Che Underground: The Blog

So how’s your summer?

December 14, 2017July 25, 2009 by admin

Here’s an easy one (at least for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere): What are you up to this summer?

Summertime feels different to me now than it did when I was a kid and had a solid block of vacation to savor … But in some ways, the time I do take is all the more precious.

Right now, I’m sitting at a picnic table at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon, Mich. Pop-up camper to the left of me … Cellular modem to the right … Here I am!

What’s cookin’ with you this summer?

We know what you did last summer!

Oh! And a bonus question: What songs evoke summer for you?

Lend Me Your Comb: A short history of the Hedgehogs

January 1, 2011July 22, 2009 by admin

(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.

Flyers: Dawn Hill Waxon Collection

July 20, 2009July 20, 2009 by admin

(San Diego expat Dawn Hill Waxon shares highlights from her flyer archive.)

Like most alternative and underground music fans in San Diego in the early-mid 1980s, I collected hundreds of flyers for shows and clubs from record stores like Chula Vista’s Licorice Pizza where Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan worked, so there were always Man Scan show flyers available.

Many show goers from the day will recall having flyers practically jammed into their hands after hours outside venues like the Adams Avenue Theater, promoting shows by Tim Maze, Luis Guerena, Mad Marc Rude’s Dead or Alive, et al. Some featured simple, primitive sketches or collage work; others showcased the fine artistic talents of Mad Marc Rude and LEE (“Testicle Head”).

Let’s talk Zeros!

January 1, 2011July 17, 2009 by admin

Between the band’s San Diego pedigree and Ray Brandes’ definitive biography, punk pioneers the Zeros have a special place on Che Underground: The Blog.

The reunited band’s recent string of West Coast gigs has rallied members of our community. And considering our own recent reunion, I’d like to learn more about how our forebears are faring.

Read about the birth of the Zeros!

Who’s been to the Zeros’ recent shows? How does now stack up to then?

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

December 11, 2017July 15, 2009 by admin

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes proposes the ultimate dinner-party guest list.)

A popular parlor game during the Victorian era in Great Britain and the United States was the compilation of a list of guests — both living and dead — one would invite to a dinner party. This ultimate dinner party was often designed to ensure the most lively of discussions, debate and entertainment.

Let’s imagine we’re having a dinner party to which we can invite six guests from any time period in history, living or dead. For the sake of the game, let’s assume all of the guests can speak the same language and will have no difficulties getting to the event. Who would you invite to dinner?

Read moreGuess who’s coming to dinner?

French rock ‘n’ roll: An oxymoron?

December 14, 2017July 14, 2009 by admin

Especially in honor of Bastille Day, here’s an eternal question inspired by an absolutely charming 1966 performance Dean Curtis surfaced by a French combo dubbed Antoine et les Problèmes. “Les élucubrations” is delivered with élan, esprit and a ton of other wonderful French nouns … However, I still find it extremely difficult to listen to.

(It actually reminds me of a small child Robert Labbe, Paul Kaufman and I watched working cafe tables in Belgium, frantically wheezing into a harmonica until he was paid to leave.)

But — mon Dieu! — Che Underground: The Blog is here to smash stereotypes, not to perpetuate them! An unrepentant francophile myself (with a healthy appreciation for other Gallic art forms), I need guidance: Where are the French rockers?

The Morlocks: “Two Wheels Go”

December 11, 2017July 13, 2009 by admin

Here’s another video sequence from the Morlocks’ 1986 performance at the Stone in San Francisco that included the version of “My Friend the Bird” previously aired on Che Underground: The Blog.

“I’m not sure who wrote it,” says drummer Mark Mullen. “All I remember is that it was written for Brother Ed from The Brotherhood of Light. He did our liquid light show, and his biker pals did security.

“‘Two Wheels Go’ was for the bikers, Hells Angels I believe.”

Read moreThe Morlocks: “Two Wheels Go”

Flyers from the Mendoza Collection

January 1, 2011July 9, 2009 by admin

(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles contributes a selection of flyers from his capacious archives.)

1. One of my infamous paste-&-cut flyers, this one for Julie at 2581, when I helped promote a batch of shows in 1983 1988 — you can probably tell the numbers are from an old calendar.

I collected photos, and friends gave me old magazines to cannibalize into quick flyers, though this one is from my collection of vintage TV-show stills. That’s a pretty diverse calendar, from the Event to Claude Coma, with stops at the Nephews; Outriders (with Rick Wilkins); and Berkeley combo the Birminghams; as well as lots of others.

Noise 292: “Stupid Future” at the Casbah

July 7, 2009 by admin

Multimedia goodness is beginning to trickle into the Che Underground YouTube channel from the Che Games for May, an event at San Diego’s Casbah that brought together musicians from the early-’80s “Che Underground” era in fantastic new forms.

Here’s the first edited video of Noise 292’s quarter-century reunion: a hypnotic version of “Stupid Future” by the electrifying Kristin Martin. I’m proud to say that the Casbah performance reunited the entire Noise 292 lineup as a sextet; percussionist Hobie Hodge and his successor, Wendell Kling, shared the stage for the first time ever during this set.

My favorite things: What are you listening to?

December 14, 2017July 6, 2009 by admin

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes checks in on our playlists and makes a couple of suggestions of his own.)

Back in April 2008, Toby Gibson asked the question, “What are we listening to now?” It’s time for an update.

I’ve got a couple of recommendations for your exploration. The first is a group whose name I’d heard lauded for years by the cognoscenti, but didn’t get around to listening to until a couple of years ago. Dr. Feelgood formed in the early ’70s in Canvey Island, Essex, and played a blistering, break-neck paced rhythm and blues that recalled the early Rolling Stones and jump-started the English proto-punk movement called “pub rock.”

The main attractions were Wilko Johnson, the manic guitarist whose quirky, pickless style often left his hands raw and bloody, and Lee Brilleaux, the filthy lead singer and harp player. Though some form of the band is still playing (Brilleaux died several years ago), stick to the first three albums, which were recorded with Wilko Johnson: “Down by the Jetty,” “Malpractice,” and “Stupidity.” I recently acquired a DVD of a film called “Goin’ Back Home,” which rivals any live concert performances I’ve ever seen on film, including the scenes of the Clash in “Rude Boy,” and even the Who at the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus.