Agoura Hills Resident Serenades City

AGOURA HILLS — If you’re hanging out in Reyes Adobe Park, you might hear the sounds of “Stand By Me” wafting from the hills above. During COVID-19, it’s best to ignore the lyrics, but you can still enjoy the music played by Agoura Hills resident Kaya Ramos.

“I joke that in quarantine, it’s ‘Don’t Stand By Me,’ Ramos told The Acorn.

For the past few weeks Ramos, a restaurant manager in Malibu who’s had to stop working during the pandemic, has been treating Agoura Hills to free guitar concerts, accompanied by the sound of a loop pedal. Every afternoon around five, Ramos steps onto the lawn of his house on Rainbow Crest Drive facing the park and plays a mix of covers and original songs. Ramos doesn’t sing, but uses chord progressions and drum sounds looped through guitar pedals to play different calming songs by artists like Bob Marley, the Beach Boys, and the Ronettes.

Ramos was inspired to put on free quarantine concerts after seeing popular online videos of quarantined Italians singing on their balconies. Ramos, who is part of a local band called the Angel City Fiddle Squad, had already been practicing guitar in his living room. He realized he could step out onto his lawn and serenade his town in the same way.

Ramos hadn’t practiced looping cords in years, so there was a bit of a learning curve at first. Sometimes in the middle of a performance he’d have to stop – either because he realized he hadn’t timed the loop right, or because his automatic sprinklers popped on – but appreciative audiences still gathered and listened.

Ramos hasn’t publicized his work too much because he doesn’t want large crowds to start forming. But the shows are becoming increasingly popular, and Ramos has appreciated seeing how spontaneous music can help people through difficult times.

“The coolest thing has been on the corner of the sidewalk sometimes a couple will be walking and they’ll slow dance … that’s made me feel really good, he said.”