MUSIC

Michelle Malone returns to Eddie’s Attic on Saturday for two shows, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Malone has just released a new album, 1977, an acoustic flavored record that has drawn rave reviews. She has been a force in the Atlanta music scene for 30 years, one of the first artists to go indie to protect her vision of her music, and has collaborated with the likes of Gregg Allman, Shawn Mullins and The Indigo Girls. Malone wrote most of 1977 during the pandemic, which inspired an album of introspective acoustic songs that reflect her Southern roots. Tickets start at $30.

Michelle Malone
Michelle Malone performs two shows at Eddie’s Attic on Saturday.

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And speaking of Shawn Mullins, he also performs Saturday at the Red Clay Music Foundry in Duluth. The show is a benefit performance to raise money for Hero Dog Rescue, which saves dogs from high-kill animal shelters and places them in foster homes. Mullins is an icon of the Decatur folk music scene, best known for his 1998 hit “Lullaby.” Advance tickets are $50. VIP tickets are also available for $125 that include watching Mullins do his pre-concert sound check, plus a Q&A and photo session. 

DANCE

The Adinkra African Dance Theatre, a relatively new Atlanta company, returns for its third season with a performance of six works Saturday and Sunday. The company describes the production as “centered around what it means to be Black and revolutionary in one’s identity.” Works will use oral traditions and movement to tell stories of all people within the African diaspora. 7 p.m. $45. The Windmill Arts Center. 2823 Church Street, East Point.

ART+DESIGN

Thomas Deans Fine Art presents its annual Summer Pleasures group exhibition through August 20.  This year’s show includes popular North Carolina artist Marlise Newman, California artists Sharon Paster and Elaine Coombs, Amber Goldhammer from Los Angeles, Tracy Burtz and Thaddeus Radell from New York and Donald Beal and Charlie Bluett from New England. Among the many Georgia artists are Lauren Betty with new mixed media paintings and Jeni Stallings, who continues to create fanciful surrealist paintings in the series Sail Away (or Stay), inspired by cabin fever during the pandemic quarantine.

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The provocative group show at 378 Gallery, ­­­­________the World, closes on Sunday. The title implies a forbidden expletive but the curators have encouraged participating artists to replace the missing word with anything that appeals to them, from “Bless” to “Enjoy” to “Improve.” As ArtsATL’s Jerry Cullum explains in his review, “the only criteria was that the work be made since the start of the pandemic, responding to what their curatorial statement calls ‘the absurdities and the beauties of this time.’”

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The summer exhibitions at Atlanta Contemporaryone curated by Dr. Ashley Holland and the other by Elisa Harkins, are a call to action through art. They both spotlight Indigenous artists and curators and are the first of their kind in Atlanta. Returns: Cherokee Diaspora and Art features the works of three contemporary artists: Luzene Hill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation) and Kade Twist (Cherokee Nation.) Each artist expresses their identity in unique ways. You Are Heleswv (Medicine) explores ways of healing physically and spiritually from the forced removal of the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee from the Southeast, which “can be described as nothing other than genocide.” Through September 4.

THEATER

Now that it’s officially summer, a breakaway to Jamaica sure would be nice. Failing that, consider a visit to Synchronicity Theatre for Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, which at the very least should put you in an island mood. The family show follows a little boy named Ziggy (which happens to be the name of Marley’s eldest son) who wants to get out and enjoy a sunny spot, “but the fear of evil spirits, tropical storms and bandits keep him locked inside.” The show features the music of the late, great reggae pioneer and is almost certain to have that famous Marley verse playing on repeat in your noggin: “Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be alright.” Through June 26.

Bob Marley
“Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds” is infused with the music of the late reggae star.

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Poor Matilda Wormwood. In Matildaanother family-friendly summer show, this extremely gifted child unluckily born into a wretched family is unluckily sent to a wretched school run by a frightening sociopath headmaster known as “The Trunchbull.” Along the way in Atlanta Lyric Theatre’s production at Cobb Civic Center’s Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, the small but mighty Matilda discovers she’s not only brilliant but possessed with telekinetic powers. And she finds a much-needed ally in her compassionate teacher, Miss Honey. Adapted by Tim Minchin from the 1988 Roald Dahl children’s book, Matilda enjoyed successful original runs in London and on Broadway, aided by numbers that get to the heart of Dahl’s darkly humorous sensibilities, including “Revolting Children” and “The Chokey Chant.” Through June 26.

FILM

The restored 1929 Fox Theatre likes honoring anniversaries during its Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival, so the highlights this weekend include an 80th anniversary screening of Casablanca (7:30 p.m. Friday) and a 45th anniversary showing of Saturday Night Fever (7:30 p.m. Saturday). There’s also a Saturday matinee (2 p.m.) screening of Coco.

BOOKS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ernie Suggs will be in conversation with Andrew Young on June 30 at 7 p.m. to discuss Suggs’ book The Many Lives of Andrew Young as part of the Atlanta History Center’s Author Talks series. Young has redefined the term “renaissance man.” He is a civil rights icon, former Atlanta mayor, for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and congressman. Suggs has worked at the AJC since 1997, and currently covers race and culture. The book chronicles Young’s extraordinary life in text and hundreds of photos, and includes personal accounts from Young and those who know him. Tickets start at $5.





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