Kim Kalouria and Cap played together for the first time at the age of 16. A drummer, Tari “Tudor” Lutton introduced them. Tari went on to work with Cindy Lauper. In the same session, Kim and Tari introduced Cap to Franz Schlievert, who became a lifelong friend of Cap and Kim. Like long-lost brothers, Cap and Kim were in bands together their entire lives. The “Five Blind Blues Bland,” “Onion,” “Rejuva,” “Hendrix Cover Tributes,” Etc.
Kim was a graduate of the Guitar Institute of Technology in California, but unlike many graduates who enter and graduate GIT with scads of technical ability and not much natural talent, Kim went into GIT with scads of natural talent and came out over the top. In 2005, Kim and Cap received an award for best full-length motion picture from the Hollywood International Film Festival held a Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, as they had embarked upon a filmmaking endeavor that came up quite out of the blue. Like everything else Kim touched during his life, it turned to gold. Driving back down from Mulholland Drive the day after winning the festival, headed for the airport to go home after having received the award at Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s restaurant “The Continental” and having spent the week on-site at the Paramount Studios screening room, the background music in the car as Kim’s mother turned up the radio said the words “I‘ve paid my dues.” Kim was an avid Brian May fan.
The whole entire time Onion existed, Kim used his “Brian May” guitar which was a replica of Brian’s guitar. Of course, the volume went all the way up and we rode to the airport in a chorus of “We are the champion.” That is what it was like being friends with Kim, no dull moments. At the time of his death, Cap, Clark, Warren, and Kim had laid the foundation for a Hendrix cover band with Kim as a lead. Only a few recordings of that band exist. Kim became fast friends with Uli Roth of the Scorpions, one of the most talented guitarists. In fact, after his death, Uli dedicated a concert to Kim.
In addition to leaving behind his fiancé, his beloved daughter Celeste, his family members, and all the people who loved him, Kim left a hole impossible to fill in the life of Averill. “It’s like losing an arm and a leg. I hear the drums come in, I play my bass part and there is a void where Kim comes in that will never be filled. I don’t even want to fill it. he was the pragmatic pessimist to my eternal optimist. We all miss him and we always will.” Averill added, wiping away a tear, that after about 45 days of just flat being bummed out and depressed at Kim’s loss, Averill has felt the presence of Kim in his life every single day since.