About

Giant Creative Services, led by Chris Esparza, is behind the idea to create Left Coast Live that matches great venues with innovative live music.

What started as an idea quickly became a movement for revival of live music downtown. Members of the community group South Bay Live helped refine ideas, do research and move this idea into reality. This group included: Richard Adoradio of Thriving Artists, Gustavius Aiton of Resonant Frequency Records, Tommy Aguilar of UnGrammar, Matt Beasley of Lumina Music Group, Michael Brilliot of Jazz Mechanics, Lisa Dewey of Kitchen Whore Records and Barbara Wahli of Barb Rocks Presents.

Giant Creative Services has been producing community events for over two decades, where the emphasis has always been high quality and high community engagement. Giant establishes its work in cultural and civic development for economic and community benefit.

The Left Coast Live management team is made up of Chris Esparza, Michael Brilliot, Sheila Bernus Dowd and John Dowd. Michael is an accomplished musician and works with all LCL bands and venues. Sheila leads our sponsorship and sales team. She consults with companies on social media outreach and fund raising strategies. John heads up tech support and keeps an eye out on good places to eat and listen to music.

Left Coast Live is a labor of love that would not be possible without our team of staff, volunteers and interns.

Music Booking Team: Thomas Aguilar, Michael Brilliot, Chris Esparza, Michael Solari, and Barbara Wahli

Booking Coordinator: Barbara Wahli

Marketing: John Dowd and Sheila Dowd

Design: Tamiko Rast of Rasteroids and Quynh–Mai Nguyen

Sponsorship: Michael Brilliot and Reena Brilliot

Publicity: Edita Rodriguez and Vicky Van

Production: Chris Esparza, Annie Hermes, Quynh–Mai Nguyen, and Michael Solari

Blog Editors/Social Media: Robin Miller and Barbara Wahli

Street Outreach Team: Elizabeth and Daniel

Volunteers: Miguel Martinez

Radio Partners: Bill O’Brien at SALT and Brandon Paski at Live 105

***** Meet the Faces Behind the Blog *****

sheilaweb Whether it is for 50 or 10,000, Sheila can throw one heck of a party – the kind that is talked about for days and either raises a ton of money for a worthy cause or garners her client’s brand stellar coverage. With being an official soccer mom, PTA president, founder of Clever Girls Collective, producer of Left Coast Live, Chief TechMom at Lookiloos.com, and social media blogger under the pseudonym Xioalinmama under her belt, Sheila can be considered a crusader of social media – setting social media trends one day at a time.

Barbara Wahli (aka Barb Rocks) is recognized for putting on highly-organized and well-attended shows at reputable venues in the San Jose Bay Area. Barbara also supports various artists in band management, show bookings, tour scheduling, publicity, and promotions. Barbara was one of the core group members of the community outreach movement that created Left Coast Live and is proud that these endeavors have resulted in such an amazing music festival. Enjoy her tweets: @barbrocks

Robin Miller graduated May 2010 from San Jose State with a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and a focus in Business. Born in San Francisco, this hippy at heart enjoys traveling, attending festivals and concerts, going to Giants games, planning events and all things social media.