Many of you aren’t going to believe me when I say this, but that won’t stop it from being true: the New Kids on the Block just keep getting better with age. Here’s how I know this: I’ve been a fan since I was a first grader. Back then, for me, it was definitely more about cute boys and catchy music than whether or not someone had any actual talent. Happily, though, by the time that ceased to be true, the vocal and musical talents of the group’s main singers had begun to impress me more than I ever dreamed they would. And even if you don’t believe me enough to give them a listen, the photos speak for themselves: these guys are making forty-something look unbelievable. But perhaps I digress a bit…
The lineup at Yoshi’s San Francisco on Wednesday evening was basically the ideal music program for a dreamy hipster cruise of the Caribbean. It was a night of transporting melodies and gently swaying rhythms, soothing vocals and sleepy-eyed acoustics. There were moments I could literally feel little blasts of sea breeze on my face. But then Mia Doi Todd complained that the air conditioner was too strong, so they turned it off.
Opening for Guster at Palace of Fine Arts on Wednesday
This weekly show preview is a day late. This makes me very Twilight Sad because that was the show I would have told you to see. Because of this, I’m going to have make up for my mistake, and suggest even better shows than normal. So stick with me; this next week is going to be fun. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/9/12-3/14/12”
starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Polly Walker
written by: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon
directed by: Andrew Stanton
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
The stage before the show, and before the "no photos" policy was announced (and enforced)
Let’s talk for a minute about NBC’s The Voice. Last April, when it premiered after much hype, I was really excited to check it out. For anyone who isn’t familiar, the premise of the show is that undiscovered musical talents audition for four current musicians, in hopes that their vocals alone will convince one (or more) of them to coach them through the rest of the competition. They call it a “blind” audition because all four coaches (Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton) sit with their backs to the stage, unable to see the performer at all. It sounds like a great concept, right? True, I always point out that there’s a little bit of a fallacy here, since it is a TV show, and someone’s doing the casting, so while it’s true that the coaches don’t see who the voice is coming out of before signing on to work with them, it’s not entirely true that how a performer looks isn’t taken into consideration at all.
Anyway, last year it was really fun to watch, because after you get past the fact that almost all of the performers look commercial enough to make it in the industry, you start to get sucked into the untapped talent – in my case, I was especially rooting for Team Adam, as Mr. Levine has a knack for picking the artists I liked the best. In the end, my favorite guy won. His name is Javier Colon, and truth be told, I haven’t heard much about him since he won. So believe me, I was excited to see him when I saw that he was playing the Uptown Theatre in Napa last night. Continue reading “Show Review: Javier Colon with Reed Waddle at The Uptown Theatre Napa, 3/4/2012”
I know it’s the biggest cliché you can think of, but somehow, I keep falling into it. Sure I’ve liked Rachael Yamagata, that’s been “Known For Years” now. She’s a great song writer, great husky emotive voice, the piano, you know, the whole nine. But at times, I get bored. She gets the mood going, this dark depressing mood, and…actually, I think she explains it very well. On stage, she mentioned how she’s always surprised that people ask her to play their weddings. In her opinion she’s better suited to play their divorce proceedings. I thought she just might be a little stale and boring live. “The Reason Why” these clichés have apparently “Worn Me Down,” I really can’t say. But what I can say is that I was entirely wrong. There’s a reason you go see an artist play live. Sure they can always disappoint and sound exactly like they do on record, but the gamble is worth it when it pays off. Continue reading “Rachael Yamagata, Dan Wilson, and Madi Diaz at The Independent 3.2.12”
Put down your spiked hair. Pull those safety pins out of your pierced ears. Trade in the leather jacket, the studded belt, the plaid pants, the violently political message, the inability to enjoy anyone within your immediate proximity unless you’re physically engaged in violence towards them. But don’t stop enjoying yourself. This is not the place for the energy to drop, for the volume to descend, or for the spirit of radical thought to become extinguished. This is the place for two-minute songs and stagedivers and snarling fuzz and harrowing reverb, all compacted together into a stick of dynamite that keeps burning for almost five solid hours. This is the first stop on the tour for Ty Segall, a veteran to the Bay Area garage-folk-psych-rock scene, which, tonight, has taken up residence in the Great American Music Hall, and is here to demolish the foundations — both figuratively and a significant bit literally.
Everyone’s favorite Spinning Platters backup writer, I was summoned to cover an event that had conveniently piqued my interest: Becoming Britney. A show written in the space between the tongue and the inner cheek, the only concern was whether it would collapse under the weight of being over the top. Nope.
