(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes applies his narrative skills to documenting an influential early band from his own back pages. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)
At the beginning of the summer of 1981, the Ideals (comprising 18-year-old Ray Brandes on lead vocals, 17-year-old Tony Paulerio on lead guitar, 20-year-old Maure Silverman on rhythm guitar, 17-year-old Paul Carsola on drums, and led by 14-year-old prodigy Carl Rusk on bass) were gearing up for a summer of Point Loma keg parties at $50 a performance.
The band, whose short career had reached a pinnacle opening for the Penetrators at Mission Bay High School’s prom, played mostly rockabilly and early rock and roll, with Eddie Cochran’s songs making up about 50 percent of our set list!
At the end of May, with Paul away on a summer vacation, Carl called up the Crawdaddys’ Ron Silva to sit in on drums. Ron knew Carl from years of Skeleton Club shows and had recently seen the Ideals play at the Zebra Club, so he was more than happy to oblige. The gig was to be a massive block party in Crown Point, but it never materialized because the set by the opening band, Stonehenge, resulted in several noise complaints.
Three weeks later, Tony’s vacation prompted another call to Ron, this time to play lead guitar. Ron joined the Ideals at a Point Loma apartment party, and after a few days deliberation asked Carl and me to start a new band with him: the Hedgehogs. I would sing, while Ron would play guitar; Carl, bass; and Paul, drums.
The Hedgehogs play “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You”: Listen now!
During the days we’d practice for hours on end at 2378 Presidio Drive, while at nights we’d drive around in Carl’s family Suburban, wander the streets of Mission Hills or hang out at Julio’s Mexican Restaurant — all the while clad in black leather vests, skinny ties and Beatle boots. Within two weeks we had mastered the Beatles’ entire Hamburg Star Club song list, and were well on our way to becoming an authentic beat group. Ron was veritable encyclopedia of Beatles trivia, and could play and sing any Beatles song Carl or I would suggest.
Playing and singing with Ron was a pleasure for me. Ron had the best ear of anyone I’d ever met. He’d listen to a song once and immediately be able to play it on guitar. I was in awe of his wealth of knowledge and overjoyed to be able to sing three-part harmonies with him and Carl. Carl, who was a mere 14 years old at the time, was wise and talented well beyond his years. He was already demonstrating the brilliance that would later blossom in the Nashville Ramblers. More than anything else, the two of them were like my brothers, and we spent some of the best months of my youth together.
One of my favorite bands of the time! They would play requests even, if they liked the song. I tried out for drummer (must have been right after Paul left), but I was so bad that I think Ron said “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”. I don’t blame him, haha! I didn’t really think I would be an asset to the band. I just wanted to be in a band to get birds!
>>I tried out for drummer (must have been right after Paul left), but I was so bad that I think Ron said “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”.
Dean: I suck so hard on drums, I create a perfect vacuum!
I’m bummed I never caught the Hedgehogs. And I never realized Mr. Rusk was such an enfant terrible — I was sure he was at least a couple years older until Tom Ward set me straight. How did Carl join forces with the older guys? Was this all Point Loma HS?
my first show (60’s one) was a hedgehogs/scan/crawdaddys show at the adams ave theater in the spring of 1982. The hedgehogs also played Cheri Gross’s grad party in June of that year and the manic sheer fun of the cavern club material was in full force. I think Ray played drums that night at Cheri’s?? Correct me if I am wrong???
Yes It all goes back to PLHS drama class.
(Class of 1980 Represent!) Also I remember the first high school party I went to was late spring of 1978 at “The Stoup House” and an early version of the Crawdaddies were playing (Ron, Steve, Mark, and I can’t remember who was on drums but I swear it was Matt Wallace) was playing. Good times with a lot of kids from drama class and at one point Maure went up and he sang lead on Led Zepp’s “The Ocean”. Which seems both odd and serenely beyond cool. Of course, that party set my standards very high on what a good party should be (I think they’re still based on that first one).
The Stoup House always had great parties.
Ray: It was at a house in Mission Hills. Carl’s or Keith’s?
Tony: That sounds like a great first show lineup! Can’t recall the show though so don’t know if I was there, was I?
>>Yes It all goes back to PLHS drama class.
Chris: Oh, I’m liking this story! San Dieguito HS’ drama department was a source of fuel for the musically offbeat in Encinitas … Buncha theater geeks and magic nerds! 🙂
PS: Clayton Liggett ran an insanely ambitious program at San Dieguito — theater in the round … The first play of my freshman year was “Equus”! And it was brilliant.
