Features – Page 35 – Spinning Platters

Treasure Island Night Show Review: MGMT at the Independent, 10/16/09

The next prog superpower? It's not out of the realm of possibility.

My double clicking ability is expert! That’s how I got tickets to MGMT at the Independent. I picked up two tickets to see MGMT thinking that of course someone would like to join me on this outing. Apparently, no one I know likes then enough to cancel their Friday night plans, so I went alone and gave my ticket to a guy so his wife could get in. You can never have too much good karma, and tonight I didn’t need the money.

The last time I saw MGMT was at Live 105’s BFD in 2008. I don’t remember much about the band, I just remember the girls from Oakland girl rap group Hot Tub getting on stage and grinding around. (Hot Tub by the way is amazing.) So, needless to say, seeing MGMT at the Independent is a big change of venue from the parking lot at Shoreline. Continue reading “Treasure Island Night Show Review: MGMT at the Independent, 10/16/09”

The Insiders’ Guide to the Treasure Island Music Festival

No, I'm not sure how to get to where this picture was taken.

This weekend’s Treasure Island Music Festival has quickly become my favorite musical event of the year. There are no conflicting set times, so you can see everyone on the bill. The size of the festival is fairly small, so it’s easy to get around. The setting in the middle of San Francisco Bay is absolutely stunning. And something about all of these combine to keep the people going in a relaxed, pleasant mood that makes being there all the more enjoyable.

Now, you might think going to this festival is as easy as hopping in your car and going to the festival to enjoy some music, but you’d be wrong. Read on, and I’ll teach you how to avoid rookie mistakes. Continue reading “The Insiders’ Guide to the Treasure Island Music Festival”

Week in Review: Top 5 Posts For Oct 2 – Oct 8

A lot of people are hardly strictly waiting for us to announce our most read post of the week.

This week saw a lot more competition to be in our Top 5 Most Viewed New Posts of the Week. Without the killer buzz-saw of Kylie Minogue reviews, all manner of posts had a shot at the top. Keep coming back this weekend for some rare weekend updates including some show reviews and our weekly New Release Round Up. And now, on to our top posts. Can you guess what #1 might be? Continue reading “Week in Review: Top 5 Posts For Oct 2 — Oct 8”

Week in Review: Top 5 Posts for Sept 25 – Oct 1

This week at Spinning Platters was the Kylie Minogue show. In one day, she took over our #1 all-time most-read post as well as giving us the busiest day in our site’s history. Cheers to Kylie! I hope you enjoy your time in America as much as we are. So who won the battle for second place? Continue reading “Week in Review: Top 5 Posts for Sept 25 — Oct 1”

David Byrne Talks About Bicycles, Herbst Theater, 9/29/09

Bicycle

Last night David Byrne hosted an event for the “29th Annual Literary Events Series Benefiting the 826 Valencia College Scholarship Program” on “Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around.” Also on the forum was Mike Teitz, a Senior Fellow and former Director of Research at the Public Policy Institute of California, David Chiu, the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Leah Shahum, the Director of the San Francisco Bike Coalition. I came not having read his book, Bicycle Diaries, or ever having ridden a bicycle in San Francisco. So, I felt like a bit of an outsider. But I don’t have a car and I am as big a supporter of bicycles as anyone who hasn’t owned a bike in ten years. Also, I like David Byrne and I am interested enough in what he has to say, on most subjects, to come out on a weeknight. Continue reading “David Byrne Talks About Bicycles, Herbst Theater, 9/29/09”

Week in Review: Top 5 Posts for Sept 18-24

Steven Wilson wants you to check out the top posts of the week.

This week at Spinning Platters, we reviewed lots of shows, plenty of albums, and made some lists. For our new week in review feature, I’ll let you in on what our Top 5 most trafficked new posts were, and invite you to check them out if you haven’t already. Come back this weekend for review of Living Colour with Fishbone, and follow us at @SpinnPlatt for plenty of giddy drunken remarks live from The Zoopy Show. Now, click through to see our busiest posts of the week. Continue reading “Week in Review: Top 5 Posts for Sept 18-24”

Album Preview: The Black Keys – Blakroc

It’s called BlakRoc, and it has just got me all hot and bothered because it’s apparently real. Back on June 4 Jim Jones tweeted, “I’m on my way to meet the black keys a new rock n roll group then summer jam rehearsal lg.” However, there was no proof that anything was really happening in that studio. Were the Black Keys really holing themselves up in there working on a rap-rock fusion project? Continue reading “Album Preview: The Black Keys — Blakroc”

Show Review: The Honey Brothers, Soko, and his Orchestra @ The Independent 9/12/09

Does the spotlight just shine for Adrian Grenier and The Honey Brothers?

I’ve been thinking about how every show review I write is positive, which makes sense since, if I’m going to a show, it is someone I like and listen to. But tonight was a little different. I’ve had the hots for Adrian Grenier since the movie Drive Me Crazy, and continue to love him on the HBO show Entourage, so when our Editor-In-Chief wanted a live edition of Sing it Hasselhoff I was happy to oblige. I was even more excited when I found out Soko, who I was sad canceled her spot at SXSW 2009, was opening. But I had no real idea what I was in for and thought this might be my first negative show review. But when, during the second song from the opening band his Orchestra, two of the band members started running around the audience laughing and playing I knew that either this was going to be the best show ever or one giant letdown.

Continue reading “Show Review: The Honey Brothers, Soko, and his Orchestra @ The Independent 9/12/09”

Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 2, Day 3

: The D Battle The Metal

Today I attended the show as a volunteer. It’s a good deal, you help out with some element if the show in the morning, and by late afternoon, you are free to enjoy the rest of the show. If you work at night, you get to see an entire different day. It’s a pretty decent deal, and if they do it next year, I recommend it. Just check out the official site next year, and you will find the instructions on how to sign up.

Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 2, Day 3”

Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 1, Day 2

Here’s my Outside Lands story. You may already be asking yourself why I am starting on Day 2. The answer is simple. I did not attend the first day. I went last year on Friday, and was so annoyed by the set up of the festival, that I did not attend again, and I was considering not doing it at all this year. I felt that security was far too sparse throughout the inside of the venue, and I also felt that they layout of the stages made it difficult to navigate through the venue. The biggest issue from 2008 was placing Radiohead on the main stage immediately after Beck played a side stage, which was about 15 minutes away by foot on a normal day, but they also made the walkway between the two stages about 2 people wide. To make matters worse, the audio kept cutting out during Radiohead’s set.

Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 1, Day 2”