(Sidewalk scenes and black limousines: On July 30, Che Underground presents Sounds of the Sunset Strip at Lestat’s Coffee Shop, featuring the Sidewalk Scene, the Ciros, Wendy Bailey & True Stories, and James Ruelas. Show organizer and Ciros reed player Lou Damian reflects on how Los Angeles’ sound of the ’60s influenced so many San Diegans who came of age 15 years later.)
The crazy thing about this July 30 show is that we relate to this music from the Sunset Strip of the mid- to late ’60s as our music, as the music we grew up with. But in actuality, we were just tots or infants when it was first published. There’s something about this music that stays within our fabric even today. When I hear a Byrds song or a Buffalo Springfield song, I know that I heard it as a young man on the radio. I know I heard that song when I was a year or two old. And it’s just another part of who I am.
The garage rock, psych rock, and blues and folk rock of that era is an important contribution to American music and the West Coast sound. This is what we always championed as our West Coast identity … in the so-called “Che Underground.”
