Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
This is another week where you just have to feel lucky living in the bay… It’s a great combination of living legends and awesome low profile gigs, so I hope you have some money and sick time, because this one is gonna be busy!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/20/11-10/26/11”
The details of the Treasure Island Music Festival are well known to Bay Area music regulars. I’ll go over them briefly.
The setting is beautiful, on an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. There are only two stages that alternate acts, so there’s never any clashes. There are two days: Saturday leans toward dance music, and Sunday is for indie rock. It’s small so you can easily get close to the stage whenever you want, without having to park yourself in the front row all day long. Those are the basics — everything else changes year to year. In fact, the organizers — Noise Pop and Another Planet — intend to never repeat a band. So here’s a quick look at this year’s collection of talent.
Continue reading “Festival Diary: The 2011 Treasure Island Music Festival, Day 1”
“WHYYYYYYYYY??!?!??”
This was the universal reaction when it was announced several years ago that Paramount was mounting a remake of the much-beloved Kevin Bacon classic, Footloose. And however skeptical you remain about it, just know that the remake as originally conceived — which was going to reunite High School Musical director Kenny Ortega and star Zac Efron — would have been far more likely to offend your sense of ’80s cultural reverence. But then Ortega dropped out and was replaced by Craig Brewer, best known for decidedly adult films like Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan. Brewer, himself a Footloose devotée, set out to make the most authentic update imaginable, and a lot of that would depend upon the casting of the iconic roles of Ren (Bacon’s character) and Ariel (originally played by Lori Singer). Enter the unlikely duo of Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Julianne Hough and Kenny Wormald on “Footloose””
Dakin’s taking the week off to play with his cat and get ready for the Treasure Island Music Festival. I’m ready for the festival — Friendly Fires, Cut Copy, Explosions in the Sky, Death Cab For Cutie, Empire of the Sun, Battles, Geographer, Aloe Blacc, many more, bring it! — so I’m suggesting shows for the rest of the week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/13/11-10/19/11”
It’s been almost ten years since I was first introduced to the music of Switchfoot. At the time, I was living in San Diego and they were a local band on the brink of making it. Somewhere between frontman Jon Foreman’s distinctive voice and lyrics that inspired me to live fully, (“this is your life – is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger and you had everything to lose?”) I had found a band whose music I could never play too much. Sure enough, nearly a decade later, I continue to love each album as much (or more!) than the one that preceded it. Somehow, life has managed to keep me from ever seeing this band live…until last night. Finally, finally, finally, my time had come: Switchfoot and co-headliners Anberlin graced the stage at the Warfield in San Francisco with openers Atomic Tom, and what better way to spend a beautifully rainy Monday night than warm and cozy inside with a fantastic band? Continue reading “Show Review: Switchfoot with Anberlin and Atomic Tom at the Warfield, 10/10/2011”
In 2001, a car company that went by the name of “Honda” decided to add another package tour to the schedule. They called up blink-182, who were at the height of their popularity, and, one thing led to another, and 10 years later, fans of pop punk music became far more aware of automobiles. I was at the San Francisco date on that tour, a show at The Warfield with No Motiv and Alkaline Trio. Over the next ten years, blink-182 went through an awful lot, evolving, and then breaking up, and then their drummer almost died in a plane accident, inspiring them to get back together.
What makes a good show a really, really good show? The answer will vary depending upon whom you ask. For some, it’s when a mind-boggling array of lights, smoke, lasers and confetti is packed onstage at a shopping-mall-sized rock arena, with the platinum-selling act of the week destroying the eardrums of the next few towns over. For others, it’s not quite on the same scale, but it involves a display of incredible musicianship that is unequaled in measure. Hardcore concertgoers may tell you that a great show involves any collection of bands, anywhere, no matter how small or unlit their stage might be, who spends every waking moment of the show in brisk and uninterrupted movement, careening with jackhammer-like intensity around each other, knocking instruments and cables to and fro, barely caring whether or not the notes are as precise as on their pristine studio recordings. The final category of a great show involves any of the above, plus an automatic guarantee of fun based on the artist playing, and the memorability and masterful pop craft of their always-catchy and witty performances. While perhaps without the overzealous cacophony and synesthesia of the first category, Thursday night’s show at the Independent managed to stuff all of the other aforementioned definitions into their 500-person club — along with a near sell-out crowd that was there to see Electric Six, the Detroit-based purveyors of the ultimate party rock freakshow.
starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Max Minghella, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Ehle
written by: George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon
directed by: George Clooney
MPAA: Rated R for pervasive language
I can easily see myself doing 7 days straight of shows… This week is amazing in the quality of shows we’ve got. Normally I need to do some research to make this list, but this time it all just slid right out. So, yeah, support live music!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/06/11-10/12/11”
After looking up Lisa Hannigan’s past show archive, I have definitely missed her more times than I remember. Twice I’ve seen Damien Rice while she hadn’t been on the tour with him. (She was the better half of Damien Rice in my opinion). Then I systematically missed her only U.S. solo tour, her Apple Store in-store and her opening for both Jason Mraz, and David Grey on separate occasions. I only had to wait eight years right? Well I think it paid off, because I not only got to see her live, I had the chance to interview her as well! (See related article =) )
Continue reading “Show Review: Lisa Hannigan, John Smith at Slim’s, 10/2/2011”