C2SV Festival will take place in Downtown San Jose from September 26 to September 29, 2013.

The Silicon Valley Sound eXperience, launched as a one-day, multi-venue music event in 2012, will expand to four days in September 2013 and add a technology conference and expo.

Preparations are underway to announce a lineup of more than 100 musical acts at venues throughout Downtown San Jose as well as a technology expo and conference that will explore the convergence of digital technology and the creative arts.

The nexus of creativity and technology will be represented in the new name: C2SV (Creative Convergence Silicon Valley). Liquid Agency assisted C2SV’s creative team on the rebranding.

The conference and music festival is patterned after successful festivals that are held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.

Major sponsors include the Metro Silicon Valley newspaper and Fry’s Electronics. For sponsorship, booking information and other inquiries, contact Jennifer Anderson at 408.298.8000.

Musicians, artists, videographers, inventors and product designers from around the globe turn to Silicon Valley companies to provide infrastructure and tools to create and capture their work. Now there’s a local venue to discuss the future of digital content creation and other innovations transforming our lives, from space travel to new energy systems.

Staged at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center’s new wing, the C2SV Conference and Expo will feature sessions and keynotes on a provocative range of topics related to music, the creative arts, society and technology.

Adjacent to the session streams, exhibitors will bring a lively mix of new products to the C2SV Expo, the first trade show to unfold since the Convention Center’s $120 million expanson and renovation.

Long known as an exporter of talent, Silicon Valley has recently enjoyed an unprecedented retention of artists. Last year’s music festival, formerly known as the Silicon Valley Sound Experience, showcased local legends, along with breakthrough artists.

With nearly all venues filled to capacity, the inaugural event proved the live music scene is alive and growing in Silicon Valley. Riding on the success of last year’s event, C2SV will expand to a four-day showcase of emerging and established music acts at multiple venues throughout Downtown San Jose. The event will coincide with the Music Conference and Expo at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

For media inquiries, click here.

Press coverage from C2SV 2013:

Exclusive: Silicon Valley’s answer to SXSW set for Sept. 26-29

Twenty venues, 100 live music performances, lots and lots of tech gadgets: Sure, it sounds like Austin’s SXSW, but it could be an independent Silicon Valley version of the wildly popular tech conference and music festival if one man has his way. Dan Pulcrano, CEO and executive editor of Metro Newspapers, told me on Wednesday that his company, Creative Convergence Silicon Valley (C2SV), will hold the event Sept. 26-29. C2SV formed last year. The goal? Melding a major tech conference and a massive party.

— Silicon Valley Business Journal

Press coverage from Silicon Valley Sound eXperience 2012:

Photos: Highlights from Silicon Valley Sound eXperience

For 11 hours on Saturday, the debut Silicon Valley Sound eXperience festival took over nine venues in downtown San Jose with more than 20 local performers, starting with an afternoon set by DJ Cutso and closing with an after party with B. Lewis at Pagoda.

— Metro Newspaper

Review: Silicon Valley Sound Experience

For a city that struggles year in and year out to foster a vibrant local music scene, the Silicon Valley Sound eXperience festival—which featured over 20 bands in 9 venues—was a success. Mike Huguenor, who opened the Pagoda Lounge lineup, took a moment during his set to comment on what an incredible event Silicon Valley Sound Experience was turning out to be.

— Metro Newspaper

Silicon Valley Sound Experience brings the beats to downtown

San Pedro Square Market echoed with the sounds of their first act of the night, Dirty Pillows, Saturday evening. The Silicon Valley Sound Experience, hosted by Metro Silicon Valley Newspaper, featured a refreshing variety of local talent at nine venues scattered around the downtown area.

— Spartan Daily

Silicon Valley Sound Experience Premieres in San Jose

On September 22nd – San Jose will have its very first club crawl and music festival event – titled Silicon Valley Sound Experience. Silicon Valley Sound Experience will feature many local and touring artists throughout various venues in downtown San Jose from The Blank Club, Myth Taverna & Lounge, and more.

