Time for belated public acknowledgment of people who aided and abetted those of us on stage.
I’d suggest that performing with a band required a mix of artistic impulse, personal ambition, exhibitionism, a desire for recognition and a need for affirmation. (Your mileage may vary on which traits were dominant.) Most of us had a major assist from folks who didn’t seem to need the limelight so desperately but were there for us: other kids who were known as roadies; managers; girlfriends (and boyfriends); or never had an “official” label but still exerted tremendous influence.
Who carried your amp and fixed your strings? Who drew your flyers? Who second-guessed the sound man and argued with the promoter? Who stood down front on an empty dance floor when everyone else huddled 40 feet back?
Let’s give credit where credit is overdue!
A few personal examples to get the ball rolling:
Eric Sloan was a huge booster for Noise 292 as we were getting started — and quickly became one of my closest friends.
John Stees as well as Mike McCarthy were tireless in their psychological and logistical support for 3 Guys Called Jesus. John took the ride up to San Francisco, where he was to play an even bigger role in keeping the Ho Hos on track.
Joe Palmer was the first person I spoke to in Hair Theatre’s circle the night I met the band … He didn’t miss a beat convincing me they were the Next Big Thing, and his sunny support of HT was a huge factor in those earliest days.
Jerry Cornelius was a scene celebrity in his own right, but he wasn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves or break a little glass in support of the bands he cared about. Patrick Works was the perfect moniker for a catalyst for the scene. Bobo is a legend, as is BoboStock.
It was fun thinking of ourselves as rock stars, but it wouldn’t have been easy without people to believe in us, too.
“I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours,” Bob Dylan told us in “Talkin’ WWIII Blues.” These people demonstrated the knack.
I have hesitated to share my info as I am a rock star in a different type of arena…
El Tunel TJ… up for discussion.
Robyn: Che Underground (hearts) El Tunel! Here are some El Tunel reminiscences in a fun thread about weird places we’ve played. Rock y roll!
John Nee and Bart Cheever both gave very encouraging support to The Answers. Jerry of course contributed collaborated and helped in numerous ways and means (pretty much everything Matthew listed above and more), from management to art direction to songwriting even to performing! Steve Medico lent us his gear, and was too nice a friend to demand it back even when we kept it waaay too long. Paul Kaufman gave me his drum set, that was eventually used for all the Mirrors gigs and sessions, along with nearly all my home recordings for many years. Thanks also to Rick Din, who housed his kit at my house around 80-81 which gave me an opportunity to learn to bang on the drums. And major thanks to Kristin Martin, who taped several of our Che shows.
Gonzalo Manuel helped out at many gigs. And of course Pat and Linda Works all but housed and fed us (actually they did house and feed us), gave us a place to do band bickerings and never let us know when we had worn out our welcome. Bobo let us carpet his entire bedroom to make it into a studio and I don’t recall ever removing the mess we made, either…sorry!
wow..the more I think about it, bands can be really needy little self-possessed beings…hungry minstrels of mayhem that consume nearly everything in their path (i.e. Dave Anderson’s parents’ kitchen) and might manage a ‘thank you’ belch afterwards if you’re lucky. And the garage category leaves behind a trail of annoyed neighbors in its wake…on the flipside I’ve seen rehearsal space rooms that are worlds removed from care…where every step is a stinky, sticky or just plain dangerous adventure of food/drink/ciggie leavings. Ultimately somebody had to clean up all those droppings to prepare the room for the next marauding horde to nest in. Thanks to everybody who cleaned up after me ‘n my mates..
My folks allowed and even encouraged my noisemaking at home…within reason…at least then they knew where I was and what I was up to…
Now El Tunel..THAT is one amazing work of self-containment that leaves the world a better place for knowing it. No regrets dropping down that rabbit hole….I still think we all just imagined that mirage in some strange group-consciousness summoning experment, or SOMEbody meme’d it into everybody’s memory….’fess up!!
>>bands can be really needy little self-possessed beings…hungry minstrels of mayhem that consume nearly everything in their path
Dave Fleminger: Wow, what a great way to put it! And sometimes we even consumed ourselves. (Like the vacuum monster in “Yellow Submarine” that ends up sucking itself into oblivion.)
