Lucy Walsh Plays for Alzheimer’s Association

Lucy Walsh’s homecoming show on Monday, June 24, will be a special one for the multitalented performer/writer/actor/musician. Her performance at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club (1221 State St.) will be personal, as it both connects her to her roots and helps others in the process — all proceeds from the concert will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.

Walsh’s life has been musical since the day it began. “Right when I was born, my dad took me into the other room and turned on classical music. It’s in my blood,” said Walsh, whose dad is Joe Walsh, the Eagles’ guitarist and vocalist. She grew up with music on all sides, with a gospel-singing grandmother and the Eagles’ soaring harmonies often in the formative backdrop of her childhood. The classically trained pianist will blend a mix of new songs, old songs, and covers at her SOhO gig. Creatively, she’s led by a mission of “following curiosities, and being okay with uncertainty” as she explores her own expressivity.

Walsh also has had an illustrious career onstage and on-screen. She most recently performed in an NAACP Theater Award–winning production of Antony and Cleopatra, and she can also be seen in TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Though a “much different discipline” than musicianship, she does find common ground between creativities. “Acting and music are ultimately the same to me in that they are both a form of storytelling,” she said. “We’re the oldest profession in human history — storytellers would go from town to town and share information about what was going on in other places; and in that way, they blend together for me.”

Of late, she’s been working on telling the story of her grandparents through an as-yet unpublished novel based around their World War II love letters. Her grandfather died of Alzheimer’s, and Walsh has since become actively involved in Alzheimer’s awareness activism. “Alzheimer’s is so common, and the facts about it are just shocking,” Walsh said.

If music is in her blood, then maybe helping others is, too. She’s also an active member of the Santa Cruz Islands Foundation, of which her father is chair of the board. She decided to do a show in Santa Barbara after attendees to her concert in a church on Santa Cruz Island urged another. When I first met Walsh, she had just visited the remains of her childhood home in Montecito, which had burned down in the Thomas Fire. She had collected a few stones. Though the family had since moved, the place holds special meaning for her.

“My hometown in Montecito has been through hell the last couple years, and they need all the hope and connection and support that they can get,” Walsh said. “I want to create an experience with this show by telling my personal stories where everyone feels less alone. It’s in telling our stories that we do that for each other … to admit those very human things that are hard to say out loud. I think that gives other people the gift of being human, and that’s all we can really do for each other.”

The dinner show with table seating begins at 7:30 p.m.

GARDENING GANGSTER:  Spencer the Gardener has released his long-awaited album, Organic Gangster Vol. 2. Featuring songs like “Ballad of the Strawberry,” “Hey Whale,” and “Sweet Potato,” it’s a kid-friendly musical exploration of the world of plants and animals. A nutritious and delicious album many years in the making, Spencer reminds us that some of the best produce takes a long time to grow. Hear it on Spotify or CD Baby.

The Solstice Parade is around the corner. It wouldn’t be Solstice without Spencer, and luckily, he’ll be around to mark the coming of the summer. Hear him in the club at an After-Solstice Parade Party at the Wildcat (15 W. Ortega St.) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, or with a side of tri-tip up at Cold Spring Tavern (5995 Stagecoach Rd.) at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 23.

CORRECTION: Lucy Walsh’s concert is a benefit for the Alzheimer’s Association, not the Alzheimer’s Foundation, as was incorrectly stated in an earlier version of this story.