ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you ATLRetro misfits and Kool Kats!  It may be bone-chilling outside, but Retro Atlanta gets hot, hot, hot this week!  Let us keep you warm and toasty while rocking you into the New Year with a week chock full of swell and swingin’ hootenannies!  We’ve got enough rock, soul, blues and all things old-school to keep you busy! So, get off that couch, turn off the tube and come out and play Retro-style! 

Monday, January 6

Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Pork on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for an extra helping of the rockin’ blues with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies!  And blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for the blues stylings of Bill Sheffield!

Tuesday, January 7

Rock on down to Eddie’s Attic for Joe Pernice of the Pernice Brothers and formerly of the early 90s indie rock outfit, the Scud Mountain Boys with Wesley Stace! 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 an evening of down and dirty blues with Little G Weevil! Steve’s Live Music hosts the Georgia Crackers as they lead their vintage 20s hillbilly bluegrass pickin’ and folk sing-a-long with special guest Rachel Baiman! 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. And swim on down (if you dare!) to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Steven Spielberg’s tale of an infamous beast and the havoc it wreaks on an unsuspecting New England beach in, JAWS (1975) during their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, January 8

Swagger on down to the The Star Bar for a night of old-school rockin’ with a modern twist as Sodajerk, Buck O’Five and Joseph Lazzari take the stage!Catch The Hollidays slingin’ their 60s soul and rock n roll at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues while The Cazanovas blues it up at Blind Willie’s! And surf on down to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern for their a few blood curdling screams as they screen Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) during their Salute to the Oscars series’ matinee at 11:30 am!

Thursday, January 9

Get carnivorous and spend an evening with Audrey II whose insatiable craving for flesh and blood will leave you begging for more, at the Strand Theater as they present their rendition of the classic, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at 8pm, running through Jan. 19! Or get your fill of some 60s folk revival with Tom Rush at Eddie’s Attic! Get down and dirty at the Clermont Lounge with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club! Rock on down to the Bailey Performance Center at Kennesaw State University as their Symphony Orchestra performs The Who!  Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings while Heather Luttrell offers up some bluegrass and Americana at Blind Willie’s! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for a rockin’ beach party and a couple cocktails with Kool Kat Joshua Longino of Andrew & the Disapyramids! And it’s your last chance to catch Steven Spielberg’s oceanic terror, JAWS (1975) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their Salute to the Oscars series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Friday, January 10

Ramble on down to the Fox Theater and get southern-fried while celebrating the musical legacy that is the all-American rock and blues legends, The Allman Brothers, at their ‘Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman’ event, with performances by; The Allman Brothers Band, Jackson Browne, Eric Church, Natalie Cole, Warren Haynes, Taj Mahal, Widespread Panic and so much more! Doors at 7:30 pm!

Get down and dirty at The Star Bar with the raunchy rockin’ blues of Kool Kat Rod Hamdallah, the Douglas Street Team featuring Jared Swilley of The Black Lips and Marshall Ruffin! Or rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for an evening of soul, funk with All the Locals, a little indie, garage and rockabilly with Mississippi Shakedown and Half King! Stomp on down to the Red Light Café for a bluegrass’n good time with Cedar Hill! For a little Rolling Stones and Doors-inspired rock n roll, scurry on down to Vinyl for a taste of The Silver Palms!  Fat Matt’s Rib Shack has a little hill country blues and old-timey Appalachian juke joint rock with the John Sosebee Band while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of rockin’ soul with Jeff Jensen!  For a little soul and rock n roll, make your way to Big Tex for The Hollidays or rock on down to Blind Willie’s as HouseRocker Johnson & The Shadows gets down and dirty!  And for a little Latin Boogaloo, salsa on down to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX for a cocktail or two and a little funky jazz with Matthew Kaminski!

