A disc I received from Hair Theatre guitarist Paul Allen adds new showpieces to the Che Underground flyer collection. Today, a trio of flyers advertising a single show March 7, 1986, at the Jackie Robinson YMCA, featuring Hair Theatre; Synesthesia (the great band led by Noise 292 co-founder Kristin Martin); and Decision (another terrific band that featured drum god Paul Brewin, who’d most recently played with Manual Scan).
This set demonstrates the tendency of individual shows to generate multiple flyers, often featuring a different “headliner” depending on the band running the photocopier. Exhibit A also showcases the artistry of David Dick, a new addition to our roster of flyer talent.
I believe this is also the first time we’ve considered the Jackie Robinson YMCA as a mid-’80s venue. I played shows there with 3 Guys Called Jesus — also early in 1986 — opening for the Leaving Trains and the Angry Samoans. (I remember echoey acoustics and that special San Diego blend of creative energy and violence. I have a clear recollection of one of the promoters mopping blood off the gym floor after the Samoans gig.)
Like this event, those shows were mounted by an outfit called Black Market (as well as something called Dasein in this case). Help me fill in the memory gaps about Jackie Robinson’s punk era!
Hair Theatre MP3s:
Hair Theatre plays “Nightfall”: Listen now!
Hair Theatre plays “Meet Me Outside”: Listen now!
Wow, Dave Dick was a pretty good artist. He definitely put a lot of work into that flyer.
I was at the Jackie Robinson YMCA a few times for shows. I might have seen 3 Guys Called Jesus there… I dont remember. I definitely saw the UK Subs play there, which was not too impressive. Not my favorite band by any means, but I had a blast at their New Years Eve show at the Adams Ave. Theater (’82? ’83?).
Toby plyed the UK SUBS show with Personal Conflict , if this flyer goes through , please enjoy.
Great Subs show was at the Spirit Club , maybe 25 people drinking and singing with Charlie Harper
New Years eve 1983 (or maybe 84?). Second lineup- Sherri Fredricks was on Bass that night- but on the upside I got to hang out with Charlie Harper a bit. I really liked the UK Subs early stuff- a great rock/punk band IMHO- and so it was kinda cool to have a beer with the guy.
I saw a couple shows at Jackie Robinson. I think the Circle Jerks one time and the Adicts pulled a no-show the other time. Not my all time favorite venue as I was living in North County at that time, and so the drive was a killer.
Classic tale of punk terror, Mayhem and miscommunication:
I got in a fight there at one of those shows with a skinhead guy from North County. We fought for a bit and he gave me a cut over my eye with a cast he had on. So I’m standing watching the band and drinking a beer and here comes Art, Chui, Frank Thing and Todd MacPhee. They stop in front of me and ask me what happened to my eye. I tell them I got into a scuffle earlier but it was cool. Art asks who did it and I tell him it was no big deal. So he gets real close and says, “Toby- if you don’t tell us who did it we’re gonna kick your ass.” So I figure if they’re going to get all sentimental like that I oughta oblige them. Truth be told I figure they’re just looking for someone to beat up and say what the hell and I tell them it’s a skinhead looking guy in combat boots and suspenders with a flannel and a cast on one arm.
So ten minutes later I turn around and they’re all over this poor kid in combat boots and suspenders with a flannel and a cast on one arm. The poor kid looks like it’s his first show ever and he’s about to shit his pants. So I run over and tell them not that kid- another guy. And Art and Chui just look at me all put out, and Todd Macphee kind of straightens the kid up and dusts him off and they all walk off in search of the other guy.
Jackie Robinson Hall had the most horrible acoustics in San Diego , the sound bounced all over , even for a smashed 3 chord guitar player ,I can remember it…..
cool flyer…this says March 30 though, not the New Years Eve show I saw. Did Personal Conflict play then too? I remember Battalion of Saints playing before the UK Subs. Who was “Lee”? He did a alot of flyers back then I think.
I drove my parents big four-door car to that new year’s show…one of the back doors wouldnt lock. Halfway through the show I went out to the car to drink a beer with a girl I knew, and there was a guy about my age wearing a suit and tie lying on the back seat. He told me something about being stuck waiting for some friends to pick him up or something, and that it was just cold out standing on the street. He told me he’d stay out of my car. Of course, when the show was over there he was again.
There was a local band that was kind of ska/punk with a female lead singer that I saw at the Jackie Robinson YMCA. Does anyone remember them?
