Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/1/15-10/7/15

Emmylou Harris
She put the “Hardly” in the Hardly Strictly.

It’s a packed week with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park and Alternative Press Expo in San Jose.

Coming up we have concerts by old people, young old people, and very old people who don’t much age. Let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/1/15-10/7/15”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/26/13-10/2/13

I remember the video was all austere and stuff.
It’s going to be like 1990 all over again at The Shoreline tonight, y’all.

October is nearly here. Match pre-Halloween candy sales with some concert-going and that’s a recipe for general happiness.

Here’s what’s coming up this week.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/26/13-10/2/13”

Show Review: Desaparecidos with The Velvet Teen at Bottom of the Hill, 8/28/12

Desaparecidos

Waiting in line for the doors to open at Bottom of the Hill last night I knew it would be a nostalgic evening.  Ten years ago I came to the same place, early and excited, to find a printed paper sign saying that Desaparacidos would not be performing, that instead Conor Oberst would be performing a solo acoustic show.  That show was great, though it was hindered by the fact that Conor Oberst had played the same show as Bright Eyes earlier that year at Great American Music Hall and that anyone going to see Desaparecidos at Bottom of the Hill should have been expecting a night of feverish music and aggression not intense sadness and introspection. As I walked inside I just hoped my dreams of ten years ago would not be destroyed. Continue reading “Show Review: Desaparecidos with The Velvet Teen at Bottom of the Hill, 8/28/12”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/23/12 – 8/29/12

 

Getting the band back together for a show at The Regency Ballroom this Wednesday Night!

It’s time for another beautiful week of rock & roll! LA’s FYF Fest is bringing a bunch of really special gigs to SF, starting this week Desaparecido’s first ever show in SF! It’s going to be a good Late Summer.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/23/12 — 8/29/12”

Show Review: Bright Eyes with Farmer Dave Scher at The Fox Theater, 4/12/11

In sharp contrast to the last show I went to at Oakland’s beloved Fox Theater, the crowd was overwhelmingly mellow, especially considering this could be the last time Bright Eyes plays the Bay Area.  Luckily this ended up being more telling about Bright Eyes’ fans maturity than their level of worship.  Just like every other time I’ve seen Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and their team of talented musicians (this was number nine if anyone’s counting), the audience still fell into a hush while a sense of quiet worship filled the room as the band took the stage.  And they held that stage for over two hours of intensity. Continue reading “Show Review: Bright Eyes with Farmer Dave Scher at The Fox Theater, 4/12/11”

Album Review: Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Monsters_of_Folk_Album_Cover

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this “supergroup” of modern indie/folk but it is not what I got. The album opens with a drum machine, some sort of harp imitation, and Jim James’ ethereal falsetto. My carpool-mate responded to this by saying, “What is this? The slow jam from a Backstreet Boys album!?!” Not what is expected from a group called Monsters of Folk. I don’t know about the folk part, but the members of the band: Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) are monsters of the indie scene. The question remains: when they come together, do you get something better than the sum of its parts? Continue reading “Album Review: Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk”

Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 3 – The View

Listen to the podcast to see why this photo is here
Listen to the podcast to see why this photo is here

Episode 3 of the Spinning Platters podcast is now available below, and in iTunes.  Dakin, Gordon and D.P. are joined on this episode by writer Raffi Yousouffian for a discussion of:

  • What we’ve been listening to
  • Cult Bands
  • Stop the War on Fun and the ongoing fight to keep San Francisco all-ages clubs open

Click on to listen, or even better, subscribe to the Spinning Platters podcast on iTunes.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 3 — The View”