Courtney Barnett – Spinning Platters

Album Review: “Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Record” by Various Artists

Dig Me Out is a classic record. In many ways, it opened up the worlds of both Riot Grrl and Indie Rock to bigger, more mainstream audiences. It’s also nearly perfect as it is. When it was first announced, Dig Me In left me with mixed feelings… There could be some truly great interpretations of these songs on this record. But why mess with a good thing? I mean, other than to raise money for SMYRC, an organization that provides queer and trans youth a safe place to make art, 25% of the proceeds from this release go to.

Anyways you can check this out yourself here, but my thoughts on it are below: Continue reading “Album Review: “Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Record” by Various Artists”

Treasure Island Music Festival 2018 Journal

The Treasure Island Music Festival has, historically, been the last hurrah of summer. Taking place in the middle of October (or late September), it’s usually sunny and a great way to let go of the carefree warm months, before we all have to buckle to the stress of the holiday season.

Sadly, they had to take 2017 off. Even sadder was that, due to maintenance on the island, Treasure Island, for the first time, had to move from its namesake venue. We ended up drifting east a few knots to the shores of Oakland, to a beach in the middle of West Oakland’s warehouse district called Middle Harbor Park. Continue reading “Treasure Island Music Festival 2018 Journal”

Show Review: Courtney Barnett, Jay Som at August Hall, 5/6/18

Do you remember Ruby Skye? The terrible EDM venue that seemed more like a good place to find overpriced liquor staining a cheap carpet? I mean, if you remember a night at Ruby Skye, you were probably never there. So I wasn’t surprised when the venue closed. I’m pretty sure the DEA would’ve shut it down eventually.

But I was surprised to see, when Courtney Barnett announced tour dates, they included a venue called “August Hall,” and the address was surprisingly close to the address of the old Ruby Skye. Was Barnett, one of the greatest rock songwriters of our time, going to be playing behind a DJ booth? Would there still be an oxygen bar in the corner? Would I be able to buy ketamine in ALL of the bathrooms still? Continue reading “Show Review: Courtney Barnett, Jay Som at August Hall, 5/6/18”

Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Talent Buyer at August Hall

For those that have lived in the Bay Area for a long time, there was a long stretch of time where it felt like we were losing venues left and right. In the last two years however, it seems that the tides are turning in the other direction. Legendary venues Cafe du Nord and Swedish American Hall have reopened after several years of laying dormant. The UC Theater – best known as the place to see Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Nineties – has resurrected itself as a rock club. And brand new spaces like Cornerstone and Starline Social Club are really killing it in the East Bay.

The most recent addition to our live music landscape is August Hall. This venue is going in at the same location as the old Ruby Skye, only it’s been totally remodeled, and they’ve added a full restaurant and bowling to the space! They are opening up this weekend with SF’s own Giraffage on Saturday night, and the epic double bill of Courtney Barnett and Jay Som on Sunday. Spinning Platters had a chance to interview their talent buyer, Chad Heimann, about the venue, his career, and we did a little bit of making fun of Ruby Skye.

They’ve got a stacked calendar here, but you better act soon, as shows are selling out left and right.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Talent Buyer at August Hall”

SXSW 2015: Cool? Yeah, Cool

Charles Bradley Shows us How it's Done — Charles Bradley Shows us How it’s Done

Chris Farley is my spirit animal. Not in a tears of a clown kind-of-way, or a Patrick Swayze dance-off kind-of-way. But in the way where I would be the perfect sidekick to Chris in “The Chris Farley Show”. I’d agree with him and all his qualifiers – yes, when Sir Paul McCartney was in the Beatles, that was definitely “cool.” I could have taken the show on the road with Chris, maybe even done some local interviews:

“Remember that time that you played Treasure Island. And it was, like, really cold?”

“Remember that time you brought that guy on stage to rap ‘Protect Yo Neck? Yeah. That was cool”. Continue reading “SXSW 2015: Cool? Yeah, Cool”

Top 10 Outside Lands 2014 Acts From the Bottom Half of the Poster

There are a lot of great reasons to show up early to Outside Lands. It’s rather beautiful to walk around at noon, seeing the empty festival and taking in the peace before the chaos. It’s also a great time to explore the various different food vendors, especially the much more popular establishments. Instead of waiting 20 minutes in line to enjoy Farmer Brown’s amazing Chicken & Waffles, you’ll get your food in under 5, plus you can pretty much guarantee a seat at a picnic table while you get to enjoy some of the lesser known acts on the bill. This year has plenty of acts that are well worth crawling out of bed early to enjoy. (Also, the N Judah and 5 Fulton at 11am is way nicer than at 2:00, when most people show up.)

The full schedule has been released, but here are my personal Top 10 acts from the lower part of the bill. Trust me, you’ll be happy you came out and had breakfast in the park.

Continue reading “Top 10 Outside Lands 2014 Acts From the Bottom Half of the Poster”

Noise Pop Review: Courtney Barnett, Fever The Ghost, KINS, Rich Girls at Rickshaw Stop, 2/24/14

The rise of Courtney Barnett was certainly unexpected. Her lyrically dense, country tinged song “Avant Gardener” and it’s accompanying video became a viral video sensation in the last few months of 2013. With the strength of this song, she managed to sell out every show on her visit to North America. All without a distribution deal in the United States. She closed out her tour by opening up Noise Pop 2014 in a most triumphant manner.

Continue reading “Noise Pop Review: Courtney Barnett, Fever The Ghost, KINS, Rich Girls at Rickshaw Stop, 2/24/14”

Spinning Platters Tells You What Noise Pop 2014 Shows To Go To

Spinning Platters is helping you decide which noisey pop you will be enjoying during Noise Pop!

Noise Pop can be intimidating. It’s the best week of live music programming in the Bay Area, and sometimes it’s hard to decide what to go to, because you can’t always be in two places at once. (However, I will be going to two shows on Friday night. I’m a bit insane.) So, if I were deciding what shows you were going to, this is what this shows would be. Disagree? Well, you can decide for yourself by checking the schedule out here. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Tells You What Noise Pop 2014 Shows To Go To”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/20/14-2/26/14

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/20/14-2/26/14”