Show Preview: Lords Of Acid with Carla Harvey at DNA Lounge

Lords of Acid at DNA Lounge – May 27, 2025
featuring Carla Harvey  of Butcher Babies, with special guests Little Miss Nasty

Get ready to sweat. Lords of Acid are bringing their filthy, high-octane blend of industrial techno sleaze to DNA Lounge on May 27, and this time, they’re packing extra punch. None other than Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies taking over lead vocals for a night of raunch, rhythm, and pure chaos.

If you’ve been in the game since the early days, you know Lords of Acid as one of the filthiest, fiercest acts to come out of Belgium’s late-’80s new beat scene. Led by the ever-provocative Praga Khan, the band broke through with club hits like “I Sit on Acid” and “Rough Sex”—tracks that blurred the lines between dancefloor euphoria and pure sonic debauchery. Their 1994 album Voodoo-U is a cult classic, dripping in distortion, distortion, and double entendre. While lineups have shifted over the decades, the mission remains the same: shock, seduce, and stomp.

And as if that wasn’t enough spectacle, Little Miss Nasty opens the night with their signature blend of burlesque and rock ‘n’ roll. Think high heels, high drama, and hard riffs—this isn’t your typical dance troupe. They’ve toured with everyone from Marilyn Manson to In This Moment, and their DNA Lounge sets are the stuff of local legend.

Whether you’re a veteran of the goth-industrial trenches or just looking to surrender to a night of sex-positive sonic mayhem, this show’s a sure shot. It’ll be sweaty, strange, and unforgettable. Don’t wear your good pants.

BottleRock Napa Valley 2025 Festival Journal, Day 2

(You’re reading Day 2. Be sure to check out Day 1!)

Saturday started off warm and bright at BottleRock. I started my day at the Verizon stage for Kate Hudson‘s set. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2025 Festival Journal, Day 2”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2025 Festival Journal, Day 1

Friday was a beautiful day in Napa, and a great day to kick off BottleRock 2025. 72 and sunny with a nice breeze is exactly what I want, and this weekend shows up for us every single year. My day started with Ultra Q on the JaM Cellars stage. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2025 Festival Journal, Day 1”

Show Review: Simple Minds + Soft Cell @ Toyota Amphitheatre, Concord CA, 5/20/25

On a breezy spring night in Concord, the Toyota Amphitheatre filled with time travelers, goths of all generations, synth-pop disciples, and lifelong fans ready to worship at the altar of eyeliner, analog synth, and big, cinematic choruses. The lineup? A dream bill that might’ve once been scribbled in a Trapper Keeper or posted in a record store window: Modern English, Soft Cell, and Simple Minds. For anyone who ever slow-danced in combat boots or found transcendence in a John Hughes soundtrack, this was a pilgrimage. Continue reading “Show Review: Simple Minds + Soft Cell @ Toyota Amphitheatre, Concord CA, 5/20/25”

Show Review: Perfume Genius with Urika’s Bedroom at The Fillmore, 5/13/25

Walking into The Fillmore on a sold-out night is a special kind of thrill. You know you’re about to take part in a San Francisco tradition, trying your luck at what your free Fillmore poster will be and who designed it. It turned out pretty cool in fact: folk art tulips and foppish block lettering in delicate Easter pastels. It fit the mood in that uncanny Fillmore way, soft on the surface, full of intention underneath. Continue reading “Show Review: Perfume Genius with Urika’s Bedroom at The Fillmore, 5/13/25”

Single of the Week: “Elderberry Wine” by Wednesday

You don’t get a lot of country music on Spinning Platters. I don’t *dislike* the genre, but it takes something really great to connect me. Great country music is vivid storytelling that brings you someplace else. “Elderberry Wine” takes you to someplace very warm and inviting and inclusive- the kind of place that everyone wants to find for themselves, but is often unattainable. This song is a thing of beauty, and I can’t stop listening. The fact that Wednesday have historically given us Sonic Youth-level thunder makes this song even more surprising. But you need the loud with the soft to survive. 

