The advent of folk rock, Bob Dylan performing on an electric guitar, American bands emerging as “the answer to the British invasion” and performers of Motown making it in mainstream music.
What do all of these have in common? They happened in 1965.
“I remember that year and how rapidly things started changing,” said seven-time San Diego Music Award winner Marc Intravaia, 69.
It is because of all the impactful changes that happened in music that the San Diego-based band Back to the Garden has decided to focus its new show on this particular year.
All of its founding members — keyboardist Sharon Whyte, guitarists Marc Intravaia and Jim Soldi, bassist Rick Nash and drummer Larry Grano — will be returning to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts stage.
They will be joined by concert storyteller Robert John Hughes; guest singers Lauren Leigh Stucky, Draeh Jirnae and Calman Hart; and guest musicians Bob Sale, Tripp Sprague, Kevin Esposito, John Rekevics and Paul Seaforth.
Back to the Garden will debut its “1965 – A Music Revolution” story concert in two performances at the PCPA as part of Poway OnStage’s 2025-26 season.
The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 13 and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 14.
Intravaia said he got the idea for the band’s new concert theme after reading the book “1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music” by Andrew Grant Jackson, which he found to be “inspirational.”
“I was nine in 1965, was a music nut and saw The Beatles here (in San Diego),” Intravaia said. “I remember that year and how rapidly things started changing.”
As an example, Motown “really exploded,” he said, explaining that prior to 1965, music in the Black community was being popularized by White singers who were covering their songs. This included Pat Boone’s cover of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and Elvis Presley’s cover of Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog,” both in 1956.
“(By 1965) Motown had songs on the radio that were great hits. It was pretty radical,” Intravaia said.
“That was also when The Beatles turned their albums into artistic statements and not just a collection of songs to support a hit song,” he said.
The fuzz box that the Rolling Stones used to transform a guitar’s sound and the Byrds releasing “Mr. Tambourine Man” as its answer to the British invasion were also monumental, Intravaia said.
It was not just music experiencing change. Intravaia mentioned President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act the year before, the Vietnam War escalating, social changes, political upheaval and the 1965 Watts riots.
“It was this rapid fire, like technology changes in this day and age … that filled the music,” Intravaia said, adding all these “substories” were influencing the revolution happening in music.
Back to the Garden members Rick Nash, Marc Intravaia, Sharon Whyte, Larry Grano and Jim Soldi. (Thom Vollenweider)
The concert will be presented in segments, each introduced by Hughes and featuring photos and other graphics assembled by Whyte, he said.
For the folk rock segment, he mentioned Bob Dylan “going electric, which made some mad because he was no longer a purist folk singer.” The Black voices segment will include songs of Motown, such as those by The Supremes and The Temptations.
“Protest songs were very important and becoming a thing,” Intravaia said, mentioning “The Universal Soldier” and “Eve of Destruction” as examples.
Among songs Intravaia said the band will play include “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan, a medley of The Supremes hits, “Goldfinger,” “Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles and “Do You Believe in Magic” by The Lovin’ Spoonful.
“Sharon put together the graphics that will be shown behind the band,” Intravaia said. “We’re really good at music, but not much to look at so we divert the audience with a great video.”
Back to the Garden formed 26 years ago. Intravaia said they were the band performing with Eve Selis, another San Diego singer-songwriter, since 1991. While they toured with her across the country and in Europe, the five musicians in 2000 decided to also perform concerts as a stand-alone band.
Their group’s name came from the song “Woodstock” penned by Joni Mitchell and released in 1970 by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. One of the lines says “And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
“Jim (Soldi) suggested we use it … to name the band because we played mostly from that era, the ‘60s and early ‘70s,” Intravaia said.
The band’s many performances at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts are due to great relationships built with former Poway OnStage CEO Michael Rennie, who retired in 2022, and his successor Sharlene O’Keefe, Intravaia said.
“We go back with Michael for almost our full 26 years,” Intravaia said. “About 15 years ago Michael suggested we have a show, to bring us in as a headliner and play on our own as Back to the Garden.”
Intravaia said that inspired the group to create its themed story concerts, such as ones on Laurel Canyon, Woodstock and The Beatles.
“We try to do something new each year, but have occasionally recycled,” he said.
Seeing how quickly the band’s concerts sold out through Poway OnStage, Intravaia said O’Keefe suggested adding a second show, which they have done the last couple of years.
“We’re grateful, flattered and it is challenging to create something fresh rather than recycling,” Intravaia said. “There are only a couple local venues where we book, the rest of our shows are far from Poway.”
The mid-’60s were also key to Intravaia’s career. He said seeing The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964 inspired him to learn how to play a guitar. Other inspirations came from attending concerts in 1968 and 1969 with his older sister, who took him to see Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.
Intravaia became a professional musician by 1973, a year before graduating from Kearny High School. For about a decade Intravaia lived in Los Angeles, but by 1992 returned to San Diego to raise his family.
“It has been a wonderful life,” he said. “I have a beautiful family and I was not meant to be a music star. I am happy to stand behind, supporting amazing talent. I will retire when I can’t do it anymore.
“I really dedicated my life to music and absolutely love it,” Intravaia said. “Now that I am an older person, I perform less but I still teach guitar four days per week.”
Having one of his music heroes, Richie Furay, hire Back to the Garden as his backing band in 2001, a gig they had for three years, is one of Intravaia’s greatest thrills, he said.
“It has been a fun career,” he said. “Many can’t keep a band together, but we have been going for more than a quarter century because we don’t get egotistical or be jerks. We get along so well.
“It has been fun putting together these shows about music we grew up with,” he said.
Back to the Garden’s “1965 – A Music Revolution” can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 13 and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 14 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Road.
Tickets are $64-$78 for adults; $56-$68 for seniors (65-plus), active military and students (ages 13-21); and $37-$44 for youths (12 and under). Buy at powayonstage.org or call 858-748-0505.
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