The legendary Cyndie Jaynes Collection of historical photos of the San Diego underground doesn’t stop at Camp Pendleton. Here’s a set of performance photos of the Morlocks playing San Francisco’s Swedish American Hall sometime after the band’s move north as well as earlier shots of them playing an undisclosed location in San Diego.
The Morlocks were an incredible live band, and Cyndie’s lens captures them at the acme of their power. San Diego’s loss … San Francisco’s gain!
Badass! I caught a Swedish Hall show, not sure if it was 84 or 85. The Brotherhood of Light provided the psychedelic backdrop of melted water and oil emulsions dancing on overhead projectors. By this point, the Morlocks were at the perfect mix of precision and power. And of course, the show started with a great Jerry Cornelius introduction.
does anyone know where Markey Mullin is? Last time i saw him was about 18 years ago in SF. Id love to tak to him.
Jason: Marky’s in Florida and sounds like he’s doing great! He’s working for a NJ company, so I’m hoping he has occasion to visit. Maybe we can have a Gotham reunion while you’re in the area. (Mr. Mullen is also reading and occasionally contibuting here, so I trust he’ll see this soon.)
I’ll send you his contact info under separate cover.
The Morlocks show at the Swedish American Hall may have been a road trip before they moved up to SF -- testing the waters as it were. I’m not positive, but that’s what I’m thinkin’
There were a couple of Swedish shows. These were promoed by Paul Renna -- another million years of tales attached to that name!
The first happened right after Ted went up to SFO to join the rest of the band. I was up there for the second -- on my first full night after moving up, one month later. The bill was The Sea Hags, Thee Unforgiven and The Morlocks -- with lightshow by The Brotherhood of Light.
The interior of the place was like 1313 Mockingbird lane. I wound-up that night headed to parties off of Divisidero with Paul, Leighton and Jello Biafra (in a sky-blue, leather blazer), then trekked from Church Street Station midnight snacks to the top of Twin Peaks.
That Swedish show? The Lyres were hanging out in the audience. I think Hector Penalosa -- of the recently mentioned Zeros -- was there, too. He was in -- or about to start -- Flying Color.
Want another weird tie-in? I did a flyer for Flying Color, with a Japanese Zero fighter and samurai/kabuki face on it -- at the request of Hector-super-fan, Alexandra Pelosi.
Of course, I hope this means that a Zeros reunion will get to play the next inauguration.
I met Alexandra a few times in SF back then … I had no idea she was Nancy Pelosi’s daughter!…wow. I remember her family’s house, it was VERY large. She was a big Telltale Hearts fan, and used to talk about Ray a lot. A few years later, I finally got around to asking Ray what the connection was. He said that when she was 16, she paid the Telltale Hearts airfare to SF so they could play there!
>>I hope this means that a Zeros reunion will get to play the next inauguration.
It’s kind of like when Plastic People of the Universe got to play Vaclav Havel’s shindig!
I have a funny Alexandra Pelosi story. (She used to be called P-Lo in those days.) Anyway, when I was in the Tell-Tale Hearts, I used to get a lot of weird calls, giggles mostly, some hang ups, but one time I decided to try and get the caller to stay on the line. We started talking, and it turns out she had been calling for months, and had called my parents’ house a few times pretending to do surveys with my parents about Pepsi, etc. We got to know each other pretty well after a while, and she was a big Tell-Tale Hearts fan. She invited us up to stay at her house, and got us a gig at the farm with Camper Van Beethoven, I think. Her mom was just deciding to run for the House seat left vacant by the passing of a family friend. We stayed friends for a while, she ended up going out with Hector for a couple of years, then with a pro skateboarder named Natas, and I last saw her in the early ’90s. Of course, it really freaked me out years later to see that she had made a documentary film about the anti-Christ called “Travels With George,” during the 2000 campaign. Hector, by the way, and his brother Victor and I are great friends. He has played bass on a number of my projects and is always up for music projects.
