genealogy

Friend of Che Underground Chris Mathis’ triumphant reappearance after reports of his demise dramatizes my favorite part of this whole blogging adventure: the opportunity to reconnect the people we knew then and lost track of since.

On Day Three of this blog’s existence, I posted a very modest list of folks whose whereabouts were unknown to the small circle of scenesters who were privy to our launch … Since then, we’ve located all the people on the list and many, many more besides. Even better, many of our friends have found us, thanks to the blog’s rising online profile.

So who else do you want us to track down? Let’s talk about other people who remain MIA and discuss how to connect the rest of those dots.

The Che Underground site was first conceived to capture an interesting and undocumented moment in San Diego music history — but our scene was one significant limb among several in a tree with healthy roots and many branches.

To understand this fluorescence better, we’re undertaking something ambitious: a mapping project to lay out the history of San Diego’s rock-‘n’-roll underground. Step One is to solicit some general ideas about the shape of this family tree.

Here’s my first take, which is completely skewed by my age, my location and my own tastes. For me, the San Diego underground sprang in the late ’70s from three large, intertwined roots: the first wave of SD punks (Marc Rude et al.); great New Wave bands like the Penetrators and Unknowns; and a unique SD brand of retrovisionary cool, starting with Ron Silva and the Crawdaddys.

Missing persons

Our family tree