Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
With Broadway experience as well as session work along side musical greats such as Elton John already on her resume, the soulful Crystal Monee Hall arrives the Bay Area with a lot on her mind, a lot to sing about, and a readiness to achieve her musical independence…
How much of a role does your musical and cultural background growing up play in your new album?
AR Rahman is a celebrated composer and pop songwriter. He is most famous for composing the Oscar winning score to 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, but also has more than 50 films to his credit. He is about to embark on his biggest world tour ever, opening June 11th at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York, and playing at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on June 26th. He took a few minutes out his busy schedule to talk with us about the tour, his feelings about his current wave of success, and how he juggles so many projects at once.
Toots Hibbert is a sonic pioneer that helped push the boundaries of ska music, coined the word reggae, and helped bring the music of Jamaica to the mainstream. At 64 years old, he is as vital as ever, releasing a new record, Flip N Twist, on May 18th on CD, Vinyl, Digital, and USB Joint, as well as hitting the road on a North American tour that hits The Regency Ballroom on the record’s street date. Spinning Platters spent a few minutes on the phone with him a few days ago, and here’s what we talked about.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Frederick “Toots” Hibbert of Toots & The Maytals”
Kevin Tong is a favorite among much of the crew here at Spinning Platters. We aggressively shopped his booth when we discovered him at Flatstock last year, and his output is consistently top notch. If you’re still looking for the perfect rock posters to buy the music nerd in your life, you can’t go wrong with Kevin Tong artwork. We asked Kevin if he would answer some questions for us, and he graciously agreed. Read on, and then go visit his site to see more.
Spinning Platters: What was the first work of art you did for money? Continue reading “Gift Guide For Music Nerds: 10 Quick Questions with Kevin Tong”
Via Coma, or more the idea of Via Coma, has been in the works from some time now. Their EP Bridges seemingly was never going to be officially released because Via Coma is as calculated as they come; there is little that happens in Via Coma that is not painstakingly thought out, mostly to ensure that every step is the right one. Via Coma’s approach to gaining a following might be a little more grass roots in the classic sense, not the web 2.0 sense, by gaining a strong following in their hometown of Lafayette, CA, just outside of San Francisco. Promoting and showcasing their own shows demostrates initiative, yet the biggest struggle that faces Via Coma is making the jump from the burbs into the Big City.
I recently got a hold of Rob Marshall to pick his brain about his band, the Bay Area music scene and the music industry. Take a read and maybe find your way to Viacoma.com to download their debut EP, Bridges.
Spinning Platters: Who is Via Coma? Continue reading “10 Quick Questions with Via Coma”
I first discovered Brad Klausen’s work due to his Big Business poster, and discussed him in my first article about rock poster artists for Spinning Platters without knowing who he was. It’s a few months and a few poster orders later, and now I breathlessly await each new release from him. For our ongoing series, the Gift Guide For Music Nerds, I’m suggesting that you go to his site and buy the music nerd in your life some amazing rock posters. So I asked Brad if he would do a quick email interview with us, and his responses blew me away. They’ll surely do the same for you.
Spinning Platters: What was the first work of art you did for money? Continue reading “Gift Guide For Music Nerds: 10 Quick Questions With Brad Klausen”
Gary Houston of Voodoo Catbox has been doing great rock posters for many years now. The first two rock posters I ever bought were from Voodoo Catbox: a diamond-shaped Foo Fighters than you can see on my wall when you come visit, and a Bad Religion poster made to look like an E.C. Comics cover. Gary designed the TRPS poster that you may have seen in our sidebar for the last couple of weeks, and I caught up with him this week for an email interview.
Spinning Platters: What was the first work of art you did for money? Continue reading “10 Quick Questions with Gary Houston of Voodoo Catbox”
This weekend brings the TRPS Festival of Rock Posters in Golden Gate Park. To celebrate, I’ll be going as both a journalist and a customer, bringing back interviews with artists, photos of the proceedings, and more posters to add to my flat file. To kick off our coverage, I caught up with local artist Gregg Gordon who goes professionally by GIGART. I first met him at the Ledson Winery when he was walking around with his portfolio, showing off some of his earlier work, and I’ve been following his career ever since. Thanks to Gregg for answering our questions.
Spinning Platters: What was the first work of art you did for money? Continue reading “10 Quick Questions with Gregg Gordon of GIGART”
Last week on our podcast, I mentioned that I am really enjoying The Postmarks, my “favorite Scottish band from Florida.” It turns out that they are either fans of the Spinning Platters podcast or they search for themselves online, because the next thing I knew, I was emailing them 10 Quick Questions. I also plan to check them out this Tuesday night the 29th at Hotel Utah, and hope to see you all there. But first, on to the questions and answers from lead singer Tim Yehezkely:
Spinning Platters: How would you describe your music to a friend who hasn’t heard you yet? Continue reading “10 Quick Questions with The Postmarks”
The Bay Area band Judgement Day plays string metal, and play it so well, they deserve to own the domain stringmetal.com, where you’ll find their website. This week, on Friday night, they’re playing a headlining show at 924 Gilman, where you’ll have the opportunity to pick up a copy of Out of the Abyss: Live on Tape, a new 7″ vinyl release from the band. We caught up with Anton and Lewis Patzner, the violinist and cellist of Judgement Day, and asked them to answer some questions for us.
Spinning Platters: Explain any struggles you may have describing your band to others. Continue reading “10 Quick Questions With Judgement Day”