— KSJS

Silicon Valley Sound Experience Preview

In suburban garages and on downtown streets, the Silicon Valley Sound has found a groove. Technology-fused genres have forged a style that befits a valley where American traditions and immigrant cultures easily mix.

— Metro Newspaper

Silicon Valley Sound Experience

For some time, San Jose has been hungry for a resurgence of the live music scene. The Blank Club and Art Boutiki, to name a few, have continued to fight the good fight–providing downtown venues for local bands. Giant Creative and Left Coast Live never gave up on San Jose’s live music scene and continued to be an influential advocate, bringing festivals and special events to a variety of San Jose venues.

— Content Magazine

Silicon Valley Sound Experience preview this week, 9/22/12

A solid reason to borrow your friend’s car and get down to San Jose: Silicon Valley Sound Experience.

— Bay Bridged

Downtown San Jose’s new urban vision is transforming its character, making it an exciting venue for the 2013 C2SV Festival and Conference.

Artisanal coffee shops, farmer’s markets, pop-up galleries, loft apartments and speakeasies are signatures of downtown’s ongoing revival. In recent years, Downtown San Jose has expanded as a regional cultural hub, with events such as ZERO1’s (e)MERGE Biennial street festival, the SubZERO Festival, Left Coast Live Music Festival, the expanded San Jose Jazz Fest, South FIRST FRIDAYS, HempCon and Further Confusion leading the way.

Visitors who spend time visiting and playing in downtown San Jose are pleasantly surprised by its friendly culture, as well as its hip and diverse amenities. The weather is perpetually sunny and beautiful, parking is never an issue and it’s easy to navigate.

Popular restaurants like Mezcal and Nemea serve up original interpretations of classic cuisines and Good Karma Vegan Restaurant and Original Gravity Public House (decidedly not vegan) pour carefully curated selections of small-batch craft brews.

Careless Hearts at San Pedro Square // Photo by Jessica Shirley-Donnelly.

Press Coverage:

Photos: Highlights from Silicon Valley Sound eXperience (Metro Newspaper)
For 11 hours on Saturday, the debut Silicon Valley Sound eXperience festival took over nine venues in downtown San Jose with more than 20 local performers, starting with an afternoon set by DJ Cutso and closing with an after party with B. Lewis at Pagoda. Read more.

Review: Silicon Valley Sound eXperience (Metro Newspaper)
For a city that struggles year in and year out to foster a vibrant local music scene, the SVSX festival—which featured over 20 bands in 9 venues—was a success. Mike Huguenor, who opened the Pagoda Lounge lineup, took a moment during his set to comment on what an incredible event SVSX was turning out to be. Read more.

Silicon Valley Sound Experience brings the beats to downtown (Spartan Daily)
San Pedro Square Market echoed with the sounds of their first act of the night, Dirty Pillows, Saturday evening. The Silicon Valley Sound Experience, hosted by Metro Silicon Valley Newspaper, featured a refreshing variety of local talent at nine venues scattered around the downtown area.

Silicon Valley Sound Experience preview this week, 9/22/12 (Bay Bridged)
A solid reason to borrow your friend’s car and get down to San Jose: Silicon Valley Sound Experience.

So why are South Bay musicians migrating to other places to make their mark, fans traveling out of county to see shows and Silicon Valley companies spending their sponsorship dollars in other states? That’s so not green.

The Silicon Valley Sound Experience aims to cut the commute time for artists, fans and corporate marketers by making it happen right here! Yes, we need and deserve a real music scene, and what better way to tell the world we’re here than with a festival to celebrate the music scene.

We’re kicking the 2012 festival off with a one-day showcase on September 22. It’s a prelude to a full-scale, multi-day festival in 2013.

Please join us for some fun and music, and the satisfaction of having contributed to taking the local music scene to the next level.

The event is being organized with the support of Metro, Silicon Valley’s Weekly Newspaper.

This kaleidoscope of experiences would boil over in William’s mind, and he would sit at his grandmother’s piano, late night, and trepan his memories into wildly inventive rag-time tunes…mostly in the minor keys. One night, after his philistine neighbors called the police and filed a noise complaint, and after facing his oppressors in nothing more than a slightly baggy pair of tidy-whities (it was the middle of the summer, and quite hot that night), William decided to fight back the only way he knew how.

