Mark Baumgarten

Mark Baumgarten served as executive editor of City Arts from 2009 to February 2011 before becoming the magazine’s editor-at-large from February 2011 through March 2013. Mark previously worked for a long list of publications, including the late Sound magazine, Willamette Week in Portland, Twin Cities Metropolitan and Lost Cause magazine, the ill-fated local-music publication he founded while working as a banquet captain at a Minneapolis hotel. He is currently editor-in-chief at Seattle Weekly. Mark is also the author of Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music, which was published by Sasquatch Books in July 2012.

Recent Articles

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Homebase

A peak inside costume designer Lisa Fruichante's workshop.
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B-Side: The Unfamiliar Faces of Grunge

A new book from rock photographer Michael Lavine breathes life into that word we are tired of hearing. There is something incredibly unsatisfying about opening a padded manila envelope and discovering a book titled Grunge inside. It’s hard not to...
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Hangout

Telekinesis in Kubota Garden Michael Lerner walks us through a bit of an obsession. Photo by Kyle Johnson For michael lerner, Japan is a dream. You can hear it in the catchy pop the twenty-four-year-old writes and performs as Telekinesis. In...
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Head Games

Jeremiah Slaczka, the mind behind this year’s most innovative video game, challenges you to think of something he hasn’t yet. Good luck. t’s five p.m. on a rainy weekday afternoon, and a spirited conversation is under way in an office park...
Q&A

Questions for John Keatley

The celebrity photographer officially retires his “up-and-coming” title after hitting the top of the best-seller list and snapping an award-winning portrait of one of the best in his field. Photo by Kyle Johnson I know you can’t talk about the...
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In Store

The key to Simplicity Décor’s success is simple: give to your community and your community will give back Photos by Kyle Johnson Packed into Simplicity Décor’s storefront on cozy, tree-lined Park Lane in Kirkland — along with the Thai...
Q&A

Questions for Luke Burbank

It’s been just a month since your radio show, Too Beautiful to Live, was unceremoniously bounced from a daily broadcast program recorded at the KIRO studios to a podcast recorded in your home office. How has that transition treated you?I have to say...
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Hangout

A maestro takes to the mound to pitch the first in a series of long goodbyes In Safeco Field’s luxury boxes and bleachers, early arrivals settle in for the Seattle Mariners’ contest against the Kansas City Royals. In the clubhouse, players are...
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Keep It Pushin’

Jerkin’, the latest hip-hop dance craze, sounds like trouble. But it’s giving a growing number of South Sound teens a way to express themselves — in tight, bright jeans — while keeping them out of gangs (and baggy pants). (Read this story...
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Keep It Pushin’

A colorful new dance movement has begun to take over the South Sound. Is jerkin’ a fad or a new way of life? Photography by Mike Kane When Keith Carter dances, the only thing the crowd of young men around him can hear is the scrape of his...