Single Of The Week: “Letter” by Morgan and the Organ Donors

SUPERGROUP ALERT!!! Morgan and the Organ Donors consists of Bikini Kill’s Tobi Vail, C.O.C.O’s Olivia Ness along with James Maeda and Sara Peté. “Letter” is their second single, and it’s reverb-heavy, power-pop meets country piece of hooky goodness. Maybe it’s the name of the song that forced me to think of Alex Chilton, but this track definitely is somewhere between Big Star and Best Coast, with just enough Southern Culture On The Skids to feel like you can smell the PBR and hairspray. Anyways, it’s a solid song and I’m excited to hear more from them.

…which you can if you preorder their debut album, M.O.D.s, coming your way on March 31st from the legendary K Records. And you can see them IN PERSON if you come out to Mosswood Meltdown July 1st & 2nd for the single most apeshit festival line up of you life. (Seriously- Bratmobile, Le Tigre, ESG, JJ Fad, Mika Miko, Avengers, GRAVY TRAIN!!!! and so much more!)

Mosswood Meltdown 2023: Full Line Up Announce (It’s kind of insane!)

(Poster by “The Real” Janelle Blarg)

The year is 2001. I’m broke, sharing an illegal inlaw in the Sunset with a friend. My job at the record store is distracting me from school, and I’m not sure I can focus on school, anyways. The soundtrack that gave me the motivation to get through it all? Well, it was mostly Bratmobile and Sleater-Kinney. Fast forward 20 years, and I’ve got a good job, a great partner and kiddo, a moderately successful music blog, and the joy of getting to introduce my kid to the greatness that is Bratmobile live! THEY ARE PLAYING THEIR FIRST PUBLIC SHOW SINCE 2003 AT MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN!!! Amazingly, several other bands that brought me joy in the darkness of my 20s are also playing! Le Tigre, GRAVY TRAIN!!! and Quintron & Miss Pussycat were already announced from my Electroclash era, but joining them include Disco Punk groundbreakers ESG, Hip-Hop Pioneers (and the group whose success funded the first NWA record) JJ Fad, SF Punk Icons The Avengers, LA Punks Mika Miko (playing their first show in a decade themselves), and way too much more. Full lineup below the jump, and tickets are on sale now. Get them quickly, as they are gonna sell out in a supersonic boom! 

Mosswood Meltdown Full 2023 Lineup Continue reading “Mosswood Meltdown 2023: Full Line Up Announce (It’s kind of insane!)”

Show Review: Amyl and the Sniffers w/Die Spitz at The Vermont Hollywood, 02-06-2023

“Freaks to the Front!”
Amyl and the Sniffers Destroy Hollywood

It’s been a good goddamn while since I’ve had any time to pursue my love for concert photography. Between my day job eating up my weekends and evenings and unresponsive publicists/promoters, it’s been a rather tough time to get the camera out of the bag and catch those thrilling performance moments to share with everyone. So, not only was it a delight to be able to catch Amyl and the Sniffers, a band I’ve been following for a few years, for the first time at The Vermont Hollywood,  a venue I’d never been to before, but to have my camera in hand for the evening was downright uplifting.

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Single Of The Week: “Buy You A New Attitude” by Tianna Esperanza

Tianna Esperanza keeps blowing everyone out of the water. In just about a year we are on our third single from her that simply blew my mind. This one is a jazzy throwback number with a sense of humor. The video is fun, too. Her widly eclectic debut record is *finally* out today! Terror, Esperanza’s debut record is out TODAY. You can enjoy it both phyiscally and virtually in all the usual places! 

SF Sketchfest Review: Going Up with Sara Schaefer at Gateway Theater, 1/29/23

The brilliant writer and comedian, filled the theatre Sunday night: a one woman Pyramid Scheme scrambling Tony Robbin’s pitchman energy. Sara started a podcast during COVID. She had saved up a lot of clues from her Twitter trolls, mostly peer comics and fans that they had sicked on her, and information about the so-called the way to make it in comedy. The industry model. Multi Level multi-discipline classes in avoiding misogyny in the comedy business.  Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Going Up with Sara Schaefer at Gateway Theater, 1/29/23”

Finally. A West Coast Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Leg!

I don’t have a lot to say other than, yes, I WAS annoyed that Bruce didn’t give California any love when he announced tour dates last year. But that has finally changed, and he’s coming out west, including one (or more?) nights at The Chase Center. He’s doing the Verified Fan thing, and I’m expecting after the Taylor Swift debacle, this will be way more honed in. You can register here anytime before Sunday, February 19th at 11:59 pm ET for a shot at a password that gives you a shot at tickets. New dates, as well as his surprisingly intense cover of The Commodores’ “Night Shift” below: 

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SF Sketchfest Review: Janeane Garafalo at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/28/23

No, that’s not an unhoused person. It’s Janeane Garafolo! A clan of the cave bear silhouette, Janeane shuffled out from the side stage with self-proclaimed “unsolicited dreads” and control top tights & shorts. Two separate nude concealing undergarments, mind you. She claims that when she got hit by a car, Spanks™ saved her from going to the hospital. Which she just won’t do anyway. She claims to be a “Pedo~file:” she walks everywhere, hates working on her core, and refuses checkups and physicals.  Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Janeane Garafalo at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/28/23”

Single Of The Week: “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” by Dream Wife

I try to avoid picking multiple singles off the same album for “Single Of The Week,” but I damn, Dream Wife are fantastic. “Leech,” the first single from Social Lubrication (due out June 9th!) was a pretty passionate and angry song that hit all the right feels for me at that moment. “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” is a driving rock number that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Something that’s VITAL. It’s hard to find the fun in life sometimes, and this song doesn’t it nicely. 

Don’t forget to do all the “pre-” things to ensure proper listening enjoyment when Social Lubrication comes your way in June! 

SF Sketchfest Review: The Crossword Show at the Gateway Theatre, 2/3/23

If you’re reading this, there’s a chance you may already know that those of us who contribute to Spinning Platters are known around here as “music nerds.” While I absolutely identify as such, there’s another term that describes me even better: word nerd. I delight not just in clever wordplay but languages in general, etymology… you name it. So when I heard about Zach Sherwin‘s Crossword Show, which promised a night full of crossword puzzles, trivia, comedy, and fun, I knew I couldn’t miss it!

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SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra does “Repo Man” at Great American Music Hall, 2.3.23

I should confess… I’ve never seen the movie Repo Man. I worked at a corporate music store in the late ’90s, and I recall stocking a CD called Repo Man and putting it in the punk compilations. Because, looking at the track listing, I just assumed that the “movie” was a fake movie for what was an AMAZING compilation of LA Punk. I honestly just assumed it was an early ’80’s version / LA version of the classic Kill Rock Stars compilation in the early ’90s / Pacific Northwest. I probably owned that CD for over a decade before I learned it was a real movie. 

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra does “Repo Man” at Great American Music Hall, 2.3.23″