Film and Show Review: Murder in the Front Row -and- Metal Allegiance on 4-20

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

April 20 in San Francisco is celebrated annually like a national holiday. Commonly known simply as 420, the day consists of 15-20,000 people basically sitting on a hill in Golden Gate Park smoking pot all day. Coincidentally, the 2019 version actually was a national holiday, as Good Friday preceded, Passover started, and Easter Sunday was the next day. This year’s 420 also had one more reason for San Franciscans to celebrate, and that was the world premiere screening of the documentary Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story.

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Film Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings

Exodus highlights the ongoing battle between traditional and modern filmmaking, and neither side really wins.

Battle Moses.  Complete with armor, shiny sword, and unidentifiable accent.
Battle Moses. Complete with armor, shiny sword, and unidentifiable accent.

Exodus: Gods and Kings was bound to be a spectacular epic, considering the biblical source material and the director at the helm, Sir Ridley Scott.  Scott echoed this projection when he said that Exodus: Gods and Kings is his “biggest” movie yet.  Considering his long resume of major titles, that’s quite a statement and yet it’s true.  The sets, the action, the effects, and the scope are all monumental, and these are mainly where the movie succeeds.  It’s heartwarming to know that there’s still room for traditional sandal epics in the modern film business, featuring a good amount of built sets and armies of real actors (as opposed to CGI backdrops and armies…though these are still employed here as well).  But trying to keep to tradition comes with a price, and some poor decisions.  Exodus is weakest (and most controversial) in its casting choices and artistic breaks from the source material, but these falters can’t keep Exodus from providing a mostly exciting experience.

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Show Reviews: Mid-November (2014) METAL Overload with Slayer, Exodus, Suicidal, and Judas Priest!

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

There really is no such thing as “metal overload”.  If there was this many epic metal shows per week every week of the year, that would be more like “metal heaven” (except all metalheads are Satanic, right? So, “metal hell”?) …

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/6/14-11/12/14

MUNI FAIL
No, the F-Line isn’t supposed to be this close to the MUNI bus.

Post-Election Day we have a panoply of excellent concerts coming to The Bay Area this week. Shows of all kinds. We have shows that are avenging! And dance-y! Secretive! And lemony! Metal! And even including the magic of public transportation.

It’s wonderful that there are so many kinds of shows ’round here and so many buses to take you to them.

Here’s what’s coming up this week. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/6/14-11/12/14”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/28/13-4/3/13

Appearing this April Fool's Day at Bottom Of The Hill!
Appearing this April Fool’s Day at Bottom Of The Hill!

Hello there, Bay Area live music lover. As we reach April, we know that the next 30 days will be quite busy. We haven’t even started with the Coachella bands coming to town, and, well, I’m already exhausted just looking at this thing!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/10/10-6/16/10

At Swedish American Hall this Friday!

Summer is starting to kick in to gear, and the shows are starting to push in to high gear… Keep an eye on the space so you can get a better idea as to which shows you should be going to, and which shows will be super-boring loads of crap.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/3/10-2/9/10

She's enjoying a hot toddy, why won't you tonight, too?

Thank you Gordon Elgart for handling last week’s list. He did a wonderful job. Sorry about this week’s list. I’m in charge again.

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