Spinning Platters – Page 74 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 12 with Stephen Chilton of Pskyo Steve Presents

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

This week’s guest is legendary Phoenix-based concert promoter Stephen Chilton, aka Psyko Steve. We talked about how he got his start putting on shows in high school, and how he turned that into a full time job. Or several full time jobs. We also talked about what it’s like to open The Rebel Lounge. He is also the Board Vice President of NIVA – National Independent Venues Associatio n, a coalition of over 3,000 venues, promoters, and festivals, working together to help keep each other afloat during this time when you can’t run your business.

Recently NIVA hosted the SOS Fest: 35 artists performed short sets in empty venues across America over a weekend, all streamed on NIVA’s YouTube page. This fest was to raise money for a fund to help keep our independent venues afloat until they can reopen. You can still watch every set here, donate to this worthy cause here, buy merch here, and, most importantly, press Congress to pass the Restart Act here!

Single Of The Week: “January 21st” by Oceanator

Oceanator is a band of one. That specific one is a woman by the name of Elise Okusami. Our single of the week comes from Oceanator, and it’s a song called “January 21st.” Okusami played many of the instruments when constructing this loud and intense reflection on anxiety. It’s interesting that it’s the day after the Inauguration, so I’m hoping we may get some relief of our collective anxiety that day. (NOTE: DON’T FORGET TO MAKE A VOTING PLAN!)

“January 21st” comes off Oceanator’s debut record, Things I Said. Things I Said is available digitally and on streaming services NOW, and will be coming out on orange swirl vinyl, yellow tinted cassette, and old-school CD on January 6th. Preorders are happening NOW!

Film Review: On the Rocks

Murray shines in Coppola’s wistful, funny father-daughter story

Felix (Bill Murray) and his unhappy daughter Laura (Rashida Jones) drink and chat.

With many Bay Area movie theaters still closed, film fans may be looking for viewing experiences that are better suited to small screen, home viewing. On the Rocks, which is available to stream on Apple TV+ today, is the perfect film to watch from the comfort of your living room. Writer/director Sofia Coppola has crafted an intimate, tightly constructed character-driven story that doesn’t need the multiplex treatment to be enjoyed.

Continue reading “Film Review: On the Rocks“

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 11 with Russell Gatewood of The World Famous Rick & Russ Show

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

This episode features one of my earliest music industry mentors, Russell Gatewood. I met him while interning at UMGD while I was in college. We discussed his career as a DJ, how he fell into music marketing, working for the early music tech startup Music Buddha, starting your own business, and so much more. This was a really fun chat, and I hope you enjoy it!

The World Famous Rick & Russ show can be found on the web at www.celebdjs.com, and every Friday from 12pm-4pm on Twitch! He can also be found in Instagram and Twitter as @bigggrusss, and, of course, LinkedIn!

If you have any feedback about this episode, feel free to email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com. If you like what you heard and want to help support this thing, feel free to Venmo me whatever tip you feel is adequate @Dakin-Hardwick. And, most importantly, please go to SaveOurStages.com to find out what you can do to help independent promoters and venues weather this COVID crisis so we have shows to go back to when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening!

Single Of The Week: “L’Internationale” by Downtown Boys

Did you know there is a big film coming out about Karl Marx’ daughter, Eleanor called Miss Marx? And the New England punk band Downtown Boys is doing the music for it? Neither did I. But with the Republican ticket calling two unabashedly pro capitalism presidential candidate “Socialists,” it might be nice to see what a socialist ACTUALLY is. The lead single is a cover of the classic left wing anthem “L’Internationale,” written by Eugene Pottier.

This track can be found in all the usual places, and, also DON’T FORGET TO VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!! Make a plan. Email me if you need help making a plan. Let’s get that monster out of office ASAP.

Keep Live Alive: Save Our Stages Fest is THIS WEEKEND!!!

