(Ray Brandes describes a turning point for the future Penetrators front man. Read the story and listen to the audio!)
Iggy Pop and David Bowie’s 1977 “Idiot Tour” made a stop at the San Diego Civic Theater on April 16, 1977, supported by opening act Blondie. The band consisted of Iggy Pop (vocals), David Bowie (keyboards and backing vocals), Ricky Gardiner (guitar), Tony Sales (bass) and Hunt Sales (drums). In the audience was none other than San Diego’s Gary Heffern, who cites this concert as the critical moment in his life when he decided to start a band.
“I was in the audience, in the second row, and Iggy came out and gave the microphone to the guy next to me, Tom Griswold,” Gary remembers. “Tom wouldn’t sing, so I grabbed it and started singing and wouldn’t give Iggy the microphone back!” The song was ? and the Mysterians’ “96 Tears.”
Read Ray Brandes’ Penetrators bio!
Young Heffern was an obsessive music fan and had written numerous lyrics but had yet to form his first band. “I was looking directly at Bowie, who was singing back-up vocals,” says Gary. “I knew then that I had to sing.”
Thirty-three years later, a recording of the performance has been unearthed, and sure enough, Gary can clearly heard singing “You’re gonna cry” in the chorus.
Gary Heffern performs “96 Tears” with Iggy Pop: Listen now!
Iggy Pop would remain not only a strong influence upon Heffern but would also figure several more times in his career. A year later at Montezuma Hall Gary was handed the microphone again, this time to sing on Them’s “Gloria.” The Penetrators would open for Iggy Pop twice, once at the Catamaran and again at the Roxy Theater. The song “Jimmy Don’t Do It,” from the Penetrators’ A Sweet Kiss From Mommy album, is about watching Iggy perform the song “Turn Blue.”
— Ray Brandes
Also by Ray Brandes:
- Tell-Tale Hearts take on New Colony Six!
- The train keeps a-rollin’: The story of the Nashville Ramblers
- Hallelujah! The story of Glory
- The Tokyos over San Diego
- The Hitmakers’ hit that never was
- Sensational: The All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars and the roots of Country Dick Montana
- The Penetrators: Walking the Beat
- Dream Sequence: The history of the Unknowns
- Let the Good Times Roll: The untold history of the Crawdaddys
- The Zeros: I Don’t Wanna Be a Hero, I Just Wanna Be a Zero
- Lend Me Your Comb: A short history of the Hedgehogs
- The Tell-Tale Hearts vs. Joe Meek
- The Tell-Tale Hearts: Go east, young men!