Performance History | The Che Underground

The Skeleton Club in flyers

July 24, 2021June 10, 2010 by admin

Che Underground: The Blog has written before about the legendary Skeleton Club, the backbone of San Diego punk that Laura Fraser and Tim Mays ran for a scant two weeks at 921 4th Ave. before reopening (always a half-step ahead of SD authorities) at 202 Market St.

Now Mikel Toombs enriches our store of Skeleton Club lore with a wealth of flyers, including announcements that accompanied the original venue’s opening and closing.

“The one about the Skeleton Club closing was handed out at the final show at the original Skeleton Club,” Mikel writes. “I don’t have any recollection of the other one.”

Spotlight on Mark Zadarnowski

January 6, 2011June 1, 2010 by admin

(Bart Mendoza offers an appreciation of this San Diego bass phenom.)

Although I had seen the Crawdaddys numerous times by that point and had probably even been at some of the same parties, I was first introduced to Mark Zadarnowski (a k a Mark Z.) by Carl Rusk. Mark was living behind the Kings Road Café at the time and while I’m sure he was less than thrilled to have his house invaded just prior to a show, it was cool formally to meet a member of one of my favorite bands.

One of the bedrocks of the San Diego music scene, the roll call of bands Mark’s recorded with would rank him as a music legend, even if he had stopped after the first one.

A founding member of the Crawdaddys, he can be heard on the legendary 1979 Crawdaddy Express LP, as well as the 5X4 EP and “There She Goes Again” 45. He’s not on another release for a few years, but when he next pops up, once again, it’s on a winner: the short-lived Mystery Machine’s “She’s Not Mine.” Included on the seminal 1983 compilation, Battle of The Garages Vol. 3, the tune has appeared on several other compilations since.

Forever changes: Che Games for May
and the the perpetual nostalgia machine

January 6, 2011May 29, 2010 by admin

Detail: Dave Fleminger, the Mirrors; May 30, 2009 (photo by Dave Doyle) Ava points out that it was exactly one year ago that Che Underground: The Blog hosted its first-ever reunion gig (a k a “Che Games for May”) at San Diego’s Casbah.

The two-night blowout included eight great San Diego bands (nine, if you count the unannounced, sizzling first-night mini-set by Lemons Are Yellow), most of whom hadn’t played together in a quarter-century. It marked the first time most of us had been together since the mid-’80s — and the opportunity to meet a few new friends who’d met through the site and their shared San Diego musical history.

This anniversary thus represents an interesting object lesson in the recursive nature of memory: This event itself has now passed into its realm and hence deserves its own commemorative post!

3 Guys Called Jesus
at North Park Lions Club, 1986

January 6, 2011May 25, 2010 by admin

Here’s a cut from the only extant video I know of 3 Guys Called Jesus, the band I formed in 1985 with Steve Duke (bass, vocals) and Robert Labbe (drums, vocals) and played in until I left San Diego in February 1987.

This performance of my song “Small Vegetables” dates from May 16, 1986, when 3 Guys opened for Specimen and the Tell-Tale Hearts at the North Park Lions Club. (Ray Brandes and I have swapped anecdotes about Specimen’s antics that night; the conditions were just awful at the time but made for a funny story in retrospect.)

‘They’re playing our song’:
Covers and the Che Underground

January 2, 2018May 19, 2010 by admin

(Ray Brandes looks under the covers of favorite songs by our songwriters.)

For a songwriter, it is both a peculiar and rewarding experience to hear one’s songs interpreted by others. Over the past 30 years I have been writing songs, I have had the honor and privilege of listening to cover versions of my songs on many occasions, and it never fails to leave me gratified. One of the first songs I ever wrote, “Crawling Back to Me” (which is the opening track on the Tell-Tale Hearts’ eponymous debut album), has been covered on record by numerous artists, including Spain’s Agentes Secretos, England’s Diaboliks and Australia’s
Shutdown 66.

