Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
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Here’s a mini-mystery for Che Underground irregulars: Who’s the kid in this picture Cyndie Jaynes shot in Presidio Park? A team of forensics experts has so far been unable to ID him definitively.
Ray Brandes’ best guess, with accompanying documentary evidence: “I’m pretty sure it’s Mike Therieau, who was in the Event–I didn’t think they were around yet, but then I found the attached flyer.”
Young mystery mod, the Che Underground salutes you! Step forward into the warm embrace of your peers.
The Cyndie Jaynes photo collection poses a curatorial challenge: There’s so much marvelous stuff here, it’s hard to decide how to slice and dice it.
Here’s another set of portraits designed to tickle the Proustian memory banks of anyone circulating in this corner of the early-’80s San Diego underground. Plus, they’re lovely photos in their own right. Help fill in the narrative blanks!
While we’re all in a Wallflowers frame of mind, here’s another Phase One Wallflowers gem freshly excavated after a quarter-century beneath the Canadian permafrost. “Rubber Room” is essential Wallflowers material,” writes bassist Paul Howland. “This one and ‘Funland’ (along with any of the many Stooges cover tunes) encapsulate the Wallflowers sound nicely.
Cyndie Jaynes’ amazing gift to Che Underground: The Blog continues giving with this wonderful series of photographs from a late-era Wallflowers concert featuring Todd Lahman on guitar and Matt Johnson on drums. As always, Paul Howland (pictured in these photos) and Dave Rinck loomed large in the lineup.
MC/guest vocalist Jerry Cornelius, Tony Sanchez, Kristi Maddocks, and Audrey Moorehead also make the scene. What was the venue? The little picket fence and trellis evokes a freaky ice-cream parlor vibe. Who can ID this magic moment?
Another where-are-we-now topic to connect the dots between our past and present: While a select few of us indeed earn our adult living in the music business, most have found other sources of income.
Today’s question: What do you do nowadays to pay the bills? And what (if anything) did you learn from our salad days that helps you now?
This one’s pretty easy for me. I’ve worked in publishing (in SF and NY) for 20 years, more than 10 primarily online. I generally run large teams of creative, verbal, offbeat young people who’ve converged on the big city for aesthetic and social stimulation. Sound familiar yet?
Today marks the 25th anniversary of Noise 292’s first performance: May 26, 1983, at the Che Cafe with the Answers and the Odds. I can think of no better way to celebrate that silver anniversary than with a powerful performance by the brilliant Kristin Martin.
“Stupid Future” showcases everything that was so special about Kristin’s songwriting and performing, even at 19: arresting hooks, great lyrics and fantastic vocals. She’s one of the most innovative creative forces I’ve ever had the privilege of collaborating with.
What can we say about Cyndie Jaynes? Not only is she a published author and successful graduate of the San Diego underground, she’s also a marvelous documentarian with an unrivaled cache of photos and flyers from early-’80s SD.
Here’s a sampling of the great things she’s shared with me … I’m very grateful for the chance to bring these treasures to light. Stay tuned for more!
Personal Conflict bassist Toby Gibson and I have been corresponding about a seminal document in the history of San Diego punk: the “Our Blow Out” cassette. Released in 1983 under the Slow Death label, this compilation featured 34 tracks from 14 bands, including some we’ve discussed before (5051, Personal Conflict, Social Spit, the Injections, Sacred Lies) as well as Battalion of Saints, Manifest Destiny, Moral Majority, the Skullbusters, Men of Clay, Black Tango, the Front, Catch 22 and District Tradition. I remember this tape well as the definitive snapshot of a major slice of SD underground history.
Toby’s a far more acute observer, however. Here’s what he has to say: “I posted this on Dave Klowden’s thread but rethought that, both because ‘Our Blow Out’ will make a decent topic on its own and because I didn’t want to detract from the topic of how great 5051 were. But District Tradition were pretty great in their own right, and I think Tommy Rulon could have taken that thing a lot farther. Musically speaking.
“Destroy All Music,” the superb 2005 album by Che Underground supergroup Lemons are Yellow, serves as a deliriously bacchanalian Greek chorus for the fringe of early-’80s San Diego and predicts many of the major themes sounded on this blog.
Study “America’s Finest City” by Paul Kaufman to learn more about our local argot, about Sheldon’s thick and creamies, and about the romantic life and times of Steve Garris. (Then study it again; it’s a rockin’ little number I want my jockey to play.)
David Fleminger (guitar, vocals); Kristin Martin (bass guitar, vocals); Paul Kaufman (guitar, vocals); and Ed Meares (drums).
(A sentimental epicurean journey by Manual Scan/Lemons Are Yellow veteran Paul Kaufman.)
Regardless of where the show was, chances are the night would end up at Sheldon’s, the Eisenhower-era styled, non-conglomerate “family” restaurant that once loomed large in the all-night dining Pantheon of San Diego. Most memorable for me were items with descriptions like “Large 24 oz. Malted Milkshake, Thick and Creamy, $1.25” and “Demi-loaf of home-baked bread, served here with butter, 75 cents.” Those Thick and Creamies became a significant part of my diet, and one of their original ashtrays still is on the mantle. Also iconic was their placemat, with postwar cartoon depiction of San Diego’s highlights.
My first time was after the first Manual Scan show at the London Tavern.