Ringo, Jewel, Ben Harper, James Bay are Humphreys-bound

Jan. 26, 2016 9:38 AM PT

Ringo Starr, Ben Harper, James Bay and former San Diego troubadour Jewel are the latest additions to the 2016 Humphreys Concerts by the Bay schedule.

Tickets for the Bay and Jewel concerts will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com and by phone at (800) 745-3000.

Tickets are already on sale for the Harper show. Tickets for the Starr concert will go on sale April 2, when the tickets for the entire 2016 Humphrey’s season goes on sale. The complete season lineup for this year, the series’ 35th anniversary, will be announced in late March.

Here is the 2016 Humphreys schedule thus far, including the previously announced Tori Kelly and Steve Miller Band concerts. Unless otherwise, indicated all seating is reserved.

April 5: Tori Kelly (now on sale)

April 14: Steve Miller Band (now on sale)

April 17: James Bay (on sale 10 a.m. Friday; $35 per person; all general admission, standing-room only)

May 21: Jewel (on sale 10 a.m. Friday; $57) pre-sale begins:Wednesday for fan club members)

July 1: Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, featuring Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie, Steve Lukather, Richard Page, Warren Ham & Gregg Bissonette.(on sale April 2; $145)

Aug. 23: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals (on sale now; $67.50; all general admission, standing-room only)

Source: DiscoverSD

Music

George Varga

San Diego Union-Tribune music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Miles Davis, Britney Spears and (over a game of chess) Ray Charles to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis. A triple first prize-winner for criticism and arts writing at the 2022 San Diego Press Club awards and a first prize-winner at the 2022 San Diego Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga has written liner notes for more than a dozen albums, including by jazz sax greats James Moody and Michael Brecker, and contributed two chapters to the book, “Dylan: Disc By Disc.”