The Killers, Grace Potter, Ben Harper and more close inaugural KAABOO Del Mar with a bang

The Killers, Grace Potter, Ben Harper and more close inaugural KAABOO Del Mar with a bang
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 23, 2015

The final day of the inaugural KAABOO Del Mar brought its largest crowd of the weekend as it was topped by a performance from The Killers, one of the biggest American rock bands out there today.

Brandon Flowers has been in heavy support of his solo record, with very few dates in the States in 2015 for his band. They recently performed at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, as well as a late-add show the night before in San Diego. Some fans told me how tired and hungover they were from a show that didn’t start until around midnight. This set would begin at 8:30 p.m. and end before 10 p.m.

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Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals deliver marathon set at Greek Theatre

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals deliver marathon set at Greek Theatre
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 21, 2015

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals began winding down their tour Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, packing a ton of material into two-and-a-half hours.

With a catalog that spans 20 years worth of material, Ben and Co. touched on a little bit of everything over the course of their 21-song set. Harper’s many dimensions lended itself to the set’s length as he alternated from playing lap steel to acoustic guitar throughout the night.

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Kendrick Lamar tops Bonnaroo highlights, freestyles with Chance the Rapper during Earth, Wind & Fire

Kendrick tops Bonnaroo highlights, freestyles with Chance the Rapper during Earth, Wind & Fire
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
June 15, 2015

Of all the festivals I’ve traveled to the past few months, I felt least prepared for Bonnaroo. Flying in from LA I could only bring a small one-person tent and carry-on bag but I lucked into camping with people a bit more prepared.

We got into the line of cars to pull into the campgrounds at 4 am Thursday morning and didn’t park until close to 10:30 am. Despite that and no sleep, I rallied to see some awesome stuff the first night as well as a jam-packed Friday.

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First night of Ben Harper's reunion with the Innocent Criminals receives heavy praise at The Fillmore

First night of Ben Harper's reunion with the Innocent Criminals receives heavy praise at The Fillmore
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
March 26, 2015


Ben Harper had not performed with The Innocent Criminals since 2008. On Wednesday, they proved they hadn’t lost a step — nor had their fan base forgotten about them — at the first of four straight nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

Many would suggest that Harper’s best work came while working with the Innocent Criminals in the 90s and into the early part of the 2000s. Playing crowd favorites from their back catalog, the sold out crowd couldn’t contain their excitement in between songs, often erupting in loud ovations that had Harper and his band humbled by their appreciation.

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The Nine II Five: Volume Two

The Nine II Five: Volume Two
TheAudiologist.net
December 5, 2014




Remember mixed tapes? Mixed CDs? Recording songs off the radio? Nowadays, it’s too easy to try and make a playlist on subscription-based streaming sites that spiral out of control.

Every playlist I’ve made climbs to crazy numbers, sometimes into the hundreds. This can be nice, for many reasons. But there was a certain difficulty and passion that came all my life with making mixed CDs. There’s an art to it — being able to move from track to track without something feeling far too out of place.

925… It’s the area code where I grew up in northern California’s Bay Area. It also works as “nine-to-five”, commonly known as the working person’s grind Monday-through-Friday. I’m taking that number and using it as the formula for a mix I hope to continue creating every week.

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