Musically offbeat? Yeah, I’ll take that. The truth is, it was a kind of default hangout for those of us who were not athletic, not particularly interested in academics, but were more concerned with music, humor and being attention whores. Maure, Chris and I were all aspiring film makers. Music started out (for me anyway) as just another way to get some attention.
Dean: That would be Carl’s house on Presidio Drive.
Tony: I’m 90% sure I didn’t play drums at that party.
Chris: That might have been Scuzz, Ron’s brother, on drums. That leaves me with a question, though: with what band did Maure sing “The Ocean”? It certainly wouldn’t have been the Crawdaddys.
It was the same night, I think Ron might have taken a break, I’m vaguely remembering another guy coming up to play guitar, perhaps the guy from Arabee (the band Maure told me, he was in before we got to Point Loma). This might take some investigating. One of those mysteries where all events occurred but not in the way they were remembered. Where’s the History Channel when you need it? I do remember the Crawdaddys taking a break, and at one point Ron wearing the greek fisherman’s cap I wore to the gig because it had a similar look to those Beatle caps. But only after Colleen Cordoza (man, now there’s a name from 30 years gone) had worn it.
Speaking of film making, I’m now imagining a “Law and Order” dun dun segue with me knocking on Maure’s door to ask about the night in question.
Chris: There is something delicious in the image of someone sneaking a Led Zeppelin cover in while Ron Silva was momentarily distracted. It’s got kind of an Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks cheekiness to it!
I believe this was taken at Cheri’s party:
Jason,
I’m pretty sure that’s not Cheri’s party, because Mike Stax is playing bass. It is perhaps the party at Kristen Schwarz’s house, the one at which Gordon Moss played drums and Mike played bass on a few songs. Unless of course Tony Suarez is right and I DID play drums at that party.
I emailed Maure about wether or not “the Crawdaddys” backed him on on “The Ocean” and his reply was so insightful and humorous I have reprinted it here,
Maure say:
You remember well…for that someone on guitar was Robert “Bobby”
Lowell, guitarist for Ayerabi or whatever we were called. Sort of
Crawdaddy’s with Silva & Potterf and then Matt Wallace & Robert Lowell..
and yes “The Ocean” was given the Silverman vocal treatment and
then buried into the rock & roll kitty litter of history…
I’m pretty sure this was also the party where “The Crawdaddy’s” played
what to me was a “snapshot” rock & roll moment for me --
i.e. their version of “Come See Me” (Pretty Things) where us drama kids
and other SD new wave/semi-suburban-punks and friends were dancing up such a storm in the Stoup living room that Ron Silva had to pull back
the Mic stand so as not to get toppled over and that moment is so dang clear to me ’cause “that’s freakin R & R” -- the music, the dancing and
the exhuberance all coming together like the first taste of a carne asada burrito…
There was a hedgehogs playing at your house Senor Pettiway. That same summer in 1982? I have a flyer for it “the party to end the world”. I remember Ron and others making fun of the ABC song “shoot that poison arrow” throughout the set.
MTV had just hit cable in san Diego, and some folks found it quite hilarious. Ron was just very vocal about it (he kept quoting the “yippie aye yae” line in the song).
I remember that party well. There was a tree in the middle of the backyard. Peter and Keith of the Crawdaddys showed up, and being a little jealous of Ron spending time playing with the Hedgehogs, they climbed the tree and heckled us.
>>Peter and Keith of the Crawdaddys showed up, and being a little jealous of Ron spending time playing with the Hedgehogs, they climbed the tree and heckled us.
All of the other Crawdaddys used to laugh and call him names? They never let Ron Silva join in any Hedgehog games??
If I could only think of a melody, this could be quite a catchy tune!
Tony, I seem to recall your early band “I-Spy” played at the party at Cheri’s house as well (was it the first show?). I have a picture from the same roll one that I am pretty sure is of I-Spy which made me think they we taken on the same night.
aack! wow! Post away. That was, er the first appearance of i-spy. WE played much earlier in the afternoon. I remember going home to bring home the band equipment (we had a hammond organ to deal with), change and go back to the party.
>>That was, er the first appearance of i-spy
Tony: When am I going to get an I-Spy bio to post on the site?? 🙂
Double aack! I have to cobble something together. I am lacking photo documentation (i have seen photos, Gonzalo has some, Ingo’s parents took some).
