admin | The Che Underground

The Frame gets in the picture

June 30, 2009January 8, 2009 by admin

(Veteran San Diego musician and promoter Mark Stern adds another band to the extended family.)

“I used to write, I used to draw, my name was once in print. Now I just can’t remember where all the promise went … ” — The Frame, “In the Streets”

To be clear, The Frame were not cool, nor especially well received when we played live. As three-chord wonders (sometimes two, sometimes one on “Triumph of the Will”) we were not mod, nor punk, despite hanging out within “the scene.”

We could not play our instruments well, were musically all over the map, didn’t have any semblance of a cohesive look, and co-ordinated/booked all our own shows. We invited other bands who could draw a crowd to play with us in order to get heard. Being broke, we would break into chem lecture halls at UCSD to practice. Sometimes we would just play outside on some UCSD loading dock that had a plug.

We would bug the college station there to play our demo, and would eventually book shows at the Che. We met through an ad in the Reader, and came together at this god-awful rehearsal space on University Ave. near 45th St.

RIP: The legendary Ron Asheton

December 13, 2017January 7, 2009 by admin

(Wallflower David Rinck remembers the man who pulled the Stooges’ strings.)

Everyone who grew up rocking to “T.V. Eye” and “No Fun” should pause for a moment of silence tonight: Legendary Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead in his Ann Arbor home. Another sad day for underground music. This guy was seriously one of its real giants, possibly the greatest underground guitarist of all time…

Okay, on second thought, forget the silence! Silence and Ronny Asheton do not go together. Instead, throw that dog-eared old copy of the first Stooges album on and reverently play “1969” with the volume turned up to 11!!! I think that’s way he’d want to be remembered.

Every flyer tells a story

March 27, 2019January 5, 2009 by admin

This flyer from the Jason Seibert Collection is evocative enough of the era and the roots of the Che Underground to merit its own post.

This gig at the Adams Avenue Theater features 5051, the Injections “& some others”; an early photo of Wallflowers vocalist Dave Rinck; and a design by David “GI” Klowden, 5051 vocalist and future Tell-Tale Hearts drummer. Note the instruction to “be there between 9:30-10:00 if you want to miss the mod bands.”

“I don’t know who the bands were,” Klowden says 26 years later, “but I am pretty sure I enjoyed them more than I did my own band that night.”

Punk flyer blow out from the Seibert Collection

January 1, 2011January 4, 2009 by admin

You asked for it, we’ve got it: The recent success of the PDF set of mod-themed flyers from the Ken Fugate Collection prompts a 31-page volume of punk classics from early ’80s San Diego, courtesy of our beloved Jason Seibert.

The Seibert flyers reference a variety of venues, including Fairmount Hall, North Park Lions Club and the Adams Avenue Theater (many of them organized by Marc Rude’s Dead or Alive). San Diego acts include Personal Conflict, Men of Clay, No Age Limit, the Skullbusters, Social Spit, Manifest Destiny, Catch-22, Moral Majority, V-5, 5051, the Nutrons, the Middle Class, Battalion of Saints, District Tradition, the Front, Sacred Lies, the Injections and Black Tango.

Read morePunk flyer blow out from the Seibert Collection

Claude Coma and the IVs, resuscitated

January 23, 2018January 2, 2009 by admin

(Angelo Victor Mercure salutes a true son — and daughter — of the San Diego underground.)

Claude Christensen-Coma is/was a San Diego native whose initial interest in music was sparked by the early 1960s British Invasion.

At age 13, Claude purchased his first guitar. By 1979 (at age 27) he put together his most influential band: Claude Coma and the IVs. The lineup consisted of Claude (mainly on vocals, sometimes on rhythm guitar); Don Story (lead guitar); John Gunderson (bass guitar); David Davenport (keyboards); and Terry Micalizio (drums).

This band played all-original music at a time when disco still ruled the airwaves.

Claude was sole songwriter, and his titles and lyrics were a bit salacious, to say the least: “Suzy Slut”; “Babies In Convent Walls”; “Rock and Roll Derelict”; “Let’s Go to Hell”; well, you get the idea. Despite the weirdness of such titles and lyrics, Claude’s wording was always interesting, his melodies and harmonies true to the ear, and – for the era (the deeply grim Carterite recession and the grudgingly successful Reaganite “recovery”), Claude’s music somehow seemed so appropriate.

