Kevin Saunderson

If the world were fair, Kevin Saunderson's Upstairs Lounge gig would be greeted with as much fanfare as, say, a reincarnated Ramones playing the Creepy Crawl. Saunderson, after all, is to techno what the Ramones are to punk rock: the foundation above which everything else is built. As part of the legendary Belleville (a Michigan high school) Three, he and buds Juan Atkins and Derrick May created Detroit techno in the mid '80s. By fusing the frantic rhythms of early Chicago house with the electronic tones of Kraftwerk, they built rigid, robotic Roland 303 body music. (Missy Elliott's "Lose Control" is based on an Atkins jam.) Saunderson's also responsible for one of the great mix CDs of all time, his pounding, layered Transmissions from Deep Space Radio. Seldom do we get a chance to see Saunderson in such an intimate space. Don't miss out.