I don’t think PC ever played Jackie Robinson, but I’m not sure. I’m fairly certain PC did play the New Years eve show.
Lee Ellingson drew a lot of flyers, and did the Testicle Head comics. He’s now some type of graphic artist.
I don’t remember the ska band, but I have a hazy memory of your guy in the back seat story. Was I there that night? I think we walked by as we were leaving and maybe stopped and talked to you?
Max: Are you talking about the Trowsers, fronted by Joyce Rooks?
That was Dave that asked that.
Geez- I’d all but forgotten about the trowsers.
I remember bad acoustics and really bright colors on the floor, or was that a gym at UCSD?
Jesus- that could be Wabash too- minus the colors.
Bad acoustics were the theme of my gigging life in San Diego … Perhaps the worst of all was the very last gig I played there, in January ’87, just before going to Hamburg: 3 Guys Called Jesus at a Club Cult-sponsored show staged at a Chinese restaurant called Wok Express. The interior was tiled — if you think hardwood gym floors are bouncy, you’ve never played against porcelain. (Picture cranking your amp in a men’s room!)*
There’s a tape from that farewell show that I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere; in the foreground, you can hear two spectators bemoaning the suckitude of the acoustics: “I know these guys are better than this!”
*”Cranking your amp in a men’s room” got Senator Larry Craig arrested last year.
PS: Toby, your tale of two skinheads has all the makings of a classic Shakespearean comedy. Or the “Patty Duke Show.”
Candy , myself , Sergio from your beloved Hair Theater , and John Murray returning from another fantastic show at SDSU , pulled into the 7 11 on Santa Fe in Encinitas to grab that last twelve pack for the night only to find one of our idols shopping in the store. It must have been in 1986 , we all hung out alot ,I no longer played in Manifest , Theater was peaking ,John bounced between bands . We all even wrote afew songs together ,classics….drunk punk anthems.
The band I speak of in the store was the Ramones , who we had seen an hour before, big as life , looking at magazines and heading to the counter only to be surounded by us asking for autographs……we got em , still have the shirt to this day…. , a great memmory in Encinitas
What magazines, Max?? I see Johnny as a Road & Track or Sports Illustrated man (if not US News & World Report), and I can see Joey going for Mother Jones … But I want to hear that Dee Dee was perusing the Utne Reader! LOL
(That was my 7-11 … We should start a thread on convenience-store culture. And I think the Ramones’ visit merits a PLAQUE.)
Tony…you’re right. that was Donkey Show I was thinking of.
Toby…I think I drove a big group of Poway people to that show, so there’s a good chance you were hanging out with us as we were leaving.
On his Facebook page, Carl Schneider has posted the only photos I’ve seen so far from the interior of the Jackie Robinson YMCA during its mid-’80s heyday … Here are a few:
I went to all kinds of shows at the Y. I devide the SD scene like this…the punk era, hard core era & the crossover era.Proudly I served the hard core era seeing bands like agnostic front, D.R.I.,FINAL CONFLICT,C.O.C., G.B.H.,CHRIST ON PARADE, R.K.L.,CHEETA CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS & many more. In 86-87 there was a show mostly every weekend & when there was’nt Tijuana had a cooler scene! Wich brings me to the violence. I say the TJ scene was cooler cause it was united and not so macho bullshit attitude like. I hung out with some Mexican punks that knew the S.D.S.H. & actually they were very cool with us but not with others.So they ruined alot of shows cause we had all kinds of good bands.
Then the crossover happened & it brought more violence. Punks did’nt like head bangers and seeing good hard core turning metal.But all in all ,the JACKIE ROBINSON Y.M.C.A. gave me the best memories of my youth.
S.D.H.C. 4 LIFE!!!!!
Im from NJ but was stationed in Pendleton in the 80’s and was at the Jackie Robinson YMCA in 1986. I saw the U.K. Subs and a few other shows. I was really into the Tijuana punk scene and lived in Tijuana for a bit. The mexican punks were a tighter group to hang with and never had any trouble with them, skin heads were the worse to be around. I miss the old days, wish I had some photos of me with my hair blonde and spikey, now its turning grey and down to my middle back. Anyone remembers hanging with a punk marine in San Diego or Mexico get in touch, miss my old crew,,,,Flavio, Carlos, Kim and her sister, Monkey, Doc etc.