Saturday, January 11

Get far out and arty at the Lefont Theater as they present Brad Bernstein’s documentary, FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY (2012), documenting the iconic 60s and 70s renegade children’s book author and illustrator, Tomi Unggerer during their Movies & Mimosa Saturdays event at 10:30 am! Rock on down to The Earl and 529 for the Ohmpark Fest 2, and get your fill of Atlanta’s modern indie bands with a flair for some rockin’ old school rhythms, featuring Adron, Hello Ocho, Little Tybee, Small Reactions, Sea Lions, From Exile, On Holiday, Nomen Novem, Places, Where.Are.We, Ladybeard and Rattler Snakes!  The Masquerade gets dark and funky in Purgatory with a little rockin’ apocalyptic whimsy and monstrosity with Zruda, Savagist, Wolves & Jackals and Loraine!  Rev on down to the Dixie Tavern in Marietta for some rockin’ psychobilly with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! Or get rockin’ at the Elliot Street Pub for a night with Flathead Mike & The Mercurys!  For a night of garage polka folk and jazz make your way to Eddie’s Attic for Eliot Bronson with special guests Cicada Rhythm! Stroll on down to the The Family Dog for some southern-fried soul with Secondhand Swagger! Get a little ‘fast folk’ mid-80s action at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Pierce Pettis! Delta Moon rocks out with some Americana and blues at Blind Willie’s while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets bluesy with Selwyn Birchwood! 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. Churchill Grounds gets jazzy with Matthew Kaminski as they celebrate his newest CD release, ‘Swingin’ on the New Hammond’! For a little folky punk and Americana, rock on down to Vinyl for Killing Kuddles and Picture Perfect Skylines! And get steamy and shake, rattle and roll down to ARTStation as they get saucy in their presentation of Trolley Stop Cabaret, running through Jan. 18!

Sunday, January 12

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch at Big Tex with Cedar Hill from 11 to 3pm! Or, for a ‘hangover friendly dunch show’, swing on by The Earl to catch Georgia Slim & The Stovetop Ramblers! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets rockin’ with Fat Back Deluxe!  And shed no tears, because The Family Dog gets rockin’ and bluesy with the BooHoo Ramblers!

Ongoing

The Strand Theater gets carnivorous with, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ through Jan. 19!

The ARTStation shimmies with their Trolley Stop Cabaret through Jan. 18!

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

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

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

It’s a new dawn! It’s a new day! It’s now 2014, so start the year off right and let Retro Atlanta show you what to do!  We’ve got all the rockin’ swell events you won’t want to miss!  So, get dolled up, get your dancin’ shoes on and live la vida Retro!   Come see what we have in store for you this week!

Monday, December 30

For a night of 70s bar rock and punk funk, rock on down to The Earl as the Barreracudas tear up the stage, along with Dinos Boys and the JP5!  Or for a night of psychedelic circus rock and funky soul, groove on down to Smith’s Olde Bar and catch Zach Deputy, Johnny Awesome and the People’s Blues of Richmond! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with Barrelhouse Bob Page! 

Tuesday, December 31

It’s New Year’s Eve, folks!  Out with the old and in with the new!  Although, we here at ATLRetro prefer the old, so we’ve put together a swell Throwback to the 20^th Century New Year’s Eve Guide <HERE>, that will lead the way as you boogie on down to your final destination in 2013!  Ring in the New Year in style and toast 2014 in Retro Atlanta! We at ATLRetro wish you a very vintage and rockin’ Happy New Year!

Wednesday, January 1

Stomp on over to Big Tex for their annual New Year’s Day Bluegrass Brunch with the Rhubarbarians at 11am!  And what better way to commemorate the first day of 2014 than to come on out to The Plaza Theater and help celebrate the life of the wonderfully brilliant and highly influential actor, Peter O’Toole as they screen one of history’s most notable films, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), directed by David Lean as well as O’Toole’s more recent comedy/drama, VENUS (2006), directed by Roger Mitchell!  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!Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! And don’t forget to catch an additional screening of Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, January 2