Many of us owe a debt to John Nee (currently a big wheel in the comics industry), who honed his wheeling and dealing on our behalf around the Che Cafe and the rest of the UCSD campus. John was the architect of UCSD Musicians Club, a campus organization he organized to allow us access to UCSD gear and venues.
Anybody who played those 1983 Che shows (or enjoyed other contemporary UCSD gigs like Social D) can thank John for navigating the paperwork and scoring the equipment. (Also props to soundman Phillip Detchmendy for operating it.)
Great topic. It’s a long list, but right off the bat, I would have to name Mike Rice as hugely important to Manual Scan. A great friend, whether driving, tuning, mediating or inspiring, his calm demeanor and tireless enthusiasm made all the difference over the years. Tons of great road trips with Mike:-) Also at the top of the list is the late Josh Entreken. One of my best friends, he was with The Shambles from the beginning and a show still doesn’t feel complete without him. Earliest on though, still in high school, it was Ron Feinberg and Ron Archibald, who recorded endless rehearsals and were amongst our biggest supporters. Thanks to all of them 🙂
Paul Hokeness, Darren Grealish and their respective pickup trucks lugged more Wallflowers and Morlocks equipment and musicians than anyone else back in the day. I still remember getting back into S.D. from our recording/gigging trip to S.F. in ’87(?). Leighton and I were fortunate enough to have reached our turn in the cab, while Paul, Tommy and the equipment (all in back) got drenched in a rainstorm that started at about Pea Soup Anderson’s and lasted ’til we got to town. Downtown S.D. seemed really grey and sleepy as we dropped off Paul at GVW.
Adolph Coors, Timothy Leary, the Medellin cartel and the San Diego chapter of the Hells Angels were all instrumental in the day to day operations of Personal Conflict. We pretty much carried our own gear and any psychological assistance short of straight jackets (while completely warranted) would have been (at best) poorly received.
Another facet of the scene around the Che Cafe in mid-’83: We helped each other out a lot, whether it was swapping gear, musicians or top billing. (I got pretty spoiled — rock-star posturing was not something I encountered much at the time.)
To name names, Noise 292 owes the Answers several big ones for championing us to the Headquarters and other venues (not to mention to their much larger audience).
In the Rockin’ Dogs, we didn’t set the time to be at rehearsal so much as we’d set the day (no one would have shown up on time anyway, so what was the point?). If it was a Saturday, everyone knew to be there in the early afternoon… and don’t plan on doing anything else that day. We’d rehearse at Cole’s house, in a studio we built in the garage. That meant that Lori, Cole’s then-girlfriend, got to have us all hanging around (as though we lived there) all day long… plus any friends that came along. She never once seemed to complain about it or mind at all. So… thank you, Lori… wherever you are.
And she took pictures of us when we played live, too (you can see her reflection in the mirror in one of those Saigon Palace shots).
Time to cite our thread “Let’s Talk About Girls.” Rock bands could be real sausage-hangs, but (adequately credited or not), the title “girlfriend” often encompassed a range of duties that included flyer-making, equipment-toting, creative consulting and a whole gamut of other important contributions.
Matthew wrote:
>equipment-toting
I was never in a band, but as an outsider I think it’s so lame to have your girlfriend tote your equipment. Girls, what gives here? If I were a girl, I would have said “tote your own gear!” Ha!
Did I mention that I carried Tommy Clarke’s guitar on the back of his motorcycle while driving on the freeway? And one time his little Peavey amp. Ted Friedman was also a renowned band equipment tote wagon. That yellow honda was a mule.
hmm…did a couple of flyers, pressedsome tab-collar shirts… and caused all kinds of shinanigans like a young girl can who just hangs out with men!
If the girlfriend (or friend) volunteers that’s one thing, but when the guy expects the girl to lug his gear that’s another (I know guys in bands who expected that).
I’m with Dean on this one. I’ve never been in a band in which anyone expected a girlfriend to carry equipment. More often than not, after the show was over and the crowd had dispersed to a party somewhere, we were left sweatily carrying our amps to our own cars! If we were lucky, a few cheap friends had gotten into the show free by carrying a cymbal stand.
By the way, I was unfamiliar with the term sausage-hang . . .once again urbandictionary.com came to the rescue. On tour once, Victor Peñalosa referred to one gig we played as a hard legs convention. I think this is old man vernacular.
