San Francisco – Page 45 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: The Gossip with Passion Pit & Hey Champ at The Mezzanine, 12/10/09

When it’s a dual-headlining show I never know what to expect. Despite the great line-up, this one had two strikes against it to start: being at the Mezzanine and being sponsored by Live105. Not that I hate either of those things in and of themselves, but both tend to bring out people I am not so fond of. That was definitely true again, as a member of the Spinning Platters senior staff was accosted by a drunk concert-goer, making the evening seem unsuccessful and awful. But everything that went wrong in the Passion Pit portion of the evening (drunk bitches included), all became better in The Gossip portion. Passion Pit should take notes. Continue reading “Show Review: The Gossip with Passion Pit & Hey Champ at The Mezzanine, 12/10/09”

Show Review: Marié Digby with Alpha Rev at The Hotel Utah, 12/9/09

Marie captured in scattered blacks and whites

The Hotel Utah may very well have been an early stop on a train just beginning its journey. One might have considered Marié Digby’s cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in 2007, which is now up to almost fifteen million views on YouTube, a sort of one destination train. Yes I did say fifteen million. A gold record is five hundred thousand units sold, and platinum is one million. Granted these were one time views and not purchases, but if I owned a record label, those are numbers I simply could not ignore. Since 2007, Marié Digby has been busy releasing two albums, one in Japanese, to some fanfare. While her new record, Breathing Underwater might eventually garner up enough interest to fill up a train station, it was enough to completely stuff a venue up so much so, that you could not even get into the room she was performing in. Continue reading “Show Review: Marié Digby with Alpha Rev at The Hotel Utah, 12/9/09”

Forever The Sickest Kids with The Rocket Summer at The Regency Center, 12/4/09

It’s fair to say that the target audience for tonight at The Regency Grand Ballroom is significantly younger then normal. In fact, looking at the fans that were up against the barricade for tonight’s show every single one of them had the mark of under 21, big Sharpied-on X’s on the tops of both their hands. Continue reading “Forever The Sickest Kids with The Rocket Summer at The Regency Center, 12/4/09”

Show Review: Rooney with Tally Hall and The Crash Kings at Slim’s, 11/29/09

The "no camera" policy leads to another subpar phone-taken photo, this time of Rooney.

A collection of pop bands came to Slim’s on Sunday night to rock out in front of a small but extremely enthusiastic crowd, comprising mostly young women excited to see one of their favorite bands. Personally, I was drawn to the show by the appearance of Tally Hall, but was looking forward to a full Rooney set, having only seen them as an opener before. I didn’t know an important thing about them, though, which explains a lot. Continue reading “Show Review: Rooney with Tally Hall and The Crash Kings at Slim’s, 11/29/09”

Show Review: Deastro and Max Tundra at Bottom of the Hill, 11/25/09

Growing up, I always heard that the night before Thanksgiving was a big night out. Supposedly, everyone was visiting and would go party together. Now that I’m older, I know that this is untrue, because I went to see Deastro and Max Tundra at Bottom of the Hill. The fifty-or-so people who were there with me were the lucky ones; the ones playing Apples to Apples with family really missed out. Continue reading “Show Review: Deastro and Max Tundra at Bottom of the Hill, 11/25/09”

Show Review & Photo Gallery: Peaches, Amanda Blank, and Wallpaper at The Regency Ballroom, 11/27/09

There’s nothing like a sexy party to work off Thanksgiving Dinner, and anyone that was smart enough to not go shopping was at the biggest sexy party in town. We had Wallpaper, Oakland’s synth funk wunderkinds, we had Amanda Blank, Philly’s naughty synth-hop diva, and the queen of raunch, Peaches, to show the kids how it’s done. (Hopefully with a condom.)

Continue reading “Show Review & Photo Gallery: Peaches, Amanda Blank, and Wallpaper at The Regency Ballroom, 11/27/09”

Show Review: GWAR with Job For A Cowboy and The Red Chord at The Regency Center, 11/24/2009

One step into the Grand Ballroom at the Regency Center was likely to put the average concertgoer into a state of confusion and alarm. Aside from an abnormally high amount of snarling metalheads and angry-looking punks, the walls, floors, and stage monitors were covered with plastic wrap. The security guards for the night were dressed in raincoats and the photographers had bags wrapped around their cameras. Most of the crowd was dressed in white shirts, a stark contrast to the usual sea of black encountered so often amongst metal fans. What could possibly be coming? A monsoon? The destruction of the ceiling? Of course, to the average goer to this particular concert, it heralded only one very important fact: GWAR had returned to San Francisco.

Continue reading “Show Review: GWAR with Job For A Cowboy and The Red Chord at The Regency Center, 11/24/2009”

Show Review: Fiery Furnaces with Cryptacize at Slim’s, 11/20/09

Not In Frame: Harry Partch or Harry Patch

The Fiery Furnaces have been in the press quite a bit lately. Not because they put out a record of Fiery Furnace covers, but because of their mythical feud with Radiohead & Beck. My relationship with this band is a little strange. I saw them open for The Shins many years ago, and they blew me away. I ran out to purchase their current record at the time, Rehearsing My Choir, and was taken aback even more. They reminded me of everything the band Caroliner was trying to accomplish, only without the distraction on the costumes. I was hooked for months to this record, but never went further. I kept missing out on new releases, for one reason or another, and whenever they came around, I couldn’t make it. So, this cold November night, I decided to finally see them again. Continue reading “Show Review: Fiery Furnaces with Cryptacize at Slim’s, 11/20/09”

Show Review: Neon Indian with Nite Jewel at the Rickshaw Stop 11/19/2009

Neon Indian Rickshaw Stop 11/19/2009

I was not really in the mood for a show on Thursday night. I had worked overtime, was feeling grouchy, and as a result was thinking of ways to back out of going to the Rickshaw Stop to see Neon Indian.

But my internal guilt forced me to take action. I decided that I’d eat some sushi in Walnut Creek then head over. Bad mistake. I had the worst piece of sushi I’ve ever had in my life and was wondering if I might be poisoned. Continue reading “Show Review: Neon Indian with Nite Jewel at the Rickshaw Stop 11/19/2009”

Show Review: The Drums at 330 Ritch (Popscene), 11/12/2009

Sitting at a table alone with two strange boys, I toyed with my drink, waiting for my friend who fell asleep to show up. I saw a girl on the dance floor throw her cell phone on the floor, pick it up, then storm off leaving her two friends with stupefied looks on their faces. Boy trouble! Don’t I know it.

Which is where I was at when I first heard The Drums on KALX last week. Continue reading “Show Review: The Drums at 330 Ritch (Popscene), 11/12/2009”