Smith’s Olde Bar gets interstellar and rockin’ with some groovin’ psychedelic space funk with Matt Owen & The Eclectic Tuba, Secondhand Jones and Evan the Raccoon!  It’s Bluegrass Thursday at the Red Light Café, so stomp on over and catch a little mountain bluegrass and Mississippi soul with Grits & Soul and some Americana bluegrass and rockabilly with Battlefield Collective!  Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Or, heckle on down to The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s David Cronenberg’s sci-fi remake, THE FLY (1986), starring Jeff Goldblum at 7:30! Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. Surf on down to vintage tiki bar, Trader Vic’s for a couple of cocktails and an earful of rockin’ island tunes! And catch an additional screening of  Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, January 3

Get your old-timey Americana and rockin’ western fix with Stovall at The Star Bar during their 10^th Anniversary Show with special guests Great Northern, Auction House Letters and Bruce Joyner and The Atomic Clock!  Rock on over to Smith’s Olde Bar as The District Attorneys, as those 90s Brit indie rockers, Oasis, offers up their ‘Resolution Bollocks’ event paying tribute to Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory album in its entirety, along with their side project the Party Dolls!  Groove on down to Mary’s in East Atlanta as they get funky at their Furry Disco Balls disco party!  Or get swanky and swing on over to Eddie’s Attic and spend the evening with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet as they deliver up some Django gypsy jazz and western swing!  Rev on down to the Buck Creek Tavern in High Falls and get rocked with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! For a little 60s and 70s rock n roll, trek on over to Big Tex and get a taste of The Rainmen or get psychedelic at The Family Dog with Trucks, Herring, Feltman & Graham!  Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers some rockin’ southern blues with The Rhythm Yard! And get funky at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX while sipping a cocktail or two and boogie the night away with Cadillac Jones!

Saturday, January 4

For some foot stompin’ honky tonk and rock n roll, rock on over to The Earl and catch Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, with Concord America and Made ready!  Or get honky punked and revved at the Good ol Days Irish Pub with a little honkytonk rockabilly noise Grim Rooster with Kool Kat Phil Stair!  Get rebellious and jump on in at The Star Bar for a night of old school punk rock with The El Caminos, Catfight and Brawful!  Or for a little post punk, nerd-core, hop on over to the Masquerade for a little retro-inspired rock with Light the Avenue, Go, Robo! Go!, Lights After Dark, The Road Side and Arrival Notes!  Come celebrate the King’s birthday at Big Tex with the Pelvis Breastlies and their all-female Elvis tribute band!  Get steamy at Eddie’s Attic as Annie Sellick & The Hot Club of Nashville delivers a night of sultry and sassy Django-gypsy swing!  Get some real, old-timey Americana with Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys at the Crimson Moon Café or maybe jazz on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a taste of the Jumpin’ Jukes!  It’s your second chance this weekend to get filled with a little 60s and 70s rock n roll, with The Rainmen at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs!  Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets a little soul and rock n roll with The Hollidays! 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. And you won’t want to miss Atlanta’s homegrown Grammy-winning folk duo, The Indigo Girls at Terminal West, benefiting 20 years of their Southerners on New Ground (SONG) organization!

Sunday, January 5

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch at Big Tex with the Decatur Bluegrass Association (D.B.A) from 11 to 3pm! Or, for a ‘hangover friendly dunch show’, swing on by The Earl to catch a little swanky gypsy-jazz with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonadventure Quartet! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets rockin’ with Fat Back Deluxe and The Family Dog gets bluesy with Bill Sheffield. For a jazzy brunch, slink on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an afternoon with Deb Bowman!

Ongoing

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

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

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Hey all you retro-lovin’ kiddies! It’s that time of year again! The big jolly fella may be spying to see if you’re naughty or nice, so show ‘em how good you are by gettin’ out and seeing what Retro Atlanta has in store for you!  It’s a week of holiday cheer, retro-style, so whether you’re hankerin’ for a good classic flick or are needing to get your retro rockin’ fix, come see what’s on the menu!  Get off that couch and come on out (naughty or nice – we don’t discriminate) and see what Santa’s got for you!