Jerry, I almost forgot Mr. Paul Renna,Now there’s a characer I’ll never forget! Always a scam going on ,but forever the perfect host. He had a way of making sure everyone had a good time at any event. I have a strange vision of him being a male gigelo at the Fairmont Hotel for the geriatric set. Unfortunately he confessed on one drunken evening that he made a ton of money off the Morlocks, Ted was a little shocked at this but you know hind sight is 20/20. I remember Hector dated Sunny Anderson for a while, good egg, he helped tune my BMW when I first got it.
Anybody know how to contact Ms. Pelosi? She belongs on this blog!
Well, she’s a filmmaker -- with connections. 🙂
Larry,
That was Paul in ’87? “A ton of money” probably meant 3-5 thousand dollars, over a year or so. LOL!
Paul is an upstanding working man, for these last ten years or more -- house painter I think. He has a lovely boy -- about 11 now, named Paulo. I have run across him a few times, here and there.
Ted tells me they are in touch, these days.
Jerry,
I’m glad to hear he’s doing well. Saw the picture of you and your kids. Good looking lot. Best wishes
has Ted been on here yet? I was seeing him at the Grape st. dog parkover the last few years.. That was not a dog park when we were kids. It wasn’t a very safe place back then.
It was the park where two cops got shot in the summer of 1984 in SD. Many of us were at Studio 517 for a show, and I remember many cop cars flying by on the way to that Park.
Anyway. If i see him, I’ll tell him to stop by.
Tony: Sagon Penn … I know Toby for one mentioned that tipping point in SD community policing in the “Wild in the Streets of Slow Death” thread.
If we can get Ted to visit, we’ll only need Tommy Clarke to collect the whole set of Gen One Morlocks.
My Brother breifly worked with Ted at Alvarado Hospital, not too long ago. I believe he’s still employed there, I’ll ask when my brother gets back in town and see how to contact him, not sure if his old cell # is current.
I just invited Ted to join us as we repave memory lane. In the age of myspace, most of us are only a search away: http://www.myspace.com/teddyfriedman
Ray: I want the full set o’ Tell-Tale Hearts action figures as well … Tell Mike and Bill we’ve got more TTH concert photos on deck. 🙂
(An aside: I’m typing this on my Blackberry during a camping trip with my daughter’s fifth-grade class … And I realized that her teacher is younger than any of our old bands!)
Very cool pictures,
I like the one with me and a skinny John Murphy…..That was when his jaw was broke so he was wired up and could not eat.
Swedish Hall Shows……I could go on for ever on that one, maybe someday.
Paul, also could go on and on, last time I saw him was on a visit to SF and he met me at my friend Bobs in N. Beach, we dropped some kind of mind melt stuff and were barking at the seals on the pier as the sun came up……..Really
I forgot
The political connection goes on. While in SF my long time girl friends dad was vice mayor and then CFO of SF. While looking the way I did and playing those gigs I also was having lunch with Feinstien and Willy Brown not to mention other polital things I was dragged too. To funny about the Pelosi connection.
Her dad loved me
With all these political connections, we could probably get a SF street named after the Morlocks!
I’m pleased to note that the personal statement on Mr. Friedman’s MySpace includes the phrase, “Taste the fury, Babyface!” He’s obviously still a believer in the power of the Grinding Wheel and must join us ASAP.
And to repeat, I’ve spent maybe eight solid hours over the past four months trying to locate Tommy Clarke’s precise co-ordinates. (Seattle’s restaurant industry is where the trail goes cold.)
Assuming he’s *interested* in being found, can anybody help me out here?
Mark! It’s great to see you here. Contact me. Hope all is well with you. I understand you’re in FLA now?
Ray
All is good.
I live in A little north of Atlanta and I cover Florida and the Caribbean for the company I work for, so I’m always in Florida.
I respectfully disagree with Jerry on the line-up from this night. I believe the third act was not Thee Unforgiven, but rather the Miracle Workers who were down from Portland, Oregon for the night.
