Che Underground | The Che Underground

A Che Underground refresh: Ready for its closeup!

December 31, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

After a stint in rehab, Che Underground: The Blog emerges restored and refreshed, thanks to a year-long intervention by our own Jeremiah Cornelius!

Jerry has:

Untangled an overgrowth of outdated, damaged code;
Migrated the blog to a modern web host and an updated CMS;
And finally, reskinned the whole thing to allow readers to comment again and to avoid formatting snafus that had cropped up in recent years.

We’re going to be fixing links and outstanding formatting glitches in the coming weeks — so if you see something, say something (in the comments below)!

Ready for ‘A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase’?

February 13, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

Most rock-‘n’-roll historians know San Diego’s Che Underground scene as a mad scientist’s lab for musical experiments at the top of the ’80s.

Named for notable shows they staged at UC San Diego’s Che Café — but active across the region — the bands of the Che Underground brought together artists steeped in punk, psychedelia, garage and more. Throwing their influences into a high-speed blender, bands like The Answers, Hair Theatre, Noise 292, The Rockin’ Dogs, The Tell-Tale Hearts and the original SD Wallflowers provided a soundtrack for Southern California youth culture.

Four decades later, those musicians and artists continue to kick out the collective jams — and on Feb. 29, some of the best minds of that generation will stage a family reunion at the Riviera Supper Club & Turquoise Lounge for “A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase.” The night’s lineup of Che Underground supergroups will feature two stars of the scene who haven’t performed in San Diego for more than three decades: Jeremiah Cornelius and Tom Clarke.

The original SD Wallflowers: ‘Funland’

February 19, 2020February 3, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

By popular demand, another Wallflowers classic from the recent Canadian airlift joins the Che Underground play list. Wallflowers lead singer Dave Rinck has famously referred to “Funland” as the “anthem” of the first Wallflowers lineup, and bassist Paul Howland writes of “Funland”: “That one is probably my single favorite Wallflowers tune. That one and ‘Rubber Room’ kind of cover the whole Wallflowers sound for me.”

“Pinball was quite important to the original Wallflowers,” Rinck writes. “We hung out in arcades a lot (especially Funland downtown, which inspired a song of the same name), and at one point I even acquired a pinball machine, which we played for 24-hour marathons.”

Listen to it now!

Hair Theatre, ‘What Should I Say’

January 15, 2022December 13, 2019 by Mmrothenberg

Sweeping onto the scene from northernmost San Diego County in 1983, Hair Theatre made its mark with a brand of American Gothic that was far ahead of its era.

This rare video of “What Should I Say” shows Hair Theatre at the peak of its power and offers a glimpse of the charisma that would make the band a legend among music cognoscenti.

The date was Dec. 28, 1984, and the venue was the Gaslamp Quarter Theater, where Hair Theatre appeared with Penguins Slept and Orange County’s Society.

The Rockin’ Dogs, ‘Bye Bye Bye’

December 12, 2019December 11, 2019 by Mmrothenberg

Looking for the origins of Poway’s legendary Rockin’ Dogs? Dating way back to 1982, “Bye Bye Bye” is the first studio demo from the band, featuring the original Dogs lineup.

Writes Rockin’ Dog Dave Ellison, “This is from the historic Rockin’ Dogs San Marcos Sessions, featuring the earlier lineup of Sam Wilson on guitar/vocals; Dave Ellison on bass/vocals; Jim Meisland on guitar; and Scott Nichols (a k a Scott Slob) on drums.

“In 1982, we had a rented practice room in a metal building in San Marcos, which was owned by Vietnam vet auto mechanics. They used to work on cars in that building all night long. We used to practice until late at night, and they gradually grew tired of our racket and evicted us.

There to Here: Todd Lahman,
Sweeney Todd’s Barber Shop

July 5, 2012June 23, 2012 by Mmrothenberg

(In this installment, Che Underground: The Blog examines a Wallflower’s journey to hair theater. If you’d like your story told, e-mail cheunderground@gmail.com!)

The last time I saw you was around 1985, when you were playing guitar with San Diego’s original Wallflowers. How did you get from rock-‘n’-roll in Poway, Calif., to ownership of one of LA’s best-known barber shops, Sweeney Todd’s?

Hmmmm … I’m not sure I can draw any correlation between my experience in the Wallflowers and my career in the tonsorial arts except to say that I probably cut hair a lot better than I played guitar! But seriously, I guess if there was anything to compare, it would have to be that like the guitar you’re constantly honing your chops (pun intended!) There’s always some new technique or some new flourish to add to your bag of tricks if you keep your eyes and ears open.

“Should 5% appear too small …”

December 17, 2011November 29, 2011 by Jeremiah Cornelius

(Jeremiah Cornelius considers the reach of the Fab Four into contemporary economic debate.)

It’s been said, ‘in oh so many ways’, that everybody loves the Beatles.

With that in mind, here’s a little salute, to the 100%:

And now, a little consolation for the injured parties in the last video. They can hum this little ditty to themselves at night, and muse that, at least George, once sympathised with their plight…

The Ciros at Lestat’s

December 19, 2011September 9, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

Here’s another dose from the July 30, 2011, event “Che Underground present Sounds of the Sunset Strip”: two songs from 1960s Los Angeles performed with skill and élan by the Ciros, making their debut at Lestat’s Coffee Shop.

Like headliners the Sidewalk Scene, the Ciros feature a formidable list of names from San Diego’s music history, as well as some notable newcomers: Thomas Ward (12-string guitar); Anthony Suarez (rhythm guitar); David Klowden (drums); Dave Fleminger (lead guitar); Dave Doyle (bass); Lou Damian (reeds); Dylan Rogers (vocals); Heather Vorwerck (cello); Graziela Damian (vocals).

Save the Che Cafe!

December 16, 2017August 20, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

A Che PSA: UCSD’s Che Cafe is the target of a fundraising campaign to continue its decades-long run of music and memories. I hope a few of our many readers can get behind this cause with their wallets and creativity.

Followers of this blog will recall that the Che (for which this blog is named) suffered the catastrophic theft in August 2009 of its sound equipment, and insurance costs for the venue bring the fundraising goal to $12,000, according to the site.

Che Underground’s third birthday

September 4, 2011February 16, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

How much is that in blog years? Today marks three solar orbits since we launched Che Underground: The Blog and another opportunity to take stock of the ground we’ve covered in the interim.

We’ve grown a lot in the past year. Just in time for our second birthday, we broke a traffic record with 9,000 unique visitors in January 2010. This year, we came close to doubling that number; January 2011 was another record-breaker, with more than 16,000 visitors.