Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield

 

Although it’s widely touted as a comedy festival, SF Sketchfest has a wide ranging program that meanders into film, television, literature and music as well. How fitting it is, then, that Rock Solid With Pat Francis is welcoming a guest with a long career doing all three. From his beginnings with mega-hit “Jesse’s Girl” to his years as Noah Drake on General Hospital to his critically acclaimed memoir of depression, Late, Late Night all the way to co-starring with Meryl Streep in Jonathan Demme’s final film, Rikki and the Flash, Rick Springfield has a career as interesting and varied as the rest of the programming at SF Sketchfest. When given the opportunity to talk to him about his Sketchfest appearance and his new blues centered album The Snake King, and told I would only have an hour to prepare, I jumped at the chance.

Rick Springfield was in his car on the way to Joshua Tree when he called. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield”

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2017: Friday Recs and Rundown

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is here again, bringing a host of bands both new and familiar. The best music is not necessarily the most well known, and the greatest festival experiences are the surprises. Here’s the first of three posts to help guide your HSB journey, with recommendations, links, and descriptions.

On Fridays, the crowds are relatively light until the late afternoon, so you can wander more easily than on the other days. Those dastardly organizers, though — they always pit similarly great bands against each other at the same time slots, so there will be hard choices to make. Continue reading “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2017: Friday Recs and Rundown”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-08-11 – 2017-08-13


Do you know what today is? It’s been a long time, and I’ll tell you why: it’s August 11.

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar began on August 11 in 3114 BC. Been a long time. And it feels like it’s been that long that we’ve been waiting for the Bay Area’s own Jawbreaker to get back together.

Jawbreaker made achingly smart punch-yourself-in-the-face and brush-your-teeth-until-your-gums-bleed rock music in the 1990s. Their music and words and actions touched a lot of people who have enough inside them to feel things, and then, after one major-label release, the band burned out like a candle.

And now they’re back. By my count it’s been a long time, and we are lucky enough to be alive to see it happening.

Speaking of waiting for things, let’s talk about this week’s concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: genius-level skills, classically-styled skills, and sports skills.

So now, yes, let’s preview this week’s concerts now. Start the preview and the preview is starting. Let’s start this preview now and here we go. Preview time goooo.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-08-11 – 2017-08-13”

Show Review: Ghost, The Warfield, July 2, 2017

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Swedish band Ghost has returned to the US and is currently on a 7 week tour as the sole support act for the mighty Iron Maiden!  In addition to those 26 shows, Ghost booked 14 headliner theater shows, including The Warfield in San Francisco.

Continue reading “Show Review: Ghost, The Warfield, July 2, 2017”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-12 – 2017-07-16

Superchunk as The Misfits
Some of the very best band photos of Superchunk are the ones where they are dressed up as The Misfits. That’s the birthday guy on the far right with the devilock.

Do you know what today is? You do. It’s July 12. That means that over in North Carolina, it’s Mac McCaughan’s birthday. Who? Yes. Mac McCaughan of the long-running pogo-producing indie-rocker band Superchunk, as well as his own semi-solo project Portastatic, as well as one of the founders of the stalwart Merge Records. Cheers to Mac.

Speaking of pogo-inducing 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: things with animals, things from the past, and things near to college.

So, let’s get this preview started. Previewing now. Pre. View. Preview is starting and let’s go preview now.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-12 – 2017-07-16”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-05 – 2017-07-09

Sports!
Sports!

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!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-05 – 2017-07-09”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-28 – 2017-07-02

It’s the week between Pride Weekend and the Fourth of July Weekend. A chance to catch your breath.

Speaking of catching things, let’s talk about what you can catch in this week’s shows. What we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area includes: ogres, lifers, (sc)avengers, The Dude and The Iguana.

So, we’re going to do the preview now. Doing the preview now. Preview is go and now we go do the preview now. Previewwww.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-28 – 2017-07-02”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-21 – 2017-06-25

It’s Pride Weekend in San Francisco this week, and it’s fun to see all the bright-eyed people in the city who are attending their first Pride celebration.

Speaking of going to new things, let’s talk about this week’s concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: tanned people, clan people, French people, bad people, and cool people. Should be a pretty cool week.

So, let’s preview. We’re previewing now. Let’s preview and do the preview where we preview. Preview!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-21 — 2017-06-25”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-13 – 2017-06-18

The Great Falls of the Missouri River in 1880
The Great Falls of the Missouri River, 1880.

Do you know what today is? It’s June 13, yes – and that means today is the anniversary of the day that Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition caught sight of the Great Falls of the Missouri River for the first time. Bet that made for a pretty good day.

Speaking of finding things, let’s talk about this week’s concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: low people, electric people, minimal people, and a trivia night hosted by the people in Spinning Platters. It’s looking pretty good out there!

So, let’s preview. Preview time. Preview time is go. Previews are starting now and we are going to start the previews now. Previews go!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-13 — 2017-06-18”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-06 – 2017-06-11

June 6, 1944.
June 6, 1944.

Do you know what today is? Today is D-Day. Freedom isn’t to be for granted, especially these days.

Speaking of freedom, let’s talk about concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: tall people, people benefiting other people, and people doing things with the air.

So, let’s preview. Time to preview. It’s time to preview now, and now here are the previews.

Let’s preview now. Preview start. Time to preview the coming week and the time to preview is now. Let’s do it! Preview!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-06-06 — 2017-06-11”