“Sausage-hang” does sound like it should come from Chaucer:
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his Sasage-hange yronne …
I was a woman and was able to out dress, drink, swear, and out story
tale all of the guys I hung out with!
Moving equipment and helping out was a bounus!
Thanks awfully to everyone who gave me a lift back before I had wheels. Dave Anderson for one, who must’ve driven me to all the Gravedigger V band practice (I say “rehearsal” more often nowadays) out at the Friedman’s house. By having access to a car or two, he managed to be both of the band and with the band at the same time. A few times it must’ve been his girlfriend who drove. Her name is Marcie Morgan. No idea where she may be nowadays. She lived near Mesa College as I recall. Was she another Volkswagen owner? Or was that Dave’s? The car he had access to for awhile that was truly amazing was a ’55 Buick, Buick “Super” I think. Three port-holes; paint oxidized, but original. No rust. What a car! Dave’s primary wheels were a scooter; the Buick belonged to his parents I believe, and I bet the bug was Marcie’s. Thanks to all of them--vehicles and people alike--for being willing to go far out of their way to pick me up at Greyling Place.
A girlfriend supreme who definitely was good in a jam was (and is) Addie Kaiser, to whom I think I’ve paid tribute elsewhere on the blog. I wrote that sentence in passive voice, but she was far from passive. She and Ron Silva were mutual sidekicks back in the early era of my knowing Ron. She was even out in New York when we were here in 1988. I guess she and Ron arrived in ’87. Not quite sure the details--he had his own apartment, and she also stayed additional years in NYC, like into the ’90s. But my appraisal was that you could generally believe that Addie had your back.
Of course there is no way to do justice to all the helpful people around. There were many. Especially when you include parents, who are helpful one day and perhaps less so the next! But something should probably be said about the Rusks. My involvement in the scene is really post-Rusk house, but I think Mike Stax was living there when I floated into the picture. I recall being brought there by David Klowden in early 1984--in fact that would have been when I met Carl. Oh, but they do come up in the bit about the Mystery Machine--or was it the Hedgehogs? Anyway, Carl’s parents are great and their attitudes facilitated any number of connections discussed in these pages. Their kid was a bit of a prodigy, and brought a number of older bohemian rock & roll kids home to stay as it turned out. Maybe not as many as Pat Works’s mom, but…. Plus they let Carl drive the family’s rusted ’72 Suburban. How could it be that rusty--it was twelve years old, looked ancient already. That thing provided a lot of rock & roll service, even after I cracked the windshield with a beatle boot. Fortunately its trade-in value was already quite low by the time I added my crowning stroke of damage.
Just “found” this thread. Ah Dave, thanx for the love. <3 You know I didn’t mind you guys practicing at the house. On the contrary, I LOVED IT. (Loved you all too — like bro’s of course.) I was actually sad on those days that I missed your practicing. I secretly wanted to be in the band, you know. 😉 But being photographer and roadie was cool too. Remember what a chore it was trying to fit Cole’s drum kit into my tiny ’74 Super Beetle? But we managed to do it, every time. Oh! And don’t forget the staple-gunning gig flyers to basically anything a staple would stick into. (Including our fingers.) 😛 Yowwww…
:: And I would do it ALL again ::
Gene King, Jim Wood, Laura Frasier, Tim Mays, John Nash and Pete Wilson, were all instrumental (pun intended) in the injections rise and fall.
Mr Skum was the person I loved to hate. Bruce, Lisa, Terry, Marc, DT,Cliff, Lorna, Ruby and of course Lisa Acid.
Roger and Testicle Head!
Hate is a strong word
a couple of years back i saw terry marine, he had a shopping cart and was standing on a corner screaming versus from the bible at people
I had heard about Terry. Maybe one day I will run into him. From my experience he was one of the biggest supporters along with Cliff of the Injections .
Lou:
Striking hate and replacing it with “engage with”. I just left you another message in another thread. Where are you?? Phone home Mr Skum. Injections appear to be a hot commodity these days. I see you are still writing !
That up there reads awkwardly. What I meant to say was that I felt both Cliff and Terry gave a lot of support to the Injections.
That is all.
To be truthful I saw terry twice once downtown, and once on washington and anza. I talked to him both times…well lets just say it was’nt the terry I remembered. I think at times terry was one of the best guys I had met in the seen. I was actualy quite sad on both oc cassions.
bad to be typing after drinking. sorry about misspelling half what i type
I believe Cliff is still with the post office.
