Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Another week of gigs to keep your ears sated. This is typically a quiet period around these parts, but there are a lot of interesting things going on this week if you are willing to give your ears a challenge.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/13/11-1/19/11”
To the uninitiated, San Francisco’s Sketchfest is probably the most overwhelming 2 1/2 weeks out of the entire year, in terms of live entertainment booking. Its closest cousin is probably Austin’s SXSW festival, where you have a wide array of up-and-coming talent mixed with veterans, all playing some very intimate spots.
As a person that considers himself to be an expert of sorts on taste, I am going to sift through this year’s line-up, and let you know what you should be going to at this year’s Sketchfest. I will guide you through which Emmy winners or CSI corpses (both of which are well represented by this event), in my humble opinion, is most worthy of your hard earned dollar.
Continue reading “A Music Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2011″
It’s scary how quickly New Year’s Eve is approaching. It’s almost 2011, and if you are like me, you haven’t figured out what you are going to do. Well, here are a few tips shows that you can still decide to head out to!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide To New Year’s Eve 2011 In The San Francisco Bay Area”
Hey folks… Sorry, but this is a short list this week. Even musicians and club owners need to take a holiday! But, if you really can’t deal with it anymore, here are a few outings you can make:
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/23/10-12/29/10”
Twas the week before Christmas, and all throughout the Bay Area clubs, things are looking a bit sleepy. But, fear not! Because there is something high quality in the cards every night for the next 7 days, including a few rare performances by legends!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/16/10-12/22/10”
For the last few years, local alternative rock radio station Live 105 has managed to put together one of the most interesting new music showcases out there. It’s called Club Not So Silent Night, and it happens the day before their much bigger event, simply named Not So Silent Night. Where the original Not So Silent Night is a showcase for already well known acts that receive substantial radio play to get up and play for the masses, the “Club” version features newer acts that wouldn’t normally be getting this kind of push from a commercial radio station, and the audience gets have bragging rights by saying that you saw the band in front of 900 people, instead of 10,000. (Case in point: 2008’s edition featured Vampire Weekend & The Cold War Kids and 2009’s featured Passion Pit & The Gossip) If the trend continues, this show was the last chance to see at least one of these acts in such a small space.
I know that it’s pretty rainy out here in the Bay Area, and also very cold, so going to shows is a tough thing to do, but I think that these options are worth braving the elements!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/09/10-12/15/10”
Another wildly eclectic week of amazing live music here in the Bay Area! Check out the awesomeness!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/02/10-12/08/10”
Happy Black Friday, ladies & gentlemen! I was very busy yesterday, and fell alseep while trying to compile this list for Thursday, so I apologize if my lack of guidance made Thanksgiving horrible. Please enjoy these tips, instead, and we will be back next week on schedule!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/26/2010-12/01/2010”
Marnie Stern us the kind of performer that people are desperate to describe in a single sentence. They usually toss together the name of a well known riot grrl band of some sort (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, etc) with a highly skilled male musician (Eddie Van Halen, Robert Fripp, Les Claypool, etc). Although I understand how quick comparisons like this make it easy to market a musician, I feel that Ms. Stern is much greater than that. Her influences are widely varied, and her skill is incomparable.
The surprisingly small crowd on a surprisingly warm November night that came out to see her last night at The New Parish got to experience an impressive show of musical heroic, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Continue reading “Show Review: Marnie Stern, Grass Widow at The New Parish, 11/4/10”