Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Pete Holmes’ podcast You Made it Weird is funny, deep and as the title suggests, weird. The greatest thing about it though is how the podcast can be so funny and so personal at the same time. Since all my favorite parts of the podcast are the little personal moments, I was a little apprehensive that the deep moments might be dropped for more humor with the live audience there. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 2/2/13”
Garfunkel & Oates are Riki Lindhome and Kate Miccuci. On their own, they are both well respected actresses, musicians, and writers. Of course, when they work together, it’s pure magic. No matter who you are, somebody has posted one of their videos on your Facebook wall. They are bringing their live show to Rickshaw Stop on Saturday, February 10th to close out this year’s installment of Sketchfest. We had a few moments to talk to both Garfunkel and Oates. Since you weren’t there with me, I’ll let you read about it:
Continue reading “10 Quick Questions: an Interview with Garfunkel & Oates”
Directed By: David Grohl
Written By: Mark Monroe
Starring: Trent Reznor, Tom Petty, Mick Fleetwood, and a cast of musical legends
The movie ‘Sound City’ started as a movie about a location but evolved into the raw internal disclosure of the emotional soul of a musician and the music industry. It allows a peek into the behind the scenes non-glamorous side of an album recording, opening insight to the controversy of analog verses digital methods.
2013 is off to a pleasantly promising start when it comes to genre films. Just a few weeks after the soulfully spooky Mama, we are now treated to Jonathan Levine’s thoroughly delightful adaptation of Isaac Marion’s beloved novel Warm Bodies. A hilariously self-aware and surprisingly sweet reimagining of the overly familiar “love transforms a monster” trope, Warm Bodies tells the story of a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult), who narrates much of the film from his very unique point-of-view. Although zombiedom has robbed R of his ability to express himself verbally, his thoughts are as articulately human as ever; the film mines quite a bit of humor from this cognitive disconnect.
R spends his days staggering around an abandoned airport with a familiar lineup of other zombies, grunting and pondering what these people were like in life. But R is roused from his undead existential crisis when he meets Julie (Teresa Palmer), the daughter of one of mankind’s last great protectors, Grigio (John Malkovich). Julie enters zombie territory on an armed mission along with her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) and best friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton); it’s love at first sight for R despite the fact that Julie is trying to kill him. When the mission goes haywire and Julie is left behind, R devises a plan to keep her safe from the other zombies in the hopes that she’ll fall in love with him in spite of their, uh, differences.
If you combined equal parts James Brown and Otis Redding, a splash of Hendrix and a dash of old time swagger, you might come close to figuring out just what Cody ChesnuTT is made of. In his own way, he’s found out how to blend hip-hop beats, soulful jazz stylings, silky smooth vocals and a sprinkling of Motown showmanship into a performance that feels almost… nostalgic. Cody’s pure love for the show and the art of the song truly comes from his heart, bursting at the seams with passion and care.
Continue reading “Show Review: Cody ChesnuTT with Siddhartha at The Independent, 1/29/2013”
We’re smack dab in the middle of SF Sketchfest, which we’re happy to call the Greatest Comedy Festival in America, and Dakin’s running around laughing himself silly, so I’m taking over the task of recommending shows for those of you who love music but hate laughing. That can only mean one thing, though … more sports references! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/31/13-2/6/13”
Sara Benincasa is one of my absolute favorite comedians that I have never seen live. She has one of the finest YouTube channels, filled with brilliant characters, excellent political humor, and two great vodcasts: Advice Time, where you get actual advice about issues you may be going through and Gettin’ Wet, where Benincasa interviews important cultural figures from her bathtub! Her Twitter (@sarajbenincasa) feed is pretty on point, too. She probably doesn’t remember this, but her Twitter introduced me to Die Antwoord many years ago. She’s currently working on her second book, and will be performing this weekend all over Sketchfest! She will be performing as part of The SF Sketchfest Dozen with Jonah Ray and Dave Thomasan Friday, February 1st at 8 PM and Saturday, February 2nd at 9:15 PM. She will also be doing You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes alongside Kumail Nanjiani at a special matinee show on Saturday, February 2nd at 1 PM. We had a few minutes to chat with her ahead of these shows, and this is what we talked about!
Continue reading “10 Quick Questions: an Interview with Sara Benincasa”
The greatest band on earth, The Hives, will be coming back to the United States on Monday, February 18th to assault the crowd at HP Pavilion before P!nk takes the stage. And, as a special gift to you, they will be dropping off prize packs for us to give out to two lucky Spinning Platters readers. Each winner will get an autographed copy of their latest record, Lex Hives, a custom guitar pick for each member of the band, a poster, a pin pack and stickers! We will be drawing two winners on February 15th, so you have until 6 PM PST to enter. If your Valentine’s Day sucks, at least you’ve got something to look forward to!
And, after the jump, check out their latest video, “Wait A Minute Now,” off Lex Hives
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Contest: The Hives Prize Pack!”
This time last year, I hadn’t yet experienced the delight that is The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Since then, I’ve become a bona fide fan, even subscribing to their podcast. I admit, I was disappointed when the lovely Busy Philipps confirmed via Twitter that she would be missing this year to attend the SAG Awards in LA, but the addition of Rider Strong was a happy consolation. And really, what better way to spend a Saturday night solo in San Francisco than at a charming comedy show? I couldn’t think of anything, either, so I schlepped over to Marines’ Memorial Theatre last night at 7pm sharp and prepared for the fun to ensue!
Never heard of Pentatonix? That’s okay, you’re not alone: neither had our editor-in-chief until I mentioned my excitement at covering their sold-out show at the Warfield this past Sunday. While he feared he may be losing his touch (“getting old I am,” said his text), I reassured him that if a cappella groups aren’t his thing and/or he’s never seen a recent episode of NBC’s The Sing-Off, it makes sense that season 3 winners Pentatonix haven’t yet crossed his radar…until now.
Continue reading “Show Review: Pentatonix with SPEAK at The Warfield, 1/27/2013”