Dakin Hardwick – Page 74 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Treasure Island Music Festival 2015

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 Weekly Show Preview: 9/24/15-9/30/15

Thursday, September 24th Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Show Preview: 9/24/15-9/30/15”

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

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”

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

Thursday, September 3rd Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/3/15-9/9/15”

Outside Lands 2015: 19 Instant Gig Reviews

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

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.

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”

Author: Dakin Hardwick