{"id":323406,"date":"2023-04-25T08:24:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T15:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=323406"},"modified":"2023-04-25T08:24:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T15:24:32","slug":"award-winning-la-mesa-musician-husband-and-father-dies-at-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/award-winning-la-mesa-musician-husband-and-father-dies-at-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning La Mesa musician, husband and father dies at 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last two years, Dustin Lothspeich put his songwriting prowess toward producing a stream of ditties to entertain his son Harrison. There was a \u201chello\u201d song at the hospital, a hand washing song, and diaper change song. The goofy songs might surprise some of his fans who knew Lothspeich as the lyricist behind the romantic ballads and upbeat breakup songs of local band Old Tiger. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe would make up a million little songs. There were songs for everything… He was always making stuff up, but we were just giggling about it,\u201d said his widow Jen Lothspeich. \u201cHe wasn’t afraid to look silly in front of me to make me laugh, too.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With his unexpected death at age 40 of natural causes on March 23, 2023 in his La Mesa home, the life of a prodigious local musician<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span><\/span>and dedicated husband and father<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span><\/span>ended. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The guitarist and vocalist performed with bands including Boy King, Chess Wars, Diamond Lakes and Tusk in addition to a career as a music journalist and blogger. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDustin was obviously hugely talented as a performer, but he also put a lot of time and heart into nurturing the San Diego music scene. He wrote interviews and reviews, he hosted podcasts, and he was a loud supporter of his favorite local bands,\u201d said former bandmate Megan Liscomb. \u201cHe will be sorely missed by many bandmates and the musicians who came into his orbit.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lothspeich co-founded San Diego\u2019s longest running beer podcast, \u201cBeer Night in San Diego,\u201d in which he highlighted the talents of local brewers and musicians. He wrote for SoundDiego, copyedited for several community newspapers, spent years booking talent for the Merrow, and most recently worked at South Park\u2019s Vinyl Junkies Record Shop. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDustin had a wealth of musical knowledge and regularly suggested new and inspiring bands to listen to,\u201d said Nate Joyner, a coworker at Vinyl Junkies. \u201cDustin’s habitual good mood, sense of humor, and laugh were contagious.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"dustin
Dustin enjoying some time on guitar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jen Lothspeich noted that the local music scene can often be petty and competitive, so many people wanted to work with Lothspeich because he was so kind. Liscomb explained that on the night she met Dustin, both of their bands were playing the same show. <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cI was immediately struck by how warm and friendly he was \u2014 he even sent over a note before the show to say he’d listened to our music and was looking forward to playing together. Not a lot of people in the music scene take the time to do things like that so it stood out,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"old
Old Tiger 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Lothspiech has played a variety of roles in the local music scene, he is most well known for his band Old Tiger which performed from 2009 to 2015 and won a San Diego Music Award for best pop album with \u201cLove Have Mercy.\u201d Among the many fans of the album, the song \u201cFree,\u201d caught the ear of a local music blogger then named Jen Van Tieghem. The two became fast friends with a shared interest in music and married in 2016. In 2020, Jen gave birth to Harrison Atlas<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2014 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Harrison after George Harrison and Atlas because Lothspeich knew his son would be the center of his world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"dustin
Dustin and Harrison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDustin was talented and was loved and appreciated by people<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span><\/span> people we\u2019ll never know, people we\u2019ll never even know the names of or who they are\u2026 He touched so many people with his music,\u201d said his wife Jen. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lothspeich was born in Arizona to <\/span><\/span><\/span>Mary Kendall and Alan Lothspeich<\/span><\/span><\/span> in 1982. While his public career means he is most known for his musical and writing talents, he also excels at drawing. In a childhood spent moving around, he fastidiously drew sneakers he was not able to own. As an adult, he settled in San Diego and began the sneaker collection he spent his childhood dreaming about. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Before his death, he shared with his wife that he wanted to buy the rapper Action Bronson\u2019s collaboration with New Balance 990v6 sneakers. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2018I should get these New Balance shoes! They’re like dad shoes\u2019 and all this stuff,\u201d said Jen. \u201cHe even turned a sneaker thing into like a dad shoe thing.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The vintage-looking orange and blue sneakers released the day after Lothspiech\u2019s death. Jen bought their son Harrison colorful sneakers in his honor. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The family enjoying an area pumpkin patch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWatching [Dustin] be a daddy was the most amazing experience that I’ll probably ever have\u2026 He was so good at it,\u201d Jen explained through tears. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While Lothspeich did not always plan on having kids, his kind and protective nature extended to his friends and band mates. Liscomb said when she tweeted about being a Dickensian orphan staring through the window of Taco Bell, Lothspeich immediately sent her money to buy food. Another friend, Frank Seeley, said that not only would Lothspeich be there for people in hard times without judgment, he was also generous in celebration. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got a new job not long before we lost Dustin, he sent me a celebratory gift card and checked in with me every day asking how it was going,\u201d Seeley said. \u201cDustin was such a caring soul\u2026 a gentle giant.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lothspeich is survived by his wife Jen and son Harrison Atlas, mother <\/span><\/span><\/span>Mary, father Alan, brothers Danny, David, and Ray<\/span><\/span><\/span> as well as friends, family and fans. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

His death has left Jen and Harrison in a dire financial situation. Those wanting to honor Lothspeich\u2019s legacy can donate to <\/span><\/span><\/span>gofund.me\/80a14985<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, local bands including Oh Spirit, The Strawberry Moons, Gelly Duvall and Dead Feather Moon will be performing in a benefit concert at the Casbah on May 21. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Buy tickets at <\/span><\/span><\/span>https:\/\/www.seetickets.us\/event\/Dead-FeatherMoonOhSpiritTheStrawberryMoonsGellyDu\/546763<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last two years, Dustin Lothspeich put his songwriting prowess toward producing a stream of ditties to entertain his son Harrison. There was a \u201chello\u201d song at the hospital, a hand washing song, and diaper change song. The goofy songs might surprise some of his fans who knew Lothspeich as the lyricist behind the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":936,"featured_media":323410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"For the last two years, Dustin Lothspeich put his songwriting prowess toward producing a stream of ditties to entertain his son Harrison. There was a \u201chello\u201d song at the hospital, a hand washing song, and diaper change song. The goofy songs might surprise some of his fans who knew Lothspeich as the lyricist behind the romantic ballads and upbeat breakup songs of local band Old Tiger.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15438],"tags":[15847,12421,14315],"class_list":["post-323406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-mesa-courier-news","tag-dustin-lothspeich","tag-la-mesa","tag-musician"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323418,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323406\/revisions\/323418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}