George Varga at the San Diego Union-Tribune just published a piece about the new inductees to the San Diego Music Hall of Fame this year, and they include two musicians with strong ties to Ocean Beach.
One is being honored posthumously — and that is San Diego blues godfather Tomcat Courtney, who died in January 2020 at the age of 91. Tomcat used to play regularly at a bar on Voltaire Street in OB during the seventies.
Also being inducted is the well-known Grateful Dead tribute group the Electric Waste Band, whose weekly Ocean Beach gigs regularly featured basketball legend and avowed Deadhead Bill Walton as a guest percussionist before his death in May. Electric Waste Band this year celebrates its 35th anniversary.
Of course, OB doesn’t have to look too far to find other connections to the event for it was OBcean Jefferson Jay who launched the San Diego Hall of Fame in 2018 as a labor of love.
Jay told Varga:
“We always strive to induct musicians who are shining reflection of our city and county — and to induct as many of them as possible at a time that is meaningful to them and to the friends and fans who have followed them. We think this years honorees are timeless and very deserving.”
This year’s honorees will be saluted at the Nov. 8 induction ceremony and concert, which will be held at Mission Valley’s Vision: A Center for Spiritual Living. Scheduled performers include Beeks, Sprague, Berryhill, Electric Waste Band and 2023 inductees Fred Benedetti and Jeff Berkley, along with musical guests Chickenbone Slim, Scottie Blinn and Tony Tomlinson.
Other inductees include two acclaimed singer-songwriters, Cindy Lee Berryhill and Cathryn Beeks, award-winning jazz guitarist and album producer Peter Sprague and former San Diego Symphony percussionist and jazz drummer and vibraphonist Jim Plank, plus another posthumously honored will be jazz patriarch Daniel Jackson, who died in 2019 at the age of 77.
Tickets for the 2024 San Diego Music Awards are available online at eventbrite.com/e/san-diego-music-hall-of-fame-6th-annual-induction-ceremony-tickets-951270374297.
