Spinning Platters – Page 297 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Show Review: Keith Emerson and Greg Lake at The Regency Ballroom, 4/26/10

Moog — The most photographed keyboard setup in the history of the world?

Before the show even started, and long after it ended, fans were gathered around the stage to take photographs of the famous synthesizer on stage at The Regency Ballroom on Monday night. This is the actual synthesizer that was used on “Lucky Man,” the classic track by Emerson Lake & Palmer that both kicked off their career and ended this concert. That prog nerds (like me; I was taking a photo, too) worship equipment is well known, but what about the people playing it? What about Emerson Lake & … well … nobody?

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Show Review: Jennifer Knapp at Red Devil Lounge, 4/25/10

Jennifer Knapp performing at Club Café in Pittsburgh last month. Photo by Marcia Furman.

After a seven-year hiatus, bestselling Christian singer/songwriter Jennifer Knapp —who always stood apart from her contemporaries in terms of her musical grit and unadorned emotional ferocity; who created some of the most iconic songs of her genre and generation, such as “Undo Me” and “A Little More,” — came back with two big announcements: (1) she’s returning to music; and (2) she’s a lesbian. Predictably, the latter has eclipsed the former. But Knapp is first and foremost a musician, as she demonstrated last night at Red Devil Lounge (I can only imagine what her horrified conservative fans think about their disgraced idol playing at a San Francisco bar named after Satan, which: bonus!).

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Show Review: The Bloody Beetroots (Live) at The Independent, 4/22/10

For the longest time I have been looking for an electronic DJ to bridge the gap from DJing and samples to actually playing tracks live. The Bloody Beetroots seem to have done it. Not only have they done it, but they did it in a way that demands you to rethink electronic music! Continue reading “Show Review: The Bloody Beetroots (Live) at The Independent, 4/22/10”

SFIFF Film Review: “Rejoice and Shout”

Rejoice and Shout, the latest music documentary from director Don McGlynn (The Howlin’ Wolf Story, Somewhere Over The Rainbow: Harold Arlen, and many more) is the most thoroughly researched and exhaustive film about African-American gospel music ever committed to film. In telling the story of gospel in America, it simultaneously mirrors the entire narrative of the African-American experience, beginning with slavery and ending with the election of the nation’s first black president. It is an ambitious undertaking, and for the most part, it is successful.

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Theatre Review: Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep, 4/24/10

I hear you need somebody, I hear your looking for someone to love... — I hear you need somebody, I hear you're looking for someone to love...

In the last decade or so, the musical theater world has been inundated with shows that use pre-existing popular music instead of original works. Well many of these have been very successful, such as Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys and the recent American Idiot, others have been critical and commercial failures, like Footloose and a proposed Radiohead musical.

While the success rate may vary on these, the one thing that they all have in common is the fact that every one of these shows uses music that the masses are very familiar with. There is a built-in audience for the show because of the fans. This show is a little bit different, though. It shows that the good people at Berkeley Rep are willing to take a risk. They are brave enough to chance a musical based on a relatively obscure power-pop record from the early ’90s, Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend.

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Show Review: Dr. Dog with Sean Bones at the Great American Music Hall, 4/24/2010

Openers. As a general rule of thumb they tend to be doomed. The crowd isn’t usually there to see them and this can lead to feelings of impatience amongst the audience. This was not the case last night at the Great American. I had never heard of or seen Sean Bones prior to last nights show. A quick Google image search led me to assume that this was going to be a Brooklyn based indie band with stupid instruments. This also, thankfully, was not the case. Continue reading “Show Review: Dr. Dog with Sean Bones at the Great American Music Hall, 4/24/2010”

Show Review: Sublime with Rome, Dirty Heads at The Fox Theater – Oakland, 4/23/10

As most everyone knows, Bradley Nowell passed away in 1996, months before the release of their self-titled record that ended up taking the world by storm. Very few people actually saw Sublime live because of this. Which may have been to the benefit of the band, because Sublime were a terrible live band. Nowell was wasted about 90% of the time, and rarely was able finish a song. The vast majority of the people that are offended by this reformation of the band aren’t aware of this. This version of Sublime is more than just a chance for the original rhythm section to hit the road again, this is a shot a redeeming Brad Nowell’s memory

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Show Review: Shelby Lynne and Findlay Brown at Great American Music Hall, 4/23/10

Shelby Lynne rocking a pompadour at the Roxy Theatre on Thursday night. Photo courtesy of her Facebook page.

When I approached the Great American Music Hall box office last night to pick up my tickets for the Shelby Lynne concert, something very startling happened: the box office rep also handed me two backstage passes with the instructions to “come down and say hello” afterward. This has never happened to me before. And while I was giddily excited about the prospect of meeting Shelby, I was also a complete basket-case. My interactions with celebrities have ranged from moderately successful (when I have enough time to plan my words carefully) to sheer blood-curdling disaster (when the opportunity catches me by surprise). So how would tonight go?

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New Release Round Up 4/20/10 – 43 Instant Album Reviews

Kitsune9 — What's better than some 420 on 4/20? When one of these comes out.

Man I got through a lot of albums this week. Not a record but I kinda don’t know where I’m at right now. Need to go outside and lay in the sun. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 4/20/10 — 43 Instant Album Reviews”

Show Review: Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson at The Fillmore, 4/21/10

With this review, I hope to dispel a few stereotypes that people have about Ms Norah Jones. I feel that people have, rather inappropriately decided that she makes dull background music, and that she isn’t a very good live performer. I will agree that in her earlier days, she was a very shy performer. She rarely looked at the crowd, and usually hid behind her piano. I also feel that her debut record, Come Away With Me, the 2002 release that went on to sell 22 million records, is more of a mood piece than a work of active listening. But, in the 8 years since that release, Ms Jones has pushed her sound in many new and interesting directions, including a few very surprising collaborations and a really bizarre interpretation of punk rock.

So, how did her first show at The Fillmore since 2002 (opening for the great Willie Nelson) fare? Read on…

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