{"id":29698,"date":"2025-07-01T00:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T07:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=29698"},"modified":"2025-07-01T09:48:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:48:39","slug":"the-beard-and-the-bird-jon-and-cat-curry-hazs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/the-beard-and-the-bird-jon-and-cat-curry-hazs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beard and the Bird: Jon and Cat Curry Hasz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between Intention and Serendipity: The Art of Following the Catch<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jon and Cathryn Curry Hasz. Photo by John Hancock.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To say that Jon and Cat Hazs of the Beard and the Bird are two peas in a pod wouldn\u2019t be entirely accurate. They can\u2019t be confined that way. They are more like the multiple and varied notes of a wind chime, bouncing back and forth in a composition that is both intricate and unpredictable. The song would be incomplete without either of them\u2026 and it would be pretty darn boring.<\/p>\n

Jon is rapid-fire and always on, whitewater rushing forward. Cat is pensive and calm, a gentle creek flowing into shadows and hollows, then back out into the sun. They happily finish and embellish each other\u2019s sentences without batting an eye or taking a breath. It\u2019s symbiotic. My attention is drawn in continuous motion from one to the other and then back again, almost rhythmically, like a song, one of their<\/em> songs.<\/p>\n

Jon and Cat both grew up in Ramona\u2014she\u2019s a native, he\u2019s a transplant from Arizona at age four. By the time they were in high school, they lived on the same street and went to the same school.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t actually meet, though, until Jon was working his first job at a music store and Cat went in to replace a broken guitar string. Though her parents listened to the Beatles, the Eagles, and Dire Straits, Cat had veered into an entirely different scene. At the time, she was the lead singer in a punk band called the McGillicuttys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich means,\u201d Cat shares, \u201cthat I knew three power chords\u2014very poorly. All I needed was misplaced confidence and a loud singing voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon interjects, \u201cAnd a little bit of angst, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cat replies, \u201cOh, a lot of angst. And listening to the Misfits, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and the Addicts on repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon went a slightly different route. \u201cWe had a good punk scene here. I went through Metallica. Like, as I\u2019m learning guitar, I have to just fall in love with all the standard stuff\u2014Lynyrd Skynyrd, whatever. You know, learn those guitar parts. And then I ended up doing punk in high school, and my first thing was getting into kind of more the skate punk kind of stuff\u2014Strung Out\u2014played that and then went into metal again. Did Tool and some of the heavier stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, that shared love of punk gave them instant common ground. That first meeting through music was the beginning of a closeness they shared as best friends. Over the next six years, they spent time together on non-dates eating burritos, going rock climbing, complaining about their significant others, and having punk jams.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, Cat hung up her guitar for a while, but for Jon, music \u201cwas everything to me for, you know, my whole life.\u201d He had gone first from playing guitar in fourth grade, to joining his first band in sixth grade, to working in the music store in high school. It does seem like all he has ever known and done is music. And to top it off, at 21 years old, after three years at the store, he got the opportunity to buy it, which he has now had for 18 years. They just recently moved Ramona Music Center from its original location to 555 Main Street in Ramona. \u201cI\u2019ve been teaching, playing, and running our recording studio since 2007.\u201d That is some clear intention in my book.<\/p>\n

