Author: Dakin Hardwick

A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2016

This wouldn't have happened if Chuck just went to a few comedy shows instead.
This wouldn’t have happened if Chuck just went to a few comedy shows instead.

WHAT?!? Sketchfest is already here?!?! It’s quite a bit earlier than usual this year; I’m sure that this is due to some strange event — wherein grown men run around and throw objects at each other in order to help promote the new Coldplay album — interfering with everything in the Bay. If you are actually interested in the big football game in Santa Clara, this list probably isn’t for you. However, if you’re like me and have never seen a football game nor got picked for anything athletic in their life, this is your list. This is where you go to determine which of the 824,422,122 amazing comedy events will be happening in San Francisco over the next three weeks.

SF Sketchfest runs from January 7th – 24th. A full schedule of events can be found here.

Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2016”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 12/3/15-12/9/15

Playing this Friday at Gilman!
Playing this Friday at Gilman!

This week around the San Francisco Bay Area: Love! Honey! Medicine! Class war! Typos! Beards! And a moonlighting winemaker.

Let’s preview the week’s upcoming shows, shall we?
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 12/3/15-12/9/15”

Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas

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Henry Selick is a true innovator. He’s one of the very few people to bring the joys of stop motion animation to the masses, and managing to have great success with the form. Spinning Platters had a rare chance to have a chat with him ahead of the SF Symphony presenting the film with live score later this month.

You can pick up tickets here! Don’t miss this very special event, and, after the jump, here’s our interview! Continue reading “Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas“

Show Review: Treasure Island Music Festival 2015

All photos by the legendary Paige Parsons unless otherwise noted
All photos by the legendary Paige Parsons unless otherwise noted

For many years, I’ve said that Treasure Island Music Festival was the best music festival in the world. When I made that declaration 8 glorious years ago, after enjoying a mind blowing set by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist at the inaugural fest, my music festival experience was limited. I’d been to a few all day shindigs at Shoreline, a single Coachella, and a few Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Power To The Peaceful events. This year alone I’ve been to a dozen festivals so far. And, still, I declare Treasure Island Music Festival to be the closest thing to perfect a music fest can be. Continue reading “Show Review: Treasure Island Music Festival 2015”

Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

thaopress

Thao Nguyen is a hometown hero. She’s continuously pushing the boundaries of folk music, and making the acoustic guitar an instrument you can dance to. Her 2013 record We The Common is a beautiful and thought provoking piece of work. She’s headlining the 20th St Block Party this weekend alongside Nick Waterhouse, Dominant Legs and many more. This is a totally free event, so there is no excuse not to come.

Spinning Platters had an opportunity to chat with Thao ahead of this performance. Here’s a bit of what we talked about: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down”

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.

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