Penetrators at the Casbah April 3!

This just in: Gary Heffern will be returning from Finland and getting the band back together April 3. That’s the date local legends the Penetrators headline San Diego’s Casbah with a little help from the Loons and Social Spit.

Heff says the event came together quickly after promoter Tim Mays approached him. “I got the e-mail from Tim on Friday, and by Monday airline reservations had been made … It’s kind of how I live my life … I believe in seizing the moment and running with it, instead of questioning all the details.”

Read Ray Brandes’ epic story of the Penetrators!

Gary reports that it’s a juggling act to co-ordinate the San Diego foray with the forthcoming release of his latest CD and video with his Finnish band, Beautiful People. “I am a bit overwhelmed with so many projects and i find moments where I am checking and re-checking things to make sure there is balance and time for it all,” he writes.

Watch Gary Heffern’s biography, “Sweet Kisses from Mommy”!

“Well, you know, we are living in this digital era where it has been amazing to re-connect with so many people, so many lives I have wondered about with the kids from the old days. I have been genuinely touched by the generosity of spirit that people have shown for us old gits, and have been so honored to have been reacquainted with such old friends as Tim Mays, Harlan, Eris Sisters, Cliff Cunningham, John Toner, Terry Marine, Tom Griswold, Mike Jenks, Peter English, James Harrell, the Injections, Al Brown, the Pinnell brothers, Holly, Margaret and Lisa, Joe Piper, Ava, Frank Gutch, Carl Rusk, Cardiac Kidz (will they EVER get rid of that fucking Z?) David Rinck, Ray Brandes, all the Che Underground folks, and the list goes on….

“Probably to a lot of your readers these are just names on a list … but to me, these folks were and are BLOOD ON FIRE … and they are still around, we are all still alive … and man, really … what I would REALLY like to do is sit and just have a group discussion, and really just find out what everyone else is doing.

Help tell the Penetrators’ story on Sceneroller …

“Will we have new songs? I don’t know … I am writing all the time … One of my favorite places on earth is Picacho (now it’s a state park). There was a little hill that had a needle point at the top of it where you could sit and look out and there would be nobody there for miles, just the desert and the Colorado River. Dan McLain and I used to go there often, and we would sit there and talk and sing and write, so every time i come to San Diego, I always want to go there and camp as it is probably one of the places where I truly have always felt free to be myself.

“That’s exactly the same feeling I get when I am with the band, whether it’s rehearsal or on stage. It’s like that pair of slippers that you just won’t throw away, even though the soles have some holes in them, and every now and then you actually set them by the door, you always end up kinda saying to yourself, ‘Well, soon I will throw them out but not just yet,’ and time passes, and one day you find yourself anxious, and you know that nothing will bring you comfort until you slip those run-down slippers back on your tired, achy feet … and you do … and the world is just fine for a day.

“No, it’s not just fine … it’s perfect … It’s truly the moment I live for … It is when I feel most alive … And those moments come far too far apart … sad to say.”