Going back to their non-dating days, eventually, they each developed crushes on one another. A mix of failed relationships and a mistakenly placed kiss set the stage for a leap into coupledom. On a non-date at the Ramona holiday pub crawl, Cat remembers, \u201cWell, he was trying to kiss my cheek, and I turned my face.\u201d Jon says, \u201cThat changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For a moment, they feared losing their friendship and the depth of their connection, but quickly decided it was worth the risk. They already knew so much about each other, there were no skeletons in the closet, and no reason to wait. Within a month, they had moved in together \u201cand got cats, which is, like, that\u2019s permanent.\u201d Cat continues, \u201cThe funny thing is, probably three or four months before the pub crawl, we were in Poway getting beers and tacos and stuff. And I was in a terrible relationship that had just ended. And we were like, if we\u2019re not married this time next year, we should get married. And then we start dating and we\u2019re, like, we only have nine months. So, three years later we ended up getting married [in 2014] on the day that we had made the pact to get married.\u201dJon\u2019s proposal was written in the bridge of one of his songs. At the time, Cathryn Beeks had a show on KPRI, so he met with her and Jeff Berkley at the studio to record the whole thing to be aired two days later. On the evening it would broadcast, Jon and Cat went to see Lord of the Rings,<\/em> which he now admits was the worst possible movie to choose under the circumstances. Already nervous, he remembers staring at the ring on the screen and thinking the one he had \u201cwas burning a hole in my pocket.\u201d On the drive home, the song and proposal played nationwide, reaching friends and family across the country, who began calling them to celebrate.<\/p>\n

When they told me about the wedding, I found out that Cat is a bit of an introvert. I tell her it doesn\u2019t show, and Jon says, \u201cNot even a little bit, right? She\u2019s very well curated.\u201d To adjust for nerves and anxiety, they had a very small pre-wedding and took care of the legalities and paperwork. A couple of weeks later, after building picnic tables and redoing the backyard for the occasion, they had a big wedding there with everyone in attendance.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a nice story, but I\u2019m still thinking about Cat, and I ask her how she ended up a performer. \u201cDo you remember in San Diego in around 2011, the big blackout that happened? Jon came home that day with the bass and he was, like, you\u2019re going to learn this. And I was, like, what?\u201d She laughs, then continues, \u201cSo, luckily, I lived with a music teacher, but it sat in the corner for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon says, \u201cYou\u2019d pull it out every once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cat nodded and said she had gotten good at playing Jingle Bells<\/em>, when, three-and-a-half years ago, he came home and said, \u201cAll right, babe, don\u2019t kill me, but I booked us a show at an Earth Day Festival.\u201d When she reminded him of her single-song repertoire, he said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the beginning.<\/p>\n

Cat said, \u201cThat one went so well that Jon completely lost his mind…\u201d<\/p>\n

Already rolling, Jon said, \u201c\u2026and I booked a bunch more. I think even at that one, I had two more lined up afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cat continues, \u201cIt was nuts. So then, yeah, all of a sudden we were in a band, and we toured internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon speaks glowingly, \u201cShe has no idea how good she is. Like, she\u2019s still one of my best students of all time, right? And so, yeah, it was never really on our radar, but I\u2019m like, you\u2019re so talented, how can you not put this at the front of the list? She\u2019s got a lot of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask her, \u201cDo you love it? Do you love playing bass, or are you still nervous?\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cWell, both. I love it, but I\u2019m also still nervous, I guess. But, I\u2019m definitely in a place now where I don\u2019t panic as much as I did before shows. But there are also moments, like when we went to the Folk Alliance Festival in February, and I\u2019m surrounded by these people that are just shredding. And I\u2019m, like, immediately, I need to get so much better if we\u2019re ever gonna hang in this group, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

I watched a couple of the Beard and the Bird music videos before the interview and Cat is chewing gum with abandon, smiling broadly, and slapping on that bass like she\u2019s been playing forever. I\u2019m curious about that anxiety she mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

She reveals that chewing gum has become her reminder to relax, to smile more. But even still, \u201cYou can tell in other ways; I start picking off nail polish and talking fast and being awkward. But yeah, I mask it well…\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon jumps in, \u201c\u2026visually, but also, like, the stuff she writes is amazing and funny and perfect, but it\u2019s all calculated. She gets very nervous about anything where it\u2019s live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cat nods. \u201cYes, and then I go home and sit in the dark for a while to recharge my batteries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon adds, almost apologetically, \u201cWhich is a lot\u2014for me to ask for her to get on stage in front of people every month, all over the country. You know?\u201d<\/p>\n