Five questions with Jefferson Jay: San Diego Music Hall of Fame founder set to welcome 2026 inductees

Two big annual events celebrate the talent and diversity of San Diego’s music scene in different ways. Springtime finds the San Diego Music Awards at Humphrey’s, honoring the year’s top musicians in a variety of categories. And fall brings the San Diego Music Hall of Fame, which recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of key members of the city’s music community.

The hall is the brainchild of musician and organizer Jefferson Jay, who launched the honor in 2018. A new class of inductees has been added each year since then (except for a pandemic break in 2020), with seven more set to be honored for Friday’s induction ceremony at Vision: A Center for Spiritual Healing (7 p.m., $61-109).

The 2026 class includes reggae stars Big Mountain, R&B stalwarts Lady Dottie & the Diamonds, versatile drummer Larry Grano, jazz trombonist and educator Dr. Oliver Luck, jazz radio personality Claudia Russell, pioneering punk band the Penetrators, and the late, legendary rockin’ raconteur Mojo Nixon.

Performers at the ceremony will include members of Big Mountain, the Penetrators and Beat Farmers, plus Lady Dottie & the Diamonds, Dr. Oliver Luck with Richard James, Back to the Garden, Sue Palmer, Electric Waste Band, Hugh Gaskins, Ashley E. Norton and Gato Papacitos.

For the latest installment of our “Five Questions” series, we talked with Jay about how the awards came to be, and what this year’s inductees bring to the Hall of Fame.

How did you end up launching the San Diego Music Hall of Fame in 2018?

I moved here in 2000 and I met a lot of the people in the fine arts community. I was moved by how they supported the fine artists, the painters, the sculptors, that whole crew. And I thought it would be cool if musicians had something like that. I started a nonprofit for a little while to help establish a center for music in town, but then some other folks did that, so I pulled back. And then I wanted to do this.

My degrees are in history. I wrote the history of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library for my master’s at San Diego State. I started doing acoustic evenings there in 2008, putting acoustic stuff alongside the jazz and classical they’d had for decades. I developed personal relationships with some of the more established legends of the town. I’d also started hosting open mics, so I met people through that too. I wanted to do the Hall of Fame, so I put the word out.

By the time 2018 came around, I was like, “I’m doing it now,” and my first two people that I secured to be in it were Jason Mraz and Jack Tempchin. We added Sue Palmer and Mark Goffeney in our first class, and also Lou Curtiss and John Ciccolella, who had just passed. Lou and Johnny were people who helped build the city’s music community, so that kind of set the tone for the type of people I wanted to induct. I think we need people who are community builders and supporters — people who do a lot of different things.

Do you have a panel of music community members who help you assemble each year’s induction class?

I wouldn’t call it a panel, but I do speak to lots and lots of people every year. There’s certain people, some of whom are already in the Hall of Fame, who I have been getting opinions from since the beginning. I’ve been here 26 years, but some of them have been here longer than me. Mostly I try to communicate with the people who’ve been around. But ultimately I make the decision. I do a lot of work on this, so it’s important to me to find people who are going to be gracious, appreciative, pleasant, humble. I wouldn’t want to pick someone who is going to be arrogant or disrespectful.

Can you talk a little bit about this year’s seven inductees? Starting with Big Mountain.

We’re always looking for great stories and honoring people who are worthy. San Diego is a great reggae town, and we hadn’t inducted a reggae band yet. We inducted DJ Carlos Culture in 2021 after he died, and he was part of the reggae scene, but he was not a reggae band. So that was something I wanted to do. They’re super worthy — they brought San Diego reggae across the world.

Lady Dottie & the Diamonds do very danceable R&B covers and have been around a long time. Lady Dottie has been playing with this same group of fellows for 30 years, and they’ve become like a family. One of the things I’ve learned in doing this is that women were not afforded nearly as many opportunities for so long in this town. Not to take anything away from her worthiness, but it’s also about the importance of honoring women. And Lady Dottie is a badass!

Larry Grano is a drummer and also a singer. He’s been in lots of bands, including Rockola and the Steely Damned, and he plays with Back to the Garden. He was at our induction ceremonies backing up Eve Selis and Lisa Sanders in the past. He’s moving away after living here for so long. He’s somebody everybody likes, in addition to being super talented, and that’s the kind of thing a music scene needs.

Dr. Oliver Luck is a jazz musician and an educator. We inducted Eulogio “The Soul Man Fos” last year, and Dr. Luck lives in the same veterans home as him. So I met him and I learned about his amazing accomplishments. When the other Hall of Famers saw him at the event last year, supporting the Soul Man, the look on their faces told me everything I needed to know.

Claudia Russell was a jazz DJ for 25 years on KSDS. The radio used to be one of the main ways people discovered music, and you won’t hear much local music played on radio stations in this town — but she did. And she not only played local artists, she befriended them and went to their shows and became part of the scene. Claudia’s induction is for her, but it’s also for all the local DJs over all the years.

The Penetrators were nominated by Jerry Raney (of 2021 inductees the Beat Farmers) and by the Dinettes (2025 inductees). We’ve never inducted a punk band. The more I learn about them, the more I realize what a good choice they are. I’m thrilled that they’re going to play at the event, though unfortunately without Gary. (Penetrators frontman Gary Heffern now lives in Finland.)

And then there’s Mojo Nixon, the wildman entertainer and radio DJ who became an MTV star in the 1980s and died two years ago on the Outlaw Music Cruise. Do you have a posthumous inductee each year by design? 

No. Sometimes we have one or two. I’m leaning more toward doing people who are alive, because there’s already some heavy moments in our show. We give an award of strength every year to someone who’s been through some stuff. We give an opportunity scholarship to a child to learn music in the name of Mark Goffeney, who passed in 2021. I’m considering making a separate event annually that honors folks who passed, because there are so many who are worthy.

The Hall of Fame show’s current home is Vision: A Center for Spiritual Living. Why there, as opposed to a more traditional San Diego music venue? 

I don’t want people getting drunk and being loud. It’s kind of the opposite of the San Diego Music Awards in that regard. I want people to be able to have a drink, and we’ll have an outside area for that, with Electric Waste Band playing and a taco truck. But I really want people to pay attention (during the show). I want the inductees to feel honored and listened to. I want someone to be able to go and leave knowing a bunch more about all these acts.