Features – Page 9 – Spinning Platters

Announcing Inside Lands, A Virtual Festival Celebration

This morning, I woke up and started getting ready for my day, and it dawned on me: I was supposed to be gathering sunscreen, a couple of empty bottles, a few layers of clothes, a blanket, snacks, and such for my day in Golden Gate Park. Instead, I’m sitting at home, feeling about peak darkness over the state of the world, and just feeling, well, blue.

I know good news isn’t has good as it could be, but the good folks at Outside Lands did give us a lovely surprise today! They have teamed up with Twitch.tv to bring us a weekend of streamed archival performances, interviews, and fan testimonials to help us get through the lack of getting together to enjoy music outdoors this year. Go to https://www.twitch.tv/sfoutsidelands to stream this starting at 4pm August 28th & 29th. More details to come soon at https://www.sfoutsidelands.com/insidelands/!

Also, don’t forget to buy tickets to Outside Lands 2021, with the amazing lineup of Lizzo, The Strokes, Tame Impala, Tyler, The Creator, Kehlani, Hinds, and many, many more!

Outside Lands 2021 Line Up HAS BEEN UNLEASHED

Like all of you out there in the world, I’ve been constantly checking Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, anywhere I can think of hoping to find any clue as to what was happening with Outside Lands this year. I was hopeful that measures like masks and social distancing would lead to true containment of COVID-19, and by late Summer the disease would be but a memory of a tough time we all lived through, but through strong leadership, a sense of global unity, and clear, concise directives, we succeeded in ending transmission of this wretched virus.

I should’ve known better. Continue reading “Outside Lands 2021 Line Up HAS BEEN UNLEASHED”

Ways You Can Support Artists AND Help Fight Police Brutality and Systemic Racism

That headline is a mouthful, isn’t it? It’s been difficult processing all of my feelings about everything that has happened this year… From Australian burning to the destruction of Nashville to COVID-19, this year has been a rough one, but it’s been particularly bad for the music business. Yet, in the last few weeks, coming off the heels of the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor and Charles Floyd, there has been an outpouring if activity coming from musicians, all donating to worthy causes that will fight the infrastructure that has led to so many innocent people of color dying at the hands of the people they pay to serve and protect them.

All I am asking of you is to do something you probably want to do anyways: buy merch from your favorite artists. Many of these artists are leveraging that June 5th is “Bandcamp Day,” where Bandcamp waives their fees, so artists get everything. Here are just a handful of campaigns happening now from some Spinning Platters favorites:

Continue reading “Ways You Can Support Artists AND Help Fight Police Brutality and Systemic Racism”

Keep Live Alive: SF Sketchfest & Noise Pop Open Their Archives

Before the COVID Virus decided to destroy life as we know it in the Bay Area, we were lucky enough to get to enjoy two of the best festivals the Bay has to offer: SF Sketchfest and Noise Pop. Both fests had banner years, and as a thank you to the venues that helped make them happen year after year, both SF Sketchfest and Noise Pop are opening up their rich archives of great shows. This gives you the opportunity to either relive these shows, or if you couldn’t make it, actually get to enjoy shows you missed, and all to raise money for these venues so they can reopen once the pandemic is contained, as well as other local charities!

Continue reading “Keep Live Alive: SF Sketchfest & Noise Pop Open Their Archives”

Outside Lands Early Bird Tickets On Sale Thursday, March 12th at 10am

The news lately has been anything but great lately, so I have some good news! It looks like Outside Lands 2020 Eager Beaver Tickets are going on sale THIS THURSDAY at 10am. This is the cheapest tickets are going to get, and these tickets go fast, so buy them early! It’s true, there is no line up yet. But, I mean, you are going to go. Might as well buy them now!

Show Review: Habibi, Rudy de Anda, Babewatch at Bottom Of The Hill, 2/29/2020

In the world of garage rock, it’s expected for bands to put out material quickly and furiously. Bands like Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall have set the bar so high that one record a year comes off as “slow.” When Habibi didn’t follow up their 2014 debut – a delicious blend of garage crunch, 60’s girl group harmonies, and Iranian melodies – right away, people just assumed they called it quits. It wasn’t until 2018, when they put out a short EP, that I thought they were even still a unit. However, it took six long years before we got a proper follow up. It also meant six years without a proper visit to SF. I’m glad that 2020 gave us both. Continue reading “Show Review: Habibi, Rudy de Anda, Babewatch at Bottom Of The Hill, 2/29/2020”

Spinning Platters Guide To Noise Pop 2020

Noise Pop week. It’s pretty much impossible, isn’t it? It’s the single best programmed week of live music the Bay Area gets all year! And this year marks the return on the Noise Pop Film Series! There is other fun stuff in store, like a photo exhibit at Hotel Biron, and some secret late shows at Cafe du Nord! So, yes, there is plenty do to that ISN’T seeing a band. Which is my life’s blood, and probably your’s, too, since you are reading this preview. Since there is a lot to do, this is not a comprehensive guide to the fest by any means. (That can be found here) This is one show per day that you should go to, plus a movie on some days. And if you don’t want to buy nine sets of tickets, pick up a badge that can get you into EVERYTHING! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide To Noise Pop 2020”

Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2020 Oscars

Film critics Carrie and Chris on who will – and who should – win the 92nd Academy Awards

The 92nd Academy Awards air tomorrow, Sunday, February 9th, on ABC at 5:00 pm PST. Once again, Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chris Piper share their predictions — and hopes — for the major categories. A lot of the winners feel like locks, based on earlier award season wins, but, honestly, we’d rather have some upsets to make for an interesting show then have all our predictions come true. Fingers crossed for some liveliness!

Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2020 Oscars”

Film Feature: Highs and Lows from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival concluded this weekend with Festival jurors bestowing prizes upon 28 of the 128 films shown during the ten-day Fest. All the winners can be found here, but, as I did last year, below I present my own highlights — good and bad — and let you know which films you should SEE or SKIP, should any of these be widely released at some point.

Continue reading “Film Feature: Highs and Lows from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival”

Single Of The Week: Chow Nasty by Lost Puppy Forever

Lost Puppy Forever are a bass/drums punk duo from San Francisco. They dropped their debut EP a few months ago, and I, personally, slept on it. But, it’s never too late to find your favorite new band. “Chow Nasty” is their first single and video, and this song is “thick as fuck” and really gets you in your chest. Don’t understand what that means? Put on some headphones, and play this song really loud. You’ll feel it in the center of your chest.

Noise Pop Fest is coming around the corner, and they are running a contest for bands to play! Go here to vote for your favorite band. And, by favorite band, I mean go vote for Lost Puppy Forever. Contest ends January 14th. And if you really want to support the band, head over to their Bandcamp page to pick up a digital copy of the EP!