Dave Fleminger | The Che Underground

Che Underground Rock-’n’-Roll Weekend!

March 24, 2018July 4, 2010 by admin

(David Rinck cuts the ribbon on a late-July musical extravaganza in San Diego!)

How could we let a year go by since the Che Games for May? It is high time to do it again!

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and get ready to experience the Che Underground Rock-‘n’-Roll Weekend. Here’s what we have in store for you:

Friday, July 30, at Lestat’s Coffee House (3343 Adams Avenue; $10; doors open at 9pm)

Jeffrey Luck Lucas
The Comeuppance
The Davefest Four (with Messrs Dave Doyle, Fleminger, Klowden and Rinck)
Wendy Bailey & True Stories (with Bart Mendoza)
Thomas E Ward

Plus a photo retrospective of San Diego Underground Rock ‘n’ Roll by Dave Doyle and Sean McMullen.

Saturday, July 31, at Bar Pink (3829 30th St.; free; doors open at 9pm)

Wendy Bailey & True Stories
The Answers
Bombast

Plus, dubstep deejaying by the P Man

The Wallflowers: ‘Walldrugs’ at Che Games

January 6, 2011June 6, 2010 by admin

One year later, we’re finally on deck to start releasing performance footage shot by Eric Rife at May 2009’s Che Games for May reunion, synchronized to Jason Brownell’s high-fi audio courtesy of resident polymath Dave Fleminger.

First up, the first live performance of the original San Diego Wallflowers’ signature “Walldrugs” since 1985. Lead singer David Rinck reflects on resurrecting the song:

“When we were putting together the Wallflowers set list for the Che Games last year, we had to listen closely to the old recordings to figure out how we played those tunes, in order to get us all on the same page on the arrangements and all, since with me in Africa and the rest of the band spread out all over California, we were basically working via the Internet.”

Mods gone wild! Clairemont High ‘riot’ ’82

March 30, 2019May 8, 2010 by admin

(Dave Fleminger provides video evidence and more of Manual Scan’s threat to the social order of 1980s San Diego.)

In my senior year at Clairemont High, I managed to get Manual Scan onto the roster of the talent show, despite me being the only member of the band that attended the school. Also on the bill were the X-Offenders, who were all either currently students or alumni of Clairemont High.

During Manual Scan’s performance a quote-unquote “riot” broke out amid the audience, and the police were called in to restore the peace. … I think calling it a “riot” is more than a bit of an exaggeration, but I don’t want to diminish the fact that some friends of the band did get whaled on a bit by some of CHS’s football team. Or at least I had heard it was the football team that decided they had had enough of these crazy mod kids calling attention to themselves by dancing it up at the far edge of the aisle near the side exit — a smart spot for quick getaway.

The Comeuppance meets “Alice”

December 13, 2017March 5, 2010 by admin

(Dave Fleminger and Heather Vorwerck of the guitar/cello duo The Comeuppance ride the Mad Hatter’s coat tails and drop some fresh new tracks into the rabbit hole. Dave describes the journey.)

Recently I chanced upon the English director Cecil Hepworth’s 1903 movie “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” It was the first cinematic portrayal of Lewis Carroll’s famous Victorian novel. The only remaining print of the film is unfortunately quite damaged, even missing some scenes, but it’s a magical movie. And if anything the state of the film stock even adds to its otherworldly quality — perhaps because it was made less than 40 years after the book was first published. it offers a small glimpse into the very world from which the story originated.

Clearly, the storyline was already well-known to the 1903 movie-going public, as Hepworth chose to illustrate scenes from the book without much explanation of the plot.

Read moreThe Comeuppance meets “Alice”

Wendy Pyro: Punk pioneer

December 11, 2017February 26, 2010 by admin

(In which Clairemont High School alum Dave Fleminger strikes rock ‘n’ roll in a back issue of his alma mater’s paper.)

January 1981: Imagine the trepidation felt by young Clairemont High news reporter Alan Graham about this front-page assignment.

