(Roving correspondent/photographer Kristen Tobiason surveys the remains of Rock Palace, which enjoyed a brief mid-’80s run of all-ages fun. “The stretch of El Cajon Boulevard sandwiched between I-805 and the I-15 is a desert of boarded-up, abandoned buildings dotted with a few small neighborhood repair shops or used-car lots. The Rock Palace structure has been dead since the ’80s, when completion of I-15 isolated the neighborhood.” Wallflowers frontman Dave Rinck recalls its heyday.)
Someone, somehow, sometime about 1984 or 1985 discovered what must have been an old ballroom above some dingy retail shops on El Cajon Boulevard. [Editor’s note: Contemporary flyers tell us the address was 3465 El Cajon Blvd.] In its day, it must have been a grand olde place, for it had a really high ceiling; wonderful wooden floors; and this really huge, creaky old stage at one end.
And what? Yes, we also noticed that a couple of guys were starting to promote rock-‘n’-roll concerts there in that grand old ballroom. Dubious? Yes, it reeked of money laundering. Manuel Noriega, the Cali Cartel, some Burmese generals, and the Taliban were probably running the place jointly. Of course before you could say “Lose sleep, baby, and stay away from bed,” these dudes had demo tapes of various Che Underground bands in their hot little hands, and the era of the Rock Palace was on!!!
The Rock Palace was just what it claimed to be: a real honest-to-goodness palace of rock ‘n’ roll. My girlfriend at the time lived a miraculous two doors down the street from this place — read “after parties” — and there was a seedy alley in back for underage drinking and planning. There was even a conveyor belt for hauling amps up to the second floor where the stage was. The guys running the place never had a problem with anything we suggested doing there, and a wonderful time was had by all.
Photos collection Jeff Benet; captions by Tony Suarez.
The Wallflowers by this time had recruited as many Mexican horn players and percussionists as possible, and we played some startlingly odd stuff in that place, like the Tijuana Brass meets the Stooges. I remember one night we were having a really good time, and we were really interacting with the audience, and so we asked if they had any good ideas for a song, and Dave Ellison says, “Yeah, how about Sweet Luv’n Doll?” (such a Dave Ellison song title, he was also thinking about chicks), so we gave ’em what they wanted and played “Sweet Luv’n Doll” for about 20 minutes, with timpanis and trumpets and what-not blazing away.
This was in some ways the golden age of the SD underground.
— David Rinck
More views of San Diego then and now:
- Then and Now: The Ken Cinema
- Then and Now: Adams Avenue Theater
- Then and Now: Topsy’s
- Then and Now: Greenwich Village West
- Then and Now: Funland
- Then and Now: Studio 517
- Then and Now: La Posta
- Then and Now: Presidio Park
- Then and Now: El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s
Additional pics from Feb 1985 depict the same night. The link below goes to Lilia Benjamins Flickr account. She hung out at many functions and sent me this link to her site a few weeks ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63191197@N00/2777551670/
Tony: In color, even! I can practically smell the Naugahyde.
With enough photos and some MP3s, we could create some sort of mad virtual-reality simulation of Rock Palace ca. 1985. (Second Life, anyone?) 🙂
OK. Maybe someone can help me here. Is this the place that was way out on El Cajon Blvb, next to The Pioneer Chicken(KFC?) were The Wallflowers played with that New Jersey band “Mod Fun”?
Rock Palace was located at 3465 El Cajon Blvd., on the upper floor of an art deco building that dates from about 1936. There was, and still is, a Church’s Fried Chicken next door. Circle Sound Studios was located upstairs in back from about 1977 to at least the late eighties, when I produced a Manual Scan EP for Kevin and Bart. Last Saturday I spent an afternoon at the San Diego Public Library, Central branch, in one of my childhood haunts, the California Room. Unfortunately, neither old city block maps of the area nor reverse look up guides were much help. I did find that dating from the 1930s, the store front housed liquor stores, a gunsmith and an engraver, but there is no record of any club or ballroom on the premises. The address two doors west (still part of the same building) was home to a couple of restaurants in the 1930s. Since Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the building was constructed too late to be a speakeasy or illegal nightclub. It is listed as vacant throughout the mid-eighties. Maybe I’ll swing by there and check it out later this afternoon . . .
I can’t remember how I know this, but just prior to being the Rock Palace, people had been using that space as a recording studio.
My band the Wild Desires played there sometime in late 1984.
Ray beat me to it…
All I remember is the conveyor belt and badly wanting to ride on it. “no, no, no, young lady” said the wall-of-guy that worked there. aw..come on!
I DO remember the Mod Fun show and we shared amusing anecdotes about what mods do for fun.
OK. cool. I did go to the Rock Palace. Churchs Fried Chicken not a Pioneer Chicken!
