Singer-songwriter Anya Marina left her heart in San Diego. She's ready to reclaim it on an upcoming tour date.
“None of my family lives in San Diego anymore, but it was the first place we all wanted to go after the lockdown,” she says via telephone from New York. “My dad turned 80 and we all recently came and vacationed in Mission Bay.”
Between 1998-2009, Marina was the recognizably sultry voice of the morning-afternoon crossover shift on alt-music radio station 94.9 FM.
Over the last decade-plus, Marina has recorded six albums (one live) and three EPs. Nearly two dozen of her songs have wound up on TV or movie soundtracks (Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Batwoman, etc.)
Her cinematic musical coup was “Satellite Heart,” a song about both the mental anguish and physical danger of falling in love with a vampire, from the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack.
Marina will be back in San Diego on November 20 for two shows at downtown’s Balboa Theatre. She’s touring with the acerbic comic headliner of the “One Night With Nikki Glaser Tour.”
The show is a mix of comedy and music by the former roomies who have become BFFs. Spoiler: They do a musical number together onstage.
Marina touched base prior to the show to talk about San Diego tacos, an award-winning web series and the joy of touring with a bestie.
Anya Maria onstage. (Photo: Matt Pond)
What do you remember most about San Diego?
My memories are very people-related. [Michael] Halloran gave me the job at 94.9 and I remember the radio cross-over talk break we’d do. I remember playing the Casbah. And living with my sister in La Jolla. My happy feelings about San Diego are also peppered with tacos.
“How did you and Nikki Glaser first meet?
I was doing a show in New York City that was a night of music and comedy. I asked [comedian] Amy Schumer to do it and she couldn’t, but she said I had to check out Nikki Glaser.
And the two of you just clicked?
We became fast friends. Nikki is the one who convinced me to move to New York and become her roommate. She gave me a lot of confidence. We lived together and were super-creative together. We’d come home and talk about our adventures around town. We both got a lot of material from that.
You did some acting while you were in New York. How did the award-winning mocumentary web series Anya Marina: Indie-pendent Woman happen?
The director, Jonathan Sosis, worked at Warner, my old label, and did another web series called LABELED. He offered to write a series for me. I thought he was kidding. But he did it and we shot it really fast. It was so much fun. Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, Bad Judge) appears in it.
Kate Walsh also became a friend of yours, right?
Yes! It also happened quickly. I got lucky with Kate and Nikki that way. We met and fell in love. They’re both fun and weird and we all get each other’s sense of humor.
On tour with, from left, Anya Marina, Nikki Glaser and Andrew Collin. (Photo: Matt Pond)
So, what can people expect at “One Night With Nikki Glaser?”
Nikki is about to do an HBO special and she’s working on her material in these 90-minute shows. The show has a fun theme. It opens up with other comedians, and me. And then she joins me on stage for a song. She has a really great voice. It’s so great for me to play a 15-minute set in front of a couple thousand people. And to tour the country with my best friend. And sing with her. Nikki forced me to love a Taylor Swift song, and that’s what we do together. SDSun
To get tickets and find out live which Taylor Swift song has been weaved into the “One Night With Nikki Glaser Tour,” go to Balboa Theater. The November 20 tour date includes two shows, at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
[Cover photo: Ben Vogelsang]
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