The community of Norwalk was treated to a night of live performances, held at Leche Café, on Friday night that featured artists and community-based presentations, all hosted by the DMTX Media Agency.
The show featured rock band Welfair, Lindsay Olsen and rap artists Austin Antoine, STVDMR, Bryan Christopher, Reverie and Ghostrida, who doubled as host of the night and founder of DMTX Media Agency.
Ghostrida, whose real name is David Mendoza, started the agency in hopes of bringing people of different cultures together.
“DMTX is merging the cross points of culture, music, awareness, and consciousness,” explained Mendoza, “and fusing them all together so they meet at the cross point of an X, in the middle…a lot of these artists are artists I’ve grown up with.”
Rapper Bryan Christopher’s stage presence reminded one of something between Kanye West and Tyler the Creator, while performer Lindsay Olsen crooned to the audience with the help of her piano in a hauntingly beautiful performance.
Rapper Austin Antoine not only had clever lyrics (“I’m twenty-something, still smelling like teen spirit”) but also had the audience laughing with his dead-on rap impressions of everyone from Jay-Z to Eminem.
The show was just as much about bringing all creative types together in support as it was about the community.
Santiago Rivillas said, “I had never been to a rap show before and now I know that I like it. I feel like I exposed myself to something good.”
Christopher, who did the show to promote his album, said, “I’m a big lover of the hip hop community even though it’s not where it should be at…this is the first time in a long time I’ve seen rap together and people want to come just cause they love hip hop.”
At intermission the audience watched a presentation by Voice Waves, a company whose mission is to expose corrupt violence against communities and to tell “the story that’s not being told”.
Jasmine Vargas, an environmental activist, also gave an impassioned speech about global warming and urged the audience to join her at the next Environmental Protection Agency meeting in a fight against smog.
Rap artist Reverie closed the show with her soulful, almost painfully truthful rhymes that seemed to have an effect on the audience as a whole while they surrounded the stage in support of her.
Josue Mendez, an audience member, said of the act, “She was honest. She was just so human, vulnerable, confident and amazing.”
This is the agency’s first show, but Mendoza is confident that it will not be its last. “People are already asking about the second show, “ he admitted with a grin.
