Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Treasure Island Music Festival is always a good time. This year marks what may have been the biggest year ever for the event! Outkast are, arguably, the biggest name to ever play this event. It was also a blissfully sunny weekend, with temperatures staying in the low 70’s with just a subtle breeze throughout the affair. And, despite some of the biggest crowds ever, the event never felt “too crowded.”
So good. Continue reading “Treasure Island Festival Diary 2014, Day 1”
If there’s one thing Spinning Platters does differently, and especially nerd-ish, it is our Album of the Year list. All the contributors get to nominate their favorite albums of the year (there were 53 nominees this year) then a grueling listening/voting process starts until we have it narrowed down to the top ten. While not everyone may agree with the final list, it is democratic and popular opinion that must rule. So without further ado, here is our top ten!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents The Official List of the Top 10 Albums of 2013”
Sometimes I get exhausted just putting this list together, let alone trying to figure out how I can be in 20 places at once…
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/16/13-5/22/13”
Big shows, little shows, in between shows, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone this week. It’s a great week to go to shows in the bay!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/2/11-6/8/11”
Welcome to my annual tradition of answering the SXSW questions you didn’t know you had! And here are this year’s questions.
1. What over-hyped band was the first one I saw, and surprised me by being excellent?
2. Who brought horns and a bunch of new songs, and got me to see them twice?
3. Who is still my favorite new band discovery of 2009, even as they totally destroy in 2011?
4. What hip-hop performer made even this hip-hop-know-nothing stand up and take notice?
5. What band blew the circuit breaker — twice, got cut off for time, and got to finish their set after the crowd yelled for more?
6. Who had the most frustrating technical difficulties?
7. Who’s possibly the best live act in the world today?
8. And if it’s not them, who is it?
9. What greatly anticipated import lived up to my expectations, and then some, but then got screwed over?
10. Who was the best guitar player in Austin during SXSW 2011?
11. What Kaiser Chiefs song was I honestly singing while waiting for Death From Above 1979 to play on Saturday night?
12. What’s this I hear about overcrowded, over-commercial SXSW? Is it true?
Click for the answers! Continue reading “Gordon Answers Your 2011 SXSW Questions”
by The Spinning Platters Staff
Unlike last year, we spent more than a month at the Spinning Platters offices (our homes) passing albums around to try to determine a staff list of the Top abums of 2010. We were going for “Top 10 and ties,” and that ended up at exactly 10. There was a nomination step, a finalist selection step, a final voting step, and then we had a list. No list is perfect, but ours is not only pretty darned good, it also manages to represent the wide variety of musical tastes among our team here (i.e. some of us hate some of these albums). Now, read and enjoy our Top 10 for 2010. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 10 Albums of 2010”
Check out the spooky array of shows happening around the Bay Area as pumpkin month gives way to turkey month.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/28/2010-11/3/2010”
The second day of San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival was met with both tiredness and anticipation from the thousands of fans who arrived to see the remainder of the odd but interesting festival lineup. While the day began just as overcast and somewhat gloomy as it had when it faded out the night before, blue sky finally broke through the clouds in the early afternoon, treating those who arrived to warm sunlight and renewed energy (especially with those who had been drained of theirs the night before). With a handful of big acts to come in the evening, it was expected that the opening bands would parallel their predecessors of the first day and serve as appetizers to the eventual banquet of concert frenzy; today, however, things got off to a rather slower, smoother start, which caused thankfulness in some and restlessness in others.
Continue reading “San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival 2010: Day 2”
The last week of July is looking pretty crazy… Tons of amazing shows going on this week, including two very rare 4-band shows that are worth arriving early and staying late. Time to buy some Red Bull!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/22/10-7/28/10”
This week is a bit of a limbo for Bay Area concerts, since pretty much everyone is at SXSW. But there are still a few awesome shows, and things kick into high gear toward the end of the week. And from there, they just keep getting cooler the closer we get to our annual Coachella cash-in. Huzzah!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/17/10-3/23/10”