
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates
written and directed by: James Cameron
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language
Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates
written and directed by: James Cameron
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language

Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On is the luminously wrenching chronicle of a ten-year relationship between two men, Erik (Danish actor Thure Lindhardt) and Paul (Zachary Booth, best known as Glenn Close’s antagonistic son Michael on Damages). Erik is a sensitive and open-hearted documentary filmmaker, while the more reserved Paul has a successful job as a lawyer at a major publishing house. After meeting at random through a gay party line (remember those?), the two form an instant connection that long outlasts what could easily have ended as a one-night stand. There is, however, a problem: Paul is a drug addict. And not just any drug. Despite his lucrative white-collar Manhattan life, Paul is a crack addict. Another problem: Erik is in love with Paul, and doesn’t know how to respond to his addiction except by continuing to invest in their relationship. And so the stage is set for one of the most assured independent films of 2012, and arguably the most powerful American gay relationship drama since Brokeback Mountain.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Zachary Booth and Ira Sachs on “Keep the Lights On””

Another SpinningPlatters Contest this week! One lucky reader and a guest will get to see The B’z at The Warfield on Monday, September 17th! All you need to do is fill out this form to enter! Deadline for entry is Friday, September 14th at noon, and the winner will be notified via email. That being said, here are several shows that you need to go to:
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/13/12-9/19/12”

The legendary “Rocktober” seems to be starting early this year… September’s show schedule is already full of conflicts and killer shows. Please, read on!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/6/12 – 9/12/12”

In For A Good Time, Call…, Ari Graynor and Lauren Anne Miller star as Katie and Lauren, sworn enemies forced to become roommates out of financial necessity. Fun-time Katie has been occupying her grandmother’s gorgeous rent-controlled Gramercy Park apartment since she semi-recently passed away, but the rent control is about to expire and her handful of odd jobs (including working for a phone sex line) won’t cover the new rent. Meanwhile, conservative Lauren finds herself unexpectedly homeless and in desperate need of housing. Their mutual gay best friend, Jesse (Justin Long), suggests they get over their long-standing feud and move into Katie’s apartment together, and the two begrudgingly agree. But when Lauren discovers that Katie has been doing freelance phone sex work, she has a business-minded brainstorm: wouldn’t it be much more profitable if they just started their own phone sex company?

With FYF going on down in LA this weekend, we’re getting a decent spillover of excellent shows up here in the Bay Area. Though not quite at Fauxchella levels, it’s nice to have a Faux Your Festival going on right now. And since your regular host for this column, Dakin Hardwick, will be enjoying himself at the real thing, I’ll be guiding you through your options for our fake version. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/30/12 – 9/5/12”

Waiting in line for the doors to open at Bottom of the Hill last night I knew it would be a nostalgic evening. Ten years ago I came to the same place, early and excited, to find a printed paper sign saying that Desaparacidos would not be performing, that instead Conor Oberst would be performing a solo acoustic show. That show was great, though it was hindered by the fact that Conor Oberst had played the same show as Bright Eyes earlier that year at Great American Music Hall and that anyone going to see Desaparecidos at Bottom of the Hill should have been expecting a night of feverish music and aggression not intense sadness and introspection. As I walked inside I just hoped my dreams of ten years ago would not be destroyed. Continue reading “Show Review: Desaparecidos with The Velvet Teen at Bottom of the Hill, 8/28/12”

starring: Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke
written by: Nick Cave
directed by: John Hillcoat
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

It’s time for another beautiful week of rock & roll! LA’s FYF Fest is bringing a bunch of really special gigs to SF, starting this week Desaparecido’s first ever show in SF! It’s going to be a good Late Summer.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/23/12 — 8/29/12”

My baby was stolen. Like the Lindbergh baby in the night* my beautiful 15 year old silver Honda CRV was removed from her place on the streets by some unnamed hooligan. We had many memories, me and that car. I learned to drive with her, I took up her up and down the coast of California, and I’m pretty sure I lost my virginity in that car (sorry Mom and Dad! Teenagers ya know?) (Also lets just gloss over the “pretty sure” portion of that sentence). So when I discovered on Sunday she was gone, it was with great sadness that I started my last day of Outside Lands. And then! If that wasn’t enough I was forced to take the N all the way from the Mission to Golden Gate Park! Yuck! (No seriously, yuck, I was so close to people that I almost lost my Muni virginity. Ya know what I’m saying!? Ok.) Silver beauty, it goes without saying, I miss you desperately.
I wandered around the park grumpy, glaring at every faux Ray-Ban, neon wearing fiend. “You don’t know my pain, neon wearing fiend!” I was secretly yelling. I was nobody’s friend.
Continue reading “Outside Lands Diary, Sunday, August 12th, 2012: Jack in the Woods”