Imagine a saxophone street performer jamming with a gypsy-cumbia rocker while the former touring drummer for Bob Dylan keeps the beat and an electronic musical tech adds beeps and hums, mixing and remixing.
This is the type of blend that the first annual Tucson Rock Lottery has the potential to offer this weekend.
Saturday's event features a blend of 25 talented and diverse musicians, who will be randomly grouped to form five new bands.
"The essence of it is keeping musicians out of their box," said event coordinator Michael Sanger. "People who wouldn't normally cross paths will cross paths."
Sanger, 32, attended two rock lotteries while living in Dayton, Texas, the birth place of the event, and described it as "mind-blowing,"
"Tucson has a dominant cultural presence with music," said Sanger who moved to Tucson in 2007. "I thought it would be the perfect place to do it."
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Chris Weber, the founder of Good/Bad Art Collective, created the rock lottery in 1997 in Dayton and gave Sanger his blessing to host the event in Tucson, as long as he followed the rules and made sure all proceeds go to charity.
Sanger chose to donate the money to Cysticlife.org, a Tucson-based cystic fibrosis information and support website.
His ties to the disease are from past and present. He lost a childhood friend to it when he was 21-years-old and currently works as a web developer for cysticlife.org.
Sanger plays drums in the local indie rock group Dead Western Plains and is an active member of the local music scene.
But he didn't take it solely upon himself to corral the musicians.
He enlisted in the help of others, such as Dan Twelker, the host of "Locals Only" on KXCI (91.3 FM) to make sure the 25 participants were from all walks of music.
"The idea was to get a cross section of the Tucson music environment," said Twelker, who is also known as Dr. Dan. "It will highlight the high level of skills these musicians have. We'll see these talented musicians in full force, writing three to five songs all in one day."
The Rundown
The event begins Saturday when the 25 musicians meet at 9 a.m. Five drummers have already been chosen and each one will pull names out of a hat until each band has five members.
The participants include Gypsy-cumbia rocker Gabriel Sullivan, Mostly Bears guitarist and vocalist Brian Lopez, former Bob Dylan tour drummer Winston Watson, saxophone street performer Mik Garrison, Holy Rolling Empire's Dave Mertz, electronic guru J Lugo Miller from … music video? and 16-year-old drummer Will King.
The groups will be given about 12 hours to write three to five songs, with a limit of one cover.
At 8:30 p.m., the bands will meet up at Plush on North Fourth Avenue and East Sixth Street. The music begins at 9 p.m.
A local comedy group will fill the downtime and introduce the groups, ensuring that the entertainment streams throughout the night.
If you go
• What: Tucson Rock Lottery Benefit.
• When: Saturday, doors open at 8:30 p.m., music starts at 9 p.m.
• Where: Plush, 340 E. Sixth St.
• Cost: $6 donation at the door to benefit Cystic Life.
Nicholas Scala is a University of Arizona student apprenticing at the Star. Contact him at starapprentice@azstarnet.com