The Miracle Workers became rather tight with Hair Theatre in the late ’80s, n’est-ce pas?
You’re right about the Miracle Workers! Rich Coffee was here at the show -- he may have been ‘hanging out’…
We played there a few times, I believe they both played there on different nights.
So yeah … I talk to Renna all the time. Swedish American Hall Shows were not road trips we lived and played up there for awhile before Renna set up the hall for us. I am not a firmbeliever in anything but the wheel of Dhamma …
With Metta,
Ted and Honey
PS, last time I saw Rich Coffee I was in LA booking a club called Mr. T’s Bowl. It really was an old bowling alley, long story … I’ll tell you sometime when you are older. I can’t remember the name of his band, must have been 1994. Anyway, they were great and he would end the set by asking if they could do a quick one, and, then they would play “a quick one” by the who. It pretty much ruled. Rich is one hell of a nice guy and an insane guitarist.
Rich Coffee is living in Las Vegas with his wife and going to school. We talked about a year ago.
Here’s his music blog: http://www.rnrrantsnraves.blogspot.com/
and his myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/75045411
Ahh! It came to me The Altar Egos, was the name of Rich Coffee’s band back then circa 94 -- 95. HAH, now I’m talking to myself on the Internet.
Jerry was it you who used to say, “man is an asshole on the earth, and, an asshole on the moon?”
I spoke with Rich Coffee about a year ago. He and his wife are living in Las Vegas and going to school. He has a music blog here:
http://www.rnrrantsnraves.blogspot.com/
and a myspace page here: myspace.com/75045411
Hey Ted…was snooping your my space page and found this link. wow. these are great pics. ‘tho I think the black hair was a bit extreme on me. I remember the Swedish American Hall show -- was the first time I heard Jason Crest’s Black Mass -on the loud speakers before the show. And the SF Hell’s Angels were there with Brother Ed….
Yeah, not really Angels they were Thunder Brothers or some shit, wanna be Angels kind of in waiting or something. I remember one time the skinheads showed up and tried to start a fight and al these old guys wore chains as belts and they whipped them off and kicked the crap out of the skins. Those were crazy shows, at least for me. So many people backstage I could barely tune, not that being out of tune ever bothered me too much … hehe … or being too loud, right Markie? I remember Jerry drew the fliers for those shows and I would go around on the vespa and plaster the town with fliers, make big upside down crosses out of them and whatnot. I remember being on Judah street one night and dumping the Vespa a whole bunch of fliers fell out of the glove box along with my stapler and a pint of cheap vodka. That was marketing … wish I still had the Vespa, especially with these gas prices.
Okay, I looked back at the photo album which is pretty much in chronological order and it looks like this PARTICULAR show was Thee Forgiven, Morlocks and possibly a weird lineup of the Unclaimed. It looks like Rich was playing in two bands that night, with Lee Joseph and someone else I don’t recognize playing guitar in the non-Forgiven lineup. No photos of Shelley though, so I’m not positive. The place in the album puts it around late summer or fall of 85 I think. Rich and I went out for about a year starting in late 85, and this show was before that. He is living in Las Vegas -- his wife helps to run the neon museum out there -- we email occasionally.
I do remember the light show that Jerry was talking about, so I’m not sure if that was the same night. I have a couple of photos of people hanging out -- the Lyres maybe. I’ll scan them for Matt to see if he can ID.
Too loud Teddy Boy…………….Never
Brother Ed did the light show a few times for us there.
I had some great pictures of us on stage with the light show but i loaned them to someone to copy once with a ton of other cool stuff and never got them back. Anyone out there feeling guilty. I do have a black and white photo copy of them that is still pretty cool.
“…it looks like this PARTICULAR show was Thee Forgiven, Morlocks and possibly a weird lineup of the Unclaimed.”
