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Sunday concert set for Hoyt Park

Back to The Garden is a five-piece band that features various local artists as special guests. Eve Selis will be the guest for the band’s Sept. 9 Symphony in the Park performance at Hoyt Park. Back to the Garden members include (from left) Rick Nash (bass); Larry Grano (drums, vocals); “Cactus” Jim Soldi (guitar, vocals); Marc “Twang” Intravaia (guitar, vocals); and Sharon Whyte (keys, vocals). (courtesy photo)  

Sunday concert set for Hoyt Park

Scripps Ranch music fans are in store for a harmony-filled trip back in time when Back to the Garden featuring Eve Selis performs a free concert at Scripps Ranch Symphony in the Park from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9 at Hoyt Park.

This show is a tribute to the music of the Laurel Canyon scene. For those not familiar with the term, Laurel Canyon is a Southern California neighborhood in the hills above Los Angeles. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the area was home to a number of musicians and saw the birth of the singer-songwriter movement and the rise of huge stars who were either solo singers or members of folk and rock bands. Many of these artists played on each other’s records and spent time together off stage.

Award-winning local singer/songwriter Eve Selis will perform as a guest vocalist for this show and is an admirer of the Laurel Canyon scene’s time and its music.

“The music was so shaping our world during that period,” Selis said. “Artists like James Taylor, The Byrds, The Eagles, all of them lived up there in that area, and there was a whole resurgence of going to someone’s house or going to a small little restaurant and all these famous musicians would come in and play together. It was a magical time.”

Back to the Garden band members include Cactus Jim Soldi, Marc Twang Intravaia, Sharon Whyte, Larry Grano and Rick Nash. The band’s Facebook page makes a point of highlighting that Back to the Garden is not a tribute band concerned with mimicking the looks and costumes of famous musicians, but instead focuses entirely on getting the music right.

Selis is very familiar with all the musicians in the Back to the Garden band — they are the backing band for her when she performs as a solo artist. Selis said she has performed with Back to the Garden before, but she’s been working with guitarist Intravaia for 27 years and has been playing with the full group as a backing band for about 15 years. 

“They’re amazing musicians, super fun, and this show will bring you back to a time when you remember these songs on the radio or, for some of us, what you remember others (like parents or older siblings) listening to,” she said.

Checking her copy of the set list, Selis said music fans can expect to hear favorite, or at least familiar, songs by artists including Linda Ronstadt; America, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Neil Young; The Byrds; The Monkees; and Three Dog Night.

“A lot of these songs are very harmony-centric songs, and that’s one of the things that Back to the Garden does best,” Selis said. “Not only are they possibly the best musicians in San Diego but they have the harmonies down on these beloved songs.”

It’s important to note that a big part of Scripps Ranch Symphony in the Park’s mission is to provide funds to the music programs at Scripps Ranch schools. The directors of these programs have been invited to receive charitable donations from Scripps Ranch Symphony in the Park on stage prior to the Sept. 9 concert at Hoyt Park.

Eve Selis (courtesy photo)

Those planning to attend the Back to the Garden show featuring Eve Selis should know that only low-to-the-ground chairs are allowed, no dogs are allowed, and attendees cannot bring plastic tarps because they kill the grass in the park. Visit symphonyinthepark.org.

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