Jose Garza is known for making the rounds of the Miami nightlife, bringing local acts like Ghetto Gestapo, Jelly Fish Bros, and Copán to grace the stages of venues like the Electric Pickle, Churchill's Pub, and the Goose -- and making quite a name for himself in doing so. Rumor has it he once filled a man's phone with stale beer and tried to drink it, and that he once started a mosh pit at O Cinema all while answering a phone call from his mom. On another night, they say, he showed up to a show covered in mud from head to toe, earning him the colorful moniker of "The Foul Mud King."
In spite of his hideous antics, the man always brings a damn good show. And his latest project, a collaboration with locally owned Wynwood coffeehouse Lester's, should be no exception. They're calling it SUBMISSION.
When Daniel Milewski opened Lester's in 2010, his vision was to create a venue where artists and their audiences alike could express themselves and where local talent could thrive, much like the cafés in Greenwich Village during the 1950's Beat era and Haight Ashbury throughout the 60's. According to Garza, SUBMISSION is all about making Milewski's vision a reality.
"What I'm trying to do is bring to life Daniel's concept of sharing and exchanging ideas in a constructive environment so there can be artistic growth stemming from the Wynwood community," Garza said. "What I'm trying to do is make this a space for every type of medium."
The Friday night showcase is Garza's brainchild and it makes sense -- local artists at a locally owned venue with local exposure. Every month, Garza and Lester's will host a different range of artists -- musicians, poets, bloggers, painters -- for what Garza described as "condensed microcosmic festivals." In the coming months, SUBMISSION will feature a print exhibition with some of Miami's most talented graphic designers, a blogging night that will bring out the city's top online scribes and sleuths, and a live performance by dancers from Miami's New World School of the Arts choreographed to music by one of the resident bands at Lester's.
For the first installment, Garza said, "We're going to open up with Sean Wooters, one half of the band Deaf Poets, cutie patootie; our second band, which is gonna be the resident band, is Copán ... and then headlining we've got Dear Darling, Miami Beach surf punk quartet, and they're awesome. The whole night we've got Aristotle Georgeson MC'ing, up and coming member of the Mustache Ride comedy collective -- he looks kind of like T.J. Miller -- and Jolt Radio's going to be doing live stream interviews from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m."
Like any event worth its salt, the hooch will flow and the performers will go go go. Somebody will make a buck, but at the end of the day, Garza's intentions promise to make SUBMISSION an interesting way to spend a Friday night.
"This is a very young city and we've barely had time to develop artistically. I don't want Miami's art scene to just be a feeding ground for bullshit trends that come and go. I want to be part of building a foundation with my people, my collectives. It's all in-house and it's all from the ground up. Fuck gentrification of the arts ... I'm doing this because I want to have a part in this city's artistic growth, I want to be part of what I see to be a genuine movement."
The first installment of SUBMISSION begins at 9 PM on Friday, Oct. 19 at Lester's (2519 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL, 33127) for a cover charge of $3. Visit facebook.com/events/489434344408461/.
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.