• Home
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Digital Archive
  • Contact
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Find us
Sunday, January 17, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
San Diego Uptown News
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Film
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Books
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Feature
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • SD Zoo News
  • Food & Drink
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Expert Advice
      • Sponsored links
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • History
      • PastMatters
    • Homes & Garden
      • HouseCalls
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Business
    • Best Of Uptown
    • Business Profiles
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Balboa Park
    • Bankers Hill
    • Downtown
    • Golden Hill
    • Hillcrest
    • Kensington
    • Mission Hills
    • North Park
    • Normal Heights
    • Old Town
    • South Park
    • Talmadge
    • University Heights
  • Calendar
  • Experts
San Diego Uptown News
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Film
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Books
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Feature
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • SD Zoo News
  • Food & Drink
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Expert Advice
      • Sponsored links
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • History
      • PastMatters
    • Homes & Garden
      • HouseCalls
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Business
    • Best Of Uptown
    • Business Profiles
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Balboa Park
    • Bankers Hill
    • Downtown
    • Golden Hill
    • Hillcrest
    • Kensington
    • Mission Hills
    • North Park
    • Normal Heights
    • Old Town
    • South Park
    • Talmadge
    • University Heights
  • Calendar
  • Experts
No Result
View All Result
San Diego Uptown News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts & Entertainment

Music fest seizes Adams Avenue

May 7, 2019
in Arts & Entertainment, Feature, Music, Top Story
0
Music fest seizes Adams Avenue

Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno’s headlining performance held in Normal Heights United Methodist Church (Photo courtesy Adams Avenue Business Association)

0
SHARES
50
VIEWS

By Joyell Nevins

Music spilled out onto the streets on Saturday, April 27, as Adams Avenue Unplugged, sponsored by the Adams Avenue Business Association, kicked off its seventh musical walk-about. Nearly 10,000 music fans came out to hear 80 different artists sporting steel drums, cellos, guitars, trumpets, and even harmonica s. The musicians performed in 24 different venues up and down Adams Avenue from Kensington to University Heights.

“It is such a pleasure to play here,” singer-guitarist Nina Francis said, who was nominated for Best Singer-Songwriter at the 2019 San Diego Music Awards.

Francis grew up attending Unplugged’s parent, the Adams Avenue Roots Festival, and approached it with wide eyes and wonder as a child. Now a grown-up, she made a special trip down from Los Angeles to continue the tradition from the other side of the stage.

While the Roots Festival may have changed names and removed the street vendors, Unplugged has kept the same diversity of acoustic music. Blues, soul, folk, jazz, country and other genres all showed up on the schedule this year.

“We couldn’t have done [the festival] without the amazing contribution of the many performing artists,” said Scott Kessler, Unplugged coordinator and executive director of the Adams Avenue Business Association.

The lineup was a hodgepodge of bands, duos and solo artists. Musicians performed in venues as different as they were: bars, restaurants, coffee shops, a church, a water store, and even in front of an auto mechanic shop.

San Diego State University students Sam Zorn and Ekaterine Kvaghinidee visited Unplugged to support their friends and performers Nathan & Jesse.

That last privilege went to Dan Dimonte of the Dan Dimonte Trio and his drummer Zac Tatum. Dimonte was tapped to play when Kessler heard him perform at a local art gallery. The idea emerged to turn a space beside the food court at Smitty’s Service into a stage as well.

“It was a blast,” Dimonte said, noting that foot traffic didn’t just walk by. “People were hanging with us.”

Some festivalgoers came out to support a specific artist, while some just strolled up and down the main drag, entering wherever their ears took them. Some of the bars became so full, bouncers had to turn people away because they were at capacity  (those pesky fire codes!). Many of the musicians themselves visited other artists or made an appearance at the fest’s official after-party at the Air Conditioned Lounge.

The Liquorsmiths at Sycamore Den (Photos by Joyell Nevins)

Unplugged also boasted two headliners — multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, and Grammy Award-winning Gaby Moreno — and those ticketed concerts were completely sold out. Even businesses not sporting stages got into the festival spirit, offering specials or staying open late.

If you weren’t able to come out on April 27, or just want a continual replay, check out the “Adams Avenue Unplugged” Spotify playlist and enjoy a musical feast for your ears.

— Freelance writer Joyell Nevins can be reached at joyellc@gmail.com. You can also follow her blog Small World, Big God at swbgblog.wordpress.com.

Related Posts

  • Guest Editorial: The way forward: Jobs for allGuest Editorial: The way forward: Jobs for all
  • Avoiding Future Trust or Will ContestsAvoiding Future Trust or Will Contests
  • A good sign: North Park’s symbol of resilienceA good sign: North Park’s symbol of resilience
  • In-person Pride events canceledIn-person Pride events canceled
  • Catwalk at the crosswalkCatwalk at the crosswalk
  • The eyes have itThe eyes have it
SDCNN
Next Post
Annual homeless count released

Annual homeless count released

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please follow & like us :)

© 2019 San Diego Uptown News All rights reserved. San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN).

Navigate our site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Follow us

No Result
View All Result
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Music
    • Books
    • Dance
    • Film
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
    • Feature
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Suds in the city
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Expert Advice
      • Sponsored Links
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • Fashion
    • Pets
    • Travel
    • History
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Bankers Hill
    • Balboa Park
    • Old Town
    • Kensington
    • University Heights
    • Normal Heights
    • South Park
    • Mission Hills
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • HouseCalls
      • SD Zoo News
  • Best Of Uptown
  • Calendar
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertising
  • Archive

© 2019 San Diego Uptown News All rights reserved. San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN).

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In