BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Preview

Can you feel it? Summer’s almost here, finally! Besides the fact that the rain has finally stopped and the temps are heating up, you always know it’s just about summer when it’s time to take a look at the upcoming BottleRock Napa Valley festival!

As usual, the folks organizing this magical event in my sweet hometown have done a brilliant job providing us with not just fantastic headliners but quite a few awesome smaller bands. It starts in less than 10 days, and as usual, I can’t wait!

This year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers return to headline along with The  Smashing Pumpkins, Lizzo, Duran Duran, Post Malone, and Lil Nas X!

Beyond that impressive lineup of headliners, there are countless other interesting acts I hope to see, including Bastille, Phantogram, Kennyhoopla, Jean Dawson, Beach Weather, Paris Jackson, local band High Noon, Leon Bridges, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, Dayglow, Danielle Ponder, Wu-Tang Clan, The National, Caamp, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, The Wrecks, and The Alive. And that’s without listing any of the extensive food, wine, or cocktails available to tempt and delight tastebuds, too!

Here’s my 2023 BottleRock preview playlist for your listening enjoyment, and I look forward to seeing you there soon! Don’t have tickets? Try here, and come on out to Napa for some sunshine at the best fest in the west!

Bumbershoot is back!! Bumbershoot is back!!!

Regular readers will have learned that this site’s music editor sometimes misses important news. Like, I don’t know, the 50th Bumbershoot getting announced with a ridiculously stacked line-up of mostly said music editor’s favorite bands? Well, better late than never? Plus, they broke out the lineup into individual days, and it’s still almost too much good to handle. 

Headlining Saturday is Pacific Northwest legends (and the literal best band in America) Sleater-Kinney (playing what looks like their only show of 2023!) alongside Bay Area notables Zhu and AFI, as well as Brittany Howard. Sunday treats us to The Revivalists, Bay Area punks Jawbreaker, alongside The Descendents, Matt & Kim, and more. Further down the line-up, we’ve got Spinning Platters favorites, The Dandy Warhols, Debby Friday, Shannon & The Clams, Destroy Boys, Morgan & The Organ Donors, Hunx & His Punx, and way too many more. 

The other exciting news? Bumbershoot has teamed up with our pals at The UC Theater to help their Concert Career Pathways Program spread to Seattle. What is this program? It’s a tuition-free, hands-on education program bringing careers in live music to young people that wouldn’t normally have this opportunity. You can donate to these folks here

Full daily lineups are below. Tickets are available NOW and are moving nicely, so don’t delay!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 Sleater-Kinney Zhu AFI Brittany Howard Sunny Day Real Estate Durand Jones Matt and Kim Maya Jane Coles Ride Jacob Banks Major League Djz DOMi & JD Beck The Dip Puddles Pity Party Anabel Englund Destroy Boys Hunx and his Punx Thunderpussy Reignwolf Screaming Females Morgan and the Organ Donors Sweet Water Chong the Nomad Slift Girl Trouble Radioactivity Dave B. Chimurenga Renaissance Spirit Award Pressha Long Dark Moon Breaks and Swells Wimps Scarves SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 The Revivalists Jawbreaker Fatboy Slim Phantogram Band of Horses Descendents Bomba Estereo Uncle Waffles A-Trak Valerie June Pussy Riot Benny the Butcher The Rebirth Brass Band Shannon and the Clams Temples Dandy Warhols Algernon Cadwallader Sol Gustaf Trinix Debby Friday True Loves Modernlove. The Black Tones King Youngblood Massy Ferguson Cassandra Lewis Them Simone BG Fouad Masoud Black Ends TV Star Pink Boa Beverly Crusher

New Music Videos from Blondshell and Dream Wife

Remember when Tuesdays were the “New Release Day” for music? Those days were special. Although I think moving it to Friday is a little more fun. That being said, two videos dropped today from two of my favorite finds of the year! 

Going in alphabetical order out of fairness… 

Continue reading “New Music Videos from Blondshell and Dream Wife”

Show Review: A Night of Enchantment: Pixies and Slow Pulp Grace the Fox Theater – Oakland, 5/4/23

A Night of Enchantment: Pixies and Slow Pulp Grace the Fox Theater

Within the heart of downtown Oakland lies the historic Fox Theater, a stunning Art Deco masterpiece that has set the stage for many an unforgettable concert experience. Last week, the theater’s exquisite interior and world-class sound system played host to an electrifying performance by the Pixies, with Slow Pulp as their mesmerizing opening act. Continue reading “Show Review: A Night of Enchantment: Pixies and Slow Pulp Grace the Fox Theater — Oakland, 5/4/23”

