About an hour and a half east of downtown San Diego, the town of Jacumba Hot Springs stands out on a map for two reasons. For one, it’s tiny. Most of the town exists within a few city blocks. Two, it’s right on the border. Mexico is less than a mile south.
But because of its natural hot springs, it’s always been a tourist attraction — and now it’s becoming a hub for live music as well.
The Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel has been there for decades, but when Melissa Strukel became a co-owner and redesigned it during the pandemic, she brought in David Lampley to create a musical identity for the venue. The property features several stages, from a renovated bath house space to a more intimate bar setting to an outdoor courtyard.
Lampley’s wide-ranging interests mean Jacumba has presented an impressive variety of acts in recent years, from San Diego mainstays such as the B-Side Players to Grammy-winning troubadour Sierra Ferrell to international touring acts. We talked with Lampleythis month for this latest installment of our “Five Questions” series.
1. How long have you been booking music at Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel?
Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel’s renovated bath house space (Courtesy of David Lampley)A little over five years. My girlfriend, Melissa Strukel, designed the hotel. She’s the visionary behind this whole project. If her mind is set on it, she’s going to do it, and she taught me how to be like that too.
I’ve always been into music and performed a lot of crazy noise music and stuff for about 20 years. We were in that old bath house, and it was just full of trash. I was like, we should have a have a crazy music show in here. [Strukel] had a team, and the next day, they cleaned it all out, and it was spotless in there. A couple weeks after that, we had a noise show, and it was super cool. Then we started having them once a month, and then we twice a month, and we then every Saturday and Sunday. Once a year we’ll miss a Saturday or a Sunday.
2. Can you tell me a little bit about the Jacumba Hot Springs area in general?
The community is pretty cool. There’s a little over 500 people. It’s a few blocks by a few blocks. There’s a lot of cool people, a lot of interesting artists. There’s a lot of Vietnam vets. I have a vintage shop, and everyone goes there and just hangs out. There’s a guy named Hook who saw Johnny Cash in Folsom Prison. I was trying to get to know this guy, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I saw him play; it was a weird situation, because I was in Folsom Prison.’ And I was like, what? He’s 79 and only has one hand. He’s a mechanic.
There’s all sorts of artists. Some people just like to be left alone. But the people you see in the street and talk to, they’re all cool. They’re interesting people, weird desert people — people who lived in big cities and retired here.
3. When did you and Strukel move there from San Diego?
We moved out here in October of 2019. I’d been moving around, but I was in San Diego, and then the pandemic happened. We like to explore stuff and go on road trips. I played a music show here like 15 years ago, and I’d never come back. I wasn’t even sure where it was. It was called Telemagica; it was a cool festival they used to throw here. I just wanted to show her.
When we drove by the hotel, her mouth started watering. I could see that her mind was like, I need to go in there. It was closed at the time. She came back with her friends, and she knew everyone that worked there by the time I went there to hang out with her. The hotel has been there since the ’50s. They’d had bands and shows there, just local (Jacumba-area) bands, and they still play there too. But I have a broad horizon in music, and I love it all. We’ve had bands from Colombia, Egypt, Canada, all over.
4. Can you tell me a few of the most memorable shows you’ve had there in recent years?
We had this band from Colombia called Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto. It was so magical. It was in the bathhouse, and everyone was dancing. And then the next day, they played at the lake. There’s a lake out here, Jacumba Lake. It’s was right around sundown, and everyone had so much fun. They were standing right next to this lake and playign music, all acoustic. It was super cool.
LA LOM (the Los Angeles League of Musicians, an instrumental trio) was a really good one too. They really took off, and I’m so proud of them. They’re a little bit too big to play in Jacumba, because they’re playing amphitheaters in huge places. I’m so stoked for them. When they played here, it was insane. People had never heard of them before, and it kind of opened their minds up.
We’ve had Sierra Farrell play here. She played in the bar; it was a secret show. She just played in the bar for free for a bunch of friends, like a little private show. We invited musicians, and they were improvising with her. People always talk about that one.
5. Can you tell me about some of the acts on the upcoming schedule? (They include Satán Es Real on Jan. 24, Good Gravy on Jan. 25, Pacific Ocean Relics on Jan. 31, Supper Club String Band on Feb. 1, and Jenny Don’t & the Spurs on Feb. 5.)
I think Satán Es Real is from Mexicali. They’re really cool. It’s like a traditional country band, but they’re from Mexico, and they sing in Spanish. We’ve become super close friends with a lot of people in the valley, in El Centro and Mexicali and Calexico. And they’re like their hometown heroes. A lot of people from the valley come up, and it’s super fun.
Good Gravy is like an old dirty blues band. They’re from San Diego. I saw a video on Instagram, and they were busking. I got a hold of them, and then they just turned into family. I have an old record cutter, so we’d go to my vintage shop and I would make a bunch of records for them.
Pacific Ocean Relics are some young kids. The drummer is probably 22 or 23, and I met the singer a while ago. He came to my shop and bought some stuff, and I made some records for him, and then they got this little band together. They support me, so I like to support them back. It’s the first time they’re playing out here. They probably have had that band for less than a year.
[One member of Supper Club String Band] is a mural artist in San Diego, and one of the other members is a doctor we met before the hotel opened. We ran into 300 migrants out here just waiting to seek asylum. We met one of those girls, and she was a doctor. I’m pretty sure I saw her stitch someone up in the field, out there in the middle of the desert. (The band is a trio of women playing banjo, fiddle and guitar.)
Jenny Don’t & the Spurs are a cowpunk band from Portland. There’s all these legendary bands in Portland, like Dead Moon. When they roll through town, we like to host them and set them up, get them a meal and have them play a show for us. But they travel all over the world. They’re always touring, so it’s a big honor to have them.“Five Questions” is a monthly feature by local music writer Peter Blackstock. Have an idea for a San Diego music person he should talk to for an upcoming installment? Send him an email.
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