I saw Gonzalo Manuel at the Casbah on Sunday night, and are topic of discussion was I-spy and those who were related to the circle of bands. We did talk about digitizing photos and records (Gonzalo has a clean copy of the 5051 EP). He has many of the Che underground era.
Gonzalo was the conduit for many Clairemont/UC kids in getting connected. If we had a Rock Family tree, Gonzalo would have a very heavy branch of folks that met because of his doings. Steve Medico, Dave Anderson, and me all benefited.
If I can get it together, I’ll submit something. The wickershams need a mention on here. I have a recording from Wabash hall from june 1985 and photos courtesy of Bart Mendoza.
I am going to deflect and recommend a piece:bands on video tape. Cox cable had a “local music” show that ran in the spring and summer of 1984. Manual scan, Playground slap and The TTH’s and others appeared. Were there others? I have seen a few episodes on Youtube. Who can dash up a few paragraphs on this???
Tony,
I’ve been asking around for a video of that show--we did three songs--for about twenty years. A while back Bart said he knew a guy . . .
The only video I’ve seen of that show is the Manual Scan video the Shambles posted on YouTube. Anyone have any idea who might have it?
I am haunted by the dim memory of a video camera pointed at Noise 292 during a party at Paul Allen’s house. Of course, I associate that party with an early Morlocks gig that NOBODY but me remembers us playing, so this may be just another facade in my own private Potemkin village.
I remember seeing it at Ed Moore’s house (he was one of the first to have a VCR that I knew). Didn’t Dave Klowden have a copy???
I remember in 1986 the TTH’s playing at SDSU cable show with Playground slap. Anybody else recall this? TTH’s would play one song, then PS, then…
Of course, I can’t remember to bring my lunch to work. But, this I remember…
David does not have either video. Yes, the Tell-Tale Hearts did play at SDSU with Playground Slap--Spring of ’86 and one of Eric’s last gigs. We waited around for about six or seven hours so that by the time we went on, most of us were not in any condition to play. Man, I’d love to see that one, too. I remember borrowing an old guitar from Dennis Borlek which I played on a few songs.
That Unknowns documentary has me fantasizing that every lost byte of multimedia from our youth will somehow surface.
We’ve got a lot of new readers, so I should put out the call again … Even if you’re just lurking, drop me a line at cheunderground@gmail.com if you have old video, audio, photos … We’d love to digitize what you’ve got!
It’s pretty amazing (and equally frightening) just how over-documented every public act is nowadays. It is said that every square inch of outdoor space in London is being recorded on surveillance cameras.
>>It’s pretty amazing (and equally frightening) just how over-documented every public act is nowadays.
Ray: These video cameras on my shoes say “Amen!”
Wow Ray! What a cool tribute you have posted! I have not heard my Hedgehog drumming in 28 years! That was a fun summer. In retrospect I wished I had stayed with the band. At the time I was listening to a lot of surf instumental music, and those great 60’s Spy themes from movies and TV. I tried starting up a Spy band with two Point Loma sax players, Neil Pollack and David Sandage. I think I even got Maurie Silverman out to a few practices. We rehersed a few times, but fizzled out before any gigs came our way. Those songs you recorded in 82 were great. Ron’s vocal lead on “Sun” was brilliant. That man could sing!
I’ve got an ep of one of those Cox Cable shows -- on effing Beta! NE1 doing “So We Go,” The Neat, TTHs [“Hey Tiger” and a hilarious interview with the poor hostess] and Manual Scan. Same tape has a collection of Bob Stall Chevrolet commercials. Any else remember that dude in the spots? “Pick up the phone. Give us a call. Bob Stall Chevrolet…. La Mesa!”
John C, you bastard! You brought back a 30-year-old ear worm. It’s going to take days to undo that.
Here, take this- “See Pearson Ford. We stand alone at Fairmount and El Cajon”
John! Is this John Chilson? Anyway, I would kill for a copy of that tape. Any chance we might be able to digitize it?
I didn’t realize Pearson Ford closed a few months ago . . .
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/10/1n10ford002436-pearson-ford-fondly-recalled-icon-c/
>>Here, take this- “See Pearson Ford. We stand alone at Fairmount and El Cajon”
The parrot living in my head just spat out, “Pete Ellis Ford, Long Beach Freeway, Firestone exit, Southgate.”
Is that correct? If so, it’s totally “Rainman” … I never actually considered the semantics of the driving directions it comprises, just kind of absorbed the rhythm of the words and tucked them away for 20+ years.