Then and now: New Year’s resolutions

December 14, 2017December 31, 2008 by admin

(Roving correspondent Kristen Tobiason revisits the scenes of our past glories. Today, we take a cup of — non-alcoholic — kindness yet for auld lang syne.)

Making a list and checking it twice. … It’s that time again. Time to make the list we never keep — Empty promises to our inner selves: To get on the wagon; quit smoking; lose 10 pounds; leave the ball and chain; or finally quit the job at the factory and become a rock star, for real this time!

Having already quit smoking, I am finding that my resolutions this year are not groundbreaking attempts at reform but just some small quality-life tweakings. It’s pretty tame.

Here’s what my current list looks like:
1. Return to 5x/week yoga.
2. Get the turntable fixed.
3. Write more and maybe even get out the drawing pencils.
4. Remember to send out b’day cards and thank-you notes.
5. Quit freaking out about getting older.
6. Meditate regularly.

I can imagine what my resolutions would have been when I was younger! (Yipes.)
Maybe something like this:

Mod flyer fun from the Fugate Collection

March 27, 2019December 29, 2008 by admin

Always seeking better ways to digitize your San Diego youth, the Che Underground blog today attempts a new delivery mechanism: a downloadable PDF file encapsulating more than 70 high-resolution pages of mid-’80s, mod-friendly flyers courtesy of Ken Fugate.

Every page of this magnum opus is a Proustian gem featuring performances by the Tell-Tale Hearts, the Morlocks, Manual Scan, the Trebels, the Nephews, the Nashville Ramblers, the Sovereigns, 39 Steps and many more. (I’m especially excited by the flyer hailing the debut of the Town Criers.)

The Ho Hos: “Judas Twist”

March 28, 2012December 28, 2008 by admin

Another Jeff Lucas composition for this mid-’90s San Francisco ensemble of San Diego expats.

Besides prompting me to write many songs I still like a great deal, the Ho Hos offered a great opportunity to sing new originals written by other songwriters. Both Jeff and Steve Lam came through with some amazing material.

I’ve always been crazy about “Judas Twist,” which I believe was recorded live at Hanno’s in the Alley with engineering help from the indefatigable Jason Brownell. It’s got more hooks than a bait shop, and the band blasts through it with trademark panache.

Watch the Ho Hos play “Gina Says/Infinite Prague”!

Matthew Rothenberg (vocals, guitar); Jeff Lucas (bass); Robert Labbe (drums); and Steve Lam (lead guitar).

Listen to it now!

This We Dug: Johnny Thunders

March 29, 2019December 26, 2008 by admin

(In this installment, Wallflowers vocalist Dave Rinck puts his arms around a memory.)

Last Saturday night, Dave Ellison and I took our wives out for dinner and a show in Los Angeles. We had a great time, and what a show it was!

Well, first there was some sort of ridiculous country/New Wave band that sucked. I don’t know why they let these guys in the door. They were called Cracker or something. They had some stupid song about taking skinheads bowling. I mean, why should I have to hear about that?

Anyway, the headlining bands were X and the New York Dolls. Obviously X was great. I mean, wow: Billy Zoom has become such a guitar virtuoso, really like a sort of punk rock Chuck Berry. Has anyone here noticed that Gretsch is releasing a re-issue of the amazing Billy Zoom Sparkle Jet guitar? BTW some guy is running an online petition to get X into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Please go and sign it — it would be so cool to see a real authentic underground band like this get in.

Madison Avenue hipster holiday, December 1985

December 31, 2010December 24, 2008 by admin

(Miss Kristi Maddocks plays the Ghost of Christmas Past with photos and memories.)

Here are some snapshots from my very bo-ho holiday season in 1985.

At the time, I was living with Michelle Krone, Jeff Rierden and Keith Lockhart (RIP) in our tiny one-bedroom in-law apartment in the neighborhood around University and Park Avenues. I think Leighton Koizumi was in town for a visit from San Francisco, where he and the rest of the Morlocks moved six months before.

This arrangement left me sleeping alone on the couch in the living room — where I am captured waking up in a haze on Christmas Day.

One of the most memorable features of the apartment were the full-scale murals of cartoon Go Go Girls that our dear friend Scott Ewalt drew on our walls — they were way ahead of their time and adored by many visitors to out pad. (Needless to say, I never got back my apartment deposit!)