Creative Loafing Atlanta

Furkids Animal Rescue & Shelters is celebrating the grand opening of its new Sutherlin Dog Shelter on Saturday, August 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Cumming campus. The free, family friendly event will feature guided shelter tours, adoptable dogs and cats, activities, local bites and refreshments, plus a live broadcast from 97.1 The River with concert ticket giveaways. Guests can also explore Furkids’ nine acre campus and learn more about the organization’s rescue efforts across Georgia. Furkids is located at 5235 Union Hill Road in Cumming. Overflow parking and shuttle service will be offered at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church. For more information, visit ===furkids.org===.

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Kick off your concert night at Tesserae, the chic rooftop spot perched atop boutique hotel The Tess. From August 22 through November 15, Tesserae is pouring the “Before the Encore” cocktail menu, a limited-time cocktail menu inspired by artists taking the stage in Atlanta this season. Sip your way through concert-inspired creations including: "Martini I Need" (Olivia Dean

Experience Austin, TX alt-pop trio Glass Mansions live at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta on August 12 in the Atlanta Room. Influenced by indie sleaze, heavy synths and tight, dance-friendly rhythms. Their music is propulsive and elastic, with cinematic pop-melodies, lush electronic beds of sound and intelligent, intimate lyrics. Glass Mansions, led by the charismatic, sultry voice of Jayna Doyle, is an alt-poptrio from Austin, TX influenced by indie sleaze, heavy synths and tight, dance-friendly rhythms. Their music is propulsive and elastic, with cinematic pop-melodies, lush electronic beds of sound and intelligent, intimate lyrics. Live, it’s pure rock n roll – raw, sweaty, passionate – and chances are you’ve probably seen Glass Mansions at some point or another as they’ve criss crossed the country DIY touring, playing places like SXSW, Warped Tour, Canadian MusicWeek, Indie Week Canada and opening for bands like Phantogram, RobertDeLong, Young the Giant and Unlikely Candidates. "The best alt-pop band you've never heard of." "If you haven’t heard them yet, do yourself a favor and listen. They’re crazy good. Diamonds in the rough, indeed,"says The Vinyl District's Dana Walsh. In March 2026, they released the lavish and visceral new anthem "Sunsetting," showcasing the band at their most honest and confident, followed by SOFTWITNESS in June 2026, an EP that finds the trio of Jayna Doyle, multi-instrumentalist Blake Arambula, and drummer David Edwards exploring self-discovery, rebirth, nostalgia, and the deep healing and strange liberation that comes from extreme loss and grief. That rawness and authentic connection translates from the songs themselves directly to the live experience, something you’ll have to witness yourself. Catch them touring across the country this August, and you’ll see why Glass Mansions is proving their worth.

Bao Night is back at Sweet Auburn Barbecue on Thursday, August 13, bringing a little Hsu family tradition to Poncey-Highland beginning at 5 p.m. The special menu features three $5 bao that capture Sweet Auburn’s signature mix of Chinese roots and Southern barbecue: the Hsu Family Bao, Char Siu Bao and Lemongrass Smoked Chicken Bao. They’ll be available first come, first served until sold out. The restaurant’s full food and bar menus will also be available throughout the evening. Founded by siblings Howard and Anita Hsu, Sweet Auburn Barbecue has spent more than a decade putting its own spin on barbecue, pairing smoked meats and Southern staples with the Asian flavors they grew up with. Bao Night has become a natural extension of that story and a favorite among regulars. The restaurant is located at 656 N. Highland Avenue NE in Atlanta.

