The man behind downtown's Solar Culture, Steven Eye, has been passionate about music since the late '70s, when he and his friends would build skateboard ramps at an abandoned lot in downtown Philadelphia and skate while listening to punk rock. He moved to Tucson in 1985 and started two other art/music venues before launching Solar Culture, at 31 E. Toole Ave. Eye blames the closure of Dodajk Internation and the Downtown Performance Center on police harassment, saying that law enforcement was unhappy with the crowd of "troubled youth" the venues attracted. In addition to serving as a concert venue, Solar Culture is also an art gallery. Find out more at solarculture.org.
What was the first concert you attended?
Sun Ra.
What are you listening to these days?
Tech house, tribal house, global beats, downtempo, dubstep and ambient.
What was the first album you owned?
Emerson Lake & Palmer.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don't get?
Country.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Niyaz.
Musically speaking, what is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Silence.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Dead Can Dance, "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)."
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
Seeing Mahavishnu Orchestra live inspired the start of my spiritual path in 1972.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Love Devotion Surrender by John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana.
