Spinning Platters is re-running our 2010 podcast with the late Steve Brodsky. He passed away last night after a hearty battle against Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He was the manager for many great bands, such as Wallpaper., Midi Matilda, Orgone, and AB & The Sea. He was also a really great guy and a very early supporter of Spinning Platters. The Bay Area music scene lost a very important, kind, and funny man. This podcast was loads of fun to record, and we will miss him dearly.
And if you haven’t registered to be a bone marrow donor, please do so. It only takes a few minutes to potentially save a life!
Tonight at Bottom of the Hill, Rogue Wave is playing a sold out show for the 2013 Noise Pop Festival. This isn’t particularly newsworthy; they’ve done it before. What’s a big deal about this is that it’s Rogue Wave’s first hometown show in a couple of years, and it comes soon after the completion of their newest album, due sometime later this year. I sat down with Pat Spurgeon, Rogue Wave’s long time drummer to talk about the upcoming album, how musicians talk about their influences, and Gangnam Style, of course. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Pat Spurgeon of Rogue Wave”
Headlining the Take Action Tour at The Fillmore on Tuesday
It’s the week before Noise Pop, so you might think “lemme get some rest,” but no! The world of live music in the Bay Area will never let you rest. Get out there and see some shows, because the band that wrote the best song ever is playing this week, and local heroes are all over town, playing farewell shows, covering classic artists, and generally being amazing. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/21/13-2/27/13”
See Stop Making Sense Feb 8-9 at The New Parkway in Oakland
This weekend kicks off the Spinning Platters Midnight Music Movies screening series at The New Parkway in Oakland. When we decided that we wanted to curate a series of midnight screenings of our favorite music movies, one jumped right to the top of everybody’s list: the classic Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense. If the name alone is enough reason to come to the movie, then buy your tickets here. If you want to know why this is the greatest concert film ever made, I’ll be glad to tell you. Continue reading “Midnight Music Movies at The New Parkway: Stop Making Sense”
Most people know Stephen Tobolowsky for the roles he’s played: Ned in Groundhog Day, Sammy Jankis in Memento, or perhaps giving a sexy line reading of “passport” in Sneakers. But there are a growing number of people in the corners of the Internet who know him not just for his acting, but also for his storytelling prowess, as heard on the podcast that shares the name with tonight’s event, The Tobolowsky Files.
The Tobolowsky Files podcast started as an offshoot of my favorite movie podcast, The /Filmcast. He came to their attention through a film called Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party, a fantastic film in which his birthday is celebrated by him telling stories about his life. Now, he makes it very clear in every episode of the podcast, and again tonight, that all of his stories are true, and that all of them happened to him. He says that “the truth trumps clever ever time,” and because of this, he refuses to tell friend-of-a-friend stories. (To hear the genesis of this, you can listen to his interview on the Pop My Culture podcast.)
Now these stories aren’t just your typical Hollywood actor stories about working on famous films (although those are included). Tonight at Yoshi’s, for example, he told of how he experienced a miracle on a trip to Iceland, how he learned about a Talmudic interpretation of Psalm 94 called The Afflictions of Love, and about a remarkably astute conversation he had with a dog. The stories themselves twist and turn in ways that it would be unfair for me to describe. These become classic stage monologues in his hands, bringing the audience both laughter and tears. These are fascinating tales, well told.
There was a brief slideshow in the middle of the event followed by a Q&A, where Tobolowsky gave an important tip to storytellers everywhere: write down what happens in your life so you can remember it later. He was also asked to talk about authors who inspire him, and named Dickens, George Eliot, Shakespeare, Chekhov and Loren Eiseley, but also admitted he’s afraid to read others when writing for fear he’s steal from them. Finally, one audience member asked him to talk about auditioning for Glee, and he happily told that story as well.
With the increasing exposure national public radio will be bringing to The Tobolowsky Files, I expect him to become somewhat of a sensation in the public radio crowd (we know who we are). I strongly recommend both the podcast itself and his new book, The Dangerous Animals Club.
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