Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
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Sad news from San Francisco: San Diego fashion veteran Todd Tomarrow (né Todd Bundy) passed away May 21. According to the Antebellum Blog, “I’m sad to say that we lost Boy Bar / Jackie 60 legend Todd Tomarrow (aka Lulu) yesterday. Todd died suddenly from blood poisoning. He lived in San Francisco with his partner David for the last few years.”
Condolences to Todd’s many friends.
A lost artifact from the heady cyberdaze of the 1990s Bay area emerges two decades later. After being hidden away since before the turn of the millenium, the album “I.O.U. Babe” by Mondo Vanilli (a k a M.V., Inc) has been officially released, and after being initially offered for free on Bandcamp, downloads of ‘IOU Babe’ have exceeded the site’s limit for free downloads. A conventional CD version of the album (with bonus tracks) will be released soon.
Hear Mondo Vanilli’s “IOU Babe” album for free on Soundcloud!
Quick history: A few years after a brief collaboration as the Merry Tweeksters in the mid-‘80s, cultural visionary R.U. Sirius (of Mondo 2000 fame) and Che Underground expatriate Dave Fleminger reunited to begin work on creating the world’s greatest cyber-band. Soon thereafter R.U. invited alien/artist Sim1 3Arm to join the mix, and Sim1’s boundary-pushing performance experience helped turn MV into a sirius triple-threat.
Says Fleminger, “At that point, I had literally no computer experience, and knew nothing of the music RU was referring to as a stylistic jumping-off point, but his ideas were quite inspiring to me and he said, ‘You’ll figure it out’ … so that was enough encouragement for me to give it a try.
As he continues to explore rock-‘n’-roll history via his radio collaboration with Vanilla Fudge’s Vince Martell, Gary Ra’chac generously took time out to share some great memories with Che Underground: The Blog.
“Hey Matthew,” Gary writes, “I love these shots!! San Diego’s own, the Joel Scott Hill Trio (with Joni Lyman) December 1965, Whisky a Go Go, Sunnyvale, Calif.” (Editor’s note: Read this post on Rock Prospography 101 for information on the abortive Sunnyvale franchise of the Whisky a Go Go.)
“The great Johny Barbata (Turtles, CS&N, Jefferson Airplane) on drums; Bob Mosley (Misfits, Moby Grape) on bass; and Joel Scott Hill (the Invaders, Canned Heat, Flying Burrito Bros.) on guitar.
Gary Ra’chac is a San Diego institution in his own right: a native of the city, witness to multiple generations of San Diego music; friend of San Diego legends from Lester Bangs to Ray Brandes; veteran employee of the late, lamented Tasha’s Music City; currently singer-songwriter and radio personality.
Gary has recently been producer of “Vince Martell Rocks America,” featuring the Vanilla Fudge guitarist and hosted by WNJC 1360 AM, New York.
Read moreHector Peñalosa joins Gary Ra’chac
on ‘Vince Martell Rocks America’
(The Cardiac Kidz’s Jim Ryan recounts his band’s recent performance to support Gary Heffern’s return to San Diego, including new collaborators and material.)
After a Penetrators reunion show the Sunday before, Gary Heffern appeared once again at the Casbah for his CD release show to debut “Gary Heffern & Beautiful People” and his San Diego all-star band “Blood on Fire.” Those of us who came prepared were able to take not only the show home but the CD from this consummate artist, now living in Finland.
Sean McMullen’s words and images from the Penetrators reunion!
Here I am over 30 years later, remembering my last performance with Gary when the Penetrators, the Cardiac Kidz and the Standbys played the Spirit night club in 1980.
After getting the call from Gary that he would like the Cardiac Kidz to open the show, I was on the move. The boys digging the opportunity and me looking forward to seeing Gary again, I knew this show had to be special. Gary is a special guy.
Sad news for friends of Ronnie Hake, an expatriate of the San Diego scene who passed away April 25 at his home in Menomonie, Wis.
According to the obituary:
“Ron was a San Diego native born to James and Irene Hake; he spent his childhood in Menomonie then attended high school in San Diego. Ron moved back to Menomonie to raise his children Madeline, Curtis, and Lillian.
(Mikel Toombs takes inspiration from the late punk icon.)
Poly Styrene, who died Monday after battling breast cancer (she was 53), was the subject of the first interview feature I ever wrote. It appeared in the Triton Times, before it became the UCSD Guardian and moved in next door to the Ché Café, which you may have heard about.
And what would prompt a penniless college student to place a then-pricey phone call to London to talk to someone in a band, X-ray Spex, that had a single 1977 single (“Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” backed with “I’m a Cliché”) in a style (punk) that had yet to take hold in the US, which still wanted to get down tonight?
This: “Some people think little girls should be seen ‘n’ not heard, but I say,” Poly said, “oh bondage! Up yours!”
(On April 6, a group of San Diego music veterans backed local hero Gary Heffern when he returned from Finland to play the Casbah. Joe Piper recounts the 34 years leading up to his own part in the gig.)
Life’s funny…
When Gary Heffern’s Blood On Fire took to the Casbah stage earlier this month it was, for me, more than just an opportunity to play with some truly outstanding musicians who just also happen to be a group of the greatest guys you could ever hope to meet. It was more than a chance to take part in what is possibly the most enjoyable project I’ve ever worked on. It was all that and more — it was a chance to take care of unfinished business.
Good news for fans of San Diego music in particular and local music scenes in general: Eric Rife’s epic film project “Garageland” is approaching release in 2012, and Eric has posted a short preview of the film on YouTube.
Readers of Che Underground: The Blog as well as veterans of San Diego music are familiar with Eric’s work as a photographer and videographer. Indeed, his years of work pulling together archival and current footage for “Garageland” was an inspiration for me to start this blog in the first place.
(San Diego’s legendary Penetrators got together for a rare performance April 3, when lead singer Gary Heffern flew in from Finland for a short visit. Ace photographer Sean McMullen was in the audience and offers a wealth of images for us out-of-towners.)
It was a really good turnout with a true rogue’s gallery of old friends.
I made a joke about there not being much of a pit, and someone said it was more of a “hug pit.” Haha. I definitely participated in that. All three sets (including openers the Loons and Social Spit) were high energy and rocked the joint well. The level of passion and musicianship was an adrenaline rush all the way through.
Personally, The Penetrators were one of the first bands I saw live as a 13- or 14-year-old kid at Golden Hall. I became friends with Gary in the last decade through Casbah shows and Facebook, so it was a joy to have him back here and interacting with all of the people I grew up with from that early age.