Cliff’s been by here … I still hope for some reminiscences from him. (We talked about a Social Spit bio, for one.) I’ve been dismayed by the reports about Terry … Another one of the good guys.
I’d like to get a narrative going about the effect of the military as a magnet for SD’s early punks … Terry Marine, Chris Jarhead, Cliff, Lou, Mme. Gargoyle … Who-all converged on San Diego through military service?
Mmrothenberg, Terry was a sad state of affair when i saw him, but it has been some time. I’m glad to say Terry could always “Be my friend”
Thanks for sharing about Terry. I was hoping that you might have seen him within the last year.
I would love to give a narrative of my time in the military and how that led me to the Injections, Noise 292, Everybody Violet and the misc. other projects that I was involved in over time . 🙂
I will work on that.
P Gargoyle, Did you know Bill Board ? Me and Bill were realy good friends.
Of course I know him. I was in Your Sister with him and Lou Skum and some other things. Are you still in touch with him??
I can, he’s still in linda vista
He was in a band called the vicious midgets after that with shawn sennett. Shawn talks to him all the time.
Mmrothenberg, speaking of military people..do you remember scott klasbe. he dated lorna and was around a long time. he was another military guy in the san diego scene. there was also a guy name bill from north park. good guy. he was a military guy. I remember him because he was with me on a trip to L.A. for a misfits show when i got arrested and spent six monthes in L.A. juvenile hall. not the best time in my life. But when I got out all my friends were there to meet me at first an ivy.
As a sidebar I got arrested by the L.A. county sheriffs the week after the riot in huntington beach at G.B.H.,Exploited show and when they took me to the station “with asix inch mohawk’ the cop that arrested me said”I got one” and they prosecuted me for having a chain under my seat. Thank goodness my parents were able to get the case transfered to san diego as the case was thrown out. unfotunatly for me i got to do six monthes in L.A. juvenal hall before that.
Lou Skum,where the hell are you? I’m going to Boston/NYC in march.’09. Are you there? Call me. Punk rock is alive and well in Seattle
I remember when Tom Clarke and Paul Howland used to play in a garage that belonged to a kid named “Space.” I think Space was on drums. Eric Bronson was on keyboards, eventually making every song sound like Ray Manzarek on “Light my Fire.” Space (Maurice) provided a lot of equipment and snacks and moral support.
Also, an awkward kid named David Rubinstein used to be the only one with a vehicle. He generously let us all pile into his pseudo muscle car and drove everyone everywhere. For some reason Dave took a lot of crap.
I was and remain a huge fan of Tom Clarke. We were friends before there was a band. While he indulged me with many command guitar performances, his rock-solid character is what I loved then and appreciate more as time passes.
It’s ironic that Tom had any celebrity as a punk. Tom was not a punk, or really any kind of adolescent. He went directly from childhood to being a man. In a time and place defined by dramatic protest and rage about the disappointments of adulthood, Tom lived the serenity prayer. More than anyone I knew, Tom had real reasons to rage and protest. And the strength and intelligence not to. He accepted adult responsibility and the indignities of adolescence with breath-taking grace.
“bruce smith Says:
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Lou Skum,where the hell are you? I’m going to Boston/NYC in march.’09. Are you there? Call me. Punk rock is alive and well in Seattle”
Bruce Smith???
did you used to own a VW van? or an old Mercury?
i remember The Injections, and Your sister too…
Terry was pretty cool,(i liked the “be my friend”zines) but totally into bondage, he would show us his
collection of stuff(my best friend diana and i, and we were like 16)when he, and chrissy, and roger had parties in North Patk, he was always trying to freak us out, but since we were both 6 ft. tall, i dont think anyone ever knew how young we were in that older crowd.
like the guys at the Mod house,and Mark Rude, and Cleo’s(laurie), etc..
good times!!
Julie -- I remember the tall girls at our shows and at our house parties, (mod House). Was this you?? I had a crush on one of you and I remember Jay Johnson trying to run me over when I was talking to one of you in front of some club or studio in downtown!
Good Times!!