Single of the Week: “Estranged Fruit” by Fishbone featuring El Hefe & Fat Mike of NoFX

Fishbone has been around for 40 years! Crazy, right? And after 40 years, one would expect that they would at least lose their fire a little, right? Well, maybe that would’ve happened if we hadn’t seen a sharp rise in the whole Neo-Nazi/Fascist movement in recent years that the band has been fighting tooth and nail to destroy their entire career… “Estranged Fruit” is the band at their fiery, angry, exasperated best. This song is a bit of a modern update of Billie Holiday’s signature song, “Strange Fruit,” calling back to some of the original lyrics. (I doubt anyone reading this has never heard Strange Fruit before, but if you haven’t, it might be the most chilling song ever recorded)

“Estranged Fruit” is available in all of the usual places. A new EP will be coming soon on Bottles To The Ground records, and they will be hitting the road with Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade later this month! 

Film Review: “The Eight Mountains”(Le Otto Montagne)

Tenderness and solitude are at the forefront of this epic tale of male friendship

Against a calm snow-capped vista of the Italian Alps, two friends come together and stand in silence. They don’t need to speak much. They’ve known each other for long enough that words don’t carry the same value. They part ways once again, for how long neither of them knows, to continue finding themselves and hoping that the other will do the same. Amidst these characters’ experiential subtleties, The Eight Mountains, based on the best-selling novel by Paolo Cognetti, unfolds as a (sneakily) epic tale of friendship and discovering one’s natural place in the world, while making a cinematic statement on the fragility of all living things.

Continue reading “Film Review: “The Eight Mountains”(Le Otto Montagne)”

Spinning Platters Interview: Jim Welte, Executive Director of the Mill Valley Music Festival

Executive Director of Mill Valley Music Festival, seen here with his trusty bodyguard.

Here at Spinning Platters, we are REALLY excited about the second year of the Mill Valley Music Festival. We are getting the return of Northern California legends Cake, alongside SP favorites Tank & The Bangas, Adrian Belew & Jerry Harrison doing a Talking Heads set, Durand Jones, Valerie June, Black Joe Lewis, and many more. The party is NEXT WEEKEND- May 13th and 14th. Tickets and more info here. We had a chance to chat with their Executive Director, Jim Welte about this year’s event, and here’s a bit of our conversation: 

I’ve just got a couple of questions to ask you about this insane endeavor you’re pulling off in one of the hardest cities in the Bay Area to get to, which prompts my first question, what made you pick Mill Valley? Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Jim Welte, Executive Director of the Mill Valley Music Festival”

NEW SEASON OF HOW DID I GET HERE? with Kate Mattison and Lola Adonna of 79.5

79.5 are a 5 piece R&B group from New York City, and we got to chat with band leaders Kate Mattison and Lola Adonna about their career path, the evolution of the band, finding each other, the joy of DIY spaces, and so much more. Their self-titled, full-length debut is out TODAY in all the usual places! You can catch their latest, Sopranos-inspired music video here.

Find and subscribe to How Did I Get Here? on your favorite streaming platform by going here!

Tour Dates:

5/8: Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s

5/11: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop

5/12: Los Angeles, CA @ The Paramount

6/2: Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made

6/24: Philadelphia, PA, @ Johnny Brenda’s

Single of the Week: “Sugar Coating” by Salami Rose Joe Louis

Is it jazz? Is it experimental pop? Is it psych? Is it even from Earth? I’m not sure how to classify “Sugar Coating” by Salami Rose Joe Louis, but this song is just plain great. Another great trippy artist from the Bay Area, in the same school as tUnE-yArDs, Toro y Moi, or Spacemoth.. I haven’t been so entranced by a blend of Science Fiction and song since the first Deltron 3030 record. 

“Sugar Coating” is the latest single of their upcoming full-length record, Akousmatikous, coming your way May 19th. Do all the preorder/presaving and such here

Bad News and Good News from Bethany Cosentino!

First, the bad news… Best Coast is on “Indefinite Hiatus.” So those of us that caught them on tour last year were, well, the last folks to see them for a bit. The good news? Bethany Cosentino is going solo and gifted us with her first single, “It’s Fine.” The track starts out with a scream that gets deep under your skin before taking us through an excellent country-rock track. The pop-punk and surf elements of Best Coast have been replaced by Jenny Lewis-style emotive and vibrant delivery and lyricism. This track is solid. 

“It’s Fine” is the first single of Cosentino’s debut solo record, Natural Disaster, coming for your heart and eardrums on July 28th. Preorders and Presaves are currently active.