Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
WARNING:
The following review may contain the following:
*Explicit Language
*Violence
*Male Nudity
*Intelligent Discussion
Please proceed with caution. If your boss, or the coworker you have a crush on is looking over your shoulder, please point your browser elsewhere immediately. Continue reading “Show Review: Fucked Up, Hank IV, Hollerado at The Rickshaw Stop, 5/9/10”
If you’ve listened to the new Kate Nash album, My Best Friend is You, you wouldn’t have been surprised by what you heard last night at Bottom of the Hill. Unfortunately it seemed most of the audience hadn’t. Kate Nash played mostly new songs and while I was looking forward to dancing around with the crowd to those songs, I guess nobody else was. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Continue reading “Show Review: Kate Nash with Supercute! at Bottom of the Hill, 5/8/10”
Fellow Spinning Platters writer Marie Carney and I decided to take a different approach to writing a review of last night’s show from Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now! at Bottom of the Hill. Taking a cue from singer Eddie Argos, best known from the band Art Brut where he also tends to speak-sing the lyrics, we decided to write a show review in conversation. I hope we would make Eddie proud. Continue reading “Show Review: Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now! with A B and the Sea and Carletta Sue Kay at Bottom of the Hill, 4/27/10”
Before the show even started, and long after it ended, fans were gathered around the stage to take photographs of the famous synthesizer on stage at The Regency Ballroom on Monday night. This is the actual synthesizer that was used on “Lucky Man,” the classic track by Emerson Lake & Palmer that both kicked off their career and ended this concert. That prog nerds (like me; I was taking a photo, too) worship equipment is well known, but what about the people playing it? What about Emerson Lake & … well … nobody?
Continue reading “Show Review: Keith Emerson and Greg Lake at The Regency Ballroom, 4/26/10”
When I approached the Great American Music Hall box office last night to pick up my tickets for the Shelby Lynne concert, something very startling happened: the box office rep also handed me two backstage passes with the instructions to “come down and say hello” afterward. This has never happened to me before. And while I was giddily excited about the prospect of meeting Shelby, I was also a complete basket-case. My interactions with celebrities have ranged from moderately successful (when I have enough time to plan my words carefully) to sheer blood-curdling disaster (when the opportunity catches me by surprise). So how would tonight go?
Continue reading “Show Review: Shelby Lynne and Findlay Brown at Great American Music Hall, 4/23/10”
With this review, I hope to dispel a few stereotypes that people have about Ms Norah Jones. I feel that people have, rather inappropriately decided that she makes dull background music, and that she isn’t a very good live performer. I will agree that in her earlier days, she was a very shy performer. She rarely looked at the crowd, and usually hid behind her piano. I also feel that her debut record, Come Away With Me, the 2002 release that went on to sell 22 million records, is more of a mood piece than a work of active listening. But, in the 8 years since that release, Ms Jones has pushed her sound in many new and interesting directions, including a few very surprising collaborations and a really bizarre interpretation of punk rock.
So, how did her first show at The Fillmore since 2002 (opening for the great Willie Nelson) fare? Read on…
Continue reading “Show Review: Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson at The Fillmore, 4/21/10”
Vampire Weekend proved without a doubt at their two sold out shows at the Fox in Oakland that they are a strong band. I didn’t hear any mistakes either night. The drums, brought to you by C.T. (Chris Tomson) were solid, holding everything together. Chris Baio danced and played the bass masterfully. Rostam Batmanglij fleshed out the melody with keyboard and guitar and Ezra Koenig gave it all a focal point with his charm and strong vocals center stage. This was the third and fourth time I’d seen Vampire Weekend and I knew they could deliver a good show like this, but could they still surprise me? Continue reading “Show Review: Vampire Weekend at the Fox Oakland, 4/19/10 and 4/20/10”
I often times enjoy a mellow a Sunday evening spent enjoying the soothing sounds of traveling minstrels with the company of fellow locals. I opted to spend this past Sunday eve at a popular Portrero Hill tavern to enjoy the song stylings Foxy Shazam. The show filled me with great joy, despite the fact that I’m unsure as to whether or not everyone managed to survive.
Anyone who hasn’t seen The Avett Brothers perform live is missing out on one of the most dynamic, and talented bands to tour in (my) recent memory. Lucky for those people, they have been consistently putting out material since 2002, and touring the world is not likely to ease up anytime soon. I, myself, am still a couple of albums behind. While The Avett Brothers are touring to promote their newest album, I and Love and You, I’m still learning songs from The Second Gleam. But whatever song from whatever album you claim favorite, they probably played it tonight. Continue reading “The Avett Brothers at The Fox Oakland, 4/17/10”
Everything you really need to know about Transatlantic’s virtuoso performance on Sunday night at The Palace of Fine Arts can be summed up like so:
Six songs, three-and-a-half hours.
If this doesn’t appeal to you, you’re probably done reading. If the thought of such things makes you grin uncontrollably for hours, then this review is for you. Read on, prog nerd. You’re among friends here.
Continue reading “Show Review: Transatlantic at The Palace of Fine Arts, 4/18/10”