Songwriter Sanctuary April 2024

A (mostly) monthly concert series featuring San Diego's finest songwriters. Three acts perform in a Nashville-style round sharing the stories and inspirations behind their beautiful songs. Guest hosted by the one and only , who will grace us with a few of her beautiful spoken word pieces!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Calman Hart was born at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Woods Cross City Utah on Christmas Eve. He began playing guitar and writing songs while still in high school, and worked through college playing in clubs across Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, before finally putting down roots in San Diego. There, in 1992, his first album "Red-Eyed & Blue" won him the Best New Artist honors at the San Diego Music Awards. His second album "Train in the Distance", recorded with Bil Vorndick (producer of Alison Krauss' grammy-winning "I've Got that Old Feeling") and Nashville greats Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, David Grier and Roy Husky Jr., also met with critical success. In the mid-nineties, he fell in with the emerging San Diego coffee house scene, making the rounds with artists such as Jewel, Steve Poltz, Gregory Page, Dave Howard and John Katchur. It was during this time that he met percussionist Jeff Berkley, whose djembe made a prominent appearance on Hart's third album "The John Boy Drum" in 1998. One of the first to coax Berkley into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter, Hart soon began gigging regularly with him. While writing together in the summer of 1999, the seeds for their debut album "Wreck N' Sow" were planted, and the two officially joined forces as Berkley Hart. 25 years and 12 albums later, they’re still writing and performing together.

Missy Alcazar is a Filipino-American professional dueling pianist, independent singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist. She performs as a dueling pianist internationally, streams live music daily on Twitch, and manages her own piano studio, record label and art studio. Missy holds the title of being the first resident female dueling pianist at Disneyland's "Showdown At The Golden Horseshoe." She’s had her songs placed on TV Shows such as “90 Day Fiance” and was nominated for Best Singer Songwriter at the SDMA’s in 2018. She's active in philanthropy and is currently in the process of starting her own non-profit called The Melba Foundation, an organization that offers free music lessons, music supplies, books, Instruments and live entertainment to underprivileged communities in honor of her mom, Melba Alcazar.

: Free-range misfit-folk superheroes~ rosebud and Scott Ireland met while fronting two popular San Diego punk bands (NightSoilMan, Pulltoys) during the height of San Diego's underground punk scene celebrated in the documentary "It's Gonna Blow". One enchanted evening, they got out their acoustic guitars to jam together, and a magical connection was made. After a serious accident left Scott temporarily paralyzed, their bands broke up. What followed was a long intense, but successful recovery, after which they picked up their guitars again as a primarily acoustic duo. Evolving through various musical incarnations (Swamp Poets, Leather Muffin, Blue Sky Pie, Salty the Pocketknife, Bug Guts), rosebud and Scott have since released over a dozen albums together, and won numerous songwriting awards. As Bug Guts, they've birthed five delightfully diverse albums blending Alternative, Folk, Punk, Experimental, and Americana genres. Their live show features intoxicating harmonies, mind-expanding lyrics, and intricately dancing guitars known to deliver a spontaneously joyous and often raucous ride. Above all, a Bug Guts performance wields kindness at its core~ and from a combined height of twelve and a half feet~ will charm you with their playfully provocative style.

Normal Heights United Church

4650 Mansfield St, San Diego, CA 92116. Thank you to our generous venue partner for sharing this beautiful space with the local music community!

Time: Doors 6:30pm, Show 7pm
Suggested Donation: $10 (all ages) but please be generous in your support of these top tier talents whose creative work is their livelihood. All donations go to artists. We want you to come to the show regardless of what you can afford to pay! For this reason, you may bring up to 10 people per donation, no matter the amount you give.

Food/Drink: Available for purchase, thanks to our sponsors! Duck Foot Brewing Company, Flying Embers, and Grace2Go Meals
Accessibility: Please direct any venue accessibility requests to Molly Lorden molly(at)nhunited(dot)org.

[Banner image description: Songwriter Sanctuary flyer features floral border and photos of featured artists, as well as logos for NHU, Duckfoot, Grace2Go, and Flying Embers. Full text in eventbrite description.]

[Below Image description: A packed audience fills Normal Heights United Church as Songwriter Sanctuary artists perform.]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Normal Heights United Church, 4650 Mansfield Street, San Diego, United States