20 years. 20 records. Over 4,000 shows. And somehow, American Aquarium are still finding new ways to surprise us. On New Ways to Lose, frontman BJ Barham and his band of road warriors turn two decades of survival into a driving, deeply-felt rock & roll statement — one built on resilience, reinvention, and the hard-earned clarity that only comes with time."We've always been outsiders," says Barham, whose songwriting has steered the group through lineup changes, heartache, addiction, recovery, a global pandemic, and every other obstacle imaginable. Long before algorithms and viral breakthroughs spelled out success in the music industry, American Aquarium earned their place the old-school way: through relentless touring and a stubborn refusal to disappear, even when the odds suggested they should. New Ways to Lose turns that outsider status into armor.Produced once again by multi-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings, the album was recorded in Los Angeles over a 10-day session that captured the band at their most immediate and alive. Much of the record was tracked live, with Jennings encouraging spontaneity and instinct over perfection, while a round of overdubs offered the opportunity to add three-part harmonies and horn arrangements to the songs. The result is a muscular, cinematic record that embraces both sides of American Aquarium's identity: the bruised confessionals of a songwriter who's already spent decades sharpening his craft, and the full-throttle release of an anthemic, amplified rock & roll band. Hot-wired with the same electricity as their live show, New Ways to Lose nods to heartland heroes like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Neil Young while remaining unmistakably American Aquarium.For Barham — who formed the band in 2006 in Raleigh, North Carolina — the album isn't just a snapshot on a band at its peak. It's a personal turning point, too. "All of my records are yearbooks," he says. "Twenty years from now, I'll pull them off the shelf and remember exactly who I was when I wrote them." If earlier albums offered glimpses of a man in his 20s, making his way through a haze of uncertainty, heartache, and bad behavior, then New Ways to Lose finds Barham writing from a place of hard-won maturity. He's not just a songwriter anymore; he's a husband, father, and bandleader who's fully comfortable confronting the dark corners of the human experience. Across these ten songs, he tackles themes like the downfall of small-town America, the yearning for true connection, the socioeconomic wreckage of unconstitutional politics, and even the devastation of losing a beloved pet, making room for tenderness and gratitude amidst the sonic stomp of his band. "Twin Flames," written for his wife, stands as one of the most vulnerable love songs of his whole career, a reflection of a full-grown man no longer afraid to say exactly what he means.The album's title comes from legendary NC State Wolfpack announcer Gary Hahn, whose on-air quips — "and NC State finds a new way to lose today" — became metaphors for both sports fandom and the music business. "No matter what success you find, you're always looking up the ladder at what you don't have," says Barham, who's hand-carved a fiercely independent career outside the traditional machinery of the industry. Along the way, American Aquarium have earned an international audience, headlined bucket-list venues like the Ryman Auditorium and Red Rocks, and even launched their own festival, Road to Raleigh, all without a major label, mainstream radio support, or the kind of buzz-worthy hype reserved for music industry darlings. "It's about trying so hard to win at something," he adds, "but always finding a way to lose at it." But in true American Aquarium fashion, the phrase is delivered with a grin and a shrug rather than defeat. After all, this is a band that built their own table when nobody offered them a seat.That spirit runs through every corner of New Ways to Lose. Released independently through Barham's own Losing Side Records, the album doubles down on the freedom that American Aquarium have spent two decades fighting for. They own their publishing. They answer to nobody. And while the industry continues chasing trends, American Aquarium are still doing things their own way — including dropping the album just one week after announcing it. "We take our hits and we get back up," Barham says, "and we do what we do. There are three things you can count on: death, taxes, and American Aquarium showing up to your town once a year to play a rock & roll show."When it comes to New Ways to Lose, the band's rock & roll show looms large. Musically, the record distills the energy of those concerts into one of the band's most hifi, ear-candy-coated studio recordings yet. Towering choruses, piano-driven arrangements, hook-heavy riffs, E Street Band-worthy brass, and screaming guitars give songs like "Out There in the Dark," "Whatever Helps You Sleep at Night," and "Bad Habits" an expansive rock & roll scope. "Our live show is 90 minutes of us kicking your throat in," Barham adds. "We wanted to make a record that felt representative of that."Still, beneath the heartland hooks and sweaty stomp lies the same emotional honesty that has always defined American Aquarium. Barham may no longer be the young road warrior chronicling breakups and burnout from the front seat of a van, but he remains obsessed with documenting what life costs us — and what keeps us moving forward. New Ways to Lose is a record about loss, survival, maturity, and the strange beauty of getting back up after life knocks the wind out of you.Twenty years in, American Aquarium aren’t chasing validation anymore. They've built something bigger: a career on their own terms, a loyal community, and a catalog that continues to evolve without compromise. New Ways to Lose doesn't sound like a band slowing down. It sounds like winning — like musicians who know exactly who they are.

Criminal Records celebrates 35 years of musical mayhem this Saturday, August. 15

Atlanta hometown director of "Road to Everywhere," Michael Paradies Shoob will answer questions at the Tara Theatre regarding the film, which has elements of redemption and healing broken relationships as two strangers take a road trip from LA to the Navajo Nation. (Music by Grammy winning, Native American artist + co-star Robert Mirabal)