He has been given the responsibility of unveiling the “punk-rock lifestyle” in the pages of the Arrow, the school paper. To do so he will be interviewing Clairemont High School’s best-known proponent of the movement, Wendy “Pyro” Gaines. Perhaps he could have also gone undercover, like Cameron Crowe had done at Clairemont High a couple years earlier, but that could have gotten a little rough, and Wendy has graciously granted Alan an opportunity to stay within familiar CHS territory and still learn about a mysterious group whose meeting place (?) was at a Lions’ lodge in far-off North Park.

Jeffrey Luck Lucas + Blues Gangsters:
Live in Alameda, Feb. 11

March 24, 2018February 5, 2010 by admin

On the heels of their live debut at last weekend’s Che Underground showcase at San Diego’s Casbah, the Blues Gangsters will be joining our own Jeffrey Luck Lucas at the Speisekammer restaurant in Alameda, Calif., Feb. 11 for an evening of semi-acoustic dinner theater.

Jeffrey Luck Lucas is a veteran of the Che Underground scene and longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay area who has played with many of us over the years. He recently sat for an interview with Osmosis Online, where he discusses his musical roots; his methodology; and his latest album, titled “The Lion’s Jaw.”

Get your poster: Jan. 30 at the Casbah!

December 18, 2017January 22, 2010 by admin

Going into the final stretch before next Saturday’s Che Underground showcase at the Casbah, here’s a handsome commemorative flyer created by David Klowden, suitable for framing or Scotch taping!

The roster of special guests is growing, as San Diego music history is revisited and made on Saturday night.

To recap the lineup so far:

Mark your calendars! Start your engines!
Jan. 30 Che Underground showcase

December 14, 2017November 29, 2009 by admin

(Heads up! The next Che Underground-sponsored reunion gig is officially on the Casbah roster, with tickets due to go on sale this week. Ray Brandes opens the booth.)

On Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010, country-rock pioneers the Town Criers (Ray Brandes, David Klowden, Peter Miesner and Mark Zadarnowski) will reunite for the first time in 20 years as the Ché Underground presents its second musical event at the Casbah in San Diego.

By popular demand, returning to the stage after a blistering set in May, will be legendary San Diego mod band Manual Scan, led by sharp-dressed men Bart Mendoza and Kevin Donaker-Ring and featuring the rhythm section of Tim Blankenship and Morgan Young.

To open the evening, the all-star Blues Gangsters (Kristi Maddocks, Dave Rinck, Dave Ellison, Dave Fleminger and Matt Johnson) will make their San Diego stage debut. It’s a fresh opportunity to watch a new project by members of the Wallflowers, the Rockin’ Dogs, the Answers and Everybody Violet.

DJ duties will be performed by Louis Mello, a k a DJ Dirty Bird.

Then and now: The Che Cafe

August 20, 2011September 14, 2009 by admin

(High time! Che Underground documentarian Kristen Tobiason revisits the spot that gave the blog its name.)

The first time I landed on the surface of the Che Café was at an early-evening soundcheck for the Wallflowers (not the Jakob Dylan pansy MTV sensation, but the raw & funky, OG Wallflowers), who were opening that night for Noise 292.

Arriving and styling in Paul Howland’s parents’ green station wagon, we unloaded a couple pieces of equipment, and then proceeded to hang out in the woodsy picnic areas surrounding the venue, creating a smoky haze amidst talk of music and the humor of Tom and Paul’s use of ordinary soap as an alternative to dime-store hair gel.

Photos from the Coleman Collection

December 31, 2010August 18, 2009 by admin

Carol Coleman (née Anderson), Encinitas Pannikin manager extraordinaire and all-around rockin’ scenester, recently digitized some photographs that include shots tracking paths we took from Hair Theatre and Noise 292.

These pictures include Hair Theatre vocalist Sergio, Noise 292 guitarist David Rives (and Answers guitarist Dave Fleminger) at one of the occasions when the former drummed for us at the Che Cafe; several shows by 3 Guys Called Jesus, the band I formed with bassist Steve Duke and drummer Robert Labbe in 1985; and 1995 photos of Joy Bomb, San Diego’s successor to Hair Theatre.