We Are San Diego Music

Jefferson Jay, founder of the San Diego Music Hall of Fame.

A pivotal moment for me came after the Cedar Fire in 2003, when I attended a Synergy Arts Foundation benefit for artists who had lost everything. I was deeply affected by the outpouring of love and support. Here was a creative community rallying around its own because they believed that was the right thing to do. I wanted that for musicians.

When I moved to San Diego in 2000, I became friends with several leaders in the local arts community and was struck by the way that community supported its fine artists. I attended art auctions and events celebrating talented artists from our region, and later watched the San Diego Art Prize encourage and uplift emerging talent. There was a beautiful community of patrons driven to help talented people have the best possible chance for their work to be seen, valued and received.

The musicians of San Diego didn’t have that kind of support system then, and we still don’t. That breaks my heart. San Diego is filled with extraordinary musicians, but it can be very difficult to make a living making music. As the decades passed andthings only became more difficult, I knew I had to do something about it.

By 2018, my role in that mission had become clear to me: our history matters. My degrees are in history, including a Master’s from San Diego State. I was going to make sure the people who created San Diego music were celebrated and remembered, so our entire community could take pride in more than a century of amazing music, the way great music cities like Austin, New Orleans and Nashville do.

That’s how the San Diego Music Hall of Fame began.

One of the things I learned studying history is how crucial it is to pass down your story if you want it to be remembered. History doesn’t preserve itself. Local musical history is extremely fragile. It lives in recordings, photographs, old flyers, and newspaper clippings, but most important, it lives in the memories of those who were there. People remember the clubs that vanished, the bands that broke up, the acts everyone enjoyed, the teachers who changed lives, and the shows that changed lives. When those memories aren’t preserved, they eventually disappear.

Bob Magnusson, 2025 Hall of Fame inductee.

The Hall was created to celebrate the people who have made San Diego music great and to bring their stories together so they can be shared with generations to come. I want San Diegans to know who these people were, what they did, and why they mattered. I think our whole city should be proud of what we have accomplished here. And when I say “the people who made San Diego music great,” I mean everyone.

Musicians, fans, instrument makers, venue operators, teachers, guitar techs, promoters, broadcasters, producers, songwriters, military musicians, community builders, and countless others contribute to our musical culture. Every single one of us is San Diego music.

National success deserves recognition, but it isn’t the only measure of a person’s contribution. Our induction classes intentionally represent different generations, genres, and corners of San Diego music. Those worlds may seem separate from one another, but together they are the musical culture of our city. In eight years, we’ve worked hard to make sure the Hall reflects our entire musical universe.

One of the most meaningful things the Hall does is simply put all these people in the same room. Musicians are busy. They’re playing gigs, teaching lessons, rehearsing, recording, raising families, and trying to make a living. People can spend decades in this music community with little opportunity to interact across generations and genres. At our induction ceremonies, old friends reconnect, new friendships begin, and artists discover people and music from their own community they didn’t know before. It is humbling to provide that opportunity for so many local legends.

Claudia Russell, one of this year’s inductees.

Recognition also means something when people are here to experience it. Musicians can spend their entire lives hustling without ever having a moment when their community acknowledges the totality of their contributions. One of my favorite parts of this entire experience is informing inductees they’re going into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame. I’ve heard tears on the other end of the phone. I’ve heard disbelief, joy, and gratitude. Then, at the ceremony, their families, friends, fans, and peers get to share that moment with them.

Those reactions move me immeasurably. They completely validate the tremendous amount of work it has taken to bring the Hall this far. Eight years later, I am humbled by the way San Diego has embraced the San Diego Music Hall of Fame.

For a few hours every fall, San Diego musical history comes to life. The people who made it are actually together in the room, sharing stories, playing music and remembering the people and moments that shaped their lives. In many cases, the people who made this history are the very people preserving one another’s stories.

San Diego Music Hall of Famers The Beat Farmers, Sue Palmer, Electric Waste Band and Kamau Kenyatta will all return to present or perform this year. Other local legends taking part in the evening include Marc Intravaia, Jim McInnes, Hugh Gaskins, Ashley E. Norton, and Gato Papacitos, the band of the late Hall of Famer Johnny Ciccolella.

That idea has become increasingly central to the Hall for me: We are all San Diego music.

Larry Grano, 2026 inductee. Photo by Dan Chusid.

This year’s induction class demonstrates that beautifully. Big Mountain brought San Diego reggae to audiences around the world. The Penetrators exploded our early punk scene. Larry Grano spent decades making music from behind the drums and out front. Dr. Oliver Luck devoted his life to performing and teaching music, as well as serving his country. Lady Dottie & the Diamonds created unforgettable soul music and a dance party every time out. Claudia Russell spent 25 years sharing jazz over the San Diego airwaves. And Mojo Nixon created a musical identity unlike anyone else’s that reached far beyond our city.

Seven very different stories. All one musical community.

Several of this year’s inductees will also perform, including members of Big Mountain and the Penetrators, along with Back to the Garden featuring Larry Grano and Lady Dottie & the Diamonds.

Each year we also present the Dawn Steel Award for Strength to a member of our music community who has persevered through adversity. This year’s recipients are Ashley E. Norton and the entire Ramona music community, who stood up for local music in the face of enormous and unjust obstacles. Their story is an important reminder of what we are up against and how heroic it can be to stand up for yourself, even when you really shouldn’t have to.

We also support charitable causes and present the Mark Goffeney Opportunity Scholarship each year so a child can have the chance to fall in love with music and discover where it might take them. Mark was one of our inaugural inductees in 2018. Born without arms, he never let that stop him from becoming an extraordinary musician. We’re not going to let our challenges stop us either.

And, I promise you, we’re just getting started. There are hundreds of worthy future inductees and thousands of stories still to preserve. As president of the San Diego Music Hall of Fame, I’m grateful for everyone who contributes to this community in any way. Whether you’ve spent your life making music, put a dollar in someone’s tip jar, or told one friend about a band you loved, it all adds up to our wonderful music community—our gift to San Diego.

If we don’t preserve and celebrate our musical past, who will?

We are San Diego music. We’re going to make sure the children of tomorrow know it. This history belongs to them, too. It is the birthright of every San Diegan, just as much as the beach or the zoo.

We’ll leave them the keys to the kingdom. I hope it serves them well.