Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Tveit
screenplay by: William Nicholson
directed by: Tom Hooper
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements
The Bay Area has an amazing history of legendary musicians, although people tend to focus primarily on our 60’s hippy days when it comes to the history books. People often forget about our rich R&B history. Oakland was the birthplace of Sly & The Family Stone, Tower of Power, En Vogue, Sheila E, and many, many more. Tony! Toni! Toné! have been an Bay Area institution for nearly 25 years, and in recent years, they’ve started a tradition of playing the iconic Yoshi’s in Jack London Square right before Christmas. I had the honor of seeing this band for the first time at the last set of that six show residency last night.
Continue reading “Show Review: An Evening With Tony! Toni! Toné! at Yoshi’s — Oakland, 12/23/12”
starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Jason Segel, Annie Mumulo, Robert Smigel, Megan Fox, Charlyne Yi, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Chris O’Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, Lena Dunham
written and directed by: Judd Apatow
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content, crude humor, pervasive language and some drug material
It’s a short list this week so you can enjoy your loved ones this holiday!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/20/12-12/26/12”
English writer Charles Caleb Colton is best known for his often-quoted observation that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and in the modern age of parody and extreme ease of video/media creation, imitation sometimes climbs past sheer flattery to become art in its own right and make a new name for itself. Belgian singer-songwriter Gotye’s smash hit “Somebody That I Used To Know” has become the lead target for covers, parodies, and alternate versions, since its rise to fame in late 2011. One of its most infamous recreations, the five-musicians-on-one-guitar performance by Canadian quintet Walk Off The Earth, has become a megastar in its own right, with a smattering of tributes created to honor and poke fun at it, as well. Lest you think that they are around exclusively to cover Billboard chart-toppers, however, do not be quite so quick to judge: the Ontario five-piece have already been around for 6 years, and have a massively eclectic sense of performance and songwriting under their belts that has set them full speed ahead on a course to take over the world.
Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans, skin was showing
Hot night, wind was blowing
Where you think you’re going, baby?
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy
But here’s my number, so call me maybe
It’s hard to look right, at you baby
But here’s my number, so call me maybe
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/13/12-12/19/12”
Hipster crooner, How to Dress Well, returned to San Francisco, bringing his dueling mics and perfect pitched falsetto to the Rickshaw Stop on a rainy Wednesday night. Despite the drizzly weather, hundreds of people packed the Rickshaw to hear the Chicago native sing his way through an hour long set of experimental R&B pulled from this year’s exceptional Total Loss as well as 2010’s Love Remains.
Continue reading “Show Review: How To Dress Well, Seatraffic, Beacon at Rickshaw Stop, 12/5/12”
Live 105 has managed to put together, once again, a fantastic line up for their annual holiday spectacular. So much so, that they had to split it into two days. One day was a bit more “new wave” oriented, and another day was purely guitar driven. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to check out the first night, the “guitar” night. It was, surprisingly, one of the most interesting and diverse arena rock shows I’ve ever been to, filed with a wide array of guitar music, from acoustic folk to earnest, working class punk, all the way to classic blues rock. I don’t know how they are going to one up this one:
Continue reading “Show Review: Live 105’s Not So Silent Night at Oracle Arena, 12/7/12”
I know that December tends to be a time to purchase gifts for friends and family members. But Shopping kind of sucks. Instead, go to a show?
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/6/12-12/12/12”
Deep Sea Diver is the current project from Jessica Dobson, who was first introduced to me via Beck. She was the guitar player on the Modern Guilt Tour, which may have been the last time I felt Beck truly enjoyed playing music. She had some pretty huge shows to fill in that band, and she did filled them quite nicely. In the five years since I last saw her play with Beck, she joined The Shins and also had been recording songs that she wrote as this project. Earlier this year, she put out an excellent record called History Speaks, which as an amazing full length that was well worth the half a decade wait it took for it to come out. I was quite excited to see how she managed to pull it if live on the cold Tuesday night.