The Stern Grove 2011 Lineup

Find any official Stern Grove web presence, and you’ll see that the lineup will be announced May 2. Well, yesterday it leaked, and although it was quickly “unleaked,” you can’t truly unleak stuff on the Internet. This isn’t Orwell’s 1984 (yet), so because I know, I want all the music junkies to know. (Good thing we have a website for music nerds.)

Why should people want to know right away? Because Stern Grove on a Sunday in the city is one of the greatest traditions we have, and all my friends who work Sundays can start planning now. Check out Stern Grove’s website for more details come Monday, May 2, but you can put in your time-off requests now. Continue reading “The Stern Grove 2011 Lineup”

Spinning Platters Interview: Jane Wiedlin of The Go Go’s

Jane Wiedlin is a modern renaissance woman. Not only is she the legendary guitarist for the most successful all female rock band of all time, she has more career hyphenations than I can fit in this space. She’s about to embark on a tour with the Go-Go’s to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their debut record Beauty & The Beat, but she fit some time in from her busy schedule as a musician/comic book artist/producer/actor/Jedi to talk about her touring plans, her numerous creative projects, as well as what really caused the band to cancel their tour last summer.

Last year your tour was billed as a Go Go’s farewell tour, which was canceled because of injury. Your tour this summer is not being billed as a farewell tour. Does this mean that you will keep going after this tour is over?

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Jane Wiedlin of The Go Go’s”

Show Review: Railroad Revival Tour (Mumford & Sons) at Oakland Middle Shoreline Park, 4/21/2011

img_0918
Not technically the headliners, but you could've fooled me

The Railroad Revival Tour is a concept tour package where one of the main conceits is that all the bands have equal billing and play equal set lengths. That’s a nice thing to say, but the tickets sold lightning quick due to the recent boom of success of Mumford & Sons. While they weren’t officially the headliner, the singing along told another story. But by the end of the show, they convinced me that this was, indeed, a true group package. Seeing all three bands was a bit of a challenge, but worth it. Continue reading “Show Review: Railroad Revival Tour (Mumford & Sons) at Oakland Middle Shoreline Park, 4/21/2011”

Film Review: “Ceremony”

Michael Angarano and Reece Thompson in CEREMONY. © 2011 Magnolia Pictures

starring: Michael Angarano, Uma Thurman, Reece Thompson, Lee Pace, Rebecca Mader, Jake M. Johnson

written and directed by: Max Winkler

MPAA: Rated R for some language, sexual references and drug use.

Continue reading “Film Review: “Ceremony””

Film Review: “Water For Elephants”

Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Tai as "Rosie" in WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

starring: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Hal Holbrook

written by: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Sara Gruen (novel)

directed by: Francis Lawrence

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for moments of intense violence and sexual content.

Continue reading “Film Review: “Water For Elephants””

Win a Pass to SF MusicTech Summit #8

A few updates: First, R.I.P. Max Matthews. You will be missed. Second, I will extend this contest to Friday, April 29th as the first Musica Tecnomica 2.0 in a long while is taking place on Thursday the 28th.

Here we go again…another contest! For those of you not yet familiar with the event, SF MusicTech Summit was created by Brian and Shoshanna Zisk several years back to help music business professionals keep apace in an industry that is notorious for rapidly transforming, innovating, and developing tools for the development and distribution of music. What initially started out as a local gathering has gradually evolved into the third most renowned music and tech event in the world (behind MIDEM and, of course, SXSW).

I’ve already covered reasons why I think you should attend SF MusicTech Summit and this recent Fast Company interview gives even more insight into its benefits plus other projects Brian’s been involved with for the greater good of the community. Luckily, two free conference passes (one per online publication) are up for grabs here and through my own personal blog, karaemurphy.me. Read on to learn more about what to expect as an attendee and how you can potentially win…

Continue reading “Win a Pass to SF MusicTech Summit #8”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/21/11 – 4/27/11

Opening For Jamaica.

I hope that you all have recovered from Coachella weekend, or whatever else you did last weekend. I’m sure you went to plenty of shows… But you aren’t sick of them, are you? Good.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/21/11 – 4/27/11”

Show Review: Cut Copy with Holy Ghost! at the Regency Ballroom, 4/16 and 4/17/2011

Creative Commons allows us to bring you awesome Cut Copy photos, cut and copied from Flickr. Click the photo to see more of ldavid's work.

I’ve been waiting to see this band for a long, long time.  They’re one of my absolute favorites, so when I got my little fan club email about tickets going on sale, I was ALL over it.  Like woke up at the crack of dawn over it.  Their newest album Zonoscope was just starting to have little early “leaks” that were streamed over the internet.  I’ve been beside myself for months…  I was going to see Cut Copy on this US tour no matter what. Continue reading “Show Review: Cut Copy with Holy Ghost! at the Regency Ballroom, 4/16 and 4/17/2011”

Spinning Platters Guide to the San Francisco International Film Festival 2011

The 54th annual San Francisco International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, April 21, bringing with it two weeks of jam-packed film programming until its conclusion on May 5. Special guests and honorees this year include Oliver Stone, Matthew Barney, Zoe Saldana, Clifton Collins Jr., and Christine Vachon. The festival will also feature a live performance of the film scores of Claire Denis by Tindersticks.

For full information, check out the official festival website. But first, look after the jump for our top 15 movies to see this year at the SFIFF.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide to the San Francisco International Film Festival 2011”

Show Review: The Joy Formidable with The Lonely Forest at Bottom of the Hill, 4/14/2011

They've come from North Wales to kick our asses

The Joy Formidable is a hard band to describe to people. I’ve seen them called “ecstatic dance rock,” “evolutionary shoegaze,” and last night, one extremely drunk fan called them “the best band in the world!” over and over again until the rest of the crowd finally told him to shut up. As an admitted obsessive fan, I’m not sure I have anything particularly wise or witty to add to the conversation, other than an excited “fuck yeah!” in response to the aforementioned drunk fan. That makes me both the right and wrong person to be reviewing the band, so here I go. Continue reading “Show Review: The Joy Formidable with The Lonely Forest at Bottom of the Hill, 4/14/2011”