrunk as he spins his mashup album ‘I Heart Bowie’! The Crimson Moon Café hosts the legendary Randall Bramblett and his folky pop-rock! Steve’s Live Music gets rockin’ with the Electromatics while Tony Holiday & The Velvetones get blues funky at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! Head over to Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck belts out those rockin’ 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, November 3

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the Georgia Mountain Stringband at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm.  Get jazzy at lunch with Deb Bowman and her sultry standards at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs at 1 pm.  Hey ladies! Shimmy on over to the Red Light Café for Kitty Love’s Boudoir Blitz and let Kitty Love of Cheeky Belles Burlesque teach you how to let loose your inner sultry kitten!  And it’s your second chance to catch Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet jive with their Django gypsy-jazz at The Earl!  Get bluesy as Fatback Deluxe belts out their retro blues, soul and jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!  Stroll on down to the Northside Tavern for the sounds of Uncle Sugar or make your way to Eddie’s Attic for a night of rootsy blues Americana with Marshall Ruffin! And it’s your last chance to catch Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996)  at the Cinefest!

(Kitty Love)

Ongoing

Atlanta Zombie Apocolypse runs from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2. (LAST CHANCE!)

Netherworld haunts from Sept. 27 through Nov. 3. (LAST CHANCE!)

Chambers of Horror, Atlanta’s adults-only haunt behind The Masquerade, has come a long way baby from a torture porn extravaganza to a creepy crawl through a septic, gritty underworld. Open through Nov. 2. (LAST CHANCE!)

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

Fox Theater’s Ghost Light Tours spook from Oct. 26 through Oct. 30. (LAST CHANCE!)

The Basement Theater presents THE ROCKY HORROR PUPPET SHOW live on stage! Admission includes audience participation goodie bags to play along, so come out and get naughty with those sexy, sexy puppet aliens from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2. (LAST CHANCE!)

Atlanta Lyric Theater gets jazzy with the GUYS AND DOLLS from Oct. 25 through Nov. 10.

Cinefest screens Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996) from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3. (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.

The horror! The horror! Thanks to some dedicated monster-lovers, Atlanta has become the year-round capital city of Scary. This October, though, our local terrifying talent has outdone themselves in creepy creativity. Here are our reviews of five of the city’s hottest haunted attractions. One general tip for all: wear comfortable closed toe shoes and clothes that you don’t mind getting moist. Don’t worry. The monsters may tell you they are spurting you with blood or other bodily fluids, but it’s just water. Well, we think it is.

ATLRETRO’S HAINT OF THE SEASON: CHAMBER OF HORRORS

Chambers of Horror, Atlanta’s adults-only haunt behind The Masquerade, has come a long way baby from a torture porn extravaganza to a creepy crawl through a septic, gritty underworld. So we’re not only calling it this year’s most improved attraction but also a must-see, as long as you have a stomach for extreme violence and the phantasmagorically pornographic. Let’s be clear–you won’t be seeing parasexual activity, but nakedness and deformed organs are in view.

This year’s concept has the old Torture Co. burned to the ground, but some of its denizens have survived in caverns below, continuing their brutal pursuits. The journey begins in an elevator that shakes and shudders just enough to evoke a realistic ride down five stories with a most unwelcome host. Once below, what makes this year’s Chambers stand out is its atmosphere and acting. You really feel like you are deep below, passing through cave-like passages between disturbing dioramas, such as a monstrous birthing, which look believably real rather than staged. Sure, there were some jumpy scares and victims predictably cried out mournfully for help, but it was their torturers beckoning with a longing evocative of Clive Barker’s Cenobites, who truly tantalizing us with a promise of pain, both excruciating but yet beautiful. Open through Nov. 2.

LABOR OF LOVE: ATLANTA ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

When most folks, even in the horror biz, think of haunts, they peg them as places you walk or ride through with scares that jump out at you. Forget all that passive voyeurism with ATLANTA ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (AZA), which this year again boasts two attractions and a zombie shoot. Since its founding four years ago, this bizarre brainchild of Shane Morton, aka Professor Morte of the The Silver Scream Spookshow, and Johnny Rej, former owner of the Plaza Theatre, distinguished itself as a fully immersive experience where visitors literally become part of a realistic plot line of a zombie incursion. Some may consider it off the beaten track just south of I-285 at the Moreland Avenue exit, but the abandoned aura of this industrial area only adds to the apocalyptic feel, and there’s no discounting that having the full run of Safety Wolf, a derelict motel/truck stop turned paintball course, opens up a toxic host of possibilities.

