Gary Heffern (Slight return)

(San Diego expat music hero will be at the Casbah for two shows in April. Ray Brandes welcomes him back.)

Joseph Campbell’s landmark book Hero With a Thousand Faces outlines the hero’s journey from the mundane world into a region of supernatural wonder, where he wins a decisive victory over mysterious forces and emerges with the power to teach and heal his fellow man.

Renowned singer and songwriter Gary Heffern has come tantalizingly close to stardom many times throughout his own fifty year journey across two continents. He has had the great fortune to meet and collaborate with some of rock history’s most legendary performers. He has also overcome periods of despair, addiction, and profound loss.

Watch Gary Heffern’s epic biography!

His life experiences have contributed to some incredible songs. According to one critic:

“His voice, his pensive songs, and his outsized personality suggest a simpler and earlier era. Like the struggling men and women in the short stories of Raymond Carver, or the figures sitting at diner stools in the paintings of Edward Hopper, the characters in Heffern’s songs exist in a noir-ish netherworld of an uncertain time but one that surely is not ours. They drift and struggle in a place where the simple concept of consolation exists as a salvation. “

Heffern returns triumphantly to San Diego in April, when he will reunite with local heroes the Penetrators and make his first solo performance in 25 years. With his West Coast supporting band, Blood on Fire, he will perform songs from his solo albums Painful Days and Consolation, and debut songs from his latest album, Gary Heffern and Beautiful People.

Penetrators at the Casbah April 3!

On April 3, The Penetrators will be performing with the Loons and Social Spit at the Casbah. April 6, Gary Heffern’s Blood on Fire makes its debut with the Cardiac Kidz, also at the Casbah. Tickets are now available online for both shows.

— Ray Brandes

Music history from Ray Brandes:

• Best San Diego record?
• Nashville Ramblers release party
• It’s 1985: Do you know where your bell-bottoms are?
• ‘Sweet Kisses from Mommy’: An introduction to an old friend
• The Mystery Machine in motion!
• ‘You’re way on top now’: Gary Heffern meets Iggy Pop
• 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

Music and culture by Ray Brandes:

• Remember Walking in the Sand? Sunscreen, lemonade and summer radio
• No Particular Place to Go: Four-wheeled memories
• Everybody Is a Star: The ideal supergroup
• Radio days
• “Puberty Principle”: First sonic crushes
• Helter Skelter: Tate-LaBianca at 40
• Guess who’s coming to dinner?
• My favorite things: What are you listening to?
• Footloose: Rockin’ the ’80s
• “I don’t get it”
• Me and my monkey: Guilty pleasures
• Man-eaters and mad crushes
• Our Lady of Chula Vista
• You Never Give Me Your Money: IOUs and the Che Underground