Glenn (Michael Cera, l.) and Rickey (Michael Angarano) take an impromptu road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento.
Bay Area viewers may wince when they hear a character refer to San Francisco as “San Fran” in the new movie Sacramento, but that head-shaking tidbit is the least of this odd indie film’s problems. The second feature film from writer, director, and actor Michael Angarano (Minx; This is Us), Sacramento is an uninspired and mostly forgettable picture, saved only by an excellent, layered performance from the always reliable Michael Cera. Continue reading “Film Review: “Sacramento””
United States was never close in offering an equivalent heavy metal experience. Sure, there was Ozzfest and Mayhem Festival, but those have been gone since 2017 and 2015 and Americans have always leaned more towards indie rock music festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonaroo, and Outside Lands anyway.
What’s better than a three-day weekend thanks to those who have fought to keep America safe? Getting to see a band you love on the Friday night of said three-day weekend, giving me a full weekend after a fun night out, of course! That was my good fortune this Veterans Day weekend as I drove to Sacramento to catch Switchfoot at Ace of Spades. For one reason or another, I have had to miss several Switchfoot tours, and then the next thing I knew, it’s been over a decade since I’ve caught them live. Suffice it to say I couldn’t wait to get to the venue to catch them again, finally!Continue reading “Show Review: Switchfoot with Ben Goldsmith at Ace of Spades, 11/10/23”
Discovery Park in Sacramento was once again the site for Danny Wimmer Presents annual Aftershock Festival, a four-day rock and metal music festival featuring four stages of many of today’s bona fide headliners as well as plenty of promising new blood. It is also a bit of an endurance test. There are the crazy fans who run in as soon as the gates open and stand at the barricade for basically 11 hours, with no food or even the means to leave to find a restroom (because they’ll never get their spot back). Security did hand out plenty of water up there though so that nobody passed out in the mid-90° heat! There are others who try to take in as much as possible by going from stage to stage to stage all day long to see as many bands as they can. Many just get drunk and sit around on their picnic blanket or at the VIP section tables, while others take it all in stride and hit up the myriad of food trucks, beer tents, alcohol and cannabis vendors… all while everyone is dealing with a heat wave that much of Northern California happened to fall victim to over this very weekend.
It’s not often that we leave the breezy confines of the San Francisco Bay Area, but on occasion, we like to venture outside of our comfort zone, and the annual Fall festival in Sacramento known as Aftershock is one huge reason to do so. They definitely didn’t hold back on the lineup this year, and it looks like a great opportunity to go and show off all the black t-shirts that we’ve collected over the past year of catching up on live events. Like any other music festival with multiple stages and dozens of bands, Aftershock doesn’t happen without a bit of scheduling conflicts that will make it impossible to try to decide which barricade to consider posting up on. Fear not though, as Spinning Platters will attempt to breakdown any major conflicts and present reasonably valid reasons to choose one band over another throughout the four-day weekend.
Cross this off my bucket list: I’ve loved Peter Cetera for as long as I can remember.
Like many children of the 80s, I still harbor a strong sentimental attachment to some of the tunes that might make others groan. Before I was old enough to start developing musical tastes of my own, my mom raised me on a steady diet of light rock, less talk. (No, you just sang the KOIT jingle in your head!) I think my personal trifecta from those days is (in no particular order): Billy Joel, Lionel Richie (with The Commodores and solo), and Peter Cetera (with Chicago but especially solo). At least for me, there is something about the music I loved as a kid that can have the power to invoke a true sense of joy that can be hard to find anywhere else.
Last month, my mom won a pair of tickets to see REO Speedwagon and Chicago, and she asked me to go with her. I thought it would be a blast, but I admit I was disappointed at the prospect of seeing Chicago sans Cetera. Between sets, I decided I should look to see if he was touring on his own. Much to my delight, not only was he currently touring, but I found tickets that were a mere two weeks away, in San Jose. Before I could buy them, though, Chicago took the stage, and I put my phone away to enjoy what turned out to be a truly fantastic performance.
The next day, I returned to my ticketing site of choice to buy tickets, and discovered I’d overlooked a second date the night before: this one was a month away, rather than two weeks, and I’d have to schlep out to the Sacramento area in the dead of the summer, but instead of just being Cetera solo, it also boasted Richard Marx on the bill. Though this is an artist my mother enjoys as much as I do, he wasn’t an heirloom: Richard Marx is an artist I learned to love all on my own, from the late 80s on. I bought tickets in a matter of moments and then started counting down the days until I could get myself out to Thunder Valley Casino on Friday the 13th (of July). Continue reading “Show Review: Peter Cetera with Richard Marx at Thunder Valley Casino Amphitheatre, 7/13/18”
Do you know what today is? You do. It’s July 5. That means that here in the Bay Area, it’s Huey Lewis’s birthday.
Speaking of the heart of rock and roll, let’s talk about this week’s concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: symphonies, troopers, and remembrances.
So, we’ll preview this now. Previewing now. Let’s preview and go ahead and preview. Preview go!
A Storm will be looming over San Francisco this week, bringing rainbows and songs.Happy Tax Day! One of the two sure things. OK, so let’s turn in the paperwork and then let’s go to a concert.
Preview time, guys. This week in the Bay Area, we have natural events, nouns, piercings, and a tradition that Louis Pasteur likely might not have smiled upon. But you never know.
Across the Midwest and Southeast United States, from the last weekend of April through May 31, were seven Monster Energy Drink sponsored rock music festivals dubbed “The World’s Loudest Month”. Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Welcome to Rockville, Fort Rock, RockFest, River City Rockfest, and Rocklahoma collectively entertained hundreds of thousands of hard rock and heavy metal fans in Columbus, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, Kansas City, San Antonio, and Pryor (OK), respectively. Music fans most certainly traveled long distances to attend these festivals, with their amazing 1-3 day lineups featuring the likes of Rob Zombie, Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, Guns N Roses, Limp Bizkit, Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Slayer, Deftones, Twisted Sister, Staind, and Godsmack, just to name a few.
There’s a professional partier underneath all that hair.
Last time Spinning Platters caught up with Andrew W.K., he was playing Ramones songs with Marky Ramone’s band and giving me his thoughts on marriage. Having finished that tour, he’s now back on the road with a solo keyboard tour called the Party Hard Holiday Tour. He brought his particular brand of party rock (better than other brands of party rock) to a new venue called Assembly in Sacramento, and I made the road trip. Continue reading “Show Review: Andrew W.K. with Maxxx and Lonely Avenue at Assembly, 12/22/2013”
