Jimmy Eat World – Spinning Platters

BottleRock Napa Valley 2020 Preview

It’s January, and that means: festival announcement time, ladies and gents! This year, Napa Valley’s favorite festival (that’s Bottle Rock Napa Valley, if you didn’t already know) welcomes back headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers (yessss!), as well as BRNV-first-timers Stevie Nicks and Dave Matthews Band. In addition to those three huge acts, I’ll be trying to squeeze every drop of live music fun as possible into my weekend; I have so many other sets I want to try to catch! Personally, I’m most looking forward to seeing Maggie Rogers, Of Monsters and Men, Foals, Local Natives, Finneas, Caamp, The Band CAMINO, the freaking Village People (!!), Absofacto, Atlas Genius, Eliza & the Delusionals, and always brilliant and fantastically talented The Alive, among still many others. Who are you most excited to see this year?

Here’s my preview playlist featuring aforementioned faves. Enjoy and I’ll see you in my hometown this Memorial Day weekend at BottleRock Napa Valley!

Listen to BRNV2020 Playlist!

BottleRock ticket info: 3-Day Tickets are sold out, but single day passes go on sale tomorrow (1/9/20) at 10am PST).

SXSW 2017: An Exhaustive Guide to a Week of Music

At The Drive-In’s surprise appearance at Mohawk was just one of the moments that made SXSW 2017 memorable.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At The Drive-In. All photos by Dakin Hardwick.

Every year in mid-March, music nerds from around the globe gather in downtown Austin to test their ability to handle long lines, blisters, alcohol poisoning, and dead cell phone batteries. Why? To get that first scoop on the “it” band of the year? To luck into a once-in-a-lifetime music experience with their all time favorite band? Masochism? Shit, I don’t know. Every year I say it’ll be my last, but I keep coming back. Maybe it’s the barbecue for me. Maybe it’s Austin: the worst kept secret in Texas. Without the quirks and charm of Austin, this music festival would just be ordinary — and like every other year, SXSW 2017 was definitely not ordinary.

Continue reading “SXSW 2017: An Exhaustive Guide to a Week of Music”

SXSW 2017: 32 Instant Band Reviews

32 bands in five days. My feet still hurt.

For those who aren’t in the know, SXSW is a conference in Austin, TX. It’s a place where folks in the technology, film, comedy, and music worlds come together and share ideas. The music portion is the primary reason why I come down, because it gives you an opportunity to see a large amount of music, often crossing dozens of genres, all in intimate venues all across town. This year, I feel like I “took it easy” and managed to see 32 different bands during the week (I saw Lizzo and Bleached both perform twice. You’d want to, too, if given the chance).

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on all 32 bands that I saw, in venues ranging from a donut shop to a lakeside amphitheater.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/3/14-10/8/14

Yes, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is this week. It’s an amazing line up as usual. It’s free, so everyone is there. However, there is more than enough great music happening this week. Enjoy the shows!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/3/14-10/8/14”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/19/13-9/25/13

We live in a lovely place…. There is always too much to do.

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Show Review: Live 105’s BFD at Shoreline Amphitheater, 5/19/2013

BFD - Header — BFD is not getting its deposit back.

There are a few things you can learn from going to BFD, Live 105’s annual concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Among these are that people will wait in huge lines to spin any prize wheel, it can take over an hour to go from the highway exit to a parking space, and there’s no such thing as a “bad lineup” for BFD. It will nearly always sell out, and will always have some surprises. And this year, with the “Surprise Special Guest” appearing on the bill, we knew we were in for at least one. Continue reading “Show Review: Live 105’s BFD at Shoreline Amphitheater, 5/19/2013”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/16/13-5/22/13

Appearing with the San Francisco Symphony

Sometimes I get exhausted just putting this list together, let alone trying to figure out how I can be in 20 places at once…

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/30/2010-10/6/2010

three-wolf-cubs-513216_14023_470x300 — Wolf Bands are playing again! I love wolf bands!!! When can I see a wolf band?!?!?

The month that has been declared as “Rocktober” kicks off this week, and despite the fact that many of our good friends are trapped in Vegas for a an expensive schmooze-fest with the indie rock elite, and I’m still kind of bummed that I won’t be able to escape to LA for what appears to be the greatest line up for a single show ever! But, I digress, this is still kind of a “Holy Crap!” week here in the bay area, filled with some pretty special stuff. Take a look!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/30/2010-10/6/2010”

Gift Guide For Music Nerds: 10 Quick Questions with Kevin Tong

Atlas

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”