Show Review: Mac Sabbath drives thru the Great American Music Hall!

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro

“More Than Meats the Eye” is what happens when McDonald’s worst nightmare Mac Sabbath books a tour with a bunch of Transformers and they all Drive Thru the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on a warm Thursday evening.

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Show Review: Lauren Mayberry with Alaska Reid at August Hall, 9/28/23

Brilliant. Chvrches lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry decided to share her first solo album by touring it BEFORE releasing it. It’s such a brave endeavor- we all know her band’s work, but anyone who bought a ticket to this was taking a risk that this project would be worth their time and money. I decided it was worth my time because the curiosity was killing me. Continue reading “Show Review: Lauren Mayberry with Alaska Reid at August Hall, 9/28/23”

Single of the Week: “Lenny” by Atka

I keep trying to figure out what the story of “Lenny” actually is, which maybe why I’ve listened to it so much. Atka says, “This is a song about how one man’s tunnel-visioned obsession with finding meaning turns everything around him into a swamp of meaninglessness that also sucks in everyone around him. It’s witnessing empty repetition right in front of your eyes and the helplessness and all-limbs-dropping-to-the-floor exhaustion felt as a result, when caring for someone who is depressed. And ultimately it’s about the absence of being perceived by that person and one’s drift into a ghost-like state. When no one is watching or sees me – do I even exist? Lenny is about “reverse-paranoia” if you want it.” The song itself is heavy on the analog electronics, with a Kraftwerkian anxiety that somehow doesn’t sound like The Postal Service. All I know is I both really want to know Lenny, but I also don’t want Lenny to get dragged down by my own mental health. 

Anyways, you can also dig deep into the inner workings of “Lenny” and reading your own struggles with your own psyche into the song by streaming it here! Atka has plenty more coming your way, including an EP called The Eye Against The Ashen Sky, due out November 3rd! 

Show Review: Freaks on Parade with Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry, Filter in Concord!

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro

Alice Cooper for President!

Toyota Pavilion at Concord was the third-to-last stop on this summer’s Freaks on Parade tour. 12,000 devotees traveled far and wide to be in attendance for this rally featuring Cooper, alongside running mates Rob Zombie, Al Jourgensen (Ministry), and Richard Patrick (Filter).  

Make no mistake though… while Zombie might play second fiddle on a presidential ticket to the elder Cooper, the spectacle of his production and show easily makes him the final headliner of this co-headline gathering!

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TALKIES is BACK IN THE BAY AREA (BRIEFLY)

Y’know, as often as I try to keep on top of hip, new things, I’m 43 years old (going on 44 next month!), and I DEFINITELY reminisce about the Bay Area of my youth (Read: 30’s). And Talkies at the old Cinecave (The best comedy venue in history, RIP) was something that I always loved. Well, ever since George Chen moved to LA, the show moved, too. We’d only get to enjoy the blend of film, PowerPoint, stand-up, sketch, and storytelling that is TALKIES during his annual Sketchfest visit. Well… FEAR NOT! TALKIES is ON TOUR and it’s coming home during the off-Sketchfest season!  

TALKIES is hosted by Nick Stargu, Aviva Siegel, George Chen, and Land Smith-Abbinate. Special Guests for these shows will be Drennon Davis and Jack Brown, along with Ashley Monique in SF and Jessica Sele in Sacramento and Santa Cruz. (BTW: I bloody love those last two comics AND don’t drive, so, yeah, I’m a little sad about them being on different shows.)

Next week, they are bringing the show to Punch Line in SF on October 3rd, Comedy Spot in Sacramento on October 4th, and Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz on October 5th

Film Review: “Invisible Beauty”

Hardison’s monumental life is on full display in Invisible Beauty

“I would always think of a Samurai when I would walk.” -Bethann Hardison

A pioneer who continuously pushed boundaries, Bethann Hardison is the subject of Invisible Beauty, an autobiographical (she is co-director) look at her trail-blazing life and her ongoing push for equal representation in the modeling and fashion industries. As one of the first high-profile Black models, Hardison gained widespread fame in the ‘70s and launched her own modeling agency in the mid ‘80s. Shortly after, she started the Black Girls Coalition (BGC) with fellow model and activist, Iman, to promote and support Black models. Invisible Beauty takes us behind-the-scenes of Hardison’s extraordinary journey, while appropriately following her in the present as she works on her memoir. The film features numerous interviews with a wide breadth of famous faces and impressive footage of turning-point moments that capture Hardison’s immense impact.

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Show Review: NOFX Final Tour, Punk in Drublic @ The Cow Palace 09-16-2023

Farewell tours are a strange business. How does a band perform with sincerity and a sense of purpose that feels genuine without the trappings of a cash-grab mentality that us cynical fans have come to expect? I’ve personally never been to a farewell show outside of bands in the local music scene where I grew up, so I wasn’t very sure what to expect aside from what I was seeing on social media. A 40-year-old punk band going on with an absolute bang at each and every show, celebrating not only their longevity but celebrating the music scene that they came up in. What better place than San Francisco, the second home to one of the most iconic bands to come out of the 80s hardcore punk scene in Los Angeles, to wave goodbye to an incredible career?

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Show Review: Dream Wife with Buzzed Lightbeer at Bottom Of The Hill, 9/20/23

There’s nothing more exciting than realizing you’ve reached “fan” status with a band. And after picking up Social Lubrication, followed by their 2020 live album IRL, I’ve gone officially “all in” on the political dance punk stylings of Dream Wife. My turntable has pretty much alternated between both discs all year, reminding me that I need to pick up the two earlier records so I don’t wear out the other ones. This show has been on my calendar for most of the year, and it was also my return to Bottom Of The Hill, one of the most magic venues on the west side of SF Bay. 

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Single of the Week: “Le Temple Volant” by Crumb & Melody’s Echo Chamber

Modern shoegazers Crumb and Psych’s reigning chanteuse Melody’s Echo Chamber have never come to mind as a collaboration that felt like the world needed. Both bands are fantastic, but their similarities never really gelled to me. And then I heard “Le Temple Volant.” What an airy, breezy groove of a song! I can listen to a song like this endlessly… I speak no French, and it doesn’t matter. This one-off single screams for a full-length collaboration of goodness like this. 

You can enjoy “Le Temple Volant” in all the usual places. Both Crumb and Melody’s Echo Chamber are currently on the road, sadly separately. Tour dates after the jump, and maybe enough streams of this track will get a clever booker to put the two bands together for a Spring package run? Please? 

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Aftershock 2023… and why it will be better than Power Trip!

Show Preview by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro

The extended weekend of October 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the year 2 0 2 3 has been leaving fans of heavy metal music in decision limbo since the beginning of April.  In mid-March, the annual heavy metal pilgrimage to Sacramento, called Aftershock Festival, announced another stellar (as always) 4-day lineup for an unforgettable weekend of Rock N Metal.  What nobody knew then is that a mere two weeks later, Power Trip (not the band) would announce a killer classic metal lineup for their festival, to take place simultaneously on the same weekend, albeit in the southern California desert. Goldenvoice had just put Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) on notice, and fans then had to decide which to go to!  Now, with t-minus two weeks and counting, Spinning Platters is here to explain why Aftershock Festival is thee festival to attend and how they will not be relinquishing their West Coast Fall Festival crown…

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