Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
Our ancestral stomping grounds recently suffered a theft. Dave Fleminger notes this August 7 notice on Craigslist, posted by the Che Cafe Collective:
“The Che Cafe … was broken into sometime between August 3 and August 5. ALL of our mics, xlr cables, direct in boxes, monitors, the sound board itself, ALL of it has been STOLEN. We’re looking at 8 to 10 thousand dollars worth of equipment gone.
Toby Gibson alerted me to this obituary from the San Diego Tribune and to the comments on a related MySpace page.
“Michael Dean Woods, 48, of Corpus Christi, Texas, went home to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Thursday June 25, 2009. Mike had a rare genetic disorder, Porphyria.
“Mike was born in Oregon on April 1, 1961. He is preceded in death by his parents, Dean and Phyllis, who raised him in San Diego, California. Michael worked hanging drywall, he also made custom rockscapes.
(Stop, children! What’s that sound? Robin Pugh Yi contemplates what’s goin’ down with the older generation.)
I have tickets to go to a Peter, Paul and Mary concert with my parents in a couple of weeks.
It’s a family ritual. My husband gets tickets to performances by old hippies like Tom Paxton and Arlo Guthrie. I sigh and ask if he isn’t yet tired of Baby Boomers’ belief that they are inventors and keepers of the Holy Grail of Perpetual Adolescence. How can he maintain a straight face listening to “Hair” lyrics?
Then I go, because he has tickets. And it means a lot to Mom to go with us, enthusiastically sing along, and elbow me when I roll my eyes.
Then, inevitably, something breaks down my guard. Pete Seeger sings “Abiyoyo,” or Judy Collins sings “In My Life,” and I am once again a little girl in the Summer of Love. My parents, my aunts and uncles, their friends are so young, so sweet and earnest and unaware of everything to come. Sincerely trying to teach their children well.
(Miss Kristi Maddocks documents the birth of a new Che Underground collaboration.)
April 1, 2008, was an important day to me. It marks a positive turning point in my life — a day that my life changed in an unexpectedly beautiful way — a day that eventually led me back to many dear old friends, and into the lap of The Che Underground, and The Blues Gangsters.
April 1, 2008 was the date of my 3rd REBIRTHday Party, at Speisekammer Restaurant in Alameda. This was the third time I celebrated this date — the day in 2005 that I almost lost my life to a brain hemorrhage and massive stroke. By 2008, I was well on my way to a nearly complete recovery.
For the first time since I turned ill, I felt strong enough to extend invitations to my former musical partners and include them in the festivities. I was opening my heart, my mind and my world. A few of these musical guests included Anni and Carina of Everybody Violet … which in a way was a real reunion for us; neither Anni nor I had seen or talked to Carina in over 20 years.
Read moreFrom ZERO to HEROine: On becoming a Blues Gangster & ‘The Perils of Life’
(Ray Brandes considers the lasting effect of the ’60s’ dark coda.)
Forty years ago this weekend, the series of grisly crimes that ultimately became known as the Tate-LaBianca murders was committed in Los Angeles. The story of the case and its aftermath is well-documented, most notably in three books: District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter, Ed Sanders’ The Family and John Gilmore’s The Garbage People.
In the past four decades, the public has never lost its fascination with Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten and Tex Watson. The recent announcement of the parole of Family member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme for the 1975 assassination attempt upon President Gerald Ford has righteous citizens nationwide in an uproar.
“Better lock your doors and watch your own kids,” Susan Atkins said upon hearing the verdict.
(A long-time reader puts out the call for then-and-now matchups!)
With the advent and conclusion of the Che Games this May, we are reminded of our youth and the path that brought us to the world we exist in today.
Some are still active in the scene and lifestyle; others, such as myself, have taken the experiences and philosophies of that time and melded them into the child-rearing, career-focused, mortgage- and bill-paying reality of the new millennium and the harsh realization that I am a 40-something now and “damn old.”
I discovered the Che Underground last summer, and it has been on my browser ever since. The articles and especially the pictures have allowed me to connect with old friends as well as reminisce about “the formative years” and how that small slice of time has helped me to cope with the world we live in today.
(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes brings new Town Criers artifacts to light.)
The first of these gems is from early 1989, a performance at the wedding of Joe Hughes at Joshua Tree National Park.
The band at the time consisted of Ray Brandes on acoustic guitar and vocals, Peter Miesner on lead guitar, Mark Zadarnowski on electric bass guitar, and Dan Tarte on drums. Among the attendees captured on film at the event are Che Undergrounders Matt Johnson and Sean McMullen.
The toddler at the end of the clip is Sean Zadarnowski, Mark and Lydia’s son, who has graduated from UCSD.
Another reminder of time’s flight … The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, passed away this week at 111. Henry Allingham, who served in the British Navy and the RAF in WWI, died last week at 113. “The sole British survivor of the war is former seaman Claude Choules, who is aged 108 and lives in Perth, Australia,” the BBC reports.
As of today, there are three verified World War I veterans in the world, including the American doughboy Frank Buckles.
This makes me feel old. When I was little, there were millions of veterans of the Great War, most of them entering the early years of their retirement. (Wikipedia estimates that more than 2 million World War II veterans currently survive in the U.S. alone.) People born in the 19th century were elderly, but not impossibly so.
(Injections, Noise 292 and Everybody Violet drummer Joey Miller makes a public-service announcement — with guitar!)
DISCLAIMER: This is not a project of either Matthew or me, and there will understandably be different perspectives on it. Great. Please feel free to make /post your thoughts here, but KNOW and UNDERSTAND we are only the messengers.
“Our Blow Out” was a compilation that was originally put together and released in 1983 by Cliff from Social Spit. It was an energetic and amazing accomplishment for its time, and (as many of us can attest) it was an amazing compilation.
Read more about “Our Blow Out”!
Curtis, the owner of TAANG Records, has expressed interest in re-releasing this compilation; he would like to make contact with as many band members as possible to set up a meeting. He is extremely interested in seeing this move forward, and it is our hope to put the word out to see how many originals that this information would reach.
An amazing discovery by Ray Brandes, author of Che Underground’s definitive biography of San Diego’s Unknowns: a 10-minute-long French documentary of the band of which the members themselves were unaware.
“This was a complete blindside to me,” reports Unknowns bassist Dave Doyle. “I had never seen it nor really recalled the circumstances. After speaking with [guitarist] Mark [Neill] just a bit ago, he clarified some things. It was shot in 1981, live at Madame Wong’s East (Chinatown LA) and as far as for whom or what, neither of us know. The song titles are wrong for the most part. It should be: ‘The Streets,’ ‘Common Man,’ ‘Teenage Crush,’ ‘Crime Wave’ and ‘The Bounce.’ “