Tag: musicians

Chicago rocks Rady Shell in San Diego!

The legendary rock band Chicago performed before a sell-out crowd this evening in San Diego. Even after 58 years of touring, the guys can still bring it!

As the sun set, the Rady Shell filled up with fans. Hundreds more would listen to the concert from benches at the edge of San Diego Bay and the Marriott Marina. Boats anchored in the bay were there for the music, too, and dozens of people in lawn chairs on the Embarcadero Marina Park South pier had some great free seats.

Hit would followed hit all evening long–everything from Questions 67 & 68, to Make Me Smile, to Searchin’ So Long, to Old Days, to Does Anyone Know What Time It Is, to If You Leave Me Now, to Look Away . . .

The timeless jams and ballads were as great as ever. Three original band members–Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, and James Pankow–were unstoppable. It appears they’ve found the fountain of youth.

I hadn’t been to a Chicago concert since Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff departed as lead vocalists, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like the “new guy” Neil Donell. Oh wow! He actually sounds a whole lot like Peter Cetera!

It seems there is no stopping Chicago. America’s Band they call themselves. There’s no denying Chicago is a national treasure.

Yes, I got goosebumps. I’m sure many in the audience did, too!

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Parade of Flags celebrates 90 years in Balboa Park!

Balboa Park’s International Cottages are celebrating their 90th anniversary this weekend! They were established in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition.

The festivities kicked off today with the House of Pacific Relations International Cottage Parade of Flags!

Members of all the different Houses paraded through Balboa Park, to finally assemble at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Many participants wore traditional dress, representative of their nation.

Shame on me. I didn’t realize the parade was today. I was fortunate to catch the tail end of the colorful parade, as some of the nations filed proudly into the organ pavilion.

If you’re curious, that’s the House of Scotland Pipe Band with their drums and bagpipes under the huge United States flag. They were joined by young members of the Helix High School Highlanders band!

After the parade, there would be the National Anthem, speeches and cultural entertainment on the organ pavilion stage, then on the lawn at the International Cottages. (I’ll share those photos in my next blog post.)

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Concert celebrates The Beatles’ visit to San Diego!

Do you love The Beatles? Would you like to go a free concert that celebrates the 60th anniversary of The Beatles making their one and only appearance in San Diego?

On September 1, 2025 (Labor Day) at 7:30 pm, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion’s Classic Rock Band will be playing a huge selection of favorite hits by The Beatles. Have you ever heard classic rock played with drums, guitars and a gigantic outdoor pipe organ? Here’s your chance!

San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez will be joined by the Pavilion Rock Band Members to create a very cool and memorable experience. I caught a bit of the band’s rehearsal this afternoon.

The concert is part of the 37th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival. You can see the concert schedule here. (Next Monday evening is Not-So-Silent Movie Night!)

To learn more about the upcoming The Beatles 60th San Diego Anniversary concert, click here!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Following your dreams in Ocean Beach.

I spotted this mural during my recent Sunset Cliffs walk. It’s painted on the side of Trinidad Motors in Ocean Beach.

Figures carrying musical instruments appears to stride across the beach toward the blue ocean.

The artwork is attributed to Jeff Yeomans Studio, based on a photo by Gerhard Lipold, painted with the assistance of Victor and Lynn Freeman.

Words in a corner of the mural state: We believe true happiness is found in celebrating our diversity, perseverance and following your dreams.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Lightning, thunder, and a Spreckels return!

Were you one of the lucky few who experienced the organ concert of a lifetime four years ago? That was the night internationally renowned organist Ahreum Han played the Spreckels Organ with thunder booming and lightning flashing in the sky everywhere!

Well, you have the opportunity to hear Ahream Han again. And I suggest you don’t miss another sure-to-be amazing concert!

The 37rd San Diego International Organ Festival continues this evening, July 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm in Balboa Park.

The Spreckels Organ Pavilion will experience much better weather, but the thunder and lightning coming from the fingertips of one exceptional organist, native of Seoul, South Korea, will certainly dazzle. Ahream Han promises fireworks, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Scott Joplin.

My energy might be a bit drained from Comic-Con, but I’ll certainly be there.

Lovers of the finest music in the world–don’t miss this!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Preparing for San Diego’s amazing International Organ Festival!

The 37th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival 2025 is just two days away!

Beginning next Monday, and continuing into September, some of the world’s finest organists will be performing in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion!

