Author: Dakin Hardwick

Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: The Return Of The Greatest Hits Album

There are a lot of things unexpected about 2020 that are less than enjoyable… You know, like the raging pandemic threatening to destroy civilization as we know it and ruining pretty much all joys in life. One surprisingly pleasant thing is the return of the “Greatest Hits” record. With the whole “spending 100% of my time at home” business that comes with life right now, I’m finding myself putting more music on my turntable and doing a lot less streaming and making playlists. The sound is warmer, and the ceremony of putting on a record continues to fill me with great joy. The “greatest hits” format also means you get the songs that have followed you around- the songs they played live, the tracks you’d hear out and about, back when going out and about was a thing you could do without risking your life and the lives of all your loved ones. It’s comforting to reminisce about the pre-pandemic life over the joy of a hits compilation. 

I’m also an apartment dweller in the Bay Area, so shelf space is at a premium. Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: The Return Of The Greatest Hits Album”

Single Of The Week: “Stupid Boys” by Bleached

Last night, Bleached played their first show of 2020. It was a livestream, sponsored by our friends at General Election LA. It was fantastic. Sorry you missed it. Instead, here’s a brand new single from LA’s finest! It’s a fun song, that fuses together the disco energy of last year’s Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? with the classic, brash Ramonsean punk they were doing when we first fell in love with this band. This is an ear worm that will have you dancing all the way to the polls… Which reminds me to MAKE SURE YOU DEVELOP A VOTING PLAN!! Don’t leave it up to chance… I made some short videos a few years ago to help with electoral anxiety, especially if you haven’t been a regular participant in the electoral process. 

“Stupid Boys” can be found in all the usual places, and the livestream of last night’s show will remain live here until 7pm PST, so take a long lunch and enjoy!

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 9 with Lani Torres of Ivy Room

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

 Our guest this week is Lani Torres, co-owner of Ivy Room, a great 200 cap room in Albany, CA. We talked about her first show, how she fell into working in live music, we waxed nostalgic about the Bay Area show scene, and talked a bit about running a music venue. 

Ivy Room is located at 860 San Pablo Ave. Sadly, they aren’t doing live music right now due to COVID, but they are open for take out cocktails and food from 4-8 Thurs-Sat and 2-6 on Sundays. If you want to support the venue while it’s shuttered, they have a GoFundMe and some lovely merch for sale. They also have BITCH from Bitch and Animal and the legendary Detroit Cobras booked for shows next September, and you’ll probably see me at one or both of these. You can pick tickets up for those here. 

If you have any feedback about this episode, feel free to email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com. If you like what you heard and want to help support this thing, feel free to Venmo me whatever tip you feel is adequate @Dakin-Hardwick.  And, most importantly, please go to SaveOurStages.com to find out what you can do to help independent promoters and venues weather this COVID crisis so we have shows to go back to when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening!

Single of the Week: Can You Dance To A Feeling? by The Shutups

Oakland’s own The Shutups are bringing us this week’s Single Of The Week. “Can You Dance To A Feeling?” is a power pop burner, great for getting ready to go out. Yes, I know you can’t go out until sometime next year, but it still feels good to listen to the music that helps you feel that way. The music video also takes place largely outside of the Loard’s Ice Cream shop by my gym, which I miss going to, and can’t wait to see that reopen sometime next year. 

You know what you don’t have to wait until next year for? The EP that this week’s single comes off of! 5 by The Shutups is out TODAY and since it’s Bandcamp day, you can buy it right now and 100% of the money you drop on it will go straight to the band so they can, um, buy more ice cream? Also, tonight at 8pm, the band is playing (an empty) Ivy Room, with the whole thing getting streamed on Kill Rock Stars YouTube Channel!

Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Group Sex by Circle Jerks

2020 was going to be a great year. My concert calendar was pretty much full for the year by the end of February. One of the most exciting things for me was that Bikini Kill and Circle Jerks, two of bands from my most formative music experiencing years, were going to grace the world with full tours for the first time in decades. Circle Jerks were due to play their debut record, Group Sex, in it’s entirety on this tour. Sadly, I sold my CD of this long ago, back in my most broke days. So, to celebrate, I found myself using Spotify (I know…) to get amped for this tour, as well as introduce my 18 month old kid to this music. Which did make for epic dance parties throughout the house during the early days of “Shelter In Place,” while awaiting for us to get our act together and stop transmission of the virus so we could enjoy our Summer. 