Monday, December 23

Get jazzy holiday-style and swing on down to the Red Clay Theater and dance the night away to some holiday favorites at Joe Gransden’s Big Band Holiday Show with special guest Annie Sellick! Or slip on down to The Strand Theater and get nostalgic with Jimmy Stewart as they screen Frank Capra’s holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) with a holiday pre-show and sing-a-long on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ! Or get retro, Broadway-style at the Out of Box Theatre as they present ‘Side by Side Sondheim,’ the highly-acclaimed musical revue of the master Stephen Sondheim himself, at 7:30! Or groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Or get revived with some holiday ditties at Blind Willie’s with a little Midnight Revival and their Holiday Bonanza! And it’s your last chance to catch some retro holiday classics; Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire at The Plaza Theater in Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday musical, HOLIDAY INN (1942) as well as Charles Dickens’ classic holiday fare, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, at the New American Shakespeare Tavern!  

Tuesday, December 24

Christmas Eve has finally arrived! And there’s plenty of time to get down and dirty before the big fat man comes a’ knockin’! Get the retro holiday spirit at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they present their adaptation of the 1964 stop-motion animated classic, ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ live on stage through Dec. 29! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots! Or jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers get bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern! And get comfy and warm with Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Wednesday, December 25

It’s a retro Christmas, folks!  For those of you wondering, Retro Atlanta is alive and hopping today, so come on out and see what the jolly old fella has up his big red sleeve! The Plaza Theater opens at 3 today, so may all your Christmases be white and come get your fill of Michael Curtiz’s holiday musical, WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) in Technicolor starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney! And if you’re still needing some holiday hope and cheer, catch their screening of George Seaton’s holiday classic, MIRACLE ON 34^TH STREET (1947), starring Natalie Wood! It’s a ‘Festivus for the Rest of Us!’, so rock on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a little southern rock and blues at Mark Michelson & Lefty Williams’ Festivus Fundraiser Holiday Jam! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck & Bill Sheffield fire it up at their Annual Christmas Acoustic Show! Or maybe splash on over to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for some rockin’ blues, soul and funk with Georgia Flood! And don’t forget to catch Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 11:30 am!

Thursday, December 26

Surf on down to Trader Vic’s for an evening of cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier at his Holiday Cocktail Party! For an evening of gritty post-punk rock and gypsy garage grass, rock on over to The Star Bar for Baby Baby, the Junior Astronomers and Strung Like a Horse! Fiddle on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for an evening of bluegrass with the Randy Chapman Trio at their Thursday Bluegrass Jam! Make your way to Eddie’s Attic for the soulful Americana tunes of The Cumberland Collective! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Rock on over to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner delivers some honky-tonk blues while the Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with The Breeze Kings! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas while Blind Willie’s gets sweet and low-down with Sweet Betty & The Shadows! It’s 80s/90s Retro Video Night with free drinks ’til 10 at The Shelter. Get your boogie on at Mary’s, as the East Atlanta venue gets funky with their weekly Disco in the Village. And it’s your last chance this week to catch Frank Capra’s classic holiday goodness, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their Home For The Holidays series at 7:30 pm!

Friday, December 27

After 40 years of seclusion, the Tease from Tennessee has finally arrived! It’s the BettieFest! So, shimmy on down to The Plaza Theater and dominate with the notorious Queen of all Pinups!  It’ll be whippin’ good time, featuring the screening of BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL (2013), a feature documentary about Bettie Page’s life, narrated by the ever-seductive Ms. Page, followed by a Q & A with Director Mark Mori and Illustrator Greg Theakston.  And that’s not all!  There will be live music with Aneles debuting her song, “Bettie Loved” which will be featured on her upcoming LP, a burlesque tribute to Bettie by Kool Kat Ursula Undress of the Atlanta School of Burlesque and to top it all off drawings for Bettie-themed prizes!  So, for the love of bondage and the beauty that is Bettie Page, shake it on down to The Plaza Theater!