Today, as I walked through Balboa Park, I caught the first outstanding organist, Joshua Stafford, as he rehearsed at the Spreckels Organ. Joshua is the Jacobsen Chair for the Organist of Chautauqua Institution, in New York. You might recall that our own beloved Jared Jacobsen served as San Diego Civic Organist from 1978 to 1984.

Joshua will be playing Bohemian Rhapsody, Carmen Fantasy and other all-time favorites! Yes, on the world’s largest outdoor instrument!

If you’ve never been to one of the free San Diego International Summer Organ Festival concerts, you’re missing out on something special. Not only is the music always first rate, but the late evening atmosphere, particularly when the organ pavilion’s many lights come on, is magical. How can it not be? It’s Balboa Park!

Click here to see the full lineup of performers during the 2025 summer festival. Bring your dinner or a snack if you’d like, then settle on one of the pavilion’s benches (or your lawn chair), and live it up!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

San Diego Beamers uplift hearts in Balboa Park!

According to their website, the San Diego Beamers are a group of family and friends dedicated to uplifting people’s hearts and souls through the power of music.

They were doing exactly that in Balboa Park this afternoon!

Up on the outdoor stage at the International Cottages, the San Diego Beamers were performing cool and classic hits, such as You Are My Sunshine, Tequila Sunrise, and Tin Man. The band members, most playing guitar, are all members of the House of Chamorros.

Their music is like a beam of sunshine. As you listen, you know that life is good. You can’t help smiling.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

High school organist wows in Balboa Park!

Jonah Molina, a Senior at Mission Bay High School, wowed an audience in Balboa Park this afternoon during the AGO-Spreckels Honors Concert. Jonah was the Honors Performer, as selected by the San Diego Chapter of the American Guild of Organists!

Jonah played two difficult pieces on the world-famous outdoor Spreckels Organ: Batalla de Torres (which he arranged) and Toccata, from Suite Gothique Opus 25. This wasn’t his first public performance. He has participated in different competitions and events around Southern California.

As one might expect, Jonah was exceptional!

After he completed the two pieces, Jonah received a trophy. He has been awarded the Advanced Division Scholarship by the Spreckels Organ Society!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

A special Mother’s Day concert in Balboa Park!

It was a very special Mother’s Day at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Not only did an audience hear San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez playing beautiful music for the Sunday afternoon concert, but he was joined by an extraordinary vocalist.

Soprano Caroline Nelms graced our ears with her soaring notes as she sang half a dozen pieces created by female composers. Composers of her selections included Amy Beach, Fanny Mendelssohn and Lucy Simon.

Caroline Nelms has added her crystalline voice to musical theater, opera, classical performances and jazz. Perhaps you heard her when she accompanied the Spreckels Organ during a spooky Halloween concert!

In addition to her singing, and Raul playing Mother’s Day favorites (including Ave Maria and a Glenn Miller Medley), the concert concluded with Raul and Caroline together handing out red roses to mothers who were in attendance.

It was a special day, indeed.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Stimulating your senses at Park Opera!

Park Opera was enjoyed by visitors to San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park this evening. People on foot, following a map and at times using their smartphones, partook of unique outdoor performances that stimulated the senses in often unusual ways.

Park Opera was composed by Wojtek Blecharz, and produced in San Diego by arts organization PROJECT [BLANK]. As the event website explains: PARK OPERA was commissioned in 2016 by Theater Powszechny in Warsaw, Poland. In 2020, it was reimagined in a forest near Basel, Switzerland as part of the Rümlingen Festival, and was performed again in Austria in 2024 on a tiny island in the middle of a turquoise alpine lake at Carinthischer Sommer Festival.

How does one describe each quiet “Act” encountered while walking through Balboa Park? Subdued. Subtle. Somehow elemental. Stimulating–if you wish it.

Those who follow the map from one Act to the next are considered the protagonists of a personal story. It’s a story that involves concentrated listening and being in the moment. The park’s ambient noise combines with soft instruments and voices, and we become more sensitive and aware of the amazing world that is all around us.

I photographed some of the eleven Acts.

ACT 2: Overture for 4 instruments

ACT 4: Ballet

This was a ballet of sound. Dancing performers whirled small speakers around those passing by. The changing tones seemed natural, perhaps like strange sounds in a wilderness, or dream . . . and weirdly cosmic. One must hear to understand.

ACT 6: Duet

ACT 7: Binoculars for Sound

Different hollow objects act like seashells when held to the ear…

ACT 8: Recitativo

ACT 11: The Gong

Most visitors struck the gong very softly to hear its subtle, resonating sound.

One person struck it with all of their might. Now that was stimulating!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!