What we love about this year’s AZA’s three attractions is that they steer away from George Romero, WALKING DEAD and other military-industrial plague zombie stories. That doesn’t mean there aren’t military types running around with paintball automatic weaponry, but rather that the cumulative effect is a love affair with some classic horror tropes in creative ways which frankly we’ve never seen at other haunts, which appeal to the Retro as well as the contemporary horror fan, and which will delight everyone who is tired of zombies, too. We don’t want to reveal any spoilers, so all we’ll say about the first main new attraction is that it is quintessentially Shane and will especially delight old school Spookshow fans. This is a good point to note that AZA’s staff includes many Spookshow members and attendees, and that passion permeates every aspect of this team effort of true old-school monster movie fans. The second experience incorporates the woods behind the motel again and returns to the same Lovecraftian territory with the dead raised by Cthulhu-worshipping cultists as last year, but expect different guides, twists and a much stronger climax. Even the zombie shoot rises to another level this year. Shooters don’t stand and aim at zombie targets, but rather get to run from room to room with a safety helmet and weapon just like they would in a real zombie apocalypse.

In sum, ATLRetro couldn’t have had more fun. It’s not a haunt or even just an immersive theater experience, it’s a labor of love not just by Shane Morton but also embodying the heart and soul of what makes Atlanta’s monster movie community truly unique and –hell, we’ll dare to say it– the best in the nation. Open through Nov. 2.

MOST GOTHICALLY GORGEOUS: NETHERWORLD

Consistently ranked as the nation’s best Halloween attraction, Netherworld is also completely homegrown rather than corporately conceived. Founders Billy Messina and Ben Armstrong and a dedicated team of designers, painters, sculptors and other artists deserve ever kudo imaginable for crafting a Gothic wonderland in a Norcross commercial space. Every year it gets bigger and better, yes, making us invoke Clive Barker again–a literal manifestation of Midian, where the Monsters live in his novella CABAL and the movie version NIGHTBREED (1990).

The ATLRetro team doesn’t scare easily, so we just walked slowly in awe of the bizarre beauty from graveyards of gargoyles to mirrored mazes, decadent dioramas inhabited by vampires and other classic monsters to sinister steampunk laboratories, weird werewolf lairs to abysses inhabited gigantic Lovecraftian elder Gods. NETHERWORLD also always features a second haunt that is usually more slasher/contemporary horror in its bent–read toxic waste and chainsaws. This year’s BOGEYMAN was particularly fun, our favorite part being the bouncy dancing killer clowns. Yeah, you read that right. We usually are totally freaked out by clowns, and these clowns were mighty creepy. Or maybe we just enjoyed scaring them by hopping along. Open through Nov. 3.

BEST BATTLE OF THE BEASTS: MONSTROSITY CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING AT SIX FLAGS FRIGHT FEST

Every October Six Flags Over Georgia is overrun by ghastly ghouls, terrifying monsters and psychotic mad scientists, but their 2013 Fright Fest has grown hellishly bigger than ever. They’ve upped the ante with 11 haunted attractions and four live shows, but for us the real Retro treat was Monstrosity Championship Wrestling (MCW), which has taken over the Axis Arena in Gotham City for four afternoon shows at 2, 3, 4 and a big Battle Royale featuring all the big bad beasts at 5 p.m.

Yup, we mean the same MCW that was cooked up by our BFF blog Wrestling with Pop Culture (check out our Kool Kat interview with blogger Jonathan Williams here) and “Atlanta’s Renaissance man of horror” Shane Morton (check out his Kool Kat interview here). Yup, Shane has been doubling up on October weekends with MCW during the day as The Silver Scream Spookshow’s “ghost host with the most” Professor Morte and then heading to supervise his other baby Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse (AZA) at night. With the assistance of the horrifically humorous Ringmaster, Morte crowns the bloody victors in matches made in hell as MCW’s deadly contenders duke it out in fearsome full-throttle matches. On a recent Sunday, we saw such creepy contenders collide as MCW faves Dragula, the Alabama Wolfman, Pandora, Bad Santa and more! When they’re not bringing their pro-league fight club for monsters to Six Flags, they can be seen battling it out on their home turf, Club Famous every first Friday of the month. Weekends through Oct. 27.