Hmmm, color me wrong I guess. I recall seeing one of these shows at Swedish when I was still living in Davis and driving down to shows in SF and Berkeley in my ’64 Buick Wildcat. So that would have been ’85 or early ’86. After that I moved to San Diego. Re: this show I drove down with a cat named Jack Hayden to meet Jill Ruzich who had a friend in town. In fact I recall meeting Jerry that night because I had painted a TTH logo nicked from an ad in Ugly Things on the back of my leather jacket. Jerry was the original artist and introduced himself and gave me an official “endorsement” for use. Still have the jacket! And Ted, unlike you, I still have the Vespa.
Yard Trauma?
I think it was Yard Trauma -- there is a photo of Joe Dodge playing guitar, with Rich helping out.
Morgan, I think I came up to stay with Jill for this gig -- what did the friend look like? I remember coming up to move Suzie Goddard into Barrington, that crazy dorm in Berkely, but I”m not sure if that was a different trip. Because it was Barrington, (the only dorm I’ve ever been to with a sponsored nitrous-oxide welcome party), things are a little fuzzy about that weekend but I do remember Murphy skateboarding around the dining hall in the middle of the night and splitting his head open on a table. We rushed him to the emergency room and then pretended we had no clue who he was because nobody had insurance.
Ah, memories.
yep, it was probably you. Was Suzie the tall, thin blonde gal. If so, she made me a pair of red wide wale cords that rocked. I think she made a pair for leighton as well.
Suzie was a tall blonde who had a way with a sewing machine. I was tall with short black Liza Minelli-like hair. And a camera 🙂
Still a bit overwhelmed by this blog. It is wonderful to see so many people still alive and well. I actually have a box of Morlock’s memorabilia I should scan one of these days.
Since you were posting about the Swedish American Hall shows, I thought you’d be interested in this. I sure wish I had a box of those flyers now. The site (wolfgangsvault.com) still hasn’t posted the audio from our set opening for The Cult, but I’m hoping to see it there soon. Whatever did happen behind those closed doors in The Cult’s dressing room, Mark?
Speaking of the Swedish American Hall, I had a concert there a couple years ago with Maria McKee (of Lone Justice fame). It was the first time I’d been up there in 20 years… it was surreal. It seemed a lot smaller than what I remembered.
It’s like that when you get bigger, or older. What’s up Jeff? haven’t talked to you since ummm 87 maybe … Hope all is well. Renna told me you are still playing, Lucky Lucas or something like that? There was a Morlocks/Sea Hags flyer in a movie about some rich kid who falls in love with a punk girl, can’t recall what the name of it was. I was watching HBO one night and there it was. Funny I was organizing an open mic at a Swedish Fusion Cafe here in SD up until recently, What’s up with the Swedes and my bizarre music career? They keep making an appearance with their meeting halls or their pastries.
“Swedish fusion” sounds like something involving ABBA and Ornette Coleman!
…or something Swedish sailors do to keep warm on those long chilly nights.
Hey Ted! Long time… Yup, I still play. What else am I going to do? Happy to know that you’re still making music. I have no answers re: Swedes.
I’m sitting in a nice hotel suite looking out at the Las Vegas jungle at the moment.
Ted, I do remeber the gig in that garage with the nitrous………………….
Jeff, what’s up. I have always wanted to hear something from that show with the Cult. What happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room……….
Jeff/ Ted, I’m thinking of putting some stuff on a DVD. I have some, not much live footage and pictures and flyers. I might post on here to see if I can dig more up. Let me know if you have anything your would like to put on there.
Jeff,
How does that site have the audio from that show with the Cult?
OK
I’m bored here in Vegas………….
Has anyone ever found the missing album Wake Me When I’m Dead?
I think I might of, sitting here in the hotel I surfed around and found this link. It took a while to download so I was not sure what I found. Well it seems to be that album. Most of the songs sonud like different live stuff from the origional band and the other stuff must be older, it sounds like the WallFlowers with Leighton singing.
http://rs18.rapidshare.com/files/7243564/Wake_Me_When_I_m_Dead.zip
Download it and tell me what you think.
