Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
It’s a packed week with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park and Alternative Press Expo in San Jose.
Coming up we have concerts by old people, young old people, and very old people who don’t much age. Let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/1/15-10/7/15”
October is nearly here. Match pre-Halloween candy sales with some concert-going and that’s a recipe for general happiness.
Here’s what’s coming up this week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/26/13-10/2/13”
Waiting in line for the doors to open at Bottom of the Hill last night I knew it would be a nostalgic evening. Ten years ago I came to the same place, early and excited, to find a printed paper sign saying that Desaparacidos would not be performing, that instead Conor Oberst would be performing a solo acoustic show. That show was great, though it was hindered by the fact that Conor Oberst had played the same show as Bright Eyes earlier that year at Great American Music Hall and that anyone going to see Desaparecidos at Bottom of the Hill should have been expecting a night of feverish music and aggression not intense sadness and introspection. As I walked inside I just hoped my dreams of ten years ago would not be destroyed. Continue reading “Show Review: Desaparecidos with The Velvet Teen at Bottom of the Hill, 8/28/12”
It’s time for another beautiful week of rock & roll! LA’s FYF Fest is bringing a bunch of really special gigs to SF, starting this week Desaparecido’s first ever show in SF! It’s going to be a good Late Summer.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/23/12 — 8/29/12”
In sharp contrast to the last show I went to at Oakland’s beloved Fox Theater, the crowd was overwhelmingly mellow, especially considering this could be the last time Bright Eyes plays the Bay Area. Luckily this ended up being more telling about Bright Eyes’ fans maturity than their level of worship. Just like every other time I’ve seen Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and their team of talented musicians (this was number nine if anyone’s counting), the audience still fell into a hush while a sense of quiet worship filled the room as the band took the stage. And they held that stage for over two hours of intensity. Continue reading “Show Review: Bright Eyes with Farmer Dave Scher at The Fox Theater, 4/12/11”
I’m not sure what I was expecting from this “supergroup” of modern indie/folk but it is not what I got. The album opens with a drum machine, some sort of harp imitation, and Jim James’ ethereal falsetto. My carpool-mate responded to this by saying, “What is this? The slow jam from a Backstreet Boys album!?!” Not what is expected from a group called Monsters of Folk. I don’t know about the folk part, but the members of the band: Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) are monsters of the indie scene. The question remains: when they come together, do you get something better than the sum of its parts? Continue reading “Album Review: Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk”
Episode 3 of the Spinning Platters podcast is now available below, and in iTunes. Dakin, Gordon and D.P. are joined on this episode by writer Raffi Yousouffian for a discussion of:
Click on to listen, or even better, subscribe to the Spinning Platters podcast on iTunes.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 3 — The View”