Photo by Sander Roscoe Wolff.
Local singer, songwriter and guitarist Lorenzo Gigliotti is co-producing a free public music festival at the Recreation Park band shell, located near the north east corner of Seventh and Park. Halloween Showgasm, taking place this Saturday at 2:45pm, will feature performances by Bella Novela, Noah Grove, Valdivia X and Lorenzo’s own band, Jupiter 2.0.
Lorenzo was very active in the local music scene back in the ’80s and, a few years ago, became involved again.
Long Beach Post: What inspired you to play music and write songs?
Lorenzo Gigliotti: I was about six years old when I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, and that left a huge impression. In addition, my teenage sister Rita was really a big rock & roll fan, so our radio was always tuned to KFWB because that was the best rock station in LA at the time.
I heard a steady stream of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Byrds, The Who and American garage bands. I begged my dad for guitar lessons ’cause I wanted to be just like the guys in those bands. At that time my dad had a store in Torrance and I went to school in Torrance. He signed me up with Slim Edwards, who owned the music store a couple doors down and, from that point on, I was exposed to modern guitar music. I learned surf, rock & roll, country, jazz, bluegrass and anything else that Slim came up with. His ‘star’ student back then was Larry Carlton, who was a couple of years older than me. I wasn’t even in the same league with him. He was already becoming a legend around the neighborhood.
A few years later I started my first band around 10 years old. It was called “Hot Ice,” and we practiced in empty retail stores in the building where my dad’s store was. We started playing places and even got paid. Our first gig was playing during intermissions at The Rolling Hills Theater. We were now professional! We started writing songs too. I still remember the first song we wrote. It was actually a protest song about war. From then on I started writing songs. Music and songwriting were always my way of dealing with life. If it wasn’t for music I would not have had an identity in high-school. I played 12 string at a time that 12 strings were not cool anymore. I always tell people that, in my school, they used to rank the top guitar players. In the top 10, I was number 15.
You set music aside for a long time. Why?
Back in the 1980s we were promoting our album, Jupiter’s Multiple Choice LP. My band mate Jay Perris and I were doing a great deal of the leg-work. Tim Chaplin, another band mate, was actually designing and building our concert sound equipment so we could do large shows.
I was doing most of our bookings, dealing with club-owners and booking agents. I had to jump through their hoops, hype the band and sell them on why they should book us. I was also interacting with the radio stations, cajoling them to play our stuff, as well as dealing with record stores to carry our album. It was not unusual to book shows and suddenly find out that it was cancelled or that the club’s ticket count was off or some other problem, typical frustrations of the business.
By 1986 I was simply getting tired. Tim, who was a really talented bass player, left in 1982. We eventually found Ray Lopez, another really amazing bass player, and we continued promoting ourselves. I did the best that I could juggling my day-job as a high-school teacher for LBUSD, and music at night.
The “straw that broke the camel’s back” finally occurred in 1986 when, after months of playing off-nights, we earned a Saturday night booking at a then well-known music club in Huntington Beach. We promoted it like crazy with flyers, posters, paid advertising, word-of-mouth, time, time, time and money, money, money. We had over a hundred people confirmed and coming with friends.
We’d advertised that we were going on at 10:00PM but, when we get to the club, we found that they changed their minds and told us that we would have to start at 7:00PM. That was it. This wasn’t the first time something like this happened but, after having this happen so many times, this was finally the moment when I said, “I’m done.” I stopped performing and went on to pursue other non-musical business ventures, and concentrated on raising my children and providing for my family.
What brought you back to music?
In 2006, my life was turned completely upside down. In 2012, my wife Lena encouraged me to share my music again and got me to go street-perform on Santa Monica Promenade. Then, last year, my friend and collaborator Jay convinced me to get out there and perform again in clubs. When it comes to music and performing I am like an addict. Music and the show are my drugs. So, after a few months of playing acoustically, Jay and I resurrected our band Jupiter in its new form “Jupiter 2.0” and we found that we could do it again and that our sound is now really enjoyed by a broad cross-section of people 16 to 60+. We play all over Long Beach and nearby cities. Our audiences are quite entertained and appreciative. They’ve let us know it in so many ways.
When you were active, back in the day, how was the music scene different than it is now?
In the early 1980s the Los Angeles area was one of the hottest places a musician or band could be. We were playing in the same clubs as Berlin, The Ramones, Blondie, The Go-Go’s and other top bands of the era. Local bands who we watched develop or even played with were getting signed to record contracts. The Plimsouls, for example.
Today, Los Angeles doesn’t really feel like that, however sometimes locally here in Long Beach I sense the tingle that something big is in the process of happening really soon. Locally, we have a huge number of talented musicians who are really pushing the envelope. There are moments when Jay and I hear an artist or a band in one of the clubs or music venues and one of us will say something like, “this is good!” “Yeah! This is really good!” The sound, the energy, and the creativity is here.
Utilizing the many park bandstands was a long-time dream for you. What were the impediments, and how did you overcome them?