ATLANTA’S NEWEST HAUNT: CONTAINMENT

The newest haunt on the Atlanta scene is Containment, located underneath Atlantic Station. As described on Containment’s website, “An assortment of demonic artifacts collected by the mysterious Frightmares, Inc., was to be safely transported by train through Atlanta as part of a convoy of secured cargo containers. ut a mysterious chain of events changed everything. The train derailed, causing the containers to crash onto the Atlantic Station property, followed by a series of unexplained incidents, disturbing behavior and mysterious disappearances.”

Visitors pass through 19 cargo containers featuring bizarre medical equipment, creepy dolls, apocalyptic motorcycle riders, redneck cannibals, even a Victorian greenhouse. Other than the occasional character jumping out of the shadows at you, there aren’t too many big scares, but there are quite a lot of interesting ‘artifacts’ to look at in the 25,000 square feet, quarter-mile long haunt. Containment is open through November 3rd.
I’ll tell you that from my experience. Dozens of Klonopin 2mg drugs were taken with no result at all! Just don’t raise up the doctor’s prescripted dosage and all will go fine!

Thanks to Melanie Crew and Rebecca Perry for their assistance with Six Flags Fright Fest/MCW and Containment.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Retro Atlanta promises a week of spooky haunts and rockin’ tunes you won’t want to miss! Come on out and play, retro-style, from the 20s to the 90s we’ve got every flavor you crave! And don’t forget about those horrificly spooktacular films of yesteryear that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat during this eerie season! So get scared, get to dancin’ and join us in Retro Atlanta! 

Joe Gransden.

Monday, October 21

Blind Willie’s has a cure for your manic Monday funk, so come get revived with the old-timey rockin’ blues and roots jive of Midnight Revival! 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. Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some fingerlickin’ BBQ and a side of Dry White Toast!  Get down with the dirty folk stylings of The Moondoggies and some extra dirty psychedelic ‘garbage’ rock with Rose Window at The Earl!  For a night of old school, underground punk, take a walk on the wild side and get rebellious in Hell at the Masquerade with The Casualties, Negative Approach and The Stitches! Come get your geek on and experience the “rock and roll fable” that is The Protomen at VINYL!  Or head on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for some Texas indie folk rockin’ blues with No Dry County and the Gravel Kings!

Tuesday, October 22

If you’re craving some old-school rockin’ blues, come on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for the JT Speed Band and some rockin’ BBQ or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues or hit up Blind Willie’s for the all-star blues, jazz and no holds barred sounds of The Ringers! The Earl is delivering up some post-punk rustic folk as Saintseneca and Hare of the Hounds rock the stage! Mosey on down to Steve’s Live Music for their Bluegrass & Hootenanny Jam featuring The Night Travelers!  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. Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for some ‘junk folk’ and roots rock with Rusty Belle and Barnaby Bright! Check in at the Bates Motel as Northlake Festival Movie Tavern terrifies in their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ presentation of Alfred Hitchcock’s slasher masterpiece, PSYCHO (1960) at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, October 23

Get electrified with the Sparks as they rock out to some synth-pop dance and trance in their Revenge of the Two Hands One Mouth Tour at the Variety Playhouse! Get jaunty and make the front page with Cary Grant in Howard Hawk’s classic newspaper comedy, HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) at Emory’s Cinematheque in their American Comedy Classics series at Emory’s White Hall at 7:30 pm! Blues it on down to Eddie’s Attic for some old-time roots and New Orleans-style blues with the creator and former lead singer of Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies himself, Mike Farris! For some roots reggae and funk, Smith’s Olde Bar has you covered with Mario Diaz & the Natty Roots! Tonight, it’s the rockin’ boogie-woogie-man Bob Page vs. the rockin’ bluesman Eddie Tigner in Dueling Pianos at Blind Willie’s! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires up the blues! Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd. If you’re hunting for something a bit more sinister, rock on over to The Earl and meet your fate with the late 70s, early 80s doom metal band, Saint Vitus, or 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! Come see what a real (disturbing) mama’s boy looks like in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller, PSYCHO (1960) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their Retro Cinema Scares! series’ in their matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, October 24

