Spinning Platters Picks Six: Greatest Janet Weiss Moments in Sleater-Kinney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xrSuIqrhRU

I woke up this morning to the saddest music news… Sleater-Kinney‘s powerhouse drummer, Janet Weiss, has officially left the band, citing that “the band has moved in a different direction, and it’s time for me to move on.” The news makes her recent performance with Sleater-Kinney on The Tonight Show the final public performance of the classic line-up of this band, which feels as good a time as any to look back on 22 years of some of the most impressive drumming in rock ‘n’ roll music. I’m sad to see her go, but excited to see what both Weiss and the rest of the greatest power trio in rock do from here on out.

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Film Review: Yesterday

I believe in Yesterday: It’s a must-see

Newly minted rock star Jack (Himesh Patel) isn’t sure what to make of the marketing campaign for his album.

The “alternate fiction” genre has grown in popularity in recent years, with books, movies, and TV shows positing questions like, “What if Hitler had never been born?” or “What if JFK hadn’t been shot?” as starting points for fresh and creative stories. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriters Jack Barth and Richard Curtis throw their hat into the ring with Yesterday, a movie that asks, “What if only one person on earth knew who the Beatles were?” The filmmakers have great fun answering the question, but, make no mistake: this is no sci-fi film. What Boyle has given us here is an old-fashioned romantic comedy — and an exceptionally charming one at that — just wrapped in a unique narrative package.

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Show Review: Bill Callahan, Meg Baird at Castro Theater, 6/18/19 & Gundlach Bundschu Winery, 6/19/19

A double EP is always a little indulgent, but in this case we might forgive Bill Callahan a little indulgence. He’s been preoccupied these last six years, getting married and raising a son. Settling down.  Continue reading “Show Review: Bill Callahan, Meg Baird at Castro Theater, 6/18/19 & Gundlach Bundschu Winery, 6/19/19”

Single Of The Week: The Future Is Here by Sleater-Kinney

This is the second single off Sleater-Kinney’s highly anticipated 9th studio album, The Center Won’t Hold. For those who felt the first single, “Hurry On Home” was a departure, it was merely the gateway to “The Future Is Here.” Kicking off with a simple, analog synth riff before some of the most subtle drumming of Janet Weiss’ career kicks in. Corin Tucker then comes in, singing in the lowest register I’ve ever heard her sing in. What this becomes is a beautiful, kind of gothy song that feels more like Siouxsie and The Banshees or The Cure than the driving psych rock or classic punk that we’ve grown used to from Sleater-Kinney.

It’s been 25 years since Sleater-Kinney first entered the world as a functioning unit. Since then they’ve continuously challenged themselves with every record, proving to have the most consistent and exciting discography in rock n roll. The Center Won’t Hold will be available in all of the usual places on August 16th, or you can preorder from the band here!

Tickets for their Fall US Tour went on sale this morning, and tickets to those shows can be found here! Presale begins on Monday for their Winter EU Tour, so don’t forget to join their mailing list at sleater-kinney.com for presale info!

Film Review: The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Contemplative, timely film considers a changing SF

Jimmie (Jimmie Fails, r.) and his friend Mont (Jonathan Majors) reclaim Jimmie’s childhood home.

Opening on the heels of two recent, widely criticized national pieces bashing the “new” San Francisco in the New Yorker and the Washington Post, writer/director Joe Talbot’s first feature film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, couldn’t be timelier. But Talbot has the advantage over those much dismissed east coast writers: he’s a San Francisco native (fifth generation, no less), and, as his film’s protagonist declares about our fair city by the Bay, “You don’t get to hate it unless you love it.” Continue reading “Film Review: The Last Black Man in San Francisco“

Single Of The Week: Your Hands My Pockets by Team Dresch

It seems that all of the Riot Grrl comeback story headlines this year have focused on the return of Bikini Kill, which, I do agree is very big news. However, the return of Queercore originators and fellow Riot Grrl originators Team Dresch deserves to not be overlooked. Their infectious hooks and blunt lyrics helped open up the pit to people that aren’t just straight white guys, and also helped those straight white guys understand a little better about what it’s like to not be the demographic that holds power.

In addition to reissuing their excellent back catalog as well as releasing a compilation of singles that don’t appear on any record, Team Dresch have also released their first single in 19 years! Surprisingly, it’s infectious, bouncy love song called “Your Hands, My Pockets” that could end up being a bonafide hit! I keep repeating it!

Team Dresch are about to embark on a nearly sold out US Tour. Dates are here, but don’t delay in buying tickets!https://teamdresch.bandcamp.com/album/choices-chances-changes-singles-comptracks-1994-2000

Theater Review: SHN Presents Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Golden Gate Theater

Sarah Bockel gives us a show as Carole King. (Photos courtesy of Joan Marcus/SHN, 2019.)

“There’s so many dreams I’ve yet to find…” sings Carole King at her piano, as played by Sarah Bockel, in “So Far Away,” a powerful opening number that feels like an intimate concert. Bockel captures the nuances of King’s voice from her start in Brooklyn to her finish at Carnegie Hall. The musical returns to San Francisco, where it first premiered at the Curran Theatre in 2013. If only life worked like that, as Bockel’s King sings, “it would be so fine to see your face at my door…” and it takes a really strong songwriter to capture so much in one song. It’s the vulnerability through which she shares her life that allows her to speak for so many through her voice. Continue reading “Theater Review: SHN Presents Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Golden Gate Theater”

Show Review: IDLES, Fontaines D.C. at The Fonda Theatre 2019/05/22

“If you don’t like cliches, fuck yourselves.”

As I get older, I have to admit that I really appreciate having a barricade to shoot photos from. I get that it’s not most audience member’s cup ‘o tea, but when you’re lugging around 5k worth of camera equipment it’s nice to not have to worry quite as much about being shoved around by rabid fans. This is one of the reasons why I tend to truly enjoy concerts at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. Continue reading “Show Review: IDLES, Fontaines D.C. at The Fonda Theatre 2019/05/22”

Single Of The Week: ‘Til We Lose The Feeling by Gemma

This week’s single of the week comes from New York’s Gemma! This track is a frantic disco number, and it’s doing a fine job with pulling out of the doldrums of the final week of May. The build up, the lyrics, everything is great about this song. Every mistake you made this week doesn’t matter, because it’s in the past. Just take what you needed to learn from it, and then dance it the fuck out. This is the song that I needed today, and I bet it’s the song you need, too.

Gemma’s latest record, Feeling’s Not A Tempo, is available now in all the usual places.

Film Review: Rocketman

Overstuffed effort … but worthwhile viewing

Taron Egerton as Elton John at Dodger Stadium in 1975
Taron Egerton as Elton John at Dodger Stadium in 1975

There are any number of Elton John lyrics that would fit nicely here, to start this review of Rocketman. You’re thinking of them now. You know you are. There are so many. How do you choose? You’re also picturing the former Reginald Dwight, festooned in iridescence and bedecked in enough feathers to set off hundreds of allergic reactions, enough sequins to blind at 100 yards. And now that you’re thinking about Elton, you’re tripping back over the bio and musical highlights: Big ’70s rock star, years of excess, late ’80s resurgence, recent marriage and fatherhood, late-career comparisons to Tom Jones or maybe Van Morrison.

Great, you think, but how, you ask, does all that get stuffed into a two-hour long mainstream movie? Great question!

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