Bruce Injection
Ok…the bit about Terry and the bondage gear and scaring people brought back some memories ! 🙂
That reminded me of a time when he and Chris Jarhead were outside the Whistlestop that was having shows at various times. They were both dressed in Nazi Uniforms and they had brought a record player and were playing polka music. They had a rather large picture of Hitler propped against the wall and they were throwing tomatoes at it. It was quite surreal.
Oh Tom, that’s right! David’s Buick! That thing was a true beaut. I remember us driving around in that thing, and people would make offers to him for it. It was a 1955 Buick Special, Blue with white trim portholes and automatic seats and windows which was pretty sweet. David and I both had VWs. Mine was a white 68 and he had several, a zenith blue 68, his Mom’s which was a 69 and metallic blue. He had 65 or 66 Volkswagen pop-top camper bus and, finally a 63 0r 64 ragtop, that was sadly got totalled along with the camper bus. I do remember escorting the Pandoras in that bus and Paula and another girl kept on wanting us to take them to “Les Girls” when they still had the cool signage. Tom, if you see this, I am alive and well, my memory of those days is patchy at times, but I do remember you well, and hanging out at your house.
Kevin, do you remember akk the times with eric otterbeck or alexander? Or the times at your house behind the heavy equip.yard out in santee?
Or even more so remember long hair scotty..I sure do miss him. Have you seen Blue? I heard they got married and lived up in alpine or something like that. On the scean does anyone remember the scull buster’s or how sdsh had a rasta band going for awhile. All the shows at wabash hall and Mexico. I can’t begin to belive that some of made it through alive , but god it was a trippy time back then. Hey has anyone have info on Paul Dease he lived up in north park with his mom and dad and also with mike woods.
Does anyone remember the suspension bridge? Spent many a drunkin night there with SDSH, my little sister went out with Chuey for years on and off. I also remember the pick up football games that were played over at the park by 35th st, Bid was always picking at his face in any mirror he could find. Soo many old memories that most people can’t even believe happened. People are always telling me rto write a book. I’m trying to get ahold of anyone who remember’s me..megan ashley..at mvasquez1039@yahoo.com I don’t live in sd any longer but would love to talk to anyone from the sceen.
I remember the bridge. I remember running back and forth and pretending it wasn’t terrifying. A girl who looked just like Betty Boop used to swing over the sides like a monkey.
i totally remember her. the neighbors used to call the cops on us and we would all pile into my duster and hide until they all would leave and we would then start it all again. Does anyone remember going up to the top of presidio park and going up to the top of the thing that looked like a castle? i remember there was some markings that i always thought look liked devil worship stuff.
many memories of Mexico,North Park, Mike Woods,Terry Moreen living in the closet across the street from me at Tim and Sid’s house, and lots of time with Steve Garrison….
The castle was awesome. Great place to watch fireworks. That same girl was a great rock climber. We used to watch her scale the walls.
>>Does anyone remember going up to the top of presidio park and going up to the top of the thing that looked like a castle? i remember there was some markings that i always thought look liked devil worship stuff.
Megan: The Presidio Park pentagram! We’ve talked about it lots. 🙂
>>”How SDSH had a rasta band going for a while”
OK, OK … I’m dying to hear this story! Did they play out??
>>I remember the bridge. I remember running back and forth and pretending it wasn’t terrifying. A girl who looked just like Betty Boop used to swing over the sides like a monkey.
okay more than you need to know, but I made love on that bridge a couple of times…and NOT right at the stepping off point…hey,I was living at the mod house where privacy was not an option!
heff
>Cindy Rimmel used to bring him by my house and torture him; I thought he was nice…
Me too! He was a great guy. But for some reason whenever other people were around, I couldn’t resist mild torment. I don’t know why. Mea culpa. I hope he’s doing well.
>>”hey,I was living at the mod house where privacy was not an option!”
HEY, I did OK there Gary !!
oh man…but your bedroom was not RIGHT next to the living room! …and, no I wasn’t into the betty boop look…those girls were TROUBLE!…and I didn’t want trouble then…just danger! ok…I’ll stop here.
heff
Ha ha ha …this is so funny in retrospect. I thought Paris lived off the living room with all his cool, Dub-Rasta shit??????
Loved those troubled girls…married one!
how GREAT to see juni here…hello old friend! did you ever see that movie that we did together at the ken club?
This interview with Klaus Voormann is quite charming.