A Nerd’s Guide to SF Sketchfest 2023

JESUS CHRIST! I first wrote this article in 2020. When I was just getting ready to push it live, BAM! Cases started spiking hard, and the 2021 SF Sketchfest was moved to 2022. In late 2021, I revised this AGAIN; luckily, most of the events stayed the same.  And right as I was about to post this for 2022… I got an email from SF Sketchfest’s publicist saying the whole thing was moved again… To 2023! 

I’m overjoyed that they managed to keep much of the same line-up and in approximately the same order! It saved me a lot of time and effort. They’ve even added a few new events to the mix that I’m pretty excited about, even though it meant I had to actually write more. Even better- they are live-streaming select events, which is great for folks that don’t like going places! So, without further ado, I present to you the 2021, I mean 2023, Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest! Which is the 20th SF Sketchfest, I might add!  Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide to SF Sketchfest 2023”

BOTTLEROCK 2023 LINE UP IS HERE!

BOTTLEROCK LINEUP HAS DROPPED!!!! And it’s looking like it might be the most fun year yet! Not only do they have 3 of our top ten of 2022 (Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ashe), but the top line also features the classic lineup of Red Hot Chili Peppers finally making up their lost 2020 set, hitmaker Post Malone, New Romantic heartthrobs Duran Duran, groundbreaking genius Lil Nas X, and 90’s Lollapalooza veterans The Smashing Pumpkins (still minus D’Arcy, however. :grumpyface:)

Other Spinning Platters favorites at this shindig include The National, Sheryl Crow, Tove Lo, Nile Ridgers & Chic, Phantogram, Japanese Breakfast, and, hiding at the very bottom, Paris Jackson (!). Full lineup after the jump. And then the “About Damn Time” video because that song never gets old.

Tickets on sale January 10th at noon PST. 

Continue reading “BOTTLEROCK 2023 LINE UP IS HERE!”

Single Of The Week: “SO HARD TO TELL” by DEBBY FRIDAY

Happy New Year! For our first single of the week of 2023, here’s a sweeping ballad from DEBBY FRIDAY.  “SO HARD TO TELL” is simutaneously warm & comforting and dark & sweeping, kind of in the Bjork / Kate Bush school of composition without sounding anything like either. 

“SO HARD TO TELL” is available in all the usual places. Her SubPop debut, Good Luck, is coming to you March 23rd, and is available for pre-order NOW! 

Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2022

By The Spinning Platters Editorial Team

Good news, everyone! Just like every other year, Spinning Platters is publishing the LAST top albums of the year list you’ll be reading. Our entire team has been listening to each other’s favorite records, no matter how painful it can get, and we’ve voted on our 10 favorite albums of 2022! Without further adieu, here we go: Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2022”

Film Review: “Christmas With You”

Representation Matters in Christmas With You Starring Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Costume director Carisa Kelly deserves a raise… and whoever scouted that piano. Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Angelina and Miguel. Photo courtesy of Netflix (2022).

About ten years ago, a friend of mine said, “They never make movies about people like us unless it’s about our trauma or a white person growing. Why can’t we have happy endings, too?”

It was true; all my favorite movies were helmed by white people, and the few that weren’t were about trauma. The rest of the time, we were in supporting roles as best friends, maids, taxi drivers, gangsters, or terrorists. Sometimes the story was about us, but it wasn’t really about us; it was about the white teacher who changes our lives, the white writer who is inspired by us to tell our stories for us. It still centered on a white person’s journey of growth. Continue reading “Film Review: “Christmas With You””

Film Review: “Babylon”

Chazelle’s trip to Babylon leaves us cold

Aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) meets Manny Torres (Diego Calva) at a wild party.

Babylon, this season’s third (yes, third!) movie about the movies is by far the worst of the trio. While The Fabelmans and Empire of Light have a few pluses, Babylon is too bloated and draggy to recommend. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (La La Land; First Man; Whiplash) clearly loves the movies, but with Babylon, he’s made one that might actually steer his audience away from the form instead of toward it.

Continue reading “Film Review: “Babylon””

Show Review: Modest Mouse at The Fox Theater, 11/30/22

Issac Brock and crew sauntered out to fervent fans in Oakland Wednesday night. The 25th-anniversary tour for The Lonesome Crowded West has twenty-one scheduled tour dates full of 90s gems that soundtracked college dorms through the early 2000s. This one was sold out, with fans of all ages and all eras of the band attending. Beanie-topped tidy grunge folks in the teeming audience at the Fox howled when the first licks of “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine” began. The setlist continued down a nostalgic path stirring ephemeral eddies of light-push-moshing. “Doin’ The Cockroach” is their disco grind dance number. The crowd obliged.  Continue reading “Show Review: Modest Mouse at The Fox Theater, 11/30/22”

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Season 4, Episode 3 with TEKE::TEKE

TEKE::TEKE are a psychedelic rock band from Montreal that perform in Japanese. And by psych rock, I mean they are absolutely genre-bonkers. They bring together elements of Eleki, Punk, Spaghetti Western Score, Classic Rock, and Funk and blend them into something that makes Mr. Bungle sound like Celine Dion. I chatted with guitarist Serge Nakauchi Pelletier and vocalist Maya Kuroki about the band’s origins as a Takeshi Terauchi cover band and how they morphed into the beauty of what they are now. 
TEKE::TEKE are wrapping up a West Coast tour now, but promised me they’d be back soon. If you are free tomorrow, you can catch them at Bandcamp HQ in Oakland doing a live interview and performance. Their brilliant debut record, Shirushi, is out now on Kill Rock Stars. 

Film Review: “Empire of Light”

Bright spots transcend cliched moments in new Mendes picture  

Hilary (Olivia Colman) works the ticket booth at the Empire Cinema. 

Hollywood loves to make movies about itself. My last review was on The Fablemans, a movie about the magic of movies. This review is about Empire of Light, a movie about the healing power of movies. And my next review will be about Babylon, a movie about, you guessed it, the good and bad of the movie industry. If Hollywood wants to get folks back into theaters, maybe making a bunch of narcissistic films about itself isn’t the best way, but nevertheless, here we are, with three releases within a month that basically say, “Movies are awesome! Go to the movies!!” This week’s offering makes its case mightily, and somewhat succeeds in spite of the pervasive layer of schmaltz that covers the picture.

Continue reading “Film Review: “Empire of Light””

Single Of The Week: “Veronica Mars” by BLONDSHELL

I have never seen Veronica Mars. I barely know the premise. But from the minor key muted strum opening this track, I’ve never been more intrigued by a TV show that I missed nearly 20 years ago. The song actually places me in My So-Called Life territory, the greatest TV show ever. This song is a fuzzy, emotive burner and my only complaint is that it’s too short. And I’ve NEVER said that about a song before. 

“Veronica Mars” is available in all the usual places. She’s touring with Suki Waterhouse and, yes, I’m sad that there is no Bay Area date, too.