It was midday on Tuesday and Santa Cruz resident Jordan Lipaz, 27, the co-founder of Lit n’ Loud Productions, was once again scrutinizing the logo to be printed on unique merchandise for an upcoming show he’s organizing in Los Gatos.
Lipaz—aka Lapositive—had been going back-and-forth with his designer for days, trying to get the image to look just right.
“We’ve gone through like 10 iterations of this logo over the past few weeks,” he said. “He’s doing a limited-edition first run.”
It’s all part of the lead-up to the Jan. 13 launch of Late Night Sessions, dubbed “a new Bay Area exclusive event,” meant to highlight a variety of DJ talent from around the region—and beyond—amid the posh and creative décor of Charley’s LG’s second-floor auspices.
“It’s definitely going to be a lot of original music,” Lipaz says of the inaugural bill. “Every month it’s going to be a different line-up.”
In addition to the free parking and quality sound system (they may use the new in-house speakers, or perhaps bring along their own Funktion-Ones), organizers are promising a mix of hip-hop, EDM, bass music, burlesque and fire-dancing.
The event is geared towards a younger crowd, but everyone 21-plus is welcome to attend.
“Anybody who wants to come to enjoy the event—or who wants to come to share what they do is welcome to join us,” he said. “We’re going to be having lights and lasers…It’s definitely going to be a showcase of a divergent lineup—with a lot of diversity between the acts.”
That includes Dyligent, of Los Gatos, Gerastic, a Campbell resident, Khariszma, Neumonic and DISSØLV.
Lipaz says DISSØLV, from Santa Cruz, are starting to make waves internationally.
“They’re really talented,” he said of the world-bass duo. “They’re being flown to Guatemala to play music festivals.”
The Alchemists Temple, who performed as part of Euphonic Santa Cruz in August, are set to provide the burlesque performance art.
“It’s going to be a very high-vibrational multi-genre electronic music event,” Lipaz said. “I’ll be doing a live performance with Ableton (music software), trumpet and singing.”
Just back from performing at the Coalesce New Years festival in the desert, Nick “Neumonic” Neumann, a 26-year-old drum n’ bass, UK garage and dubstep artist who’s been living in Santa Cruz for the past eight years, says he was planning on attending the event even before he was booked to play.
“They’ve been wanting to do a show there for awhile,” he said. “I was just going to go to support.”
He says it’s exciting to get to test out a new venue, since Santa Cruz has limited options for this type of music.
“The genres are going to be ranging,” he said. “I think anyone would have a good time.”
Lipaz, a previous Los Gatos hills resident, is already working to line up artists from San Francisco, Oakland and Monterey for future months.
But this show will be a special one for him, since he’s planning on debuting some tracks from the album he’s getting ready to drop later this year.
Late Night Sessions: A New Bay Area Exclusive Event – Friday, Jan. 13 at Charley’s LG. 15 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Tickets for sale at the door. Starts at 8pm. $10.
