Personal History | The Che Underground

‘Sesame Street’: Forty years ago today …

January 6, 2011November 10, 2009 by Paul Kaufman

(Paul Kaufman commemorates the Nov. 10, 1969, launch of a kid’s show that defined a generation.)

I’m just the right age for this tribute, because I recall the day this new show first appeared in the afternoon lineup when I was five.

“Sesame Street”‘s short scenes, fast action and large cast of adorable puppets were very different from other kids’ shows at the time (Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers had been my faves). The respectful multiculturalism of this show was groundbreaking, but I won’t try to catalog all the positive social influences of this show here, as I’m sure that’s being discussed at great length elsewhere. (What other anniversary has had a whole week of specialized Google logos?)

For this blog, I do want to emphasize how “Sesame Street” literally rocked in ways that kids’ TV hadn’t before, both with outstanding outside guests:

Even Dave Wallflower gets the blues

December 31, 2010November 7, 2009 by admin

(Wallflower/Blues Gangster/BeatHog David Rinck waxes indigo and finds the musical treatment for it. What’s your prescription?)

The other day I had the blues
I walked down the street in my old shoes
I know you won’t believe it’s true
But even Dave Wallflower gets the blues …

Yes, even Dave Wallflower gets the blues. Had ’em for a while now. Go’n through some hard times.

But that Sunday morning a few weeks ago in Liberia, brothers and sisters, I was down. I’d just come out on a long flight from Nairobi the night before, and I was tired. I headed out of the hotel and down those beat old streets for my early morning walk.

Anglophilia!

December 17, 2017November 5, 2009 by admin

“Do you remember the fifth of November?”

Having exploited Bastille Day 2009 to open a discussion of arcane French rock ‘n’ roll, I thought it only fair that Guy Fawkes Day acknowledge a landmass many of us identify more closely with the genre: the U.K.

From the Beatles to the Pretty Things to Monty Python to the Sex Pistols to the Clash to the Damned to Crass to Siouxie to “Quadrophenia” to everything else that little cluster of islands produced … Our interest in British art and culture seemed especially plangent in contrast with the San Diego landscape in which we grew up.

Three spirits of Halloween

October 29, 2009 by admin

It’s hard to believe the earth has already circled the Great Pumpkin completely since Ray Brandes reviewed hip-and-spooky Halloween music and his sister Claudia recalled her 1984 Halloween party featuring some of our favorite boys and ghouls.

But indeed, Samhain is here again … and I realize that I experienced the holiday in three distinct modes:

The Calaveras Carnivore

December 31, 2010October 27, 2009 by admin

(A culinary blogging adventure from Che Underground veteran Patrick Works.)

While he’s been shooting a lot lately, Patrick’s also been busy writing.

This gets him hungry, so he eats while he writes.

Lately he’s been thinking he should really do some writing about eating. At least that way he’s got a good excuse for all the grease on the keyboard.

Bruce Joyner: Che Underground regards

December 11, 2017October 24, 2009 by admin

(Ray Brandes leads a karmic rally on behalf of a local hero.)

Unknowns’ Bruce Joyner (photograph by Tim LaMadrid; all rights reserved) Che Underground hero Bruce Joyner, lead singer extraordinaire of the Unknowns, is a classic Southern Gentleman. He has graced us here with his insight and keen wit and has answered our questions with a Southern hospitality as rich and famous as sweet sun tea.

Bruce’s chronic health problems, originating with a string of accidents in his youth, have been well-documented. He has weathered years of painful operations and recurring complications like a Georgia oak: steadfastly, firmly and proudly. Bruce will soon be undergoing a series of surgeries that will keep him from performing until at least early springtime of next year.

Gifts and barters

December 31, 2010October 22, 2009 by admin

Back in April, Ray Brandes introduced us to a novel Spanish debt-collection practice and intiated a conversation about the spiritual and physical debts we owe each other. (For me, this whole blog has been a way to express gratitude to all of you for shaping me and helping me realize potential I couldn’t have foreseen.)

I’d like to get a little more mundane, perhaps, and think about the actual objects we pooled and traded. Money wasn’t equally distributed among us, we know, but it seems everybody managed to contribute something to the economy: sharing cigarettes, giving cool boots or a coat to a friend, making a cassette that got handed around, maybe going in on ownership of a vehicle or an amp …

Unlike a straight-up purchase, there’s a social connection and a story behind every trade or gift we made. I’d like to hear some more of them!

Loma Prieta, 20 years later

December 31, 2010October 13, 2009 by admin

While our conjoined roots are in San Diego, Saturday marks a significant anniversary for the Che Underground contingent that relocated to the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-’80s: the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that rocked the region at 5:04 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989.

The 7.1-magnitude quake — which received live national exposure courtesy of the 1989 World Series — killed more than 60 people, tore the region’s infrastructure and knocked some of our internal gyroscopes askew.

Kevin Donaker-Ring, center stage

December 31, 2010October 10, 2009 by admin

There’s “friends” and then there’s friends. Although the specifics of how Kevin and I met have been muddied by time, I’m now thinking it was early 1976, at a La Jolla Shores beach party.

My memory stems from the fact that I had wanted Kevin to go to Wings with me and that was June (rescheduled from May) 1976. He already had a guitar and amp and was taking lessons, but a lot of the connection was over a shared love of music, starting with The Beatles and later Cheap Trick, The Zombies and many others. Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” was always a particular favorite. He didn’t make it to Wings, but we did manage to catch Queen with Thin Lizzy soon after.

From almost the moment we began hanging out, we talked about starting a band.

And we did.

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.