Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
So, this week is a great week if you wanna see old people sing youthful songs… We get The Dead Milkmen, Keith Morris (Circle Jerks) and Roger Waters all coming very soon. There are also a few shows happening if you like it slightly more youthful. Also this week: CREED!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/10/12-5/16/12”
I’ve seen The Black Keys twice before going to this show. The first time was opening for Sleater Kinney at The Great American Music Hall in 2003. It was two guys that looked like they came in off the streets, playing super lo-fi blues. I honestly didn’t know what to think of them, and I forgot about them for a number of years. Then, in 2009, I saw them again in Austin, playing the back patio of a dive bar. It was appearantly a huge deal, and I managed to miss the fact that they were slowly becoming one of the biggest bands in rock. Fast forward a mere three years later, and they are playing arenas. I kept flashing back to that tiny (literally) little band I saw nearly a decade ago, and I couldn’t believe they were playing one of the biggest venues in Northern California. So, I decided it was time to give them another go!
Continue reading “Show Review: The Black Keys with The Arctic Monkeys at Oracle Arena, 5/4/12”
For a well-thought-out, articulate, reasoned, educated review, I strongly suggest you click over to Jason LeRoy’s official review of The Avengers. For the ramblings of someone who’s read too many comics, seen too many comic movies at midnight, and overanalyzes every darn thing past the point of usefulness, read on. Continue reading “Fanboy Ramblings: “The Avengers””
starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow
written by: Joss Whedon (story and screenplay), Zak Penn (story)
directed by: Joss Whedon
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference
Regular readers of this site are aware of the fact that I put together a list of recommend shows in the bay area every week. Sometimes weeks it’s easier than others. Sometimes I scour through the schedules of local venues, and I find myself listening to a long list of bands that I’ve never heard before. I’ve uncovered some really good stuff over the years, but, rarely to I find a single song that makes me need to change my schedule around and go out on a Monday night. Was it worth making my way out on a Monday night? Well, your going to have to click that “more” button to to find out how that worked out for me:
Continue reading “Show Review: Tennis with Wild Belle at The Independent, 4/30/12”
How easily can you name all of the members, especially those who play with more unconventional instruments, within the bands you listen to? Sure, for your favorite bands, the acts that you are most passionate about and would follow to the ends of the earth, you’ve probably got their email address and a list of what kinds of underwear they have on each day of the week, but not for a good chunk of the average music lover’s library. There are dozens of bands where we rarely look past the smiling (or impassive, because that’s more photogenic these days) faces of the lead vocalist and/or guitarist, whose charm and energy all but eclipses his fellow players. It’s simple to pay little heed to the fact that a band is often made up of at least four, and quite often more, musicians, each with their own musical background and distinct talent. The musical upbringing and playing style that these musicians utilize in their solo time may often be a complete 180 from that of the more well-known band, and its different energy and performance will often bring an unexpected result. While the Montreal music collective known as Arcade Fire is already well known for its multihued musical aesthetics, their touring saxophonist Colin Stetson, who also did some time in the folk troupe Bon Iver, performs his own music as well, which is possessed of a feral intensity and staggering display of endurance rarely matched by a solo performer — particularly with an instrument as unruly as the bass saxophone. Continue reading “Show Review: The Alone Together Tour: Colin Stetson with Gregory Rogove and Sarah Neufeld at Hotel Utah Saloon, 5/1/2012”
Another week of rock and roll… Because sleep is totally overrated.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/3/12-5/9/12”
To most of the fans in attendance at HP Pavilion this past Saturday night, I might have seemed crazy… or at least like I’ve been living under a rock since 2000. That’s not to say that I’ve never heard of Coldplay, or don’t enjoy the singles I’ve been hearing over the years, or that I dislike them. I just never caught the fever. Much like U2, Coldplay was always a band I liked, but had never gotten rabid about like their hardcore fans. In my experience, when I feel that ambivalent about a band, I often think that most of their songs sound the same. I remember when “Yellow” came out: I was 21, and I loved it. And after that, for some reason, I never paid much attention. But here I am, 12 years later, and the opportunity to see (and review) them falls into my lap – do I go? Hell yes! I couldn’t pass up a chance to see what all the fuss was about, and I knew I’d leave the show with a forever “meh” attitude about them, or come home having caught the fever…
Continue reading “Show Review: Coldplay with The Pierces and Metronomy at HP Pavilion, 4/28/2012”
It’s been twenty years since Patty Schemel became the drummer for Hole at the age of 25 in 1992. At the time, the band consisted entirely of co-founders Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson. The bassist and drummer with whom they’d recorded their grinding debut album, Pretty on the Inside, had moved on; Patty was recommended to Courtney by Kurt Cobain, who initially wanted Patty for Nirvana before settling on Dave Grohl. Patty had been a fixture in the Pacific Northwest indie-punk scene since the mid-’80s, but little about those experiences could have prepared her for the mind-melting, generation-defining roller coaster ride through heaven and hell on which she was about to have a front-car seat. Those explosive years, the drug-addled abyss that followed, and her hard-fought redemption are chronicled in shockingly intimate detail in a new documentary called Hit So Hard.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Patty Schemel on “Hit So Hard””
Prior to this week, I couldn’t have picked Ingrid Michaelson out of a police line-up. I had more than a good handful of her songs on my iPod, and had seen her on at least one TV appearance and multiple album covers, but she appears to be somewhat chameleonic if you judge by those: from the girl with the ponytail and the face paint on the cover of Be OK to the girl-next-door blonde on Everybody to the bundled-up brunette in hipster glasses in last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, I really didn’t know who she was, other than a girl with a voice I really liked. Thankfully, last Wednesday night at the Fillmore, I had the opportunity to find out for myself just what Ingrid Michaelson is all about.
Continue reading “Show Review: Ingrid Michaelson with Harper Blynn at The Fillmore, 4/25/2012”