Che Underground: The Blog

It’s 1985: Do you know
where your bell-bottoms are?

December 17, 2017December 8, 2010 by admin

(Ray Brandes reopens the case of People vs. the Che Underground.)

Thursday morning, during the last week of August, 1985, I arrived at work at 4:00 a.m. to begin my shift collecting and baling the cardboard boxes left scattered on the floor of the Food Basket on Washington Street. As I donned my apron, the hoots and catcalls began. “Hey, Hollywood!” shouted one of the night-crew guys as he leaned back in the seat of the forklift, a smug look on his face. In one hand he held a can of New Coke; in the other was the latest copy of People, emblazoned with the headline, “Madonna Weds Sean.”

A few weeks earlier, my bandmates and I had made the trek to Los Angeles and endured a several hours-long photo shoot at the Cavern, music maven and cult impresario Greg Shaw’s modest live-music club located in an alley off Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. The article, we had been told, would put Bomp! Records on the map and catapult the Tell-Tale Hearts to stardom. This would be my ticket to fame and fortune, I believed. I would quit my job bagging groceries and baling cardboard, take a few semesters off from college, and enjoy the good life.

Update from the Cardiac Kidz

April 21, 2012December 4, 2010 by admin

(Dave Rinck a k a Wallflower keeps us posted on the Kidz’s revival.)

It’s been an honor for me play rhythm guitar for the last few months with this classic punk-rock band. This is a working band, and it has a new lineup, new CDs (I’ve never released two CDs on the same day before!), and new shows! Here’s an update:

THE NEW LINEUP:
Jim Ryan – bass and vocals
Jerry Flack – guitar and vocals
Jimi Flynn – drums
Dave Wallflower – guitar and vocals

The Answers: “Margaret Flies”/
“Creative Art” at Bar Pink

January 21, 2018December 1, 2010 by admin

More Answers for the 21st century: Videotaped at Bar Pink July 31, 2010, at the Che Underground Rock-‘n’-Roll Weekend, “Margaret Flies” and “Creative Art” represent two eras of this incredibly prolific band.

“Margaret Flies” was a highlight of the band I first encountered in spring 1983; Jerry Cornelius’ lyrics, set to music by Jeff Lucas, still take my breath away after all these years. Meanwhile, guitarist/vocalist Dave Fleminger describes the return of “Creative Art” to the Answers set list:

Behind the Front’s reunion

December 11, 2017November 28, 2010 by admin

(After a Reagan-era hiatus, the Front will take the stage Jan. 28, 2011, at San Diego’s Casbah. Bassist Kevin Chanel provides the 411 on the forthcoming festivities.)

Morgan Smith (guitar player) talked with Tim Mays dating back to mid-2009. He then called Mark Baez (singer) out of the blue, with nice words about old times.

We put together a practice later that year. One day as a three-piece, next as all four original dudes. (Dan Mehlos is the drummer. He was also in Personal Conflict and Men of Clay.) Sounded pretty good. Most of us had not seen each other in 20+ years.

The Comeuppance: ‘Eyes of Love’/’Elegy’

July 3, 2011November 25, 2010 by admin

A Thanksgiving treat from the Comeuppance, the sublime pairing of Dave Fleminger on guitar and vocals and Heather Vorwerck on cello.

These two songs closed the Comeuppance’s set at the Che Underground Rock-‘n’-Roll Weekend July 30, 2010. The band’s first formal San Diego appearance also closed a circle for Dave nearly 25 years after relocating to San Francisco.

Noise 292: “Chanson Dada” at the Casbah

July 3, 2011November 20, 2010 by admin

Here’s a song that’s traveled with me since age 16 (when I first translated the words from the 1923 poem by Tristan Tzara) and got its definitive treatment when we formed Noise 292 in 1982.

I’ve played “Chanson Dada” in a lot of bands since (and even recently found my translation had been covered by some wacky Scandinavians!), but it’s probably the composition of mine I identify most closely with Noise 292. That made it a special pleasure to perform at our reunion May 31, 2009, when we presented Che Games for May at San Diego’s Casbah.

Finds and resurrections

July 3, 2011November 12, 2010 by admin

Going on three years since the launch of this blog, we’ve come a long way: We’ve posted all kinds of wonderful treasures from our musical youth, reunited with hundreds of old friends, started new collaborations — and in October alone, drew more than 15,000 visitors here.

That means we’re in a great position to locate just about any surviving sounds, images and accounts from our past … or to re-create anything we want to revisit.

So where do you want to dig next? What recordings, flyers, photos, bands, events and people have you missed all these years? Working together, there’s a great chance we can find them.

Live at Lestat’s: An underground evening

April 21, 2012November 9, 2010 by admin

(David Rinck offers a performer’s-eye view of a recent night of musical eclecticism in San Diego.)

On the evening of Thurs., Nov. 4, we again converged on the little theater at Lestat’s Coffee House on Adams Ave. in Kensington, which is beginning to feel like home for some of us here.

Lestat’s most recently hosted the first night of the Che Underground Rock and Roll Weekend on July 30 and 31, and the Nov. 4 show was an exciting follow-up to that event. Some of San Diego’s finest underground musicians offered up an eclectic array of sounds from a range of genres. At the same time, the visual arts were represented by terrific graphics, photography and video recording, some of which is available here.

Scheming Intelligensia rides again

December 17, 2017November 7, 2010 by admin

(Abortive record mogul Kevin Chanel heralds the post-Internet return of his label with two releases into the brave new world of online media.)

“Why now?”

Been asking that myself. After 15 years of somewhat complete dormancy, Scheming Intelligentsia Records is back with a line of retro classics and unfinished tchotchkes of historical whatnot.

“But why?”

If you recall, back in ’95 we didn’t have no MP3 technology or iZunes being given away with a ten-pak of ramen. You wanted music, you had to buy it on cassette, vinyl or CD. For us instant-gratification enthusiasts, this is a great time to be human.

We are celebrating with the first two releases in our exhumation process: 1987’s PERSONAL CONFLICT album “Rest In Peace” and the previously unreleased, half-baked SOUL BROTHERS masterwerk, “Find My Keys And We’ll Drive Out Of Here.”

The way we listen now

December 14, 2017November 2, 2010 by admin

We’ve talked a lot (sometimes heatedly!) about what we listen to nowadays since heading our separate ways into adulthood. But I’m also curious about where we’re listening to music new and old.

The musical authorities of our youth (from record stores to select radio shows) have given way to whole new avenues for musical exploration, and I have to admit I have trouble knowing where to start. I watch and listen to a lot of music on YouTube; I spend some time with Pandora; I don’t personally own an MP3 player, although my family has a few. Satellite radio is a mystery to me, and I don’t really have much of a line on radio of the old-school terrestrial variety, either.