So that night, he sat back down at the piano, cracked all his eleven fingers, and began to compose an opus of indefinite ending. To this very day, his vengeance knows no limit and he continues to grace us with his melodic heroism. Not unlike The Odyssey, The White Album, or a broken watch…his music is timeless.

Playing at the Pagoda (Fairmont Hotel) | 11:30pm

Emerging jazz/R&B vocalist Amy Dabalos is a gifted artist noted for her exceptional interpretation of song. Beginning her musical journey in the jazz world, Amy was inspired by the improvisational freedom of the music. Her style and approach to singing is greatly influenced by vocal jazz legends, as well as her undergraduate training in classical voice. She takes standards, and some not-so-standards, and makes the music all her own. New harmonies, different rhythms, and a completely modern take on songs you know and love. Most recently, she has been a featured artist at City Lights Theater, Left Coast Live, the San Pedro Square Market and the San Jose Jazz Winter and Summer Festivals.

Playing  at the Hedley Club in Hotel DeAnza/9pm

Dirtbag Dan was born in San Jose as Daniel Martinez. He first got onstage when he was 14 years old and saw LSP (Kung Fu Vampire’s old group) perform at Java Stop in San Jose. At the end of the performance, they invited the audience onstage to freestyle. His friends, knowing he liked to rap, coaxed Dan to try it.

“It was the coolest thing ever. I was like, ‘I am definitely doing this. This is my thing,’” he recalls.

He got his name years later at 19 when his buddy Mario saw him lying down on the couch in his apartment looking scraggily and unshaven. He said, “You’re a fucking dirtbag, Dan.”

The nickname stuck. “You never pick the cool names. People remember Dirtbag Dan because nicknames are designed to stick to people,” he says.

He continued to freestyle or battle rap whenever he could. “When I was a kid, there was no option to record an album. Nobody had studios or shit like that.”

Though he could hold his own, freestyle battle rapping was never a format that he excelled at, but he was never one to turn down the opportunity to rap onstage. He recorded his first solo album,Dirt 4 $ale, in 2003, joining Thunderhut around that time, then Counter Productive a little later.

Eventually, he left Thunderhut and devoted himself to Counter Productive full time. In 2005, he, Able Abilities & Skylar G found a DJ named Itchy the Killer, and the Counter Productive crew was officially complete.

Grind Time was started in Orlando, Fla., in 2008 by two battle rappers named Madd Illz and Drect. At the same time, King of the Dot was starting up in Vancouver, Canada. Both of these leagues were inspired by an earlier Canadian battle-rap league called Elements, which began in 2006.

“Elements started doing openly written a cappella battles,” Dan says. “I don’t want to say they’re the first people to ever do it in the world. That’s totally not true. But these people were the first to say, ‘OK, we’re openly writing our battles. We’re not freestyling off the top of our heads anymore.”

Dirtbag Dan’s first battle for Grind Time was on Aug. 30, 2008, in Oakland against the Coroner. This was also the first official Grind Time West Coast battle. The event was a spontaneous thing for Dan, and he didn’t come with anything written ahead of time.

“It was a terrible battle. But people really liked it. For some reason, it got a lot of views,” Dan says.

Dan accepted a second battle and decided to take it more seriously, going in with prepared material. “There was a moment during that battle I realized that this is my thing. I’m good at this,” Dan recalls.

Dan quickly became a major name in Grind Time circuit and started traveling all over the United States. He went up to Canada on several occasions to compete in the King of the Dot league. By the time Don’t Flop (England) and Got Beef (Australia) were emerging, he was already a top name in battle rap and eagerly flew there to compete. Fliptop Battles in the Philippines came later.

So far Dirtbag Dan is the only person in the world who has competed in all five leagues.

“It blows my mind how much I’ve gotten to do on the back of dick jokes. I’ve been traveling the world on foul humor. I always thought it would be some moving song I wrote,” Dan says.

Playing at the Blank Club | 12:30am