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Sights & Sounds: Hafez Modirzadeh

Andy Nozaka/ Resized and cropped
Saxophonist and composer Hafez Modirzadeh

Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Saxophonist and music theorist Hafez Modirzadeh told KALW’s Jen Chien about three cool arts events happening around the Bay this weekend:
 

Laugh, Clown, Laugh,starring Lon Chaney, is showing on Saturday, 7/23 at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont. Chaney stars as Tito, a circus clown who find himself in competition for the love of a woman he rescued as a child. The showing is preceded by two short films and accompanied by live piano.

MODIRZADEH: I think it’s amazing how ancestors can be resurrected on film. Something about the black and white and the silence makes it more captivating.

On Saturday, 7/23, music collective Gambits (Steve Adams - Baritone Saxophone, Alisa Rose - Violin, Theo Padouvas - Cornet, Vijay Anderson - Drums) and Jang, Wong, and Trammell (Jon Jang - Piano, Francis Wong - Saxophones, Marshall Trammell - Drums) take the stage at the Berkeley Arts Festival space. Both groups make heavy use of improvisation and draw upon influences from many musical genres.

MODIRZADEH: If anyone is out there looking to develop their imagination, these groups will get it working. You get a sense with these individuals, that it is not about the music, the music is about it.

Credit by Ginabovara/ used under cc license
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum grounds

Rosicrucian Parkin San Jose is the site of a plethora of Egyptian and Moorish style buildings and landscaping including an Egyptian museum, labyrinth, planetarium, research library, temple and peace garden. It’s ripe for exploration and contemplation with lunch from Falafel’s Drive-In.

MODIRZADEH: I don’t like to sound absolute, but Falafel’s Drive-In absolutely makes the best falafels in the world ... and then Rosicrucian Park has beautiful gardens where you can walk and meditate.