Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
What’s a girl to do with a Friday night off in San Francisco? When Rachel Platten is in town with her first headlining gig (supporting her album Be Here), the choice is easy. When she brings the lovely Madi Diaz with her and sets up her keyboard on the Hotel Utah’s tiny stage, I’ll even grab a girlfriend and be there with bells on, as was the case last Friday night. Continue reading “Show Review: Rachel Platten with Madi Diaz at Hotel Utah, 5/18/2012”
How easily can you name all of the members, especially those who play with more unconventional instruments, within the bands you listen to? Sure, for your favorite bands, the acts that you are most passionate about and would follow to the ends of the earth, you’ve probably got their email address and a list of what kinds of underwear they have on each day of the week, but not for a good chunk of the average music lover’s library. There are dozens of bands where we rarely look past the smiling (or impassive, because that’s more photogenic these days) faces of the lead vocalist and/or guitarist, whose charm and energy all but eclipses his fellow players. It’s simple to pay little heed to the fact that a band is often made up of at least four, and quite often more, musicians, each with their own musical background and distinct talent. The musical upbringing and playing style that these musicians utilize in their solo time may often be a complete 180 from that of the more well-known band, and its different energy and performance will often bring an unexpected result. While the Montreal music collective known as Arcade Fire is already well known for its multihued musical aesthetics, their touring saxophonist Colin Stetson, who also did some time in the folk troupe Bon Iver, performs his own music as well, which is possessed of a feral intensity and staggering display of endurance rarely matched by a solo performer — particularly with an instrument as unruly as the bass saxophone. Continue reading “Show Review: The Alone Together Tour: Colin Stetson with Gregory Rogove and Sarah Neufeld at Hotel Utah Saloon, 5/1/2012”
Chilly Gonzales is not a household name in the USA, yet he is a very accomplished and successful musician. In America, his two most famous pieces of work are connected to Apple commercials, where his identity is entirely concealed. It puts him in a interesting place where he essentially has the freedom to do as he wishes, while still making a living as a musician. Thus bringing him to the tiny SOMA bar, Hotel Utah Saloon, doing a one man show on a Saturday night.
Continue reading “Show Review: Chilly Gonzales: “The Piano Talk Show” at Hotel Utah Saloon, 4/7/12″
Keaton Simons has a degree in ethnomusicology (the study of world music). Curtis Peoples calls his style of music “coffee shop/arena rock.” At first glance, these two may seem an odd pair for a mid-week one-night stint at the Hotel Utah. The truth is, though, that the two have been friends (and sharing stages) for years. Both are LA-based singer/songwriters with mostly acoustic sets and guitars, sprinkled with a little piano here and there, and both have been so hard at work on new albums that neither has been to the Bay Area in at least a year. And both have fans that were happy to skip the Giants game in favor of a night’s worth of their music. Continue reading “Show Review: Keaton Simons with Curtis Peoples and Whitney Nichole at Hotel Utah, 4/13/2011”
My favorite Billboard chat was always the Heatseekers Chart. Defined generally as the best selling new artists, it was always the place to go if you wanted to hear someone before everyone else heard them. Blogs such as this one have pretty much destroyed the value of this chart, as now to hear someone first, you need to be the first person to Tweet about them. Well, I still enjoy this chart, and tonight, it led me to Wakey!Wakey!, a Brooklyn band that recently held down the #1 slot with their album, Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said the Last Time I Saw You …, as they played their first ever show in San Francisco. Continue reading “Show Review: Wakey!Wakey! with Wave Array and Doom Bird at Hotel Utah, 7/14/2010”
The Hotel Utah may very well have been an early stop on a train just beginning its journey. One might have considered Marié Digby’s cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in 2007, which is now up to almost fifteen million views on YouTube, a sort of one destination train. Yes I did say fifteen million. A gold record is five hundred thousand units sold, and platinum is one million. Granted these were one time views and not purchases, but if I owned a record label, those are numbers I simply could not ignore. Since 2007, Marié Digby has been busy releasing two albums, one in Japanese, to some fanfare. While her new record, Breathing Underwater might eventually garner up enough interest to fill up a train station, it was enough to completely stuff a venue up so much so, that you could not even get into the room she was performing in. Continue reading “Show Review: Marié Digby with Alpha Rev at The Hotel Utah, 12/9/09”
It will be a bit surprising to regular readers of this site that last night was my first ever visit to Hotel Utah, but I finally made it over there to see The Postmarks and Brookville for an early Tuesday night show. When I arrived, a sign announced that Brookville’s lead singer had a family emergency, and instead, the other members of the band would be performing as Saturday Club. Having never heard Brookville before, I found myself unable to be too disappointed, although I had been hoping to check them out as well. Continue reading “Show Review: The Postmarks and Saturday Club at Hotel Utah, 9/29/09”