Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
May is looking almost as crazy as April on the show front. And this time there isn’t a Coachella to blame it on. You just need to blame it on how awesome the bay area is! Now, got do some rocking. Or Else…
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/2/13-5/8/13”
Marina & The Diamonds were supposed to play The Fillmore a year and a half ago. She canceled the show in order to record her new record. I had purchased tickets, and I will admit to being a little bummed about this at the time. But, alas, I let it go. The wait seemed to be a good thing for her, because when she finally rebooked, the show sold out rather quickly. I guess it’s the whole story of “If you love something, set it free, and if it comes back, it’s yours forever.” Because this crowd defintely seemed more in love with Marina than they would have a year and a half ago.
Continue reading “Show Review: Marina & The Diamonds with MS MR at The Fillmore, 7/11/12”
Happy Fifth of July, loyal readers!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/5/12 – 7/11/12”
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”
The sold out crowd at The Independent was radiating energy at the Marina & the Diamonds show. It packed full of people pretty early, with the stage crush beginning during openers Young the Giant’s set. During sets the crowd bounced and cheered and in-between everyone waited politely, leaving room for friends off buying drinks. We were ready for an excellent night of music.
Here’s another fun week of fun stuff to fill with funness. Happy funny funtimes!!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/9/2010-9/15/2010”
Four songs into the set, Marina Diamandis, the songstress that is Marina & the Diamonds (the Diamonds being you, the fans, duh!) announces boldly that this is “the last chance you’ll get to see me like this.” Whether or not this is true, at this moment in time, Marina & the Diamonds is bigger than the packed dance floor of Popscene at 330 Ritch. Of course, Popscene is notorious for giving you the opportunity to say “I saw them when” but could Marina really back up her claim that she will be one of the greats, or will she just fade out once popular culture is done with her? Continue reading “Show Review: Marina & The Diamonds at Popscene, 330 Ritch, 7/8/10”
Well, I’m sitting in my apartment in downtown Oakland, looking outside, waiting for all hell to break loose. And, if the entire city doesn’t burn to a crisp tonight, I’m going to check out some of these shows!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/8/10-7/14/10”
Once upon a time, in the late 90’s, a struggling singer-songwriter was finding it difficult to get her music heard. She was too edgy for Adult Contemporary radio, but too light for Alternative Rock radio. She also noticed that both of these genres were awfully male-centric. So, her solution was to find a group of like-minded female musicians and take them on the road with her. The basic idea is that there is strength in numbers, and with the marketing push of several artists, it could be good for everyone, much like Lollapalooza managed to accomplish in the early 90’s. That artist was Sarah McLachlan, and the tour was called The Lilith Fair, named after Adam’s first wife. Continue reading “In Defense Of: The New Lilith Tour”
I first heard Marina and The Diamonds’ album The Family Jewels in my usual fashion: in the background while I did something else. It caught enough of my attention that four songs in I turned to YouTube, wanting to know more. What I found there horrified me. This travesty of a video made me spend the next two days telling everyone who would listen about this horrible woman they should never listen to. Now it’s three weeks later and per lastfm I have listened to these songs 186 times. So, what happened? Continue reading “Album Review: Marina & The Diamonds — The Family Jewels”