Author: Dakin Hardwick

Outside Lands 2015: 19 Instant Gig Reviews

Just a bunch of hippies in Golden Gate Park
Just a bunch of hippies in Golden Gate Park

Every year Outside Lands gets bigger and better. This year was a great year for a lot of reasons – it was an excellent, diverse and well-paced line up. They also switched up the set-up of the grounds this year, opening up walkways, adding more bathrooms and in general, making a much more comfortable festival experience. The weather was amazing, as well. None of the usual ice cold and overcast OSL, this year was all about having fun in the sun. I also got to see a slew of excellent sets of music & comedy!

Continue reading “Outside Lands 2015: 19 Instant Gig Reviews”

Outside Lands 2015: Eight Quick Questions with Jen Kirkman

Photo by Robyn von Swank
Photo by Robyn von Swank

Jen Kirkman is one of the funniest people out there right now. She’s also incredibly hard working… Her first book, I Can Barely Take Care Of Myself is a work of epic genius, and she seems to be the MVP of Comedy Central’s @midnight. She just premiered a special on Netflix called I’m Going To Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), which you can view the trailer to here.

Or, if you prefer to view people without a screen, she’s performing a stand up set at Outside Lands on Friday, as well as participating in Friday’s Uptown Showdown and Saturday’s ASSSCAT. (Click here for her Outside Lands schedule) If you aren’t coming out to the park, you can catch her on the road, as well. Those dates can be found here.

Spinning Platters had the pleasure of chatting with her recently. Continue reading “Outside Lands 2015: Eight Quick Questions with Jen Kirkman”

Top 10 60’s Bands From The Bay Area That Were More Influential Than The Grateful Dead

Even this band was way better than The Grateful Dead.
Even this band was way better than The Grateful Dead.

Unless you are living under a rock, you’ve heard that The Grateful Dead are playing a pair of “farewell shows” in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. There is an obscene amount of hype over these shows, and they’ve sold about 8 trillion tickets for them. Not bad for a band that NOBODY knows any songs by unless you are a fan. The Dead were a huge cult band, but really didn’t do much to change popular music has a whole. The 60’s were a great time for music in the Bay Area, and there were a lot of bands that were way more important, in my own humble opinion. Feel free to get angry, but here’s a list of 10 undeniably talented bands from the Bay in the 60’s.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/4/15-6/10/15

Snarky Puppy is playing Miner Auditorium
Snarky Puppy is playing Miner Auditorium

Summer is ready when you are! And so is the first proper bay area outdoor music festival!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/4/15-6/10/15”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/21/15-5/28/15

11257658_10152754556540124_1048040374_nDo you like reading my weekly show suggestions? Wanna listen to me play records all night? Come to Doc’s Lab on Saturday Night! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/21/15-5/28/15”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/14/15-5/21/15

Coming to Brick & Mortar!
Coming to Brick & Mortar!

Enjoy another fine week of rock n roll in the bay! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/14/15-5/21/15”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/7/15-5/14/15

Tonight at Brick & Mortar!
Tonight at Brick & Mortar!

Because nobody WANTS to be a responsible adult…

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Show Review: Two Nights with Sleater-Kinney at The Masonic, 5/2/15-5/3/15

Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney

The last time Sleater-Kinney played a show in San Francisco, it was a two-night stand at the Great American Music Hall that ran May 2nd and 3rd, 2006. Exactly nine years to the day, they returned to San Francisco, only instead of returning to that intimate, 600-seat club, they played nine blocks away at the newly-restored Masonic Theater. The fact that they put so much care and thought into the tour routing meant that this was going to be a special event; the fact that these shows both sold out in milliseconds proved that San Francisco cared just as much about their return as the band does.

Continue reading “Show Review: Two Nights with Sleater-Kinney at The Masonic, 5/2/15-5/3/15”