San Diego Reader December 15, 2016 53
Girl’s point of view
“The worst thing is we have no sidewalks or streetlights in Mt. Helix.”
‘I
play pop rock, infused with some folk, funk, and jazz,” says La Mesa’s Marissa Grace, who started studying piano at age four. The 13-year-old took vocal lessons with local stars Eve Selis and Mattie Mills, as well as singing in stage productions with the Christian Youth Theater. “My love for
music has led to me learning and performing with the ukulele, guitar, and bass,” she says. “I incorporate all of these into most of my shows and recordings.”
The singer/songwriter says her life completely
changed after her spoof of “Rude” by Magic earned her airplay on the local Jeff & Jer radio show a couple of years ago. “I submitted my rewritten cus- tom lyrics to the song, coming from the girlfriend’s point of view. The radio show liked it so much, they played it over and over again. It became a thing... eventually, I was connected with a music producer and another writer and, since then, we’ve written and produced over a dozen originals. “My music partner, Charles Jirkovsky
[Moonlight Stage Productions, Neisha’s Dance & Music Academy], plays lead guitar and is also an award-winning composer and playwright. We first got together when he started running the music lessons department at Guitar Center in La Mesa.”
Also a school band and choir director, Jirkovsky composed and wrote the musical Sheila (which played Patio Playhouse in 2012 and Ocean Beach Playhouse in 2014) and composed the music for Margaret Larlham’s Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser (staged in 2015 at the Don Powell Theatre at SDSU).
Grace stays busy with school and playing com- petitive club soccer, though she still promises “new music each week” (including requested cov- ers) to online followers of her various social-media streams. “Several of these [songs] are being picked up via publishers for network TV shows and, yes, through uploading a few YouTube videos, I now have a very large social-media fan base.” Indeed, her YouTube cover of “Dream a Little Dream of
W E D
T H U
F R I
S A T
S U N
M O N
12/14 CORAL BELLS THE LUCY RING • LITTLE HEROINE
12/15 ROYAL TEETH KOLARS
12/16 EUKARYST RUINES OV ABADDON
NUKEM • FADRAIT 12/17 THE STRIKERS
12/18 SVELTE KAN-KAN
PUSHING DAISIES • LAJE
12/19 THE GORGEOUS BOYSCOUTS TURTLE TURNIP • JESSE LEE
SYSTEMATIC ABUSE CHRIST KILLER • IGUANADON
MUSIC JAY ALLEN SANFORD
Me” has earned over 10,000 views. “It’s also driven by some songs I’ve posted on SoundCloud.” Her professional pace and work ethic extends to frequent performances at area events such as Artwalk and the Coyote Music Festival, as well as at Belmont Park and private functions. She also logged appearances this past
summer at the county fair in Del Mar, the San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon, a Ronald McDon- ald House Big Red Shoe charity event, and the ninth annual Wine and Music Festival at Lib- erty Station.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY? “Tori Kelly’s Unbreakable, Meghan Trainor’s Thank You, and Shawn Mendes’s Handwritten.”
ANYTHING YOU WERE EMBARRASSED TO MENTION? “I recently played the lead in Peter Pan the Musi- cal at my school. The entire CD still lives on in my mom’s car.”
ANYONE EVER SAY YOU LOOK LIKE A PARTICULAR CELEBRITY?
“Madison Elle Beer, the singer from YouTube and Twitter. Or my mom — she thinks she’s a local celebrity, ha!”
IN WHAT FICTIONAL UNIVERSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? “The sea from Little Mermaid.”
FAVORITE FREE HANGOUT? “I’m a teenage girl, so Fashion Valley Mall, duh!”
KNOW ANY GOOD JOKES? “What’s Michelle Obama’s favorite vegetable? Barackolli.”
GREATEST CONCERT YOU EVER SAW? “Tori Kelly. I got to work with her vocal instructor Billy Purnell this summer.”
T H U
W E D
T H U
F R I
T U E
W E D
T H U
F R I
F R I
12/20 DIRTY PENNIES PLUS GUESTS
12/21 CHUGBOAT 12/23 HIDEOUT FINNEGAN BLUE • KID HANEY
12/22 BARB WIRE DOLLS PLEASURE FIX • HOCUS
THE GLOOMIES BODYSONG • JOHN THE BAPTIST
12/27 GRIM SLIPPERS PLUS GUESTS 12/28 DREAMS MADE FLESH
12/29 THE DOWNS FAMILY PLUS GUESTS
12/30 MRS MAGICIAN THE CREEPY CREEPS
12/30 @ THE IRENIC CHERRY GLAZERR
SLOW HOLLOWS L1GHT RA1L • ELEGANT LUST
ANYTHING MISSING IN YOUR WORLD? “Free shoes.”
SOMETHING YOU NEVER RUN OUT OF?
“Protein bars, ’cause I’m still learning how to cook meals.”
FEARS OR PHOBIAS? “Heights and tomatoes.”
WORST INJURY?
“I broke my ankle when doing a cartwheel and was in a cast for two months. Sucked!”
BEST AND WORST THING ABOUT LIVING IN LA MESA/ MOUNT HELIX? “My best friend in the whole world, Ava, lives next door. The worst thing is we have no sidewalks or streetlights in Mt. Helix.”
WHERE DO YOU TAKE OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS?
“Coronado. It has sidewalks and streetlights.” BRUSH WITH FAME?
“I met Shawn Mendes at a private concert and had my picture taken with him.”
Marissa Grace: “...Fashion Valley Mall, duh!”
CAN YOU RECOMMEND A GOOD MOVIE BASED ON A BOOK? “Soul Surfer, the true story about a girl surfer whose arm gets bitten off by a shark, because Bethany Ham- ilton is such an inspiring athlete and human being.”
SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU? “I was born dead and rushed to the neonatal intensive-care unit.”
■ (@jayallensanford)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84