The San Diego Music Awards (SDMA) announced its 2026 nominees across 27 categories Monday. Bands with multiple nominations this year include Daring Greatly, Slightly Stoopid, Buck-O-Nine, almost monday, and The Film Company.
Steve Poltz, of the Rugburns and solo fame, will receive the Country Dick Montana
Lifetime Achievement Award. Past winners have included such local luminaries as Joey
Harris (1998), Iron Butterfly (2010), The Paladins (2018) and, last year, Nathan East.
The 35th annual ceremony takes place at Humphrey’s by the Bay at 7 p.m. May 6. The night will feature performances from Poltz, Young Lions, sullvn, The Freights,
Obed Padilla, and Agent 51. Additionally, past winners Whitney Shay, Robin Henkel,
Earl Thomas and Anthony Cullins will perform together as an all-star blues group.
Local music fans can check out the full list of nominees and vote for their favorites
beginning tomorrow at noon, the same time tickets to the event go on sale.
If you build it, they will come
If you missed Mission Bayfest last October, you’re in luck. Many of the same reggae
and Cali-rock acts are returning June 13 for the inaugural Field of Dreamz Festival at
Petco Park.
Like the Closer to the Sun destination event in Riviera Maya, Mexico, the festival was
created and curated by Slightly Stoopid co-founders Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald.
The single-day celebration will unfold across two stages and feature performances by
Slightly Stoopid, Sublime, Stephen Marley, The Elovaters, Pepper, DENM, Z-Trip, Band
of Gringos and Boostive.
The ballpark’s lineup is stacked with hometown big-hitters — Slightly Stoopid, Band of
Gringos and Boostive all got their start in Ocean Beach.
“Partnering with the Padres and creating our own festival on that field is truly a dream
come true,” Slightly Stoopid said in a statement. “It’s our way of bringing it all back to
the community that raised us.”
Tickets are available here.
Eagles flying high … into the sunset
After 55 years, the Eagles have never been bigger.
As the band prepares to wrap its record-breaking 58-night residency at Sphere in Las
Vegas on April 11, its iconic 1976 best-of, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), has been
declared the best-selling album in U.S. history, with 40 million units sold.
Featuring such hits as “Already Gone” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” (both written by
Encinitas songwriter and 2003 SDMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jack
Tempchin), the quadruple diamond collection celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.
So why is Don Henley eyeing an exit in 2026?
In a recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” the band’s co-founder said, “I think
this year will probably be it. I’ve said things like that before, but I feel like we’re getting
toward the end, and that will be fine, too. I’m okay with that.”
Unlike the band’s 14-year hiatus, sparked by tensions between Henley and the late
Glenn Frey, this potential farewell appears driven more by age and health. The three
surviving members of the Eagles’ classic-era lineup — Henley Joe Walsh and Timothy
B. Schmit — are all 78 and facing various health challenges.
Henley also has cited simpler aspirations: reading, tending his garden, spending more
time with family and revisiting favorite destinations without the grind of a tour schedule.
Fans hoping to catch what could be the band’s final bow may want to circle May 2,
when the Eagles are scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
If this truly is the Eagles’ swan song, Henley accepts that.
“We’ve had a great run, an extraordinary run, and left people with a lot of good
memories and some good music,” he said. “I’ll be fine when that’s done.”
Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer based in San Diego. His “Music Notes”
column and other work frequently appear in Times of San Diego.