Back in the late 1970s and 1980s I was in my late teens and early twenties. The city was extremely conservative back then and contemporary music, especially rock of any kind, was not very welcome by the people in authority here. I tried to get permits to put together public concerts utilizing the stages and band-shells but the costs/fees were prohibitive. There was no way that anyone would wave those fees for me or even my parents. I tried several different approaches but eventually just had to give up since it was obvious that this type of event was not going to be permitted. There were other venues in LA that were actually much easier to deal with, so we opted to just focus on that scene.
After I re-entered the music scene, I found out that there were free concerts going on regularly at Bixby Park. I eventually contacted one of the local activists who had helped make those events a reality: Eric Gray. I told Eric how astounded I was that these concerts were actually happening and I asked him what I should do about doing similar events in El Dorado or other local parks. He suggested starting a dialogue with Councilwoman Stacy Mungo, who’s district covers El Dorado Park. I met with her staff and found them to be very supportive and, between her staff and Eric’s involvement, the process seemed possible.
I also joined the Long Beach Music Council, a group of music activists who are very interested in improving the music scene in Long Beach and are always seeking ways to make positive ideas a reality. I have found this organization to be an excellent resource and a great place to link with people who share similar aspirations of making Long Beach a live-music destination.
How did the line-up for Halloween Showgasm come together?
It is our third park show this year. The Recreation Park Summerfest concert in July was the first. The El Dorado Showgasm on September 12th was the second, and this next one in October is called “Halloween Showgasm” and will have a slight pre-Halloween season theme.
We are so fortunate that we managed to get two really amazing “feature” bands for this show. Bella Novela is one of Long Beach’s most popular bands. They opened for Salt-N- Pepa at the Gay Pride event earlier this year, and we are so proud that they will be part of the line-up.
We also secured the theatrically amazing Valdivia X with Diana Perkins’ iconic kabuki meets dia de los muertos’ Raymond Villegas in an electronic rock format. Rounding out the event is the fantastic singer-songwriter, Noah Grove. And, of course, Jay and I will be performing once again as “Jupiter 2.0.” We will open the show.
Jay and I are also the show producers. We work under the name MAX WEST Productions. We provide the sound system and all of the necessary support items for these shows. We are very fortunate to have great friends who volunteer to lend us a hand at these events as well.
These shows are self-funded and the artists donate their performances to the community. Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine assist in non-financial ways. These are completely grass-roots events which fall under our banner of “Public Music in Public Spaces.” All of the artists are representative of the Long Beach music scene. They also primarily perform their own original material. Make no mistake. This is the actual Long Beach sound. I am a very strong advocate for supporting Long Beach artists performing original material that comes from Long Beach.
What is it about Long Beach that seems to foster the Arts?
There is something special happening here in Long Beach. There is also a nurturing atmosphere here. Open mics abound throughout the city every night of the week where new and veteran performers get up in front of their peers and supporters to test themselves and their material in a performance setting. Many of the clubs and music venues are extremely supportive of the local artists and often allow new artists to perform complete sets in their venues.
Finally, Long Beach also has the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach [CALB], an amazing non-profit organization which helps artists in every way imaginable. They allow artists to utilize their space for music or fine-arts events as well as providing equipment, gallery-space and other resources to allow the artists to flourish. Long Beach artists are very fortunate to have these resources so readily available.
What’s the state of busking in Long Beach, these days?
From my involvement in various street-level tests, I have found that there have been significant strides to get the city to support, or simply allow, street performing [aka “busking”] Ordinances specifically prohibiting street performing have been removed from the books, but there are still a couple of issues that are being worked out as we speak that will eventually create a more objective method of determining where and when street-performing will be allowed.
At some point [these changes] may actually elevate street performing to the level of being a tourist attraction, as it is in Santa Monica. Belmont Shore has made great advances toward encouraging sanctioned busking at special events and, little-by-little, spontaneous busking is being allowed in more and more places throughout the city.
I do hope that street performing becomes a common phenomenon in Long Beach. I believe that street performing is a quintessential outward demonstration of a community’s support for live music at every level.
Jupiter 2.0, featuring Jay Perris & Lorenzo Gigliotti. Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Gigliotti.
You recently started a facebook group called Long Beach Sound. What’s that all about?
Right now there is a movement in the Long Beach music scene to make Long Beach a “music destination,” a desire for Long Beach to be considered in the same league as Austin, Seattle, Nashville or other music meccas. In order for that to happen, there has to be a lot more emphasis on the Long Beach sound: Original music from the Long Beach area. A great deal of local money, effort and promotions are currently being utilized on promoting tribute bands, cover bands and even the production of ‘imitation’ musical shows. Those things have their audiences but, honestly, I don’t think that Austin’s big draw is to see cover bands, tributes or imitations.
I believe that the effort and the money here should be used to promote The Long Beach Sound, whether it is rock, pop, electronica, blues, bluegrass, soul, rap, punk, funk, avant-garde or some other genre. If it is original and it is representative of the Long Beach music scene, that is what needs to be out front. That’s what Jay and I are doing. We are bringing the Long Beach sound to the community and, right now, the public parks are our venues to make that happen.
To learn more about Jupiter 2.0, or Max West Productions, visit JupiterMax.com.
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