Americana singers / songwriters Cortez Garza (Athens, GA) and Christopher Lockett (LA) perform a special Wednesday night show at Atlanta's Red Light Café!
$8 Adv – $10 Door
Doors @ 7 PM
Cortez Garza is an Americana singer-songwriter who currently resides in Athens, Ga. Originally from the Atlanta area, at an early age discovered a passion for listening to, as well as creating music. Having over 10yrs experience performing in front of audiences in various types of musical projects, ranging from hip-hop, punk rock, techno and Americana, Cortez Garza’s style of country, folk, and bluegrass can easily be described as unique due to the multiple genres he is musically influenced by. Following in the foot steps of such folk pioneers as Woody Guthrie, Ramblin Jack Elliott, and Bob Dylan, Cortez Garza is on a mission to not only carry on the tradition of the folk singer-songwriter, but to focus on the evolution of Americana music. Cortez Garza is on the verge of releasing his debut album and is currently playing live shows in and around Georgia. With plans in the immediate future to tour regionally, there is no limit to what the future holds for Cortez.
Christopher Lockett is a Los Angeles based cinematographer, singer-songwriter, and director of the film The Typewriter (In The 21st Century). A native of Woodbridge, Virginia, he holds a BA in English Literature from Clemson University and an MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute.
Lockett shot the first HD thesis ever shot at AFI, on the Sony Cine Alta F-900, in 2002. He has shot every permutation of HD camera, including 4K, ever since. An active still photographer when he’s not on set, Lockett shoots DSLR, 35mm, 35mm Panoramic, 6×6 medium format and 4×5 large format photography, has exhibited locally in Los Angeles and has photographed album covers, promo art and concert photography. He is, as both a photographer and cinematographer, completely at home in a digital or a traditional film environment.
Lockett’s documentary work has taken him to Canada, Mexico, Ireland, London, Paris, Guatemala and Haiti, as well as to Mali and Cote D’Ivoire in West Africa. Being a Southerner who appreciates a good story, he’s got dozens of tales from each place. “Learning how to handle being arrested in a developing nation is an essential skill,” he says. He finds that documentaries dovetail nicely with both his journalist training and his narrative storytelling cinematography training. “Plus,” he says, “I get to say things like ‘Yeah, I’ve been to Timbuktu. Want to see some photos?’ in casual conversation.”
In 2006, after several years away from the stage, Lockett began performing live music again. In 2009, he released his self-titled debut album on Gritbiscuit Records. In 2012, he released his second album, Road Songs For The Restless. Whether working behind the camera or from the front of a stage, Lockett says “It’s all storytelling to me.”
As a bona fide story junkie, Lockett’s great love is narrative film. To him, narrative is the greatest combination of literature, photography, music and physical action ever invented. He maintains a collection of several hundred art books and monographs for reference material and has made extensive studies in color theory. The geek factor of the always-emerging new technology can be pretty high at times, but the story is always the thing.
The films he has photographed have done well on the festival circuit, playing the LA Short Film Fest, River Run, Atlanta Film Festival, HD Fest, Columbus, Hong Kong, Rome, Berlin International Women’s Film Festival and Cinemasia in Amsterdam as well as PBS television. His work in reality TV has been on CBS, Bravo, TLC, FOX, BBC, NBC, ABC, etc. Awards include Best Short and Best Documentary at some of those fests as well as a Regional Addy Award and nomination for Hollywood Reporter’s Key Art Awards.
His philosophy? ”What I want to do most is move people… to their core. Body, mind and soul. Be it film, photography or music, I’m looking for the right opportunities and collaborators to do that. As often and as deeply as possible.”
Christopher Lockett Official Site
Christopher Lockett on Facebook