Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Picture This!, the amicable marriage of sight, sound and more sight just made it’s San Francisco debut hours ago at the Dark Room Theater. Concocted in Los Angeles by comedian Brandie Posey and animator Sam Varela, the show paired stand-up comedians with illustrators, each performing their due diligence to visualize this crazy thing called funny. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Picture This! on 2/8/2014”
A lot of people have a hard time with the notion of “feminist comedy.” A lot of people assume that it’s nothing more than a lot of jokes about men, and, well, not very funny. This double header at The Eureka Theater proves that entire notion to be wrong. This show featured two of the finest feminist comedians working the circuit today, and this set presented the genre in a way that would open the mind of the most prejudiced comedy fan. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Sara Benincasa & Kate Berlant at The Eureka Theater, 2/1/14”
Real talk everyone: I was only at the Brava Theater to see You’re Whole. While I’m a fan of storytelling in general, and while I’d heard of State alum Kevin Allison’s well regarded podcast, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even though the big draw for the night was Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter’s pitch-perfect late-night informercial parody, I was delighted by the raw looks into the real lives of some talented comedians.
Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: RISK! with Kevin Allison/You’re Whole on 1/31/2014”
The coincidently nautical showcase of BOAT and BriTANick (rhymes with Titanic) capsized before the show even started. Eureka Theater’s projector mutinied, died at a time most inopportune. It left behind a lobby drowned with humanity—a sold out show. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: BriTANick on 1/29/2014”
Who will speak for sketch? When it’s all over, when the theaters are empty, when the stand-ups scatter, the celebrities fly away and the improvisers jam out, who will speak for the hardest discipline to sustain in San Francisco? It was important to find a line-up of pure, uncut, Mario-Savio-meets-Frank-Chu Bay Area Grease, and, with a gun to my head, I chose Don’t Watch This Show LIVE! and Femikaze at the Eureka Theater. Both are two sterling paragons of regional ethos, although diametrically opposite: social ills vs. social thrills; subverting media vs. subverting medium; pounding pop culture vs. pounding Pop’s culture. One hits the nail on the head; the other hits it in the balls. How many analogies must I make to convey that these groups are as different as night and day? Wait, damn it! Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Don’t Watch This Show Live! and Femikaze on 1/27/2014”
This was my second time watching Iron Comic with Nato Green at Sketchfest, and I was surprised at how different this time was. Some of it made it better (more well-known comedians) and some was worse (lukewarm audience). Overall though this is a fun show that I seem to leave thinking, “I need to go to this more often” then not doing that. But maybe I’ll go again this year. The concept is pretty simple. The audience suggests topics for the comics to write three minutes worth of stand-up material on. They get about 10 minutes to work out the material while someone else does some of their more scripted work with the audience. At the end the top two have a face off and one comic is crowned the Iron Comic, which really just means they get bragging rights and a big round of applause. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher on 1/24/2014”
Another year, another Sketchfest, another installment of Smug Shift. It seems just yesterday I was ream-deep into my first SF Sketchfest, jotting notes with a juvenile sincerity dormant since the beginning of middle school (where it all went wrong). Over the overworked, overwrought ordeal, only one show reached personal perfection: Smug Shift, a concoction of former Bay Area-based boons Moshe Kasher and Brent Weinbach. Last night at the Verdi Club, the show stretched its wings and lifted its head skyward with rekindled opulence: a weird, phallic phoenix. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Smug Shift on 1/24/2014”
Tenacious D celebrated more than 20 years of existence at The Castro Theatre last night as part of the opening night of Sketchfest. Due to start at 9:30, the Napoleon Dynamite screening went on a little long, and there was some trouble with the ticketing that caused an additional delay. So we’re on rock n’ roll time here, which seems appropriate for the greatest band in history. Or at least for a tribute. Continue reading “SF Skecthfest Review: Tribute to Tenacious D — An Evening of Conversation, Clips and Songs on 1/23/2014”
The thirteenth annual SF Sketchfest is upon us, littering San Francisco with night after night of too many good things at once.
To help with these sorts of problems, please consult “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2014.” Yes, Dakin’s full-on once-over of this year’s fest is just the right guide to help you make those wrenching nerd decisions about which one-of-a-kind Sketchfest show to choose from on each jam-packed night. Too much good stuff is a good/ANNOYING problem to have. You are fortunate. We are fortunate.
This week! We have Canadiens! Sleepwalkers! Metal! Tim! Punk rock benefit shows! And science! O you lucky person, you — to have all of these awesome things to choose from.
Here’s what’s coming up this week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14”
SF Sketchfest will soon breach our atmosphere: bending sky, burning oxygen and causing birds to scramble for safety. In one week it will land in the San Francisco Bay. A torrential wave will surge through the Financial District, down Mission St, and swallow Twin Peaks in salt water. At least, that’s how it’s going to feel when the biggest celebration of comedy’s many forms comes to town.
There’s always commensal collateral to the lights and glitz, big crowds and big parties. The air feels different, the gravity heavier, especially for a few locals rocking the coveted “Artist” lanyard. Some are turning their hard work, talent, or streetwise into a high profile credit. Some are the new flavor, showcased as the emergent outliers. Some are “over it”, half distracted by growth, having fun before moving on. Some are returning with the Bay in their heart and another city on their mailing address. Some are debuting, honored and humbled, finally on the inside looking… around. Like me. After years of reporting, volunteering, (pining), I’m performing for my first SF Sketchfest @ Lost Weekend Video on 1/31. Spinning Platters’ top brass (a/k/a Dakin) requested an interview… from me, about me. Double the work, way less validation but I shall oblige on weirdness alone. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: OJ Patterson on OJ Patterson”