Gordon Elgart – Page 18 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Kele with Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Innerpartysystem at The Mezzanine, 9/18/2010

Hiatus is a dirty word when bands you love start throwing it around. Sometimes, the band returns, re-energized and ready for action. Other times the band returns, gets together for a little while, realizes the hiatus was the right move, and just breaks up. And then there are times when the band doesn’t come back at all. So when Bloc Party announced their hiatus, I was concerned. What would come of Kele Okereke, one of my favorite front men of all time? This weekend, I found out. Continue reading “Show Review: Kele with Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Innerpartysystem at The Mezzanine, 9/18/2010”

Show Review: Crowded House with Lawrence Arabia at The Warfield, 8/23/2010

Neil Header — Neil Finn, hundreds of amazing songs into his career.

Crowded House is a band with only two real American “hits.” But don’t be fooled by that. If you go see Crowded House live, you’d better be ready to sing. And although your less astute friends will assume the loudest singing will be for “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” the band’s biggest U.S. hit, those same friends will wonder what the heck this “You always take the weather with you” song is about. Congratulations, singer! You’re the smart one. Continue reading “Show Review: Crowded House with Lawrence Arabia at The Warfield, 8/23/2010”

Show Review: They Might Be Giants with Oona at The Napa Uptown, 8/21/2010

TMBG with confetti — This is They Might Be Giants with confetti, but not all that much, really. See inside for details.

If I had to give a title to this review, apart from the boring, SEO-friendly titles we always use here, it would be “They Might Be Giants vs. The Napa Uptown Theatre.” I think that the band started the show really loving the beautifully restored theater, but by the end of the performance, I feel like there may have been some antagonism between the two. Was this an actual fight? Or merely a love-fest in disguise? It was a bit hard to tell. Continue reading “Show Review: They Might Be Giants with Oona at The Napa Uptown, 8/21/2010”

Show Review: An Evening With Brandon Flowers at Slim’s, 8/19/2010

Not only did Brandon Flowers look like Michael Pare from music-nerd-must-see Streets of Fire (not the leather jacket look but the suspenders look), but the music was reminiscent of that film as well. All tales of rock n’ roll bleeding hearts and people down on their luck, but with occasional rousing singalong moments, the new material from Brandon Flowers is close enough to The Killers’ own tunes to make me wonder why the solo album was necessary. He’s always been the center of attention of that band, so that can’t be the motivation. So it must have been musical in nature. I just didn’t hear enough to know what makes this difference. Perhaps if he had played longer. Continue reading “Show Review: An Evening With Brandon Flowers at Slim’s, 8/19/2010”

Show Review: Silversun Pickups with Against Me! and The Henry Clay People at The Fox Oakland, 8/3/2010

At one point late in the Silversun Pickups set at The Fox Oakland, lead singer Brian Aubert started listing off all of the Bay Area venues they had played: Rickshaw Stop, The Fillmore, Bimbo’s, Cafe Du Nord, Bottom of the Hill (this one got the biggest applause), BFD, Outside Lands. They’ve been here a lot. Because of this, it’s a bit of a surprise that it took them nearly 18 months after the release of their last album, Swoon, to finally play a headlining show in the Bay Area. So, was it worth the wait? Continue reading “Show Review: Silversun Pickups with Against Me! and The Henry Clay People at The Fox Oakland, 8/3/2010”

Show Review: Scorpions with Cinderella at Concord Pavilion, 8/1/2010

Rudolf Shouts — He's 62, still rocks hard, looks great, why retire, Rudolf? Why?

The Scorpions are too famous for their giant hit song, “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” and not well respected enough for their rest of their catalog. Filled with shiny gems of pop metal, the German legends have a huge list of hard-but-not-too-hard rock songs to choose from as they continue touring for the last time. They’ve said the tour will run through 2012 or 2013, so whether this is their last stop in the Bay Area or not is still a question. If it’s not, though, you’ll see me in the audience for the next one. These guys still have their stingers. Continue reading “Show Review: Scorpions with Cinderella at Concord Pavilion, 8/1/2010”

Spinning Platters Interview: The Henry Clay People

When I called The Henry Clay People for an interview, lead singer and lyricist Joey Siara was driving the band through Oregon, on their way to another gig with Silversun Pickups and Against Me. I did my day job proud and made sure Joey was wearing a headset before continuing with the interview, making this Joey’s first interview given while driving, dialing up the degree of difficulty a bit. While we later got into detail on the life of an opening band, I started where a lot of interviews start: with the name.

About the name of the band, named after 19th century politician Henry Clay. Of all the obscure 19th century politicians, why him?

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: The Henry Clay People”

Show Review: Jonathan Richman with Olof Arnalds at Swedish American Hall, 7/21/10

JRichman — He puts his heart into it for you

Jonathan Richman explained the reason for the existence of his ongoing residency at Swedish American Hall this week. He was in Reykjavik playing a show, and the opener was some girl playing guitar and singing, and he was thinking “whatever” but then he started really listening and fell in love with the music, as did his drummer and constant on-stage partner, Tommy Larkins. So when they found out Olof Arnalds was looking to play some shows in San Francisco, they set up these gigs. Thanks to everyone involved for getting them together because it’s always a total treat to see Mr. Richman in action. Continue reading “Show Review: Jonathan Richman with Olof Arnalds at Swedish American Hall, 7/21/10”

Show Review: Barenaked Ladies at Wente Vineyards, 7/20/10

BNL Four — Why do I get the feeling that something's missing here?

The Barenaked Ladies are playing just about everywhere they can in the Bay Area this week. On Monday night, they were at the Mountain Winery and tonight they play at The Regency Center (with discount tickets available on Goldstar), but last night they were at the Wente Vineyards in Livermore. With a ticket price hovering in the $200 range, the audience mainly seated at tables for their catered dinner, and a charity auction before the show bringing $3000 for a single autographed bottle of wine, I had concerns that the show might feel an awful lot like dinner theater. And when they played “If I Had a Million Dollars,” and asked folks to sing along, my friend leaned in close to me and said, “I think a lot of people here HAVE a million dollars.” Continue reading “Show Review: Barenaked Ladies at Wente Vineyards, 7/20/10”

Show Review: Wakey!Wakey! with Wave Array and Doom Bird at Hotel Utah, 7/14/2010

My favorite Billboard chat was always the Heatseekers Chart. Defined generally as the best selling new artists, it was always the place to go if you wanted to hear someone before everyone else heard them. Blogs such as this one have pretty much destroyed the value of this chart, as now to hear someone first, you need to be the first person to Tweet about them. Well, I still enjoy this chart, and tonight, it led me to Wakey!Wakey!, a Brooklyn band that recently held down the #1 slot with their album, Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said the Last Time I Saw You …, as they played their first ever show in San Francisco. Continue reading “Show Review: Wakey!Wakey! with Wave Array and Doom Bird at Hotel Utah, 7/14/2010”