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Acoustic Paradise blends New Age and Spanish musical styles.

Dozens of musicians will fill the three acoustic stages along Lincoln Avenue
Unique duo and other South Bay musicians will be featured

By Michele Leung

Like peanut butter and jelly, like Sam Malone and Diane Chambers, music and Lincoln Avenue just go hand in hand.

Event organizers will line the street with three stages this weekend; South Bay acoustic acts will perform for dancing machines in front of Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company, Peet's Coffee and the old Washington Mutual Bank.

Organizers wanted to spread out the musical groups in order to maximize the foot traffic along the street. "We want to soften the congestion," said musician Sandy Lunares.

Look for Lunares in front Peet's Coffee all day on Saturday. Lunares, who makes up half of Acoustic Paradise, is a construction worker and surveyor by day and musician by night, and he's no stranger to playing at weddings, coffee shops and other community events. "Music is my dream," said Lunares, who has been tinkering with music for 35 years.

Acoustic Paradise, a project eight years in the making, is a blend of New Age and Spanish-flavored tunes. However, both Lunares and his Paradise partner, Sal Gaeta, bring more than just their musical notes to the table. Gaeta is a computer graphics student, while Lunares professes a strong attraction to numbers, mathematics to be exact. "Trig, physics, algebra. It's all numbers out there," he said of the tools he uses in surveying land.

Lunares also owns a bronze finishing workshop in Carmel, where his goal is to promote Indian artists and Native American motifs. This multi-tasking musician says that if he had a choice, he would focus on his art solely. Alas, "[my day job] puts the dinner on the table," he said.

Lunares is so passionate about music that he is encouraging any local closet troubadour with an itch to perform to come to the stage during Dancing on the Avenue. He remembers his early days when he struggled to find venues to showcase his talent and says that, this weekend, he wants to help anyone who contacts him about performing. Any level of musicianship is welcomed. "If they're not up to par, I can get them up to par," he said. "I want to give people a chance to perform and to show their music."

Steve Kritzer is another local performer who will bring his act to the stage this weekend. Kritzer, a folk guitar player, will play in front of Willow Glen Coffee Roasting and is well-known to coffeehouse audiences in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Campbell. Kritzer currently has an open mike for local talent at the Blue Rock in Saratoga.

Making Dancing on the Avenue possible this year is event producer Read Zaro. Zaro, a Willow Glen business-man, is in his element now, as he has found a calling in organizing summer fairs and outdoor events. Zaro is the middle link that connects with talent groups to provide the entertainment and city authorities to fill in the logistics for the street closure.

Zaro has left his mark at various events, such as the Santa Clara and Santa Cruz fairs, Tapestry and Talent, the Poultry Festival and other fetes in Los Angeles, San Diego and Reno.

One of the joys for Zaro is that for this year's Dancing on the Avenue, he gets to work in tandem with his wife. "We do a lot of street festivals. We're good at it and used to it all," he said. "We don't always get to do it together, so this is a nice event."

Outdoor music and a balmy evening should make for a perfect combination. Let the party begin.

This article was originally published in the June 14, 2000 issue of the Willow Glen Resident. Copyright 2000 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.