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Promoter and noise musician Sam Lopez (aka Zsa Zsa Gabor) is curating his third monthly Stay Strange installation with experimental pre-Hispanic music and a local collaboration between Michael Zimmerman (keyboards) and M.J. Stevens (guitar, noise).
“I happened upon Aztlan Underground UNEARTHED by sheer accident,” writes Lopez. “I was getting my experimental guitar show shirts printed up at the ultra-cool Roots Factory and one of the guys there showed me the most insane artwork hanging in their gallery. They were these intense pieces by an artist named, Joe Galarza. See Joe's work here. Amazing stuff!
“Anyway, Bob from the Roots Factory proceeded to explain a performance by Joe that involved outlandish head gear, electric bass, and a menacing array of effect pedals! I was hooked! I had to have Joe play a Stay Strange. Luck would have it that Joe also played in a bigger band from Los Angeles called Aztlan Underground. I approached Joe and asked if he would play a solo noise set and he offered Aztlan Underground's "side-project" called UNEARTHED instead.
“UNEARTHED, Joe explained, was a mixture of primitive sounds including wind instruments (Native American wood and clay flutes), indigenous percussion and ancestral chants! It's always been my dream to incorporate the worldly sounds with those of an experimental nature. Of course I was honored to have UNEARTHED play!! While Aztlan Underground form their base around social awareness, UNEARTHED journey comfortably around the spiritual. Please help me welcome UNEARTHED to San Diego!”
“Chances are you already know M.J. Stevens and Michael Zimmerman,” Lopez continues. “M.J. was the lead noise apparatus/free-guitarist for de-music band, hING. I've seen M.J. ruin his guitar with an egg beater once. Mr. Stevens was also the inventor of the infamous guitar of 100 strings that was featured recently on local television. M.J. is the professor of the unknown, the maestro of dissonance and the only musician I know that can turn an acoustic bass into a snarling animal.
“Michael Zimmerman is another A-class musician. Mr. Zimmerman also plays in hING. His weapon is the keyboard. I've seen him bend time and logic with that instrument. I had the pleasure of playing with Michael in The Blind Dead, a mini-opera where he manned the blood organ! Brutal! I am also honored to have these two master craftsman of sound play the third aktion of Stay Strange. By the way, MJZ is a combination of, well, you get the picture.”
Lopez has been curating shows at the Kava Gallery ever since his previous music collective, Trummerflora, went on hiatus.
“The Kava Gallery and Trummerflora had a great working relationship and I didn't want the shows to stop, so I basically have been booking shows there ever since,” says Lopez. “Stay Strange will reside at the Kava Gallery for the remainder of the year.”
Lopez, who curates the annual San Diego Experimental Guitar Show, bills Stay Strange as "A Night of Outsider Art & Music," but says that the name really applies to the audience.
“I'm suggesting that the audience stay strange, or keep their minds open.”
Stay Strange #3
Sunday, April 15 – 7 p.m.
Kava Gallery at the Kava Lounge - 2804 Kettner Blvd. – Little Italy
$5 – all ages
Promoter and noise musician Sam Lopez (aka Zsa Zsa Gabor) is curating his third monthly Stay Strange installation with experimental pre-Hispanic music and a local collaboration between Michael Zimmerman (keyboards) and M.J. Stevens (guitar, noise).
“I happened upon Aztlan Underground UNEARTHED by sheer accident,” writes Lopez. “I was getting my experimental guitar show shirts printed up at the ultra-cool Roots Factory and one of the guys there showed me the most insane artwork hanging in their gallery. They were these intense pieces by an artist named, Joe Galarza. See Joe's work here. Amazing stuff!
“Anyway, Bob from the Roots Factory proceeded to explain a performance by Joe that involved outlandish head gear, electric bass, and a menacing array of effect pedals! I was hooked! I had to have Joe play a Stay Strange. Luck would have it that Joe also played in a bigger band from Los Angeles called Aztlan Underground. I approached Joe and asked if he would play a solo noise set and he offered Aztlan Underground's "side-project" called UNEARTHED instead.
“UNEARTHED, Joe explained, was a mixture of primitive sounds including wind instruments (Native American wood and clay flutes), indigenous percussion and ancestral chants! It's always been my dream to incorporate the worldly sounds with those of an experimental nature. Of course I was honored to have UNEARTHED play!! While Aztlan Underground form their base around social awareness, UNEARTHED journey comfortably around the spiritual. Please help me welcome UNEARTHED to San Diego!”
“Chances are you already know M.J. Stevens and Michael Zimmerman,” Lopez continues. “M.J. was the lead noise apparatus/free-guitarist for de-music band, hING. I've seen M.J. ruin his guitar with an egg beater once. Mr. Stevens was also the inventor of the infamous guitar of 100 strings that was featured recently on local television. M.J. is the professor of the unknown, the maestro of dissonance and the only musician I know that can turn an acoustic bass into a snarling animal.
“Michael Zimmerman is another A-class musician. Mr. Zimmerman also plays in hING. His weapon is the keyboard. I've seen him bend time and logic with that instrument. I had the pleasure of playing with Michael in The Blind Dead, a mini-opera where he manned the blood organ! Brutal! I am also honored to have these two master craftsman of sound play the third aktion of Stay Strange. By the way, MJZ is a combination of, well, you get the picture.”
Lopez has been curating shows at the Kava Gallery ever since his previous music collective, Trummerflora, went on hiatus.
“The Kava Gallery and Trummerflora had a great working relationship and I didn't want the shows to stop, so I basically have been booking shows there ever since,” says Lopez. “Stay Strange will reside at the Kava Gallery for the remainder of the year.”
Lopez, who curates the annual San Diego Experimental Guitar Show, bills Stay Strange as "A Night of Outsider Art & Music," but says that the name really applies to the audience.
“I'm suggesting that the audience stay strange, or keep their minds open.”
Stay Strange #3
Sunday, April 15 – 7 p.m.
Kava Gallery at the Kava Lounge - 2804 Kettner Blvd. – Little Italy
$5 – all ages