Get goth and downward spiral your way to Phillips Arena as Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails industrialize the stage with their Tension 2013 Tour! It’s a special Retro Video Night at The Shelter as they kick off their Nine Inch Nails After Party playing classic NIN’s music videos, with a free shot to NIN ticket stub holders! Make a trek through the universe as The Village Theater presents CAPTAIN’S LOG, a completely improvised hodge-podge of galactic proportions at 11 pm!  Or Time Warp it on over to The Basement Theater and catch their presentation of THE ROCKY HORROR PUPPET SHOW live on stage! Admission includes audience participation goodie bags to play along, so come out and get naughty with those sexy, sexy puppet aliens! Rev on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night of boogie-woogie rockabilly with Bill “the Titan of the Telecaster” Kirchen, former member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen!  For a night of raw funk and heavy soul, head on over to The Earl as Georgia Soul Council, DeRobert & The Half Truths and AJ & The Jiggawatts take over the stage! 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 down and dirty with the ‘Dude’ and his bowling pals at The Plaza Theater and savor The Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) during their Fall Focus on Directors series at 9:30! 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. Get a taste of the blues with Sweet Betty & The Shadows at Blind Willie’s while “Frankie Lee” Robinson belts out the blues in Frankie’s Blues Mission at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! For a little early 90s indie rock, head on over to the Variety Playhouse and check out Built to Spill! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Get melted with some island funk and a few cocktails at Trader Vic’s as Tracey Wolfe and the Volcanauts burn down the house! It’s a night of mountain music and foot stompin bluegrass as City Mouse and the Georgia Mountain String Band with special guest, Joshua Black take the stage at the Red Light Café! And it’s your last chance to glimpse into the mind of the horror master himself as the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern’s Retro Cinema Scares! series presents Alfred Hitchock’s PSYCHO (1960) at 7:30!

Friday, October 25

Rock on up to Heaven at the Masquerade and experience the new-wave, science-fiction-inspired rockin’ synthesis of the one and only, Gary Numan along with the electronic punk rock sounds of Board of Whores!  Or get haunted and dressed to kill and spook on down to The Shelter as they kick off their Halloween Costume Bash with a night of rockin’ music and rare Halloween music videos!  Jazz it on down to the Crimson Moon Café for some good ole’ ragtime and 20s jazz with the sounds of Blair Crimmons & The Hookers or rock on down to the Red Light Café to catch Kevn Kinney of Atlanta’s Drivin’n Cryin’ get folky in the dirty, dirty! Let The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater revive you with the sounds of John Fogerty!  Get heavy at The Star Bar with the retro English rock and new-wave sounds of Starfighter or mosey on down to VINYL for some hoodoo funky rockin’ blues as Voodoo Visionary takes the stage!  Get low-down as Spanky & The Love Handles belt out some funky, dirty blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Sandra Hall & The Shadows rocks the blues at Blind Willie’s! Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck  takes the stage at Northside Tavern, beltin’ out those rockin’ blues! Juke it on down to Terminal West for that dirty juke joint sound of Vintage Trouble!  Boogie on down to Big Tex and catch the rockin’ sounds of The Rainmen as they belt out that 60s and 70s rock and roll or swing on down for an evening of rockabilly with Atomic Boogie at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta! Get spooked as the Oakland Cemetery captures the spirit of Oakland in their Halloween Tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark, so come on out and make new ghostly pals and maybe even a kindred spirit! Tours begin at 5:30 pm! The Atlanta Lyric Theater kicks off their presentation of that great American classic comedy that’ll have you tappin’ your toes and throwin’ them bones right alongside those jazzy GUYS AND DOLLS! The Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event gets spooky with their Fright Night and Halloween Dance Party! Dress to thrill (or maybe kill!) and come rattle your bones with the swanky retro sounds of Bogey and the Viceroy, while sipping some devilishly delicious cocktails!

Katy Graves and son Nick in Spooky Partridge. Photo courtesy of Katy Graves.

Saturday, October 26

Come see what’s strange and spooky at The Odd’s End as they host a free Halloween show featuring the quirky art rock band, Pillage and Plunder as well as BB’s Blowdown and the family band like no other, Spooky Partridge, rockin’ out to some Beatles, Ramones and MC5-inspired tunes at 1 pm! Get really retro and head on over to the Opera Atlanta Event Center for The Speakeasy Cocktail Festival: Halloween Prohibition-era Gala at 1:30 pm! Experience the entire culture surrounding ‘hooch’ and explore the world of gambling, cigars and cocktails and flapper girls in their sultry 20s-themed speakeasy! So drag out those pearls and pinstripes and boogie on down with the sounds of the 20s!