Sadly, as the pandemic progressed, hopes were dimming for that tour to come to fruition. THEN- THE WORST THING HAPPENED!!! Group Sex abruptly disappeared from streaming services. Sure, there are other fine Circle Jerks records, and a live album from the 80’s that features many of these tracks, but it wasn’t the same. (Thank god we can still listen to their Debbie Gibson collaboration!) There was a giant, gaping hole in my child’s hardcore education. But, fear not- it’s coming back! (Also, the band WILL BE TOURING IN 2021! US Dates, including, hopefully, a proper rescheduling of their Oakland show will be coming)  Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Group Sex by Circle Jerks”

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 8 with Ashley Graham

Photo by Paige Parsons

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

Ashley Graham is the marketing director for The Fillmore and The Masonic. She’s also the art director behind those amazing Fillmore posters. In her free time, she’s also the advisor to Andrew St James. We talked about her career, of course, and what it’s like to land a dream job where you actually get to work with Sammy Hagar. Yes, we talk about Sammy Hagar. We also talked about what it’s like when you have a promo cycle plotted out for an artist, only to have it upended due to COVID and you have to get creative. 

You can follow Ashley on Instagram here. And Andrew St James can be found here. His Fast Times project can be found here, and his new band, Juan Wayne, can be found here. 

If you have any feedback about this episode, feel free to email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com. If you like what you heard and want to help support this thing, feel free to Venmo me whatever tip you feel is adequate @Dakin-Hardwick.  And, most importantly, please go to SaveOurStages.com to find out what you can do to help independent promoters and venues weather this COVID crisis so we have shows to go back to when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening!

Single of the Week: nowhere, man by tUnE-yArDs

Merrill Garbus has kept herself incredibly busy since 2018’s I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life. She’s been producing other people’s music, as well as scoring Boots Riley’s epic film Sorry To Bother You, as well as his yet to be named TV show project. I was actually thinking that she was about ready to let tUnE-yArDs go, and then this  chaotic piece of music landed on my headphones today, and, well, WOW! This is the biggest, noisiest thing that we’ve every gotten from Garbus & company, and I’m all in. She manages to keep her groove while attacking you with piano and electric guitar and feedback. So many emotions. So much happening, and it just feels like my brain right now. 

“nowhere, man” can be found in all of the usual places. No word yet on whether this is from an upcoming full length, or it’s just a one off track, but it’s a good one, so enjoy!

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 7 with Amy Davidman of The TBA Agency

First of all- GOOD NEWS! If Stitcher is your preferred place to listen to podcasts, WE ARE THERE NOW! Click here to follow us there, and you can find this podcast on all the other places here. 

Amy Davidman is one of the partners of The TBA Agency, a booking agency that was formed by a team of booking agents that were all let go of Paradigm Agency due to COVID-19. We had a lovely chat about her start working at The Bowery Ballroom, the shock of being a major player in the NYC music scene in the 2000’s but, somehow, not getting a mention in the book Meet Me In The Bathroom. We also talked a lot about what it’s like to be a booking agent, and what it takes to help support each other during times of crisis. Oh yeah, and about starting a business in the middle of a pandemic! 

If you have any feedback about this episode, feel free to email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com. If you like what you heard and want to help support this thing, feel free to Venmo me whatever tip you feel is adequate @Dakin-Hardwick.  And, most importantly, please go to SaveOurStages.com to find out what you can do to help independent promoters and venues weather this COVID crisis so we have shows to go back to when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening!

Single Of The Week: tonight by Alaina Castillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki2QhRMlNAc&feature=youtu.be

Do you remember a time when you would actually cancel on plans to go out because you wanted to stay home, alone? It’s hard to think about that, but there definitely was a time this was true. I’m sure when this is all over, and we get back out into the world, within about six months many of us will be back there. The joy of Alaina Castillo’s latest single, “tonight,” is it helps take you back to, um February, when we weren’t trapped in doors, and were able to do things like hug and share a straw and whatnot. The accompanying video is great, too! It’s clearly shot with socially distancing measures taken, without feeling like it was shot like that. 

You can purchase / stream “tonight” in all the usual places. One of the options is Tik Tok, so you can really make the president angry by listening on his least favorite platform! 

SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*

I’m going to start with the bad news. SF Sketchfest, also known as the most insane three weeks of live comedy programming in San Francisco, was due to celebrate it’s 20th year next January in an epic fashion. Well, you may have heard that at little thing called COVID-19 has ravaged the live entertainment world, due to the fact that having fun in large groups is about the fastest way to get it, alongside side church, gyms, and working in an office. So, it looks like we are going to have to wait a bit longer to enjoy whatever the good folks at SF Sketchfest will bring us. And, whenever that happens, we will DEFINITELY need to get together and laugh.  Continue reading “SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*”