For this of you somehow missing out on the biggest news story of the century, a horrific pandemic has upended any business where people congregate together. The industry ravaged most by COVID-19 might be the independent live entertainment industry. I mean, sharing airspace and transmitting aerosols IS the business model, so this industry is essentially on hold until the bitter end of this thing, which is still unknown. In order to help prevent this entire world from going under, over 3.000 independent venues, promoters, and festivals in all 50 states have gotten together to form NIVA- National Independent Venue Association. Continue reading “Keep Live Alive: Save Our Stages Fest is THIS WEEKEND!!!”

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 10 with David Owen, Co-Founder of Sketchfest

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

In this installment, I got to speak to SF Sketchfest co-founder David Owen about, well, how to put on an underground comedy festival, and what do you do when it’s no longer underground. We talked about his first production, his first festival, how he met Cole Stratton and Janet Varney, the other two founders of the festival (SPOILER: It’s Talking Heads related, just like the name of this podcast), and how they are handling things when it’s entirely unknown when the festival will be safe to play out again.

SF Sketchfest is doing a virtual live read of Plan 9 From Outer Space just in time for Halloween with Kat Aagesen, Maria Bamford, Bobcat Goldthwait, Dana Gould, Jean Grae, David Koechner, Tim Meadows, Laraine Newman, Oscar Nunez, Bob Odenkirk, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Janet Varney, Baron Vaughn, plus musical accompaniment by Eban Schletter. Well, just before Halloween. October 29th to be precise. Tickets can be purchased here!

SF Sketchfest’s archives have also been opened up for rental, and those shows can be found here!

Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: The Return Of The Greatest Hits Album

There are a lot of things unexpected about 2020 that are less than enjoyable… You know, like the raging pandemic threatening to destroy civilization as we know it and ruining pretty much all joys in life. One surprisingly pleasant thing is the return of the “Greatest Hits” record. With the whole “spending 100% of my time at home” business that comes with life right now, I’m finding myself putting more music on my turntable and doing a lot less streaming and making playlists. The sound is warmer, and the ceremony of putting on a record continues to fill me with great joy. The “greatest hits” format also means you get the songs that have followed you around- the songs they played live, the tracks you’d hear out and about, back when going out and about was a thing you could do without risking your life and the lives of all your loved ones. It’s comforting to reminisce about the pre-pandemic life over the joy of a hits compilation.

I’m also an apartment dweller in the Bay Area, so shelf space is at a premium. Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: The Return Of The Greatest Hits Album”

Single Of The Week: “Stupid Boys” by Bleached

Last night, Bleached played their first show of 2020. It was a livestream, sponsored by our friends at General Election LA. It was fantastic. Sorry you missed it. Instead, here’s a brand new single from LA’s finest! It’s a fun song, that fuses together the disco energy of last year’s Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? with the classic, brash Ramonsean punk they were doing when we first fell in love with this band. This is an ear worm that will have you dancing all the way to the polls… Which reminds me to MAKE SURE YOU DEVELOP A VOTING PLAN!! Don’t leave it up to chance… I made some short videos a few years ago to help with electoral anxiety, especially if you haven’t been a regular participant in the electoral process.

“Stupid Boys” can be found in all the usual places, and the livestream of last night’s show will remain live here until 7pm PST, so take a long lunch and enjoy!

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 9 with Lani Torres of Ivy Room

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

Our guest this week is Lani Torres, co-owner of Ivy Room, a great 200 cap room in Albany, CA. We talked about her first show, how she fell into working in live music, we waxed nostalgic about the Bay Area show scene, and talked a bit about running a music venue.

Ivy Room is located at 860 San Pablo Ave. Sadly, they aren’t doing live music right now due to COVID, but they are open for take out cocktails and food from 4-8 Thurs-Sat and 2-6 on Sundays. If you want to support the venue while it’s shuttered, they have a GoFundMe and some lovely merch for sale. They also have BITCH from Bitch and Animal and the legendary Detroit Cobras booked for shows next September, and you’ll probably see me at one or both of these. You can pick tickets up for those here.