Show Review: “Sticks & Stones” at SoundBox

Rootstock percussion trio in Wenjing Guo’s Parade (Xiang).  Photo courtesy of Kristen Loken.
Rootstock percussion trio in Wenjing Guo’s Parade (Xiang). Photo courtesy of Kristen Loken.

The San Francisco Symphony’s new venue, SoundBox, is located in the back of Davies symphony hall on Franklin Street. Once just a rehearsal space but now a fully transformative experimental music space, SoundBox is basically half club and half concert hall.  There’s really only one way to put it — SoundBox is flat-out cool!

Continue reading “Show Review: “Sticks & Stones” at SoundBox”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/29/2015 – 2/4/2015

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Looking for better things to do than to prepare for the Super Bowl? Well, here’s a week’s worth of rock n roll awesomeness.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/29/2015 – 2/4/2015”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/22/2015 – 1/28/2015

Playing The Warfield this Friday night.
Playing The Warfield this Friday night.

The nerds of San Francisco have some incredibly tough choices to make this week when it comes to their live entertainment. They could be comedy nerds, seeing all of what SF Sketchfest has to offer. Perhaps they’re film nerds, and they’ll be spending the week at The Castro Theater for Noir City. But what of the music nerds? Where should they be this week? Read on to find out!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/22/2015 — 1/28/2015”

A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2015

A San Francisco Sketch
A San Francisco Sketch

Every year, the good folks at SF Sketchfest program three weeks of live comedy in the Bay Area. They program it so well that it can get exhausting to determine which shows to go to. Well, here at Spinning Platters, a forum for Bay Area music, film, and comedy nerds, we’ll be helping you determine which shows you should be going to. It wasn’t easy, but I think you’ll get sufficient enough chuckles for handling the post-holiday blues if you follow these guidelines.

Don’t like my suggestions? You can always pick for yourself! You can find the schedule here!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/6/14-11/12/14

MUNI FAIL
No, the F-Line isn’t supposed to be this close to the MUNI bus.

Post-Election Day we have a panoply of excellent concerts coming to The Bay Area this week. Shows of all kinds. We have shows that are avenging! And dance-y! Secretive! And lemony! Metal! And even including the magic of public transportation.

It’s wonderful that there are so many kinds of shows ’round here and so many buses to take you to them.

Here’s what’s coming up this week. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/6/14-11/12/14”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/16/14-10/22/14

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Treasure Island Music Festival is coming up this weekend. Which is the best music festival in America. Nonetheless, there are still a bunch of other great shows, too!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/16/14-10/22/14”

The Insiders’ Guide to the Treasure Island Music Festival (Updated for 2014)

A Treasure Island sunset, courtesy of Kelly Hoffer
A Treasure Island sunset, courtesy of Kelly Hoffer

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.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/25/14-10/2/14

Playing The Indy on Wednesday
Playing The Indy on Wednesday

This week is a pretty epic week if you are in the mood for some classic rock. Or new music. Or just like being alive. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/25/14-10/2/14”