Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
We’ve got a really fun week for shows! Not only do you have some fine Valentine’s Day options, but you also still have two more days to enter our Hives Prize Pack contest before they play in San Jose with Pink!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/14/13-2/20/13”
The year was 1998. The State, MTV’s highly influential sketch comedy show had just gotten the axe. Three cast members: Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter, and David Wain were asked to if they had a play they could do for a theater festival in New York. They were given a week to write, cast, and rehearse it. The name came first: SEX aka Weiners and Boobs. Because if you are going to title something, that’s about as good as a title can get. Fast forward 15 years, and the good people of Sketchfest managed to put together nearly all of the original cast for an encore performance of this fine piece of theater.
Garfunkel & Oates have played Sketchfest twice before. In 2011, they were part of Chris Hardwick’s (No Relation) Music Night as one of several acts performing. In 2012, they opened for the great Reggie Watts at Mezzanine. Tonight, however, we got to experience them play their own headlining set. It meant that every single person in the crowd was their just for G & O. And, considering this show sold out several weeks in advance, it only proved that the good folks of San Francisco were quite thirsty to see these wonderful woman play a full set.
This would be my fourth time seeing fun. within the last twelve months. The first time was in the parking lot of a record store in Austin, TX. That show only featured the core of the band: vocalist Nate Reuss, keyboardist Andrew Dost and guitar player Jack Antonoff. It was 2 o clock in the afternoon in the baking hot sun, and the crowd was simply mad for them. I knew from that moment that this band had the right balance of sincerity and showmanship to make it big. It was a rare moment when I wanted to get to see a band play the big rooms. Shortly after this show, “We Are Young” became a monsterous hit, and their full band, electric club tour that was booked at tiny clubs turned into the hottest ticket in town. Tonight, a short 11 months after that first time in the record store parking lot, I got to see this band do the “full big room” show. And, by golly, the succeeded at it.
Continue reading “Show Review: fun., Andrew McMahon at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 2/7/13”
We’ve got a pretty excellent week of shows coming up. However, you really shouldn’t miss our first ever Spinning Platters film night at The New Parkway in Oakland this Friday and Saturday night at 11:55 PM. We will be screening the Stop Making Sense, which is simply the greatest rock n roll film ever. Head over to our Facebook page to win tickets! Or you can buy tickets here, because it may sell out.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/7/13-2/13/13”
Garfunkel & Oates are Riki Lindhome and Kate Miccuci. On their own, they are both well respected actresses, musicians, and writers. Of course, when they work together, it’s pure magic. No matter who you are, somebody has posted one of their videos on your Facebook wall. They are bringing their live show to Rickshaw Stop on Saturday, February 10th to close out this year’s installment of Sketchfest. We had a few moments to talk to both Garfunkel and Oates. Since you weren’t there with me, I’ll let you read about it:
Continue reading “10 Quick Questions: an Interview with Garfunkel & Oates”
Sara Benincasa is one of my absolute favorite comedians that I have never seen live. She has one of the finest YouTube channels, filled with brilliant characters, excellent political humor, and two great vodcasts: Advice Time, where you get actual advice about issues you may be going through and Gettin’ Wet, where Benincasa interviews important cultural figures from her bathtub! Her Twitter (@sarajbenincasa) feed is pretty on point, too. She probably doesn’t remember this, but her Twitter introduced me to Die Antwoord many years ago. She’s currently working on her second book, and will be performing this weekend all over Sketchfest! She will be performing as part of The SF Sketchfest Dozen with Jonah Ray and Dave Thomasan Friday, February 1st at 8 PM and Saturday, February 2nd at 9:15 PM. She will also be doing You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes alongside Kumail Nanjiani at a special matinee show on Saturday, February 2nd at 1 PM. We had a few minutes to chat with her ahead of these shows, and this is what we talked about!
Continue reading “10 Quick Questions: an Interview with Sara Benincasa”
The greatest band on earth, The Hives, will be coming back to the United States on Monday, February 18th to assault the crowd at HP Pavilion before P!nk takes the stage. And, as a special gift to you, they will be dropping off prize packs for us to give out to two lucky Spinning Platters readers. Each winner will get an autographed copy of their latest record, Lex Hives, a custom guitar pick for each member of the band, a poster, a pin pack and stickers! We will be drawing two winners on February 15th, so you have until 6 PM PST to enter. If your Valentine’s Day sucks, at least you’ve got something to look forward to!
And, after the jump, check out their latest video, “Wait A Minute Now,” off Lex Hives
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Contest: The Hives Prize Pack!”
Andrew Holmgren is a local comic that hosts a monthly show at Dirty Trix Saloon called Get Yucked Up. He is also a member local comedy crew Sylvan Productions, who put on high quality comedy shows all throughout the bay area. He will be doing Get Yucked Up as part of SF Sketchfest at Cincecave at Lost Weekend Video on Friday, January 25th and as part of the Comedy Happy Hour at Cafe Royale on Monday, January 28th. On New Year’s Day, we got together at a coffee shop in downtown SF to talk about his career and comedy culture in San Francisco in general.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Andrew Holmgren of Sylvan Productions”
Just go to a show. Any show. Please support live music. Here’s how!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/24/13-1/30/13”