If home-grown music is your thing, then the place to be this Friday night is the Cuyamaca College Performing Arts Theater, the venue for the always eclectic and entertaining Winter Wonder Jam, produced by students in the college’s Music Industry program.
Set for 7-10 p.m. Dec. 6, concert-goers will be treated to music ranging from rock, pop, jazz, acoustic and hip- hop.
Headlining this year’s show is the genre-defying group, Lyrical Groove, a 2013 San Diego Music Award winner for best hip-hop artists. Sharing the Cuyamaca stage will be the heavy metal sounds of It All Starts Here; the electronica band, D.L.O.D. (Digital Lizards of Doom) and rock/jazz instrumentalist Jay Williams.
Admission to the annual event is three cans of food to be donated to the San Diego Food Bank or $5.
The entirely student-produced event is designed to teach students what it takes to put on a large-scale production. Music Industry Studies is a transfer degree program that focuses on all aspects of developing a career in the music industry, providing training and instruction in music, technology, and business.
When Lyrical Groove’s lead artist and founding band member Kendrick Dial steps foot on the Cuyamaca College campus, he’ll be coming full circle as a community college alum who transferred from City and Mesa colleges to San Diego State University and continued on to earn a master’s in social work from the University of Southern California.
Ultimately, the North Park resident would love to focus solely on his music career, but with a wife and 7-year-old daughter at home, the real-world demands are pressing.
So for now, he juggles music gigs – of which there are many and the audiences varied – with his day job.
Lyrical Groove was formed to have live music accompany his performance of poetry. The collaboration began with friend and drummer, Glenn “GK” Sanders and keyboardist Mike Smith. The group officially formed in November 2010, after a gig at the Ruby Room in San Diego. Guitarist Mike “Token” Benedetto, and bass player Jacob Miranda were next to come on board. In 2012, vocalist Brisa Lauren signed on.
The band is currently working on its first full-length album.
