Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
(Ray Brandes provides a brief history of a new band with a long San Diego history.)
The Secret Squares: pleased to make your acquaintance!
The Secret Squares is a musical project that has its origins in Gary’s Kids, a band assembled to back Gary Heffern on a solo performance at the Casbah in January 2019, and The Wrecktangle, which performed once at the Che Underground’s Leap Year show at the Riviera Supper Club, mere days before the world went into quarantine in March 2020.
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.
San Diego music legend and former Penetrators front man Gary Heffern has met with misadventure, and he needs our financial help to set things straight.
Heffern, now living in Finland, in May suffered a burst appendix that forced him to cancel a July Penetrators reunion in San Diego and postponed his work on a new CD, not to mention his day job. With bills coming due, Gary is reaching out to his network for support.
Here are a couple of opportunities to help this San Diego legend in his hour of need:
(Just in time for Che Underground: The Blog’s fourth birthday, Gary Heffern shares an international collaboration featuring some of San Diego’s finest!)
Here is a new song by Gary Heffern & Beautiful People with lyrics written by myself, music by Rustman, and arrangement by Beautiful People: Selinda Shirley, Oulujoe, Mad Mulligan and Rustman.
It also features Ray Brandes, Joe Piper and Dave Fleminger on backup vocals and Ray doing some great harmonica as well. I thought if you would want to feature it on Che, you can do so and have first grabs at featuring the song.
Read moreGary Heffern & Beautiful People:
‘Baby You Just Don’t Get It’
(After collecting a lifetime achievement award at last week’s San Diego Music Awards, the Penetrators performed Saturday at the Casbah Club, supported by fellow music veterans the Bedbreakers and Manual Scan. Che Underground: The Blog presents accounts of the evening by Sean McMullen, Gary Heffern and Kevin Donaker-Ring as well as a luminous selection of photos by Mr. McMullen.)
It was a full moon, I remember, and I was already sweating and thirsty after walking down from Banker’s Hill to the club, but couldn’t seem to get past the patio to the bar for a bubbly cold Tecate due to the onslaught of embracing and handshakes and stories that followed. Every one of these nights serves to reinforce the depth of this bizarre alter-family I have collected since I was a wild-eyed runt getting dropped off at Golden Hall for a Penetrators show, amongst others, full circle.
Indeed there are few things in my life as gratifying as seeing people who used to revolt and butt heads like rams getting along with so much love and joy and pride. And the sheer fact that we remain so devoted to our music, to this town and each other, speaks volumes of the magnitude of our youth, and how we carry it forward incessantly with age.
Read moreThe Penetrators, the Bedbreakers
and Manual Scan at the Casbah
Thanks to documentarian Eric Rife, those of us far from Southern California can enjoy video of the Penetrators performing at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards at Humphrey’s by the Bay August 8, when the band received a lifetime achievement award for its contributions to local music. (Vocalist Gary Heffern in June shared his thoughts on the honor with Che Underground: The Blog.)
If these performances of “Walk the Beat” and “Sensitive Boy” put you in the mood for more stimulation, don’t forget: The Penetrators will hold another reunion performance at the Casbah August 13!
August 2011 is a momentous month for San Diego hometown heroes the Penetrators, when lead singer Gary Heffern returns from Finland in time for the band to receive a recognition for lifetime achievement at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards August 8! The event will also occasion another Penetrators reunion performance at the Casbah August 13.
“As a child, I was told, ‘You will never amount to anything,’ ” Heff recalls. “Still that voice in the back of my head repeats that over and over again. It’s a mantra I fight against on a daily basis.
“When I first heard the Ramones’ ‘Beat on the Brat,’ the New York Dolls’ ‘Trash’ and the Sex Pistols’ ‘No Future,’ they weren’t just words but anthems to me, something that was personal, and all mine … People who understood those songs and what they meant to me became instant friends … It was us against the world …
Read moreThe Penetrators in August:
SDMA lifetime kudos, Casbah gig
(The Cardiac Kidz’s Jim Ryan recounts his band’s recent performance to support Gary Heffern’s return to San Diego, including new collaborators and material.)
After a Penetrators reunion show the Sunday before, Gary Heffern appeared once again at the Casbah for his CD release show to debut “Gary Heffern & Beautiful People” and his San Diego all-star band “Blood on Fire.” Those of us who came prepared were able to take not only the show home but the CD from this consummate artist, now living in Finland.
Sean McMullen’s words and images from the Penetrators reunion!
Here I am over 30 years later, remembering my last performance with Gary when the Penetrators, the Cardiac Kidz and the Standbys played the Spirit night club in 1980.
After getting the call from Gary that he would like the Cardiac Kidz to open the show, I was on the move. The boys digging the opportunity and me looking forward to seeing Gary again, I knew this show had to be special. Gary is a special guy.
(On April 6, a group of San Diego music veterans backed local hero Gary Heffern when he returned from Finland to play the Casbah. Joe Piper recounts the 34 years leading up to his own part in the gig.)
Life’s funny…
When Gary Heffern’s Blood On Fire took to the Casbah stage earlier this month it was, for me, more than just an opportunity to play with some truly outstanding musicians who just also happen to be a group of the greatest guys you could ever hope to meet. It was more than a chance to take part in what is possibly the most enjoyable project I’ve ever worked on. It was all that and more — it was a chance to take care of unfinished business.
(San Diego’s legendary Penetrators got together for a rare performance April 3, when lead singer Gary Heffern flew in from Finland for a short visit. Ace photographer Sean McMullen was in the audience and offers a wealth of images for us out-of-towners.)
It was a really good turnout with a true rogue’s gallery of old friends.
I made a joke about there not being much of a pit, and someone said it was more of a “hug pit.” Haha. I definitely participated in that. All three sets (including openers the Loons and Social Spit) were high energy and rocked the joint well. The level of passion and musicianship was an adrenaline rush all the way through.
Personally, The Penetrators were one of the first bands I saw live as a 13- or 14-year-old kid at Golden Hall. I became friends with Gary in the last decade through Casbah shows and Facebook, so it was a joy to have him back here and interacting with all of the people I grew up with from that early age.