Housekeeping | The Che Underground

Fundraisers for Thomas Yearsley

February 2, 2011August 19, 2010 by admin

Thomas Yearsley, founding bass player for the Paladins, suffered misfortune Monday night and faces the medical-insurance woes of far too many working musicians. Click here to go to a site set up to help him get on his feet financially — and catch some music at a number of benefit shows.

“Thomas Yearsley, longtime bass player of The Paladins, was hit by a train on the evening of August 16 while trying to save his dog from the same,” reports the Help Thomas Yearsley site. “He was Life-Flighted away to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., although he should be discharged by now. He suffered a broken leg and other injuries; unfortunately his dog Swango didn’t survive.

Over 80,000 spam served!

December 17, 2017July 16, 2010 by admin

Today we mark a hidden milestone in the history of this blog: Thanks to the hard-working spam-blocking software deep in our boiler room, we’ve now intercepted 80,000 bogus spam messages intended to clutter up the comments section of Che Underground: The Blog.

I comb through this digital crap on a daily basis because occasionally your legitimate comments (almost 18,000 of those since we started the blog in February 2008) are misdirected into the spam filter. (If you don’t see your comment appear on a page, ping me at cheunderground@gmail.com; chances are good it’s fallen into the digital lint trap.)

While clearing out this dreck (as well as phony user registrations) is kind of a drag, the fractured English and weird non sequiturs can also be kind of funny. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, here’s a sampling of our spam comments from the past 24 hours:

Happy birthday, Che Underground!

December 17, 2017February 16, 2010 by admin

It’s nifty numerology that we reached Post #400 (Jay Allen Sanford’s Monroes saga) just in time to celebrate the second anniversary of Che Underground: The Blog.

Another fun fact: January 2010 brought in the most visitors ever, with more than 9,000 curious souls stopping by to read about the adventures of San Diego’s olde schoole music scene!

It’s very gratifying to watch the site grow from very humble beginnings, thanks to amazing contributions from talented people. I always knew you had it in you, and I’m glad it’s still there! We’ve covered a lot of ground in two years, and I hope the party continues for a very long time.

Angie Bowie AIDS Begone benefit
featuring Gary Heffern

December 14, 2017December 6, 2009 by admin

It’s appropriate that a champion of the San Diego music scene should saddle up for a righteous campaign to raise consciousness and funds for those in need.

A track from “Consolation,” a new CD from Penetrators frontman (and Che Underground regular) Gary Heffern, will be featured in AIDS Begone, a CD and cyber party organized by the legendary Angie Bowie.

Here’s what Ms. Bowie told Che Underground: The Blog about Heff’s contribution, titled “I Am Your Destroyer”: “‘I Am Your Destroyer’ is a fascinating lyric with a Jekyll-and-Hyde quality. Knowing that destruction can be both constructive and renewing. That being a destroyer may also open up an avenue for new feelings, love and emotions that could not exist with old tradition and prejudice. It’s a great song!”

Holiday cheer from Sweeney Todd’s

December 31, 2010November 27, 2009 by admin

Wallflowers guitarist turned demon barber Todd Lahman encourages Che Underground: The Blog to spread the holiday cheer with this invitation to raise a glass at Sweeney Todd’s Barber Shop on Hollywood Blvd.

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to recognize Sweeney Todd’s, the ultra-cool shop founded in 1927 and refurbished by Mr. Lahman. By all accounts, he’s parlayed his rock-‘n’-roll sensibilities into a world-class shrine to the classic tonsorial arts. (Anyone up for joining me in a haircut before the Jan. 30 show at the Casbah?)

Missing persons

December 31, 2010October 7, 2009 by admin

Friend of Che Underground Chris Mathis’ triumphant reappearance after reports of his demise dramatizes my favorite part of this whole blogging adventure: the opportunity to reconnect the people we knew then and lost track of since.

On Day Three of this blog’s existence, I posted a very modest list of folks whose whereabouts were unknown to the small circle of scenesters who were privy to our launch … Since then, we’ve located all the people on the list and many, many more besides. Even better, many of our friends have found us, thanks to the blog’s rising online profile.

So who else do you want us to track down? Let’s talk about other people who remain MIA and discuss how to connect the rest of those dots.

Lurkers welcome!

December 14, 2017October 1, 2009 by admin

Thank you! September 2009 was Che Underground: The Blog’s biggest month ever for page views … And if it had 31 days like most self-respecting months, it would’ve handily beaten the record for the largest number of individual visitors. (Our audience did breeze past the 8,000 mark without the neighbors calling in a single noise complaint.)

You’ve been coming back month after month for almost two years, and we’re very proud and grateful. We’d also enjoy hearing from you!

‘Our Blow Out’: Reloaded

January 1, 2011July 30, 2009 by admin

(Injections, Noise 292 and Everybody Violet drummer Joey Miller makes a public-service announcement — with guitar!)

DISCLAIMER: This is not a project of either Matthew or me, and there will understandably be different perspectives on it. Great. Please feel free to make /post your thoughts here, but KNOW and UNDERSTAND we are only the messengers.

“Our Blow Out” was a compilation that was originally put together and released in 1983 by Cliff from Social Spit. It was an energetic and amazing accomplishment for its time, and (as many of us can attest) it was an amazing compilation.

Read more about “Our Blow Out”!

Curtis, the owner of TAANG Records, has expressed interest in re-releasing this compilation; he would like to make contact with as many band members as possible to set up a meeting. He is extremely interested in seeing this move forward, and it is our hope to put the word out to see how many originals that this information would reach.

So … Whaddya wanna do now?

March 30, 2019June 2, 2009 by admin

Wow. Just … wow. The Che Games weekend was an emotional, artistic and spiritual triumph — throw in a few adjectives of your own there! I’m grateful that so many other people feel so energized and fulfilled by the time we spent together.

I think most of us need at least a little while to digest (and for those of us heavily involved in prep, to reclaim our schedules). But hey: While the iron’s hot, I want at least to hear what new worlds you want this blog and this community to explore next.

Here are a few items on my personal menu … Please chime in with more!

“Why are the $^%%$&# comments switched off??”

January 1, 2011March 19, 2009 by admin

Urgent Che Underground alert: It’s just come to my attention that sometime last night, commenting was disabled on every one of the hundreds of posts on Che Underground: The Blog.

That means that nobody has been able to add new comments to any posts. It also means that some poor soul(s) with administrative privileges will have to open each post and click the little “Allow Comments” box. With more than a year’s worth of history now, that’s an ugly task. … And this is (I believe) the fourth time that gremlins have inflicted this glitch.

For now, I’ve reactivated commenting on the most recent posts, so you-all can start chatting again. And once I stop crying, I’ll gather a posse and go fix all of them.

Apologies! We’ve got a creaky old version of WordPress, a lot of content and limited technical resources.

While I’m at it (and with comments enabled on this post!) do you have any other questions about or issues with the technical side of the Che Underground online empire?