WOW. I did get the Pete Ellis Ford jingle right!
Brains are among our weirder organs. (I keep mine supple by standing on my head till my ears are turning red.)
Ron Silva’s R&B band from the 90s -- Ron Silva & The Monarchs -- have reformed and are playing on Sunday October 4th at the Tower Bar in San Diego! Don’t miss it!
More info:
Facebook Event
They are also playing on Oct. 2nd in San Francisco and Oct. 3rd. in Los Angeles. Details
A found a couple more grainy and muddy pictures from what I am now pretty sure was Cheri Gross’ graduation party. Seems fairly trivial but to Tony’s original point, Ray does appear to be playing drums. I also found a picture of ISpy, complete with the top half of Tony’s head. I forwarded this to Matthew with a request to add them to this post.
>>I forwarded this to Matthew with a request to add them to this post.
Jason dates these from a film disk he shot in 1982:
The Hedgehogs:
I-Spy (first gig?)
What were the dates for I-Spy, btw? Jason dates this photo of their debut gig as 1982 … Weren’t Anderson and Suarez pulled into Fleminger’s Answers orbit by … Summer ’82?
that was mid Mid June, shortly after graduation. Dave and I met Dave Flem at that very party. A few weeks later we were rehearsing with the Answers….That amp behind the sax player is Dave Anderson’s pops Silvertone. I think it was the PA for rehearsals throughout the Answers and Ispy period. Thanks for scanning these Jason.
>>that was mid Mid June, shortly after graduation. Dave and I met Dave Flem at that very party. A few weeks later we were rehearsing with the Answers….
Tony: Were both lineups in existence at the same time?
Yes, more or less. We’d take a break from ISPY, for a few weeks at a time. But we did shows up until about November/December 1982. Did anyone ever play up at the concert factory up in Costa Mesa? I SPy had a hammond organ that we all dreaded, as it was a pain to transport (it wasn’t a b3, but an m1 or m3). We dragged that thing up to OC in a 1963 Ford truck and came back the same night. The concert Factory reminded me a lot of theset up at Headquarters: 3 or 4 bands in one night, a good p.a and good turnouts. Dave Flem recounts some night up in OC where he sat in, as our hammond player couldn’t make it. He even found the cassette of songs he used to learn the songs that Dave Anderson had made him! FedMart Brand Cassette stand the test of time!
>>We’d take a break from ISPY, for a few weeks at a time. But we did shows up until about November/December 1982.
Tony: I’m still hoping for a band history …
I think folks on this blog will like to learn more about the quality of recordings made on Fedmart or Radio Shack tapes from that period! Dave Flem was able to make good usable mp3’s of a few answers rehearsals from that period!
Ah yes, the mediocre media of choice (or budget):
Normal bias, no noise reduction….you don’t wanna miss the hiss!
The top cassette (model FM-007) is near and dear — I used to stealthily record this duo that played at Balboa Park (back when you could just show up and play), two guys with acoustics that played a good smattering of hits of the day. Pretty much the Anchorman soundtrack…Baker St, Imnottalkingboutthelimit, somewherebreeze, etc. The tape still has those 1977-era moments captured in time and when you hear the belltower announce the hour you know exactly where this was.
The power of portable!!
Does anyone else remember “Charlie the Tape Man”? His family ran a few tape duplicating shops, one in Hillcrest and the other at the bottom of Washington Street, in a little shack next to where the Japanese restaurant Yoshinos is currently located. He used to sell packs of cheaply made cassette tapes shrink wrapped in styrofoam meat trays. Charlie the Tape Man had a twin brother and a sister who also ran tape shops.
I used to get the styro wrapped meat cassettes from the tape lady up in Hillcrest. I did this well into 2000? or later? The Wine Steals bar is in that location now….
>>styro wrapped meat cassettes from the tape lady
Isn’t this a Throbbing Gristle lyric?
While we’re on the topic ‘o cassettes here’s a shameless product endorsement for an app with a most endearing and familiar interface:
RetroRecorder for Iphone
http://www.retrorecorder.com
This is a great piece of software with a couple sonic tricks up its sleeve, and best of all your recordings show up as cassette boxes….shweet. Just don’t leave them on the dashboard of your car.
Ray, I remember the little shack that had the word “TAPES” painted in gigantic letters on it. It was sort of a mystery to me. I was too young to need their services.
Tony, I caught TG’s show in San Francisco. It was great!