The Earl gets Bowie-fied with the Wham Bam Bowie Band, rocking out to the tunes of Hunky Dory and The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust, playing both albums in their entirety!  Don’t be a beast of burden and rock on over to the Variety Playhouse as Satisfaction pays tribute to the Rolling Stones!  Get funky in ‘Disco Hell’ at The Family Dog with DJ Quasi Mandisco! Or have a 70’s power pop-inspired evening with The Illiterates and The Head at The Star Bar! Rev on down to Motorheads Bar & Grill and get rocked with Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and his Psycho-DeVilles! Houserocker Johnson & The Shadows gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Get a taste of some Sweet & Salty blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack while Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets rockin’ with Nathan Nelson & The Entertainment Crackers! And the Northside Tavern fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck!

Saturday, December 28

Get a retro 50s and 60s soulful vibe at The Earl with Kool Kat Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics and get funky with the Bird City Revolutionaries! For an evening of some Delta blues and soul, get down and dirty with the North Mississippi Allstars and Lightnin’ Malcom at the Buckhead Theater! For an evening of Americana, honkytonk on over to the Red Light Café for Migrant Worker and Across the Wide! Or come on down to Eddie’s Attic as Delta Moon rocks out with some Americana and blues! Rock on over to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs as they bring you Glenn Phillips, founding member of the legendary Hampton Grease Band! Blind Willie’s gets sultry with Sandra Hall & The Shadows while Northside Tavern fires up the blues with Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck! For a lesson on the History of the Blues, make your way to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! The Chattahoochee Chain Gang and The Western Sizzlers get old school and honky tonkin’ at Smith’s Olde Bar! And you won’t want to miss Michelle Malone rockin’ out to some blues and Americana at the Crimson Moon Café! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 29

Start your day with a Bluegrass Brunch at Big Tex with Duane Cliatt!  Or groove on down to Smith’s Olde Bar as they get funky with Jerry on the Moon! Slither on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and rock out with Snake Legs! The Family Dog gets bluesy with Jez Graham Trio featuring Joe Gransden!  And it’s your last chance to experience the Fox Theater’s Holiday Tours with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, The Fox’s projectionist since 1978 as well as the Alliance Theater’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, ‘A Christmas Carol’!

Ongoing

The Plaza Theater gets musical with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as they screen Mark Sanrich’s classic holiday film, HOLIDAY INN (1942), featuring Irving Berlin’s classic holiday tune, “White Christmas” written for the film, running through Dec. 23! (LAST CHANCE!)

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

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

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

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

Monday, December 16

Forget the horrors of Monday and get rocked at the Masquerade as they get mischievous and primal with an evening of punk rock and horror with the Misfits, The Attack, Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures and Burn Like Fire! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  And make your way to Blind Willie’s and get your blues fix with The Ringers!  

Tuesday, December 17

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

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

Wednesday, December 18

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

Thursday, December 19

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

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

Friday, December 20

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

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

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

Saturday, December 21

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

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

Rock on over to the Red Light Café and catch the madness and absurdity that is, Colonel Bruce Hampton as he slings over 50 years worth of that funky, jazz-infused rhythm along with Madrid Express featuring Bill Sheffield!  The Basement gets rockin’ as Electric Western presents their Keep on Movin’ Rock and Soul Dance Party! So, put on those dancin’ shoes and get ready for a night of retro rock, Motown, funk, Big Band and some jumpin’ blues! Get sticky sweet at Eddie’s Attic for a blues, rock n roll roots jam with Soul Suga’ featuring Yonrico Scott and Diane Durrett! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for a night with “Muddy’s Rising Son”, Big Bill Morganfield! Or rock on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues and get funky with the Georgia Flood! Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs hosts a Men of Jazz night with the Baraszu Brothers, Frankie Lee Robinson and Tommie Macon & The Gentle Men of Jazz! Rock on over to the Northside Tavern for a blues showdown as Eddie Tigner and Lola offer an evening of dueling pianos! Get funky at Big Tex with the Georgia Soul Council!  Or head out to the Crimson Moon Café for some southern-fried blues with EG Kight! Groove on down to The Family Dog as they get funky with The Heritage! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 22

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

Ongoing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fox Theater gets in the retro holiday spirit as they host their annual Larry, Carols & Mo event featuring an organ concert and sing-a-long followed by a screening of Bob Clark’s classic holiday shenanigan-filled flick, A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) at 7 pm!   Groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Head on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!  Or make your way to Blind Willie’s and get bluesy with Bill Sheffield!  And stomp on over to Smith’s Olde Bar for an evening of soulful bluegrass and Americana with The Grahams and garage polka folk singin’ with Eliot Bronson!

