Hector Penalosa | The Che Underground

Hector Peñalosa joins Gary Ra’chac
on ‘Vince Martell Rocks America’

May 3, 2018May 9, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

Gary Ra’chac is a San Diego institution in his own right: a native of the city, witness to multiple generations of San Diego music; friend of San Diego legends from Lester Bangs to Ray Brandes; veteran employee of the late, lamented Tasha’s Music City; currently singer-songwriter and radio personality.

Gary has recently been producer of “Vince Martell Rocks America,” featuring the Vanilla Fudge guitarist and hosted by WNJC 1360 AM, New York.

Calling Poly Styrene from La Jolla

September 4, 2011April 28, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(Mikel Toombs takes inspiration from the late punk icon.)

Poly Styrene, who died Monday after battling breast cancer (she was 53), was the subject of the first interview feature I ever wrote. It appeared in the Triton Times, before it became the UCSD Guardian and moved in next door to the Ché Café, which you may have heard about.

And what would prompt a penniless college student to place a then-pricey phone call to London to talk to someone in a band, X-ray Spex, that had a single 1977 single (“Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” backed with “I’m a Cliché”) in a style (punk) that had yet to take hold in the US, which still wanted to get down tonight?

This: “Some people think little girls should be seen ‘n’ not heard, but I say,” Poly said, “oh bondage! Up yours!”

‘They’re playing our song’:
Covers and the Che Underground

January 2, 2018May 19, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Ray Brandes looks under the covers of favorite songs by our songwriters.)

For a songwriter, it is both a peculiar and rewarding experience to hear one’s songs interpreted by others. Over the past 30 years I have been writing songs, I have had the honor and privilege of listening to cover versions of my songs on many occasions, and it never fails to leave me gratified. One of the first songs I ever wrote, “Crawling Back to Me” (which is the opening track on the Tell-Tale Hearts’ eponymous debut album), has been covered on record by numerous artists, including Spain’s Agentes Secretos, England’s Diaboliks and Australia’s
Shutdown 66.

Perhaps my favorite cover of a song I wrote is Rachael Gordon’s “I Know You’re In Love Again,” which I contributed to her 2002 album “The Coming of Spring” on Subterrania Records. Rachael, an old friend and San Diego native, released the album to rave reviews, particularly in Europe. Germany’s Rolling Stone had this to say: