San Francisco – Page 9 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Ratatouille—Feature Film with Live Orchestra

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.” -Anton Ego, Ratatouille

There will be no negative criticism here. Ratatouille live at the San Francisco Symphony was absolutely wonderful, highlighting both the magnificent award-winning score by Michael Giacchino and the brilliant animated masterpiece that is Brad Bird’s 2007 Pixar film. Audience members of all ages, including many families, entered Davies Symphony Hall over the weekend to watch Ratatouille. The SF Symphony has delivered numerous memorable film screenings accompanied by live scores, and this one sits near the top.

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Show Review: Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage: A 50th Anniversary Celebration

Starfleet uniforms everywhere, a few Klingons posed for pictures, and ‘live long and prosper’ hand signals were shared — yes, the crowds gathered in Davies Symphony Hall last Thursday and Friday for the CineConcerts produced performance of Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage: A 50th Anniversary Celebration. Fifty years ago, Gene Roddenberry’s incredible contribution to science fiction came to life in the form of Captain Kirk and crew on the starship Enterprise. Since 1966, Star Trek has taken on many forms of media — tv series, video games, feature films, books, and so on. These performances are as much a celebration of the progressive themes and groundbreaking stances in Star Trek as they are of the sense of human existence and exploration, and perseverance, that permeates through every incarnation of the original stories. Oh, yes, and a celebration of the music!

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Show Review: Flight Of The Conchords at the Masonic, 6/27/2016

Never before has spontaneous comedy seemed so effortless — and brilliant — in a musical performance

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie of Flight Of The Conchords

Comedy and music have always seemed to be slightly at odds with one another; there’s always this slightly underlying sense of novelty in humor-driven bands, a thought that without certain “gimmicks”, their work wouldn’t be nearly as funny, or that their jokes only appeal to a certain subset of popular culture. Artists like Reggie Watts manage to defy this expectation with deft aptitude; he is both a hilarious improvisational comedian and a brilliant musician in his own right, and the minimal nature of his performance adds emphasis to the stories he tells. The ability to shoot off jokes with rapid-fire delivery is, therefore, crucial in a concert setting; it reminds the audience of the brilliant wit and skill of the performers, rather than their ability to practice rehearsed jokes night after night. Nearly seven years after the release of their last album I Told You I Was Freaky, Flight Of The Conchords are still able to demonstrate these skills with flawless, side-splitting ease, and their live show is marvelous to watch — for both casual fans and hardcore ones alike.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-07-04 – 2016-07-10

Carl Brutananadilewski of Aqua Teen Hunger Force demonstrating the abilities of The Foreigner Belt. (Got burned a bit by his tanning bed earlier.)

July Fourth, 2016! Wooooo! Yeah! Our country is still here! Let’s celebrate!

If you’d like to add to your celebrations this week in The Bay Area with a concert, I’ll tell you what we’ve got coming up: caricatures, drugs, dogs, and culture that you don’t have to pay for.

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

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-07-04 – 2016-07-10”

Show Review: At The Drive-In with Le Butcherettes at The Warfield, 6/3/2016

It took 15 years to happen, and it was worth every moment.

Ten were spent wondering, with all involved working on new projects, exploring music and art in numerous forms. Two passed, with excited fervor and mild confusion, as they returned to the fold, thrust into the spotlight on unsteady feet and with only a handful of appearances, most before massive stadiums and festival crowds. The final three were marked with conflict, self-discovery, acceptance, and a renewed discovery of self — plus a new band to bring that unstoppable fire back to the front lines.

Thus, 15 years later, here we are. At The Drive-In has returned — and this time, they are just as ready to celebrate their reunion as we have been for the past decade and a half.

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Show Review: Baroness with Youth Code at the Regency Ballroom, 6/2/2016

Near-death experiences have often been labeled as the reason behind sudden shifts in artistic mindsets, philosophy, spiritual beliefs, and overall lifestyle changes. For the men of sludge-psych heroes Baroness, who experienced their own brush with the beyond in a horrific bus crash in Bath in 2012, it almost spelled out the end of the band, with founding member Allan Blickle and new bassist Matt Maggioni leaving the group after their recovery. Their frontman, John Dyer Baizley, thus had the incredible task of healing from his own injuries and also deciding what to do with the thunderous force that he had been helping to craft for half a decade. Miraculously, Baroness have returned, possibly even stronger than before, and their plight has not affected their egos whatsoever — they are genuinely as passionate and ferociously happy to be onstage as ever, and grateful for all who have come to see them.

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Show Review: Refused with The Coathangers and Plague Vendor at the Fillmore, 5/26/2016

Four years later, it’s no longer a reunion — Refused are reborn as something new

It’s really hard to find a concert that was better, and more well-attended, than the 2012 show at the Warfield that marked the triumphant return of the Swedish hardcore giants known as Refused. Alumni and newcomers from all scenes of loud, angry music were found wandering the crowd en masse, and the band themselves, fresh off of their first gargantuan performance at Coachella, took the tinier stage they were offered and absolutely demolished any doubts held about their ability to still blow the minds of their audience. To this day, every time Refused has returned to the Bay Area, they acknowledge that performance as the one that actually convinced them to stay in the game. Singer Dennis Lyxzén regularly has stated that the gig brought them back down to earth, from the lofty, uncertain heights of trying to conquer the main stage down in Indio, and the energy expressed in every one of Refused’s shows since that time has always seemed to be a display of gratitude for that night. The question, then, was whether or not Refused would treat the early ’10s as their victory lap back in the race, or actually return with a new path to follow as an active band creating new art.

The answer, of course, is the latter — and they show no signs of slowing down.

Continue reading “Show Review: Refused with The Coathangers and Plague Vendor at the Fillmore, 5/26/2016”

Show Review: Violent Femmes at the Fillmore, 05/11/2016

Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes (all photos by Daniel Martinez)

Nothing would have made the Violent Femmes a better band, because they were perfect. Gordon Gano sings like he’s a sick cat and has been drunk-crying all day; he has a kind of nasal whine, full of defeat, with a timbre as refined as cheap whiskey with generic Cherry Coke. I love his voice like I love cheap, shitty cocktails; it’s a love fueled by disillusionment and a longing for my more reckless and grimier youth when I didn’t care so much for creature comforts or sleep. The musical structure of their songs, like most punk pieces, is simple. But, like a lot of punk, their catchy songs about needing/wanting or frustration/disappointment are embittered perfection driven by a stripped, primitive skill and sound, and all of this sits squarely and perfectly with some of my perpetually adolescent tendencies.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-05-23 – 2016-05-29

Grateful Dead — Appearing for another farewell bow at The Fillmore this week.

This week in The Bay Area we have refusals, memoirs, and those who wear purple. We have clowns, the dead, and war. Should be a pretty good time.

Now, let’s get to the previews. Preview time now. Let’s preview and then we’ll be ready for the week. Previews, starting now. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-05-23 – 2016-05-29”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-05-02 – 2016-05-08

Most likely not the Spurs that will be appearing with Daniel Martin Moore this Wednesday at the Hemlock.

This week in The Bay Area we have music from across the Pacific Ocean, from across the Atlantic Ocean, and more. International travel is neat these days.

And now, previews. Preview time. It is time for us to preview. Let’s preview. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-05-02 — 2016-05-08”