Show Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 5/14/25

Walking into the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium always brings a pulse of memory with it. Named for the fearless impresario who gave the Bay its psychedelic sprawl, the space has a reverent hum. But the crowd outside this time wasn’t so much buzzing as bracing. A black mass of required patience, funneled in slowly, tension rising as the early hour ticked on. This wasn’t just another show; it was the final stop of the U.S. leg of the Wild God tour. Continue reading “Show Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 5/14/25”

Human Be-In Preview: Dead & Company are Returning To Golden Gate Park

Dead & Company – Live in Golden Gate Park
August 1, 2, & 3, 2025 – San Francisco, CA

This summer, the music plays the band — and it plays right back where it all began.

Dead & Company return to Golden Gate Park for three unforgettable nights, August 1–3, bringing the spirit of the Grateful Dead home to San Francisco. Fresh off a second high-tech, mind-bending run at the Las Vegas Sphere, the band is trading LED immersion for redwoods and the warm soul of the Bay.

Each night features a 75-minute set from a different heavyweight opener, and the curation is no less than cosmic:

  • August 1: Billy Strings, the face-melting space-grass prodigy, spins tradition into astral jams.
  • August 2: Sturgill Simpson, the enigmatic, psychonautical outlaw, returns to the stage with rare, fire-tested fervor.
  • August 3: Trey Anastasio Band, ready to rain down 75 minutes of phresh jams and phunk for all.

That’s three nights, three musical worlds, all orbiting around the gravitational pull of Dead & Company.

San Francisco and the Dead are inseparable. From Tupac’s collaboration with Bruce Hornsby, Robin Williams emceeing Jerry Day in Golden Gate Park, and the unerasable, painted imprint of Haight-Ashbury and the Panhandle, this city is part of the Dead’s DNA.

Though the lineup continues to evolve, the mission remains the same. As Jerry Garcia said, “The goal is for the music to outlive us all.” Dead & Company embodies that legacy, not just recreating it but evolving it in real time.

Dead & Company lineup:

  • Bob Weir (Grateful Dead, Wolf Bros) – rhythm guitar, vocals
  • Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead, Planet Drum) – drums, cosmic energy
  • Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit) – bass, vocals
  • Jeff Chimenti (RatDog, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros) – keyboards
  • Jay Lane (Primus, RatDog, Wolf Bros) – drums
  • John Mayer (solo artist, Continuum, Born and Raised) – lead guitar, vocals

These are players in the band, yes — but the spirit of the Dead is bigger than any one of them. It’s in the songs. It’s in the sky above the park. It’s in the people.

Come early. Stay late. Pack water, snacks, and your weirdest shirt. This is history — one that only San Francisco could host. 

Tickets are on sale Wednesday, May 28th at 10 am. 

Show Review: Lukas Nelson at Orpheum Theater – Flagstaff, 5/10/25

Lukas Nelson Charms a Packed Orpheum with Raw Talent and New Songs

On his second of three stops in the Grand Canyon State, he emerged from the dark wings with only his guitar.  He opened, with a near-acapella rendition of You Were It, the first song he ever wrote, a confident yet vulnerable ballad from his upcoming release, American Romance (due out June 20th).   Continue reading “Show Review: Lukas Nelson at Orpheum Theater — Flagstaff, 5/10/25”

Show Review: AWOLNATION with Makua and Bryce Fox at Regency Ballroom, 5/9/25

If you’re anything like me, you can’t think of anything better on a warm spring Friday night than catching a great show, especially at a cozy little venue. Case in point: I had a recent opportunity to do just that when AWOLNATION stopped at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom for the penultimate show of their Phantom Five Tour. Continue reading “Show Review: AWOLNATION with Makua and Bryce Fox at Regency Ballroom, 5/9/25”