Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 2 (Las Vegas, NV)

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!”

Choking Victim-8

Despite, or maybe in spite, of the heat I woke up for day two feeling refreshed and ready to go. The usual first day kinks had been worked out and entrance into the venue was faster, although I heard some rumor about ISIS threatening to bomb Las Vegas was flying around, which may have accounted for the somewhat increased security at the venue. Punks don’t take too well to the authoritarian attitude of aggressive security guards, so you can probably imagine a lot of grumbling and arguments were to be heard from the lines. Regardless I made it inside with plenty of time to grab a water bottle and head to the stage for the opening act of the day.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-06 – 2017-06-11

June 6, 1944.
June 6, 1944.

Do you know what today is? Today is D-Day. Freedom isn’t to be for granted, especially these days.

Speaking of freedom, let’s talk about concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: tall people, people benefiting other people, and people doing things with the air.

So, let’s preview. Time to preview. It’s time to preview now, and now here are the previews.

Let’s preview now. Preview start. Time to preview the coming week and the time to preview is now. Let’s do it! Preview!

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Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 1 (Las Vegas, NV)

“As long as we’re alive then Punk’s not dead yet!”

Punk Rock is probably some of the most honest music anyone will ever hear. Stripped away are the pretenses of “professional musicianship” leaving in its wake the raw emotion, power, and intellect—or lack thereof—of the music. It can be anything, it can be nothing, it can be everything. Somehow it has endured over the years in many different waves and forms, but to quote The Exploited, “Punk’s not dead!”  It is now 19 years since the Stern Brothers began taking over downtown Las Vegas and it looks like it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Thank goodness for that!

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BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 3

The Foo Fighters intended to play until they could play no more (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

Where had the time gone? Somehow it was already Sunday, and Day 1 and Day 2 were already behind us!

Sunday promised to have the best weather of all, as well as some acts I’d been really looking forward to. Because I’d missed The Helmets last year – but heard them from my house and was impressed enough to text a friend who was already there, asking who they were – I knew in advance that I had to make it there early this year to see them in action. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 3”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 2

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers headline Saturday at BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

This year’s Saturday at BottleRock Napa Valley promised to be a beautiful warm and breezy 75 degrees, the perfect weather for a festival full of good music, great food and all the beer, wine, and cocktails you can handle! Once again, there were more acts scheduled than was possible to see all at once, so I had to pick and choose pieces of sets from the bands I most wanted to see to make it all work. (For example, who wants to decide between House of Pain and Bishop Briggs? I wanted to “jump around” and jam out with Ms. Briggs… Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 2”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 1

Maroon 5 headlines Friday night at BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

Last weekend marked the return of my hometown’s beloved music, food and drink festival, BottleRock Napa Valley, which turned five this Memorial Day weekend. In addition to boasting phenomenal music lineups year after year, BRNV offers a wine garden, a “beer bend,” a silent disco, a beer and bourbon garden, displays of art throughout the festival grounds, and of course, the culinary delights that have come to be associated with this valley that is so much more than wine. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 1”

Show Review: Jean-Michel Jarre at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, 5/26/2017

An evening of history and illumination, full of energy and exciting sounds

Jean-Michel Jarre's live setup
Jean-Michel Jarre’s live setup

By this point, I’ve waxed on and on and ON about electronic shows, so what’s in store for anyone attending one shouldn’t be too surprising: elaborate lights and projections, minimal equipment onstage, and a limited scope of what the performers can actually do (by virtue of sounds and lights responding to recorded cues). It’s therefore incredibly exciting to know that one of the forefathers of the genre — French composer Jean-Michel Jarre — is one of the most energetic performers in live electronica today. His stage persona pairs excellently with his dazzling visual effects, and most of the music is actually played live, rather than simply cranked out from a MIDI sequence or a pre-recorded track. It’s taken 40 years for Jarre to do his first U.S. tour, but by all accounts, he has been owning this lap like he’s been doing it for an eternity.

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Film Review: Wonder Woman

Wonder no more: It’s really good  

Brave, fierce, and mighty, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is on a mission to rid the world of war and evil. 

After witnessing the total failure that was Zack Snyder’s bloated Batman v Superman last year, fans and critics alike have been understandably skeptical about the future of the DC comics’ film franchise. The one bright spot in Snyder’s otherwise paint-by-numbers action flick, was, of course, the brief introduction of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. DC Universe die-hards and the movie-going public at large can now breathe a sigh of relief, however. With Wonder Woman, the next installment in the DC cinematic series, director Patty Jenkins has created a thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful, and just plain fun film that should please both DC comics purists as well as those totally new to the Wonder Woman story.
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Film Review: Churchill

It’s never too late to grow up

Winston Churchill wrestles with a difficult decision.

In Churchill, opening in Bay Area theaters today, we’re asked to see the old English bulldog in a new and unflattering light as he attempts to bend the tide of history to his will. The film suffers from too narrow a focus, and an approach to story that is as simplistic as the former British prime minister was complex.

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Show Review: Amanda Palmer & Edward Ka-Spel at The Troubadour, 5/24/2017

An auspicious night of revelry and musical joy!

Amanda Palmer frees Edward Ka-spel from the bonds of his “artist” wrist band.

Sometimes, even though it seems like the odds are stacked against you, problems invariably sort themselves. At least, this is what I was telling myself to keep calm after discovering that a number of unforeseen circumstances were possibly going to have ended my night before it could begin. Luckily, as I waited in the increasingly cold and increasingly dark evening, this little mantra proved to be true, and all the tribulation was made worthwhile by an absolutely stunning performance that followed.

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