Spook on down to Grant Park and get cozy with the goblins as the Krewe of Grateful Gluttons puts on their Halloween Lantern Parade led by the high energy Black Sheep Marching Ensemble, gettin’ brassy and eerie in the dark at 6:30 pm!  Or make your way to the Fox Theater as they kick off their Ghost Light Tours, introducing you to their resident spooks at 7 pm! Come get 80s cool with Kook Kat Becky Cormier Finch and Denim Arcade as they deliver their retro tunes at Sports Time Grille’s Halloween party in Deluth!  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 at 10 pm!

Come check out some 80s experimental indie rock at the Tabernacle as Neutral Milk Hotel and Half Japanese deliver an evening of retro rock and old-school punk!  Leon Redbone gets jazzy with his blues standards at Eddie’s Attic while Mission South folks it up at The Family Dog! The Jason Pastras Trio takes over Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with their alligator-style funky swamp blues while Red Light Café offers a night of rockin’ bluegrass and Americana with Copper Into Steel and Blackfoot Daisy! Get real bluesy at Blind Willie’s with the old-timey blues sounds of John Primer & The Real Deal Blues Band or head over to Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck belts out those rockin’ 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, October 27

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch with the The Porch Bottom Boys at Big Tex in Decatur from 11am to 1 pm. Get haunted and catch a glimpse of the infamous deformed Phantom, played by Lon Chaney in Rupert Julian’s silent horror flick, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), accompanied by the eerie underscoring for the film provided by organist Ron Carter at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre in historic Marietta Square at 3 pm! Come early for a spooky sing-a-long and pops pre-show at 2:30!  For a night of phantoms and haunts, take a trip to the Atlanta Symphony as they conduct their annual spooktacular ‘The Phantoms of the Orchestra’ featuring the Magical Circle Mime Company! Roll on down to The Earl for an evening of punky bluegrass and rowdy folk with the high energy wailings of Larry & His Flask, Onward, etc., and The Law Band! The Family Dog presents the bluesy sounds of the Jez Graham Trio and Francine Reed while Fatback Deluxe belts out their retro blues, soul and jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack!  Head on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for some funky soul with Mingo Fishtrap! Get Irish and retro folky and stomp on down to the Variety Playhouse for some foot-stompin’ Celtic rock and roll with The Waterboys! Blues it on down to the Northside Tavern for the sounds of Uncle Sugar! Cinefest begins their screening of Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996) which runs until Nov. 3^rd! And it’s your last chance to hang out with the ‘Dude’ in the Coen Brothers’ THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) at The Plaza Theater during their Fall Focus on Directors series and don’t forget to head back to catch their Cineprov group as they heckle Sean S. Cunningham’s 80’s classic horror, slasher flick, FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) at 7:30 pm!

Ongoing

Atlanta Zombie Apocolypse runs from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2. 

Netherworld haunts from Sept. 27 through Nov. 2.

Six Flags’ Fright Fest spooks every weekend from Oct. 5 through Oct. 27. (LAST CHANCE!)

Oakland Cemetery’s Halloween Tours haunt  Thursday & Sundays 5:30 – 9:30, Friday & Saturdays – 5:30 – 10:30, so, come on out for their spooky one-hour ghost tours! It’s your only chance to rendezvous with the ghosts of Atlanta after dark! Runs Oct. 18 through Oct. 27. (LAST CHANCE!)

Serenbe Playhouse’s THE SLEEPY HOLLOW EXPERIENCE chills and thrills from Oct. 10 through Oct. 31.

Agatha’s A Taste of Mystery’s who-done-it mystery dinner show, ‘SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…SOMEONE DIES!’ runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6.

Fox Theater’s Ghost Light Tours spook from Oct. 26 through Oct. 30.

The Basement Theater presents THE ROCKY HORROR PUPPET SHOW live on stage! Admission includes audience participation goodie bags to play along, so come out and get naughty with those sexy, sexy puppet aliens from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2.

Atlanta Lyric Theater gets jazzy with the GUYS AND DOLLS from Oct. 25 through Nov. 10.

Cinefest screens Wes Craven’s 90’s horror ‘who-done-it’ thriller, SCREAM (1996) from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3.

