Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-06 – 2017-06-11

June 6, 1944.
June 6, 1944.

Do you know what today is? Today is D-Day. Freedom isn’t to be for granted, especially these days.

Speaking of freedom, let’s talk about concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: tall people, people benefiting other people, and people doing things with the air.

So, let’s preview. Time to preview. It’s time to preview now, and now here are the previews.

Let’s preview now. Preview start. Time to preview the coming week and the time to preview is now. Let’s do it! Preview!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-06 — 2017-06-11”

SF Sketchfest Review: Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill at Brava Theater, 1/13/2017

Our Crabapples: Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill

It was a happy Friday the 13th to start this year’s epic SF Sketchfest Journey. Full of delicious burrito and needing some relief from a long day at work I was excited to get the funny started. On top of that all proceeds for this show are being donated to Planned Parenthood so it felt good to be in the company of people trying to help this messed up world. Bring on the Crabapples! Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill at Brava Theater, 1/13/2017”

SF Sketchfest Review: Fresh Out with Emily Heller and Adam Conover at The Eureka Theater, 1/16/16

fresh out

Now we are two thirds of the way through SF Sketchfest and so far, I’m going to say this is the year of the stand up showcase. At least, that’s what won my weekend last week, and now Fresh Out won this weekend by a landslide. It was funny, diverse, and even had some serious moments. Usually it’s a good panel that leaves me with all the feels as I head home, but this time it was the comedians performing at Fresh Out. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Fresh Out with Emily Heller and Adam Conover at The Eureka Theater, 1/16/16”

SF Sketchfest Review: Picture This! on 2/8/2014

Mike Lawrence by Sam Varela
Mike Lawrence by Sam Varela

Picture This!, the amicable marriage of sight, sound and more sight just made it’s San Francisco debut hours ago at the Dark Room Theater. Concocted in Los Angeles by comedian Brandie Posey and animator Sam Varela, the show paired stand-up comedians with illustrators, each performing their due diligence to visualize this crazy thing called funny. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Picture This! on 2/8/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction on 1/31/2014

competitive-erotic-fan-fiction2

Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction with Bryan Cook is the funniest, dirtiest, podcast I’ve ever seen live. Five comedians are asked to write a fan fiction piece on anything they want before the show and present it while five other comedians get suggestions from the audience and have to write a fan fiction piece on the spot. Each group has a winner crowned by the audience and everyone leaves, amused, maybe slightly disturbed, and possibly  sore from laughing. At least that’s how I felt last night. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction on 1/31/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher on 1/24/2014

Iron-Comic-289x300

This was my second time watching Iron Comic with Nato Green at Sketchfest, and I was surprised at how different this time was. Some of it made it better (more well-known comedians) and some was worse (lukewarm audience). Overall though this is a fun show that I seem to leave thinking, “I need to go to this more often” then not doing that. But maybe I’ll go again this year. The concept is pretty simple. The audience suggests topics for the comics to write three minutes worth of stand-up material on. They get about 10 minutes to work out the material while someone else does some of their more scripted work with the audience. At the end the top two have a face off and one comic is crowned the Iron Comic, which really just means they get bragging rights and a big round of applause. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher on 1/24/2014”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14

Wake up and go to shows this week! So many shows...
Wake up and go to shows this week! So many shows…

The thirteenth annual SF Sketchfest is upon us, littering San Francisco with night after night of too many good things at once.

To help with these sorts of problems, please consult “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2014.” Yes, Dakin’s full-on once-over of this year’s fest is just the right guide to help you make those wrenching nerd decisions about which one-of-a-kind Sketchfest show to choose from on each jam-packed night. Too much good stuff is a good/ANNOYING problem to have. You are fortunate. We are fortunate.

This week! We have Canadiens! Sleepwalkers! Metal! Tim! Punk rock benefit shows! And science! O you lucky person, you — to have all of these awesome things to choose from.

Here’s what’s coming up this week.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14”

A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2014

Florence Henderson in a sleeping in a nighty, while a dog eats pizza. Just one of the many things you will see live on stage at this year's Sketchfest.
Florence Henderson in a sleeping in a nighty, while a dog eats pizza. Just one of the many things you will see live on stage at this year’s Sketchfest.

Wouldn’t it be great if cloning was already a thing? So we could be at 8 places at once and not have to decide which Sketchfest events you are going to? Well, until science improves greatly, we are stuck with one body and being in one place at a time. Because of this trouble, I have taken the time to dissect the entire Sketchfest schedule and help you out by highlighting the best of the fest. A complete schedule and tickets can be purchased here. A lot of shows have already sold out, and more shows are selling out every day, so don’t forget to purchase in advance!

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Spinning Platters Interview: Janet Varney, Cole Stratton, and David Owen, Organizers Of SF Sketchfest

SF Sketchfest

This is the 13th year of the SF Sketchfest, and it seems to be getting bigger every year. The event’s founders, David Owen, Janet Varney, and Cole Stratton tooks a few minutes out of their day, busily putting together another epic line up, in order to chat with me. Tickets for all dates go on sale on December 15th, and you can find a full line up of festivities here:

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Janet Varney, Cole Stratton, and David Owen, Organizers Of SF Sketchfest”

A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2013

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Spinning Platters loves Sketchfest. San Franciscans are generally really lucky, but for two and a half weeks every year, our lives get even brighter and more chaotic, because the best live comedy programming one could imagine is here, in the greatest place on Earth. Of course, it can be awfully intimidating. Hence this guide, to help you sort out everything that you should go to. For a complete schedule and tickets, please click here!

Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2013”