Girl Talk – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Kate Nash, Emmy The Great at The Fillmore 11/22/13

Kate Guitar1.jpg — All Photos by Michelle Viray

Oh great music philosophers, Sorockcrates and Rufus (yes dudes, I went there), I beseech thee. Is there ever a good answer to the following question? Do you want your favorite artists to evolve or stay the same?

Unless you move to a desert island accompanied by your top ten albums of all time, there probably is no good answer. But like anything, we must realize, no matter how much you want your adorable puppy to stay that adorable puppy, it’s going to grow up. Being “excellent to each other” requires room for growth. Without growth, the chance for something even greater might as well be stuck in a phone booth stuck traveling through time. So unless you’re one of those people who go to great lengths to breed puppy versions of dogs (I’m looking at you desert island folk), I implore you to keep an open mind.

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Treasure Island Music Festival 2012 Diary: Day 1

Ian (533x800) — A festival patron is enjoying use of the trampoline.

Normally the Treasure Island Festival likes to separate Saturday and Sunday by genre: Saturday is the electronic day and Sunday is the rock day. However, as the lines blur between the two worlds, so did the festival. As Sunday will have a fair amount on laptops, Saturday seemed to have a healthy dose of live drums and guitar. And, well, for me, a lot of new music to tap into. This may be the first year where I was largely unfamiliar with the bulk of the acts playing on Saturday, which made my day even more exciting. I had a nice adventure, and I hope you enjoyed yourself, too. And if you didn’t, well, I feel bad.

(All Photos are by the fantastic Kelly Hoffer)

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San Francisco’s 2011 Outside Lands Festival, Day 2

Can you tell that you're in San Francisco yet?

(For our coverage of Day 1, here’s a link! Or maybe Day 3?)

It makes sense that for a weekend, Saturday is the most popular day. It’s the middle point; you had a night off before and a day off afterwards, so there’s no reason not to go wild and throw a big party. It therefore makes perfect sense, for a weekend-long musical, to host some of your biggest acts on the second day. The fine folks at Outside Lands rose to this challenge magnificently, and in addition to the heavyweights on the Land’s End stage that kept the Polo Field occupied for most of the day, some excellent surprises were thrown in for those who decided to venture out into the smaller and SLIGHTLY less-packed areas of Golden Gate Park.

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Wanderlust Festival, 2011: The Best from the Bay + the Rest

It definitely wasn’t my imagination when I felt that some of the lines for the most sought-after yoga courses were excessively long or the crowds that flocked to the stage for the live musical performances were exceedingly large; as it turns out, this year’s Wanderlust Yoga + Music Festival in Squaw Valley saw some 14,000 attendees solely for yoga.

Despite the 65% increase in attendance from last year, there was still a unique intimacy, not to mention sense of spiritual community, that enriched the entire experience. Yogis and musicians from the Bay Area were there to represent and impart their talents in full force. Thus, I present the best from our area plus the rest that made my trip a truly transcendent experience.

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Spinning Platters Tackles Your Tough Outside Lands 2011 Decisions

map11 — We will make this a little easier for you to navigate.

For four years running now, the good people at Another Planet and Superfly have put together a massive outdoor music festival in the part of San Francisco so far west that most people don’t even know it exists. The weather is unpredictable, the terrain in this portion of Golden Gate Park is difficult, and with 5 stages, decisions are always tough to make. Well, all I can say about the first two is to bring layers and wear sturdy, comfortable shoes. As for who to see when? Well, I’ve studied the band schedule and the map, and based on my impeccable taste in music I am ready to present to you the most fulfilling plan for your Outside Lands experience.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/17/11 – 3/23/11

Check out the concerts happening around the Bay Area over St. Patty’s Day weekend — after the jump.

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Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 7 – It’s a Community

Episode 7 of the Spinning Platters podcast features a discussion of the Treasure Island Music Festival with our guest Sandy Burciaga of the LA-based arts, music and skateboarding site Grimy Goods. We also discuss the history of our websites, and take our usual trips into tangential territory. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 7 — It’s a Community”

Treasure Island Festival Diary, Part 2: 10/17/09 Nighttime

The sky was lit by balloons and fireworks.

When the darkness finally arrived on Treasure Island on Saturday night, I decided it was time to put the camera and notebook down, and just dance. So nighttime at Treasure Island, as seen through my eyes, is a lot of disconnected sweaty memories. That is, of course, until I tried to leave the island, which turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought. Continue reading “Treasure Island Festival Diary, Part 2: 10/17/09 Nighttime”

Choosing My Top 13 Albums of the Decade

There’s this fun little website called The Top 13 Albums Project. For the last two years, they’ve invited anyone who’s interested to enter their top 13 albums for the year into the database. They then compile all of these lists into one master top 13 list for the year. Why 13? I have no idea. All I know is it tends to be a pretty good look at what the blogs are loving that year. Fleet Foxes and The Boxer by The National were the top albums in the last two years. Now, they’re doing a Top 13 of the decade, and in order to participate, you need to submit your list by October 2nd. Of course I’m participating. Follow me now as I run through my personal list. Continue reading “Choosing My Top 13 Albums of the Decade”

Wanderlust Festival Diary: The Photos

Jenny Lewis as seen without a photo pass

I took quite a few photos at Wanderlust Festival: nearly 500 of them. Since I didn’t have any sort of media credential, you’re not going to see any amazing closeups of performers’ nostrils, but my handy pocket camera does a pretty good job of it. I’ve selected 19 of my favorites, showing every musical act I saw over the weekend and more. If you were there, I hope these act as a nice reminder of a wonderful weekend; if you weren’t, I hope it will inspire you to go next year. Feel free to share these photos around. Please just tell everyone where you found them! Now, on to the photo gallery. Continue reading “Wanderlust Festival Diary: The Photos”