A Year of Concerts: 2014

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Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens | “Peace Train … Late Again” Tour | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/14/14 [Concert Review & Photos]

Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens | “Peace Train … Late Again” Tour | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/14/14 [Setlist & Video Clips]

Jamestown Revival, Nikki Lane & Pete Molinari | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Concert Review]

Jamestown Revival | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video]

Nikki Lane | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video]

Pete Molinari | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video] Continue reading

Ray Campi | Ink-N-Iron | 6/6/14 [PHOTOS & VIDEO]

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE OTHER ACTS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH AT INK-N-IRON

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Ray Campi is often called The King of Rockabilly. At 80 years old, at Ink-N-Iron, he proved it.

Ray’s legacy in music started in 1944 and has touched numerous genres. From folk to country to rock and roll, Ray has had his trademark double bass sound immortalized on recordings with legends like Bill Haley, Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent.

I was amazed with his vitality on stage. He plucked his double bass with the kind a youthful fervor reserved for young rockers in their early twenties. The passion in him truly left an indelible impression on me.

In between songs, he would sprinkle in some stories about his life in music, but he really opened up when he talked about his other career … as a high-school teacher. He joked that we could all be his students (the crowd seemed relatively young, with an average age being- my best guess- in the mid to late twenties). Truth is, he wasn’t that far off. I think I can speak on everybody’s behalf when I say that we all learned this: Age ain’t nothin’ but a number. Ray Campi is proof of that.

I couldn’t find a setlist of his performance at Ink-N-Iron, so if you happen to know what he performance, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add it later. Thanks!

 CLICK HERE TO SEE OTHER ACTS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH AT INK-N-IRON

Ink-N-Iron Festival | The Queen Mary | 6/6/14 – 6/7/14

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For the past eleven years, The Queen Mary has been the host of the annual Ink-N-Iron Festival: a weekend inspired by a culture of tats and cars, embodied in their display of  pristine vintage cars, three levels of tattoo artists booths, live music, burlesque acts, art displays … you name it, they’ve got it.

I first got turned onto the festival last year to catch a band from Texas that I really like, Girl In A Coma. Even though I don’t sport any ink on my person, I really enjoyed the whole vibe of the festival. It was clean, the people were all courteous, it was a family affair, tickets were reasonably priced ($80 for a weekend pass) … and the music rocked.

When I saw the line-up this year, I jumped on getting a ticket. Although I couldn’t attend the festival on Sunday due to work obligations, I was able to catch a whole bunch of quality acts while hanging out with friends, old and new. Below is the list of the acts that I was able to see perform. To see the pictures that I was able to snap (and video embeds of the performances I could find online) of each of the bands that performed, CLICK THE NAME of the act to get redirected to the blog entry.

June 6, 2014

  1. Ray Campi
  2. Wanda Jackson
  3. Merle Haggard
  4. Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil

June 7, 2014

  1. Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil– yup, I saw ’em twice
  2. The Briefs
  3. Fear
  4. The Damned
  5. Nick Waterhouse

In the meantime, below are some of the pictures that I snapped from the festival. I would have included more pictures from the burlesque show, but I’m trying to keep this blog PG rated. 😉