Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
You know what’s awesome about February? It’s one step closer to Noise Pop, Fauxchella, and SXSW. It may be a little slow, but there are plenty of reasons not to go to bed early this week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/3/11-2/9/11”
While past recipients of the SF Sketchfest Comedy Writing Award have included Robert Smigel and John Hodgman, the Sketchfest crew that introduced this years’s winner freely admitted to outdoing themselves this time: the legendary James L. Brooks, a towering institution in the worlds of film and television writing, the man who won three Oscars – Picture (as a producer), Director, and Adapted Screenplay – for his very first directorial effort, the immortal weepie Terms of Endearment.
And not only did they snag Brooks, but they also got the inimitable Danny DeVito, who has known Brooks since their Taxi days, to serve as a moderator for what was intended to be a discussion of Brooks’ life and career. I say “intended” because the evening was ultimately less about Brooks’ personal career reflections than DeVito’s broad comic interpretation of their years working together. But since he had everyone (including Brooks) red-faced and panting from laughter, everyone still walked away satisfied. Well, everyone except poor Debra Winger.
At The Eureka Theater last Saturday night, there was a definite air of nostalgia. I often consider Viva Variety! to be the forgotten middle child. It wasn’t nearly as popular as it’s predecessor, The State, nor did it have the longevity of Reno 911. It was a fun program, the fictitious variety show from Europe featuring Thomas Lennon as Mr Meredith Laupin, Kerri Kenney (Silver) as The Former Mrs. Agatha Laupin, and Michael Ian Black as Johnny Blue Jeans, their announcer. But, it never comes up. When you search for the program on YouTube, you will find all of about 4 clips. Where you can find almost anything ever on the internet, the 13 episodes of this show are merely a fading memory.
I don’t think anybody ever expected this reunion. It may be because of the success Sketchfest had with The State in 2009 and Reno 911 in 2010, but the masses snatched up tickets to this show faster than any other gig this year, including Murphy Brown and Saturday Night Live reunions that were far more popular in it’s day, and have lasted in syndication.
Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Viva Variety! at Eureka Theater, 1/29/11”
I chose Music Night as my finale to a wonderful Sketchfest mostly because of my long-term fangirl love for Chris Hardwick (I even watched Shipmates back in the day, Shipmates!). So, just like the night before for the Nerdist Podcast, I got to Cobb’s early hoping to be right up front. I was rewarded with a front row seat for one of the best and funniest nights I’ve ever seen. With so much talent on stage: Mike Phirman, Eli Braden, Zach Selwyn, Garfunkel & Oates, David Koechner doing 10-20 minute sets each and Chris Hardwick MC-ing, it was bound to be non-stop entertainment. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Music Night at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/29/11”
The Eureka Theatre was much better than Eureeka’s Castle last night, thanks to Will Durst, who you might recognize from some radio PSAs he has done over the years, or more accurately, you may know him as a political standup comic. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Will Durst and Killing My Lobster at the Eureka Theatre, 1/27/2011”
One of my favorite pastimes is looking up whatever happened to some of my favorite 90’s icons. I mean, almost everyone knows what happened to some of the lesser known folks in 90’s TV programs. Like Six from Blossom is apparently a struggling country singer, and Rayanne from My So Called Life is married to a lord. But, my absolute favorite show from the 90’s was The State. It was simply the only TV program of it’s time that I felt emulated my brain functions. With the program now streaming on Netflix, I was reminded of two of my favorite sketches: the mailman that only delivered tacos and the Jew, the Italian, and the Red-Headed Gay. Hence me feeling the need to learn about Kevin Allison, one of the “forgotten” members of The State. Much to my surprise, he has a genius podcast called Risk!, where famous people talk about embarrassing situations they’ve been in. And it’s pretty awesome to say the least. Even better was getting to see it done live at the legendary Purple Onion as part of Sketchfest this year!
Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Risk! with Kevin Allison at The Purple Onion, 1/28/11”
starring: Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Alice Braga, Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones, Rutger Hauer, Marta Gastini
directed by: Mikael Håfström
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material, violence, frightening images, and language including sexual references.
Usually the months of January and February are pretty sleepy for live shows, but this week is brutal. A lot of nights with a lot of tough decisions. Time to load up on Red Bull and not sleep for a week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/27/11-2/2/11”
Someone was tweeting something about cover songs, and I immediately went to work on twittering away the rules of cover songs. I got to rule #3, remembered that I’m the editor of a music blog, and went to work writing the other rules down. And now, I present to you, everything you need to know about cover songs. Is there anything I left out? Let me know below. But first, we’ll start with rule #1: Continue reading “The 7 Rules of the Best and Worst Cover Songs”
Having traveled 3,000+ miles from San Francisco to Florida to see Jay Brannan in September, because I just couldn’t wait to see him again, you could say I’m a big fan. Suffice it to say the show Friday night was the highlight of my week.
Continue reading “Show Review: Jay Brannan, David Smallen, Jhameel at Bottom Of The Hill, 1/21/2011”