Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
There’s more to life than Noise Pop. Not much more, so these week’s list is going to be a bit shorter than usual, but there is still plenty to do that isn’t with the masses.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/24/10-3/2/10”
I have spent a lot of time defending different artists in my day. Usually this is because, well, my tastes are difficult to define, to say the least. (Case in point: two of my early reviews, which happened one right after the other were this and this) But, the one single artist that I come to the defense of more than any other is Yoko Ono. Everyone has an opinion about her, and generally speaking, this opinion is pretty negative. The primary cause of this is most likely either a.) they blame her for the break up of The Beatles (I still think that this was Linda’s fault) or b.) they blame her for the widespread acceptance of the avant garde. I personally don’t hold her responsible for either of these things. I also think people either don’t take her seriously enough, or take her far too seriously.
I must give a respectful shout-out to the good people of Noise Pop for making this show happen. They took a chance at booking such a divisive figure for their opening night show, and it paid off pretty nicely.
As we warm up to the upcoming Noise Pop Festival, here’s a few shows to let you warm up your earplugs with.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/17/10-2/23/10”
Since this week gives us both Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, I am going to create a theme to all our recommended shows list: Every single show listed features a performer that has had an affair with a sitting president of a country. The person that guesses which member of which band band for each show listed gets a special surprise! Please leave your guesses under the comments section. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/10/10-2/16/10”
Thank you Gordon Elgart for handling last week’s list. He did a wonderful job. Sorry about this week’s list. I’m in charge again.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/3/10-2/9/10”
This is our last report from the 2010 edition of San Francisco’s Sketchfest festival, and this one might be the most impressive show of the festival. I showed up before the doors opened, only to find the longest line that I have ever seen at Mezzanine before a show. I made my way to the front, only to glimpse that Dave Eggers was on the guest list.
Many reviewers, when they attend a show, tend to do a lot of research about the performers. They watch videos, read biographical information, and so forth. I don’t believe in this. I like to be surprised. I had no idea as to who Dave Hill was before tonight. I am not so oblivious as to not know who Dick Cavett is, nor Gordon Gano, but I didn’t know who the headliner was. Judging by the size of the crowd, neither did many of the attendees of Sketchfest. In fact, the balcony was closed and the main floor was only about half full. I went in (relatively) blindly. It was a good decision.
The last time “Weird Al” Yankovic made a public appearance in San Francisco was a performance at The Fillmore in 1996. That’s 13 years of eagerly awaiting a return. He’s toured plenty in that time. In fact, he’s played Santa Cruz and Sacramento on numerous occasions, which I did, indeed make the road trip for on one glorious, rainy day. (There were moments on the trip, especially while driving through the rougher parts, where rain was coming from every direction and visibility was none that I thought only by the grace of God did we make it to the show alive.)
So, this is an appearance that has been greatly anticipated by the Al fans from the Bay. I was excited, at first, to read that “Weird Al” was booked to play Cobb’s Comedy Club! I was saddened when I found out that it was a conversation, not a performance of music. I didn’t quite know what to expect of this. He doesn’t have a reputation for being media shy. In fact, before this afternoon, I thought that I knew everything there was to know about Al. I was wrong. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: A Conversation With “Weird Al” Yankovic at Cobb’s Comedy Club 1/23/09″
Coachella was announced today. Pretty good. Pretty much on the other side of the state. And four months away. Musicians work far more often than that. Why don’t you seen them cold and indoors? Sorry that I don’t have Grace Jones to offer you, but here are other things!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: January 20th-January 26th”
I have always considered music and comedy to be kindred spirits. Both art forms require a mastery of rhythm and delivery to pull off well, and much of music and comedy seems to be inspired by the same general subjects: relationships, politics, and religion. This may be why some of the funniest people on earth are musicians, and most of the great comedians are also very talented musicians.
SF Sketchfest has been working at blurring those lines for nine years now, but last night’s Paul F Tompkins performance was the one of the best fusions of the two that I have ever experienced. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The Paul F Tompkins Show w/ Grant Lee Phillips, Dave Foley, Illeana Douglas, Dave Gruber Allen, and Picnicface”