Lee Coulter

Friday, June 6, 2025

7:30 PM

A One-Night Only Evening of Everything Acoustic Evenings Has to Offer

The series concludes Friday, June 6, and we are expanding from our traditional three songwriters’ format for the first time ever for a special celebration of music and love. There are so many great talents in and around San Diego. For one night only, explore an array of excellent artists all assembled to deliver songs of love to you. Enjoy Acoustic Evenings exemplified, featuring Lee Coulter, Julia Sage, Dave Booda, Monette Marino, Santiago Orozco, Jesus Gonzalez, Jefferson Jay, Bri Schillings, and Michelle Lerach. One night only—and leave with a few new favorite artists.

This show is dedicated to our friend Jamie Shadowlight.

Lee Coulter
Lee Coulter is a multinational, multiracial singer-songwriter blending folk, soul, rock, reggae, blues, and jazz-pop to bridge cultural gaps and uplift audiences. Born in Australia to a Vietnam War–veteran father and a Thai-Indonesian mother who survived political violence, Coulter's music reflects his journey navigating generational trauma and personal growth.

After winning a statewide songwriting competition in college, he pursued music full-time, moving to San Diego in 2006. As an independent artist, he achieved a #1 single on iTunes Australia and New Zealand in 2018, won Best Acoustic/Folk Song at the 2021 San Diego Music Awards, and earned recognition from Sirius XM. He has also opened for major acts and performed at TEDx events.

Beyond his original work, Coulter supports his career through live gigs at resorts, weddings, and corporate events, bringing passion and connection to every performance. As a single father and creative force, he continues to inspire through music, collaborations, and children's books, spreading messages of unity, resilience, and shared humanity.

Julia Sage
Julia Sage is a self-taught Chilean musician and cantautora who has been writing, singing, and channeling songs for as long as she can remember. She started her professional career in her early teens and continues her musical journey to this day. Always trying to develop new skills and teaching herself new, unusual instruments, she fearlessly ventures into different melodic realms with an obsessive passion that, ironically, keeps her sane.

Dave Booda
Dave Booda is a writer, musician, and social entrepreneur. He has played over 1,000 shows as a singer-songwriter and has published over 250 essays for his blog, boodaism.com. He has led over 400 workshops on connection, touch, and relationships and has consulted for, facilitated experiences, and performed for companies, communities, retreats, festivals, conferences, birthday parties, weddings, funerals, and gatherings of all kinds—with the intention of inspiring authenticity, connection, and group cohesion. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and former naval officer and currently serves on the board of directors for the Foundation for Intentional Community while touring and living at different intentional communities in North America.

Monette Marino
Inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame in 2023, Monette Marino is a world-class percussionist. She began drumming at age 8 and has spent over 20 years studying under expert drummer Mamady Keïta from Guinea. In 1999, she earned her teaching certificate from Keïta and opened a branch of Tam Tam Mandingue in San Diego. She later received her diploma from Mamady Keïta and Tam Tam Mandingue in 2011. From 2004 to 2012, she managed Keïta’s world tours, assisted in teaching master classes, and performed with his ensemble, Sewa Kan, traveling to over 20 countries across six continents.

As a solo artist, Monette released her debut album, Coup d’Eclat, and founded her own percussion school, MO’RHYTHM. She also developed the iPhone MoRhythm Africa Djembe/Dunun Play Along app.

Before focusing on West African percussion, Marino studied rhythms from Cuba, Brazil, and Korea. Her repertoire spans jazz, salsa, samba, reggae, funk, disco, R & B, rock, and country. Passionate about drumming traditions worldwide, she honors the cultural heritage passed down through rhythm.

Santiago Orozco
“It's about getting to know yourself, finding yourself,” says singer-songwriter Santiago Orozco, a Bogotá, Colombia, native who has spent the last decade discovering himself living in coastal Southern California and on the road. In 2015, Orozco relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles and, two years later, revived his award-winning outfit, Todo Mundo, which was voted Best World Music group at the 2011, 2014, and 2015 San Diego Music Awards; winner of NPR’s 2015 Tiny Desk Contest; and recognized by the City of San Diego's Commission for Human Relations in 2014 for spreading diversity through music—in an evolved and reinvigorated incarnation: WITHN.

Incorporating electronic elements into Orozco’s well-established acoustic guitar sound, WITHN draws inspiration from house rhythms, Caribbean moods, Spanish rumba, reggae, and Brazilian, Balkan, and Middle Eastern grooves while maintaining a solid foundation of relatable music meant to be experienced live and in person. Orozco, for the first time, sings entirely in English, a decision he made to better connect with his audience in person and through WITHN’s 2018 album, Colors + Moments.

Orozco has also performed at Lightning in a Bottle, Joshua Tree Music Festival, South Africa’s Smoking Dragon Festival, River Fest, and Kaaboo Del Mar and has supported international and national touring artists, such as The Roots, The Wailers, The San Diego Symphony, Fred Wesley, Mike Love, Los Amigos Invisibles, JJ Grey & Mofro, Lucinda Williams, Richard Thompson, Sister Nancy, Chris Isaak, Aterciopelados, Jarabe De Palo, Vokab Kompany, The Bunny Gang, and El Gran Silencio.

Jesus Gonzalez
Jesus Gonzalez is a visionary local San Diego musician who draws inspiration from nature, poetry, and the overall experience of being alive. Jesus creates original and improvised songs that invite you to be present with your heart and the magic of the moment we’re all living in. In a recent interview with NPR’s Top Shelf artists series, Jesus said, “At the core of it all, I think my music is simply shouting ‘Can you believe we’re all here?!’” Using a looper, Jesus creates layers of soulful vocal harmonies, different instrumentation, and percussion to create vast lush sounds that are sure to help you fall deeper into your sense of self.

Jefferson Jay
Jefferson Jay founded Acoustic Evenings at The Athenaeum in 2008 after completing his master’s thesis at San Diego State University on the library’s history. He has since founded the San Diego Music Hall of Fame and a nonprofit organization aimed at disability rights called Everybody One. He created a fully inclusive animated holiday musical series, called The Hunt for the Holiday Spirit, to advance authentic representation in the media and has just released his 15th album, Engagement. He would love to connect and discuss any or all of this with you!

Bri Schillings
Singer-songwriter Bri Schillings says, “I write, sing and play songs that are born from the heart.” She feels that music has the power to heal through what she calls “soul vitamins.” Her seductive and powerful voice will take you on a journey where the heart and the soul meet.

Michelle Lerach
Michelle Lerach is a lawyer and advocate who sang her way through college in a piano bar, but music has been a defining force in her life from early childhood. She formed her first band as a vocalist in sixth grade, then studied violin and viola before switching to guitar in junior high. She wrote and recorded her first original songs while in college and was initiated into the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha. Her life and career took her in a different direction, but she credits Jamie Shadowlight with bringing music—and the incredible musicians she is performing with tonight—back into her life.

The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Your name will be on an attendee list at the front door. Doors open at 7 p.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. Priority seating will be given to Donor level members and above. 

Ticket Confirmation Notice: 

Your reservation is not complete until you receive an email confirmation. If you do not receive a confirmation email, your tickets have not been reserved. Please check your inbox and spam/junk folder or contact us at info@ljathenaeum.org or (858) 454-5872 to ensure your booking is finalized. 

Thank you!