Single Of The Week: No Gifts For Nazis by Alice Bag

Not enough people have been talking about Alice Bag’s big comeback. One of the original LA punks, she was featured prominently in the original Decline Of Western Civilization  before leaving music to focus on activism. Jump to 2016 and she put out an amazing new record, and then another, and now she’s got the perfect Christmas single! For those living in England, it’s probably a really good day to blast this one as loud as you can.

Alice Bag will be sharing the stage with fellow Decline.. veterans Circle Jerks, as well as Bikini Kill, Plastic Bertrand, Carbonas, Bleached, Panty Raid, and many, many more at Burger Boogaloo in Oakland on July 10th-11th. You can still get special early bird tickets NOW! These are going fast and make great Christmas gifts. Just please don’t buy them for any Nazis.

Burger Boogaloo 2020’s Lineup IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a lot of people know this, but one of Oakland’s best kept secrets is this little rock festival in Mosswood Park called Burger Boogaloo. And this year’s line up is seriously the most impressive line up they’ve assembled yet! We have Bikini Kill playing their first Bay Area show in 25 years! We were their in April for one of their first shows back, and it was pure sonic catharsis. Also returning to the bay for the first time in over a decade is LA Hardcore legends Circle Jerks. (No word if they will be bringing Debbie Gibson along with them, but we certainly hope so!) And, if you thought those two things were impressive, they are also bringing to the United States for the first time ever, legendary French rock band Plastic Bertrand. And, yes, that does mean I will finally get to live my dream of getting thrown around in a pit to this song.

Filling out the initial line up announcement is LA punk vet Alice Bag, SF punk vets Flipper, Queercore groundbreakers Pansy Division, one of the greatest modern Power Pop bands, Bleached, who literally wrote the only song to ever make me cry, Panty Raid, Fevers, Twompsax, Younger Lovers, Midnite Snaxx, Carbonas  and even more bands will be announced very soon. Oh yeah, and John Waters will be there to MC the party!

The event is in Mosswood Park in Oakland, CA, just a few blocks from Macarthur Bart. The event is happening July 11th-12th, and tickets are available NOW! Just remember, prices will go up, so buy them ASAP.

Single Of The Week: Got You by Amyl and the Sniffers

Australia has been killing it lately with great rock n roll! Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin, Wing Defence, Camp Cope, and so many more amazing musicians keep popping out of our friends on the other side of the Earth. The latest of these excellent bands is Amyl and the Sniffers, giving us a nice healthy dose of bratty garage rock to get you through your Friday doldrums.

Their new record came out TODAY and can be found streaming in all the usual places, or you can order the fancy splatter vinyl here! Also, they are touring everywhere this Summer, including a stopover at Burger Boogaloo, where you can enjoy them alongside The Jesus + Mary Chain, Shannon and the Clams, Dead Boys, fellow Aussies’ The Scientists, and many, many more!

Burger Boogaloo 2019: NEW BANDS ANNOUNCED!!!

This year is the 10th Anniversary of the best little punk rock festival the Bay Area has to offer, Burger Boogaloo! It’s hosted by John Waters, who will tell stories and introduce each band. The initial lineup was announced a few months back, but today they added a SLEW of amazing bands! We now get the amazing Nobunny, The Dwarves, who will be coming to make up for the set they had to cancel last year (maybe Blag Dhalia will steal the mic for “Sonic Reducer” from the Dead Boys), King Tuff doing the classic record King Tuff Was Dead, Davila 666, The Chats, and Timmy’s Organism!   Also, The Jesus + Mary Chain will now be playing both Saturday and Sunday, doing a completely different set each night! All of this, plus the previously announced Shannon & The Clams, Scientists, Sheer Mag, Amyl and The Sniffers, and MORE!

The whole party is happening July 6th & 7th in Mosswood Park in Oakland, CA! A limited number of Valentine’s Day Special tickets went on sale today, as well as single day passes. Those can be purchased here!  

Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Arm of Mudhoney

MARK ARM is the frontman for grunge legends MUDHONEY. In a prior life, Mr. Arm was the lead singer for GREEN RIVER, another legendary Pacific Northwest band that happened to feature both STONE GOSSARD and JEFF AMENT, two dudes that would eventually go on to start PEARL JAM. Arm was able to take a break from managing the warehouse at Sub Pop Records to talk to us about his life in bands, balancing his day job and music in general.

Mudhoney are playing Burger Boogaloo this SATURDAY at Mosswood Park in Oakland. Tickets are still available hereContinue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Arm of Mudhoney”

Here Is A Safe Space: Burger Boogaloo 2017

Photo by Breanne Bowland

I used to go to a lot of shows. I spent most of my twenties in Chicago, which, oh man, the music scene. Ten bucks could get you a Huber Bock and what felt like constant access to [The] Gossip. Gingerman, Elbo Room, Delilah’s, the Metro, Empty Bottle, the Vic, and countless little dank bars.

I’m older and more tired now, but that isn’t why I almost never go to shows. On about a 1:1 ratio, for every show I attended in Chicago, there was one I called off at the last minute, one I spent huddled in a corner, one I missed most of because I “stepped out for air” and never went back in. A couple years ago, I stopped fighting the fact that I rarely, if ever, feel safe at shows. I had to start saying it in words when I started dating my husband, who goes to an average of two shows a week, and who can predict with almost 100% accuracy which bands I will like. I’d watch him bop easily around a room hugging friends, and realize we’d never have a relationship if I kept trying to go to shows and standing stiffly in the least crowded part of the space with my arms locked around my chest until enough time had passed that I felt justified shouting “I’M READY TO GO NOW” in his ear. Continue reading “Here Is A Safe Space: Burger Boogaloo 2017”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-28 – 2017-07-02

It’s the week between Pride Weekend and the Fourth of July Weekend. A chance to catch your breath.

Speaking of catching things, let’s talk about what you can catch in this week’s shows. What we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area includes: ogres, lifers, (sc)avengers, The Dude and The Iguana.

So, we’re going to do the preview now. Doing the preview now. Preview is go and now we go do the preview now. Previewwww.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-28 – 2017-07-02”

Burger Booglaoo 2015: The Best Show Around

Aggy Sonora of Magnetix
Aggy Sonora of Magnetix

When I visited Gonpachi, the restaurant that inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1, I watched as a teenage bus boy, carrying a tub of dirty dishes, tripped on the second floor landing, sending a cascade of water on two well-suited Japanese business men at the bar below. Resulting in a flash and flury of apologies, towels, and more apologies, I waited for something to happen.

In all honesty, I hoped this was the open action sequence to a movie – the bus boy, who would *really* be an bus GIRL would be a high-stakes arms dealer attempting to get far undercover into mob headquarters to take out the mob boss who’d killed her father. Amid the building tension and suspicion, Mr. Mob, realizing his restaurant would now be the scene for said revenge, The 5, 6, 7, 8’s would loudly tear into: “I’m Blue.” Brilliantly choreographed knife and fist fights (imagine Kill Bill meets The Raid) between our starring underdog crime fighter lady and the mob’s henchmen would ensue.  And above the nash of fists, faces, and katana swords and the interlude of “Bomb the Twist”, John Waters would quietly take the open seat next to me:  “Soooo, hmm, yakitori?” he would ask calmly, coyly peeking at me through delighted eyes.

Continue reading “Burger Booglaoo 2015: The Best Show Around

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/5/13-7/10/13

I expect Mosswood Park to look a lot like this come Saturday...
I expect Mosswood Park to look a lot like this come Saturday…

This is a short week. I didn’t want to work on Independence Day. Still, there is plenty left to do this week, so I hope you didn’t party too hard last night!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/5/13-7/10/13”