Tuesday, December 10

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

Wednesday, December 11

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

Thursday, December 12

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

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

Friday, December 13

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

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

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

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

Saturday, December 14

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

Get saxy at Blind Willie’s with Eddie Shaw & The Wolfgang!  Or make your way to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues for Brandon Santini’s blues and jazzy roots! Fat Matt’s Rib Shack delivers a rockin’ good time with Mr. Chapman’s Quarterly Review and Roxie Watson honkytonks it up at the Crimson Moon Café! The Family Dog gets deep and funky with AJ & The Jiggawatts and The Grips! For your retro holiday viewing pleasure, make your way to The Fernbank for their screening of the holiday classic, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUSE (1974) during their Holly Jolly Film Fest! Get up close and personal with some creepy holiday puppet action at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they screen Joe Dante’s cult holiday horror classic, GREMLINS (1984)! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 15

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

Ongoing

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

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

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

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

ARTStation presents A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL through December 22! 

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

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

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

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

Monday, December 2

Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, December 3

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

Wednesday, December 4

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

Thursday, December 5

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

Friday, December 6

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

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

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

Saturday, December 7

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

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

Sunday, December 8

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

Ongoing

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

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

Monday, November 25

Get stompin’ and let the Masquerade grind out those Monday blues with some old-school British Oi! featuring The Business along with a little gritty punk rock of the Drink and Destroy Crew and Magoo’s Heros! Or boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Groove on down to Café 290 every second and fourth Monday of the month for a taste of Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’ If that doesn’t whet your willy, chill on out with Barrelhouse Bob Page at Blind Willie’s! Or pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! 

Tuesday, November 26

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

Wednesday, November 27

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

Thursday, November 28

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

Friday, November 29

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

Saturday, November 30

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

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

Come on out and rock out with the freaks, geeks and rock n rollers at The Star Bar for an evening of down and dirty rock and the ballyhoo that is Till Someone Loses and Eye, Bad Friend and Dusty Booze & The Baby Haters of the ‘late scumbag revival’ beltin’ out those rockabilly tunes!  Get 80s and dancin’ with a little new-wave and psychedelic dream pop at The Earl with The Romenz, New Animal and Easter Island! Smith’s Olde Bar offers a night of old-school rock n roll with The Last Waltz Ensemble rockin’ out to some Dylan and The Band tunes, the rockin’ jazzy sounds of The Pergantis Trio and Tim O’Donovan & The Long Shot Saints delivering their Cheap Trick and The Replacements-inspired tunes! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for some cello fusion funk from Pink Floyd to Vivaldi with Montana Skies!  It’s Albert’s Birthday Bash at the Northside Tavern, so come on out and get bluesy with Albert White & The Four Souls! Blues it on down to Blind Willie’s for House Rocker Johnson & the Shadows! Or get bluesy with your BBQ at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Kerry Hill Band!  Darwin’s Burgers & Blues offers a History of the Blues featuring Tom Holland & the Shuffle Kings with their Muddy Waters and John Primer Chicago-style blues! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, December 1

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

Ongoing

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

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

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

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

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

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

Monday, November 18

Shake off those Monday blues and boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam!  Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month. Get revived and take a stroll over to Blind Willie’s for a night of old school blues with Midnight Revival! Pork it up with Pead Boy & The Pork Bellies at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! And hop into Woody Allen’s version of Fellini’s 8 ½, in a recollection of life and love in STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) at the Cinefest which runs until Nov. 24^!

Tuesday, November 19

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

Wednesday, November 20

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

Thursday, November 21

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

Friday, November 22

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

Saturday, November 23

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

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

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

Sunday, November 24

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

Ongoing

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

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

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

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

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.

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.