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Sample size

It’s hard to imagine that Gregg Gillis — best known as Girl Talk — spent several years playing for handfuls of people, being that he now regularly plays for 10,000 or more a night. No matter the number, he infused the same manic energy into his mad mash-ups. “I’d yell and jump on them, anything […]

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Star trek

Most touring bands book years of shows in dingy rock venues, playing for few more than the members of other groups on the bill before getting the call up to the big leagues. On its debut road trek, Los Angeles rockers Stars in Stereo nabbed such a spot opening for post-hardcore favorites The Used. “It’s […]

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Prehistoric powerhouse

Mastodon is great at naming things. Now touring behind its fifth album, The Hunter, Atlanta’s reigning prog-metal act stomped its way to critical-darling status by virtue of more than just formidable song sorcery. One can feel writers’ glee by reading reviews of the band’s sludgy, heady, unrelenting approach to rock that manifests in album titles […]

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Cake boss

Robert McKnight  Cake’s B-list status is not accidental. “The band formed not really wanting to be big, and we’ve actually succeeded at that. We never exploded onto the scene, as it were,” singer John McCrea said. “When things become really big, they become suspect.” Since breaking through in 1996 with the hit “The Distance,” Cake […]

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Dig this

Scattered around Oklahoma and Arkansas, gems await digging up by ambitious hands. From diamonds to garnets to quartz crystals, public mines and digs can offer not only an afternoon of fun, but a potential to uncover a small fortune. And it’s not diamond dust we’re talking about. A visitor to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State […]

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