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.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962); Dir. Herk Harvey; Starring Candace Hilligoss and Sidney Berger; Friday, Oct. 18 @ 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 19 @ 5:30 p.m. & 7:20 p.m.; Plaza Theatre; Trailer here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

During the Plaza Theatre’s week-long celebration of classic horror, a number of legendary films are being shown, including NOSFERATU, WHITE ZOMBIE, FRANKENSTEIN and THE INVISIBLE MAN. But sandwiched in there is a film that dwelled in relative obscurity for years before home video led to its rediscovery and reappraisal: Herk Harvey’s incredible CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

The film’s plot is deceptively slim. Church organist Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) and her two girlfriends are challenged to a drag race over a rickety bridge, and plunge into the river below. While the police drag the river for the remains, Mary emerges with no knowledge of how she survived. Upon leaving the town of Lawrence, Kansas, for Utah, she starts experiencing supernatural events that grow in intensity. She sees haunting visions of a ghoulish, pasty-faced man everywhere she goes. A nearby abandoned carnival pavilion seems to be pulling her toward it. And, eventually, she begins experiencing states where she becomes literally detached from her surroundings—nobody can see or hear her. These all seem to be leading her to an inevitable fate, as she is continually beckoned to take her rightful place among the dead in the Carnival of Souls.

The bones of the story may seem familiar if you’re a fan of old-time radio or THE TWILIGHT ZONE. A similar tale was first told on THE ORSON WELLES SHOW in 1941. “The Hitch-Hiker” took place on a cross-country drive, after the narrator (Ronald, played by Welles) has a car accident following a blow-out. After getting his tire fixed, he sees the same haunting hitchhiker motioning to him at various points on his journey. Nobody he encounters sees the strange man, yet the hitcher continues to appear along his route. At a stop, he calls home only to receive the news that he never survived that accident, and realizes that the hitcher is Death himself, waiting for him to accept his fate and move on. The story was a radio staple for years, and was later adapted by Rod Serling for TWILIGHT ZONE, with Inger Stevens in the lead role of “Nan.”

The story of a person who should have died—who may, in fact, be dead as the story proceeds—is not an original one, and has been seen many times before and since CARNIVAL OF SOULS. From Ambrose Bierce’s 1890 short story “An Encounter at Owl Creek Bridge” to 1990’s JACOB’S LADDER and 2001’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and from 1983’s SOLE SURVIVOR to 1999’s THE SIXTH SENSE, the basic story proves to be still-fertile ground.

But few have done it as well as CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

Herk Harvey, an industrial filmmaker based in Lawrence, came up with the film’s premise as he passed the then-closed Saltair Pavilion on his way to Salt Lake City. To set his film apart, he claims to have wanted to achieve “the look of a Bergman, the feel of a Cocteau.” His atmospheric lighting and high-contrast cinematography come about as close to that as one can achieve on a $33,000 budget. The film is one of those rare “dreamlike” movies that earns its name. The looming camera angles and the oppressive feeling of dread that accompanies her strange visions translate Mary’s sense of feeling trapped in some otherworldly web to the screen with incredible effectiveness. CARNIVAL’s organ score also adds to the disorienting effect of the film. The textual reason for its presence is an explicit reference to Mary’s profession, but its unconscious association is with silent film. And the intrusion of something from another time or place (the specter of death, the abandoned pavilion) into our present is one of the main conflicts that defines the atmosphere of the movie.

Lee Strasberg-trained star Candace Hilligoss also deserves strong praise, as she carries the entire weight of this film. She has the task of making the character of Mary Henry—who is extremely distancing and unsympathetic—into a character that we fear for. Hers is not a character that we immediately identify with. Everyone that reaches out to her gets pushed away (some deservedly so), and yet we eventually identify with her growing need to connect. As her supernatural experiences become more and more frequent, she suddenly finds that she needs these people. They’re at least less unnerving than that strange man she keeps seeing.

The movie was relegated to the bottom half of double bills upon release, and while late-night broadcasts inspired a small cult of film buffs to take cues from it, CARNIVAL’s quiet approach to horror kept the film from spreading far outside those numbers. It wasn’t until 1989, with the debut of the film on VHS, that people really began to take notice. New prints were struck and screened at art-houses and film festivals across the country, and Herk Harvey—who had continued to be a successful industrial movie maker and film instructor—was finally able to see his only feature film gain the kind of respect and acclaim that it had long deserved.

Herk Harvey joined the Carnival in 1996.

This is not a movie to be slept on. It’s a small, haunting masterpiece of horror cinema that was almost forgotten. It’s the kind of re-discovery that you wish would happen more often. Feel that pull? It’s the call of the Plaza, drawing you into this CARNIVAL OF SOULS. Care to dance?

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