San Francisco – Page 32 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Tony Lucca with Joey Ryan at Cafe Du Nord, 2/8/2011

His name is Lucca. No idea if he lives on the second floor.

Of all of the LA-based singer-songwriters I enjoy seeing live, Tony Lucca is perhaps my favorite. While his peers seem content to bask in the sun, studio, or local LA venues, Tony faithfully treks up to the Bay to play for his “neighbors” on a regular basis. Furthermore, his show is sure to be a crowd pleaser, as he’s literally got something for everyone. Face-melting vocals? Check. Sincere, relatable, clever lyrics? Check. Rockin’ guitar skills? Check. Wit and charm to spare? Check. Former-Mousketeer good looks? Check.
Wait. What? Yes, you read that right, so let’s get it out of the way now: as a teenager, Tony was part of the Disney Channel’s MMC cast, alongside the other smiling faces of Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and Justin Timberlake. As an adult, however, he’s been steadily working as a solo artist since 1997. Since 2006’s Canyon Songs, he has toured steadily, sharing the stage with other talents like Tyrone Wells, Keaton Simons, Curtis Peoples, and most recently, Matt Duke and Jay Nash (with whom he released the excellent TFDI EP).

Continue reading “Show Review: Tony Lucca with Joey Ryan at Cafe Du Nord, 2/8/2011”

Sketchfest Review: An Evening with Cloris Leachman at the Castro Theatre, 2/5/11

Cloris Leachman greets her adoring fans while hostess Peaches Christ braces herself.

“80. Fuckin’ 80.”

These were the first words that the legendary Cloris Leachman, who will actually be turning 85 in two months, said into her microphone at Idol Worship: An Evening with Cloris Leachman on Saturday, the main attraction of the 10th annual SF Sketchfest’s closing night, co-presented with Midnight Mass and hosted by “the very, very nervous” Peaches Christ. And Peaches had every right to be nervous: Ms. Leachman was as delightfully batty and unpredictable as the audience could have dared to hope.

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Sketchfest Review: Music Night at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/29/11

Garfunkel-&-Oates- — The real stars of Music Night: Garfunkel & Oates

I chose Music Night as my finale to a wonderful Sketchfest mostly because of my long-term fangirl love for Chris Hardwick (I even watched Shipmates back in the day, Shipmates!). So, just like the night before for the Nerdist Podcast, I got to Cobb’s early hoping to be right up front. I was rewarded with a front row seat for one of the best and funniest nights I’ve ever seen. With so much talent on stage: Mike Phirman, Eli Braden, Zach Selwyn, Garfunkel & Oates, David Koechner doing 10-20 minute sets each and Chris Hardwick MC-ing, it was bound to be non-stop entertainment. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Music Night at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/29/11”

Sketchfest Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour at Marine’s Memorial Theater, 1/22/11

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a monthly live performance podcast done at Largo in Los Angeles written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. For SF Sketchfest we were treated to two performances featuring many great actors of varying degrees of famous-ness. The 10:30 show featuring Neil Patrick Harris sold out, as everything he has done at Sketchfest has, so my ticket was for the early NPH-less show. But the show didn’t need Neil Patrick Harris to be great. It was an hour of fun witty writing and excellent acting, so good in fact I came home and subscribed to the podcast. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour at Marine’s Memorial Theater, 1/22/11”

Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic hosted by Nato Green at The Punch Line, 1/20/11

IMG_0507_0987 — Per Brendan Lynch, this is a white person's problem.

To be honest, when I arrived at the Punch Line on Thursday night I still had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that one of my favorite comedians, Matt Braunger, was performing and that he would be funny. Since it is a SF Sketchfest show, I knew I wouldn’t be watching a standard stand-up performance. What I got was an evening full of pleasant surprises, where women dominated, the guy with all the sex jokes bombed, and I laughed so hard I cried. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic hosted by Nato Green at The Punch Line, 1/20/11”

Show Review: Public Enemy at Yoshi’s SF, 1/14/2011

Yoshi’s might not be a typical spot for a hip-hop show, especially one that can incite the kind of passion that Public Enemy can. However, recalling that Public Enemy put out their first record nearly 24 years ago, Yoshi’s might actually be the perfect place for one of the undisputed best Hip-Hop groups to Bring the Noise. Continue reading “Show Review: Public Enemy at Yoshi’s SF, 1/14/2011”

Show Review: The Velvet Teen with Silian Rail at Bottom of the Hill, 1/7/11

The Velvet Teen is a force of indie-noise-pop-rock to be reckoned with that everyone should know about. This is something I spent years of my youth slowly convincing all my friends of, and now, finally, this show proved that people have been listening. Bottom of the Hill was packed before the first band even started playing and the energy in the room was palpable. There was no question that something great was about to be heard. Continue reading

Show Review: The Dresden Dolls with Pomplamoose at The Warfield, 12/31/2010

Forget what you thought you knew about how to celebrate for the beginning of a new year. Forget what you thought could happen with two Bostonians, a collective of YouTube musicians, a pile of balloons, two cannons of confetti, and two thousand lovers of punk cabaret. If you were not one of the aforementioned fans that filled San Francisco’s Warfield Theater to nigh-overflowing to see the triumphant Bay Area return of the Dresden Dolls, you missed one of the greatest shows in the band’s career, and one of the best shows of 2010, and, quite likely, 2011 as well.

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Show Review: X-Mas with X (An Evening With) and Ray Manzarek at Slim’s, 12/28/2010

John Doe of X and Ray Manzarek of The Doors

As 2010 comes to a glorious end, it’s once again that time of year for annual traditions. While the New Years’ Eve shows will be gigantic and exciting, and the late November / early December weeks are filled with last-minute surprise gigs, it’s good to have a few things that can always be counted on to keep up that holiday spirit. Of course, this is not to say that said traditions can’t be spiced up with a few new flavors added to the recipe, and the Los Angeles punk quartet known as X returned to Slim’s this year to prove it.

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Show Review: Bell Biv Devoe at Yoshi’s SF, 12/23/2010

BBD — This is what they looked like. No idea who the smiling guy in the hat is.

When I thought about what to expect out of a Bell Biv Devoe show at a jazz club in 2010, I thought this: a 12-minute version of “Poison,” a 10-minute version of “Do Me!”, an instrumental jam by the band and a medley of everything else. “What about New Edition? I bet they do a lot of that,” remarked one friend. What about them? What does a Bell Biv Devoe show look like in 2010? The short answer: it looks like MTV in 1990. The long answer? Continue reading “Show Review: Bell Biv Devoe at Yoshi’s SF, 12/23/2010”