I believe Matt Johnson outlines the provenance of this recording in the “Career opportunities” thread.
Cool,
Thanks for the link. So it was us on side one and them on side 2, that makes sense. All I got in the download was a list of files out of order.
Others may chime in but I do not think many have heard this. Maybe you could post on the front that it is available for download.
Mark
I just down loaded. All I know is that it rocks.
Cool :Paul,
Sounds crazy but after 20 years that still makes me feel good.
Enjoy
I have a hard time listening to that stuff, it makes me feel like I’m wired again. Heard enough of it at the time.
I sold a live tape to Bomp, I think in 1994 for dope money, and, they put it out on a CD. Has a nice black and white picture of Jerry I took in the attic of the house on Central. I think that Brandes did the liner notes for it. I can’t remember. I wanted Bomp to do it because I knew at least it would be easy to get. Midnight records never really distributed Emerge.
Ted,
I didn’t do the liner notes for that--I remember seeing it though. Maybe we are thinking of a live Gravediggers album? I’m sure it had that unmistakably bad Bomp cover “art.” With all of the money they had coming in (and so little of it going to the bands) you think they’d have been able to come up with a halfway decent art department!
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to compliment the Morlocks. You know we (the TTH) always considered the Gravediggers like little brothers, cute but definitely harmless. But I’ll never forget the first show the Morlocks played with us at Paul Allen’s party. That was tight and sinister sounding from the first note. Ted and Tommy playing off each other, and Leighton’s talent really coming on--we were looking over our shoulders those guys after that, believe me.
Oh well, I was told you did. I don’t think I ever got a copy of it. It’s called “ugly as you want to be” or something like that. It’s decent good pic of Jerry in there.
C’mon Ray you know you were just a Hanrattie wannabe. It’s funny how many people have told me over the years they saw the GD5 play places that I know we did not play. We just never got that many shows in SD. We made a demo tape by putting a pillow over a boombox and leaving it in the corner while we practiced and got a gig opening for The Dickies in LA off it. We’d play in SD and people were put off by it, but the people in LA loved us. PVTV 03 place was most likely our best show. Best SD show was the one in the basement of Greenwich Village West. I had this old ampeg vt22 and cranked it, disabled all the tone knobs and turned the reverb all the way up. The amp would vibrate so much it started like rocking back and forth. That amp eventually caught fire, really, the speaker cone actually caught on fire. Anyway … I should get Hanrattie on this blog. You know he kind of lost his marbles, but, you know, join the club.
Ted: Oh, please, ask John to join us! I always liked Mr. Hanrattie — is he in SD?
Yeah I believe he lives with his mom. You know you can Zaba search anyone and pretty much find them,
I remember carrying by hand Mark Mullen’s drum set (his first one) down several blocks to his garage in Mira Mesa. He SUCKED back then but he did like the Crossroads thing. He went to the store to get a twelve pack of Schaefer’s and came back a smokin’ hot drummer!!!!! TRUE STORY!!!!!!! ASK HIM! I miss Markie. The new drummer in the band’s name is Markie. Weirdness.
Saw the Morlocks alot, still think of the one Swedish Music Hall show I saw as one of the best shows I ever seen (was with Thee Fourgiven). There is a live radio broadcast of another Swedish Music Hall show with the Miracle Workers that I like alot. I’ll try to figure out how to post it on this thingy. Then when the Morlocks came down to LA for those last handful of monster shows, yeah like the Anti-Club, or the craziest was the last show at the Cavern, I drove to Hollywood with a head full of acid and spent half the night playing in the dangerous jungle gym of the burned out abortion clinic next store! Somebody had torched it earlier that week.
Hahahahahaha! Markie! When I just looked at that picture of you and Murphy I busted up laughing when I saw the beer you were drinking “Maester Brau”!!!! That shit was nasty but did wet our poor whistles!