Azacitidine and Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b in Treating Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma or Stage IV Kidney Cancer That Cannot Be Removed By Surgery

Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  * Melanoma

    * Unresectable stage III disease
    * Stage IV disease
  * Renal cell carcinoma

    * Unresectable and/or stage IV disease
* Measurable disease
* No untreated brain metastases or leptomeningeal disease

  * Patients with previously treated brain metastases are eligible provided they have no evidence of progression for ≥ 4 weeks following treatment and do not require steroids
* Performance status - ECOG 0-2
* Performance status - Karnofsky 60-100%
* More than 3 months
* WBC ≥ 3,000/mm\^3
* Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
* Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL (may be transfused to this level)
* PT or PTT \< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/mL
* AST and ALT ≤ 3 times ULN (5 times ULN for patients with liver metastases)
* Albumin ≥ 3.0 g/dL
* Creatinine ≤ 1.7 mg/dL
* Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min
* No symptomatic congestive heart failure
* No unstable angina pectoris
* No ventricular cardiac arrhythmia
* No myocardial infarction within the past 3 months
* No dyspnea at rest
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No active gastrointestinal bleeding or ulcer disease
* No ongoing or active infection
* No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
* No other uncontrolled illness
* No history of allergic reaction attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to study agents
* At least 2 weeks since prior immunotherapy
* Prior adjuvant interferon alfa for metastatic disease or in the adjuvant setting allowed
* At least 3 weeks since prior cytotoxic agents (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin)
* See Disease Characteristics
* At least 2 weeks since prior hormonal therapy
* At least 1 week since prior and no concurrent steroids
* At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy
* At least 2 weeks since prior minor surgery
* At least 3 weeks since prior major surgery
* Recovered from all prior therapy
* No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
* No other concurrent investigational agents
* No other concurrent anticancer therapy