Perhaps my favorite cover of a song I wrote is Rachael Gordon’s “I Know You’re In Love Again,” which I contributed to her 2002 album “The Coming of Spring” on Subterrania Records. Rachael, an old friend and San Diego native, released the album to rave reviews, particularly in Europe. Germany’s Rolling Stone had this to say:

Mods gone wild! Clairemont High ‘riot’ ’82

March 30, 2019May 8, 2010 by admin

(Dave Fleminger provides video evidence and more of Manual Scan’s threat to the social order of 1980s San Diego.)

In my senior year at Clairemont High, I managed to get Manual Scan onto the roster of the talent show, despite me being the only member of the band that attended the school. Also on the bill were the X-Offenders, who were all either currently students or alumni of Clairemont High.

During Manual Scan’s performance a quote-unquote “riot” broke out amid the audience, and the police were called in to restore the peace. … I think calling it a “riot” is more than a bit of an exaggeration, but I don’t want to diminish the fact that some friends of the band did get whaled on a bit by some of CHS’s football team. Or at least I had heard it was the football team that decided they had had enough of these crazy mod kids calling attention to themselves by dancing it up at the far edge of the aisle near the side exit — a smart spot for quick getaway.

Glory reunited!

December 11, 2017April 30, 2010 by admin

Readers of Che Underground: The Blog who thrilled to Ray Brandes’ history of Glory will have an extraordinary chance to see the legendary San Diego band in action.

Glory (which dissolved in 1978 after a storied 11-year run) will reunite on May 26 to raise funds for the California Music Project and raise funds for music education in public schools. The event will feature Glory alumni Jerry Raney, Jack Butler and Jack Pinney as well as their current musical projects: the Farmers, Private Domain and Modern Rhythm, respectively.

Club Zu Boat Cruise IV

January 6, 2011April 25, 2010 by admin

Ahoy! Club Zu founder Kelsey Farris re-christens a seminal San Diego soirée.

OK GURL! I know you’re coming to my party, and if you wanted to invite friends, it’s great.

Here is a little background: Long-ass story, but when I was 17, I owned a club in San Diego called Club Zu for a few years and chartered these private parties on the San Diego Harbor.

Read Kelsey’s history of Club Zu!

Facebook has reconnected me with so many people who went to Club Zu in the early ‘80s and attended one if not all three of our Club Zu boat parties. Their requests to throw another started me asking around, and this event came together.

The insane invitations are photographs of friends from the era, and the incredible graphics are courtesy of Rodney Rodney in Los Angeles.

Bamboohead’s back!

January 6, 2011April 23, 2010 by admin

We’ve cited Clayton Colgin’s Bamboohead among the influential ‘zines that helped shape the underground aesthetic of San Diego at the turn of the ’80s. In honor of the new millennium and the net, Clay has reimagined his brainchild as Bamboohead 3000, available now on a MySpace page near you!

First up: an interview with Sasha Pfau of the Hot Moon, “a young band in San Diego that I first saw about six months ago … who just continue to energize my sense of what a young modern young band can be about today in the 21st century.

New Sounds Festivals 1985-1991

March 27, 2019April 10, 2010 by admin

(Bart Mendoza describes the arc of an important San Diego music festival he co-founded.)

Helmed by myself and, at first, Ron Friedman, and later Matt Fidelibus (with huge help from Secret Society Scooter Club, Dimitri Callian and many others), there were seven New Sounds Festivals in all, always one big blowout event surrounded by a week of gigs by the touring acts.

I had been bringing groups to town for awhile anyway, so the idea of focusing efforts appealed; the chance to do these events as a benefit for SDSU’s student-run radio station, KCR, was even better. The motive for the New Sounds Festivals was simply to promote and showcase music influenced by Mod / ’60s/ Garage, in particular local groups like the Tell-Tale Hearts, the Nashville Ramblers, Donkey Show, the Trebels and the Event. With short sets and a backline, it was like a really, really cool jukebox.