“Mod Fun” what a name. Anybody body here up for some Mod Fun?
Ray is a history-seeking missile! You’re intriguing the bejeezus out of me … This really was one of the more grandiose (if slightly moth-eaten) venues our gang played, and yet there’s no trace of a performance space in the historical record.
Never mind the Presidio Park Pentagram — was Rock Palace the real home of San Diego’s Illuminati?
>>>”My girlfriend at the time lived a miraculous two doors down the street from this place — read “after parties”
And wasnt it New Year’s Eve (the end of ’84) that we all crashed out there after a show at the Rock Palace, then took a road trip to L.A. the next day? …Dave and his girlfriend, plus myself, Todd Lahaman and another girl (I think her name was Beth) who us drove up there. …we ate at Oki Dog.
Who-all came through Rock Palace? I remember one of the guys from Tex and the Horseheads taking a leak off the side of the stage … And was there a bill with the Minutemen, Meat Puppets and Husker Du?
P.S.: Yup, I was right: All three bands played this hella-cool SST Tour … Tim Maze is credited as the promoter on this flyer.
In fact — and this is another one of those vertiginous, time-warping discoveries that make me feel ancient! — every Rock Palace show we’ve mentioned, every reference I can find (on AmplifySD, San Diego Concert Archive and elsewhere) occurred in February, March and April 1985!
Is it conceivable that the whole venue came and went in three months?? Coupled with the fact that we can’t find any history for the place, it’s starting to take on some qualities of “The Shining.”
Did anyone see a pair of Diane Arbus-lookin’ twins hanging around Mod Fun?
Matt Rott: The Diane Arbus-lookin’ twins were hanging around Church’s Fried Chicken.
The Rock Palace building had earth tone stripes on it? Kinda like Wahbash Hall.
I love earth tone stripes.
Oh Dave, yes I remember that time we all crashed at Lisa’s and then the next morning we went up to LA together on a wonderful New Year’s day, and we al ate at Oki Dogs! That was sort of end of the world trip, very fun…
Hey, let’s make a separate post on “Mod Fun” okay?
Was this scene shot inside Rock Palace?
Seriously, Rock Palace was one of those spots that felt as if the proprietors had simply taken a prybar to doors that had been sealed for decades. I had the same feeling playing the Purple Onion in San Francisco. I can’t remember any other SD venue that exuded such a Pompeii vibe.
Topic: Mod Fun was neither mod nor fun. Discuss.
I never saw Mod Fun, but the name seems so onomatopoetic. I mean, how can something be both Mod and fun at the same time?
Scott: You ran the board for the Angry Samoans show? 3 Guys called Jesus played there — I apologize belatatedly for our absolutely frightful sound, which would have given any sound man fits … Lots of crash symbol, sludgy guitar … Just a worst-case scenario, IIRC. And I’m sure trying to mix in that gym wasn’t exactly cake, either!
>>>”…every Rock Palace show we’ve mentioned, every reference I can find (on AmplifySD, San Diego Concert Archive and elsewhere) occurred in February, March and April 1985!”
I’m pretty sure we played there in late ’84… I think it had just opened. But I don’t think it was around very long. I guess the Taliban found better ways to launder their money.
mod fun were out of new jersey right? they reminded me of a tv show that was on at the same time also out of new jersey called “dance party usa” we used to get really baked and watch that program and laugh and laugh at how ridiculous the kids on that show looked, downright sad, goofy and american. like mod fun.
Here’s Mod Fun’s MySpace profile and Wikipedia entry! I don’t believe I had the pleasure when they passed through San Diego.
All day I’ve been singing the Stooges’ “No Fun” as “Mod Fun, my babe … Mod Fun!”
The Rock Palace was really way too big to be a good venue for anything but bigger shows. Looking at the photo with the guy on the dance floor and people sitting at tables along the wall way off in the distance reminds me of the time we played there… with the entire crowd sitting at the tables along the walls and the booths in back when we started. After a few songs I told the crowd to stand up and move up front, which most of them did… but it didn’t have the intimacy of a place like the Che Cafe. For bigger shows it was great though.
If you look at Jefree Benets photos, there are a few band shots of Mod Fun using Manual scan’s equipment. I remember them playing a few “new sounds of the 6t’s Shows” that Bart put on from 1985-1992 (?)
Mod Fun didn’t sit well with some San Diego ears. I can sort of remember, they just didn’t catch on.
Bart, you have got to chime in on your “New sounds of the 6ts” concerts. They were filled with fun, heartache and folly. Plus, many of the bands that never made it out here very often would come to play: Derek (now Deke) Dickerson’s bands, The Overcoat, Anthony Meynell come to mind.
does anyone have a recording of the news report taped here -- I think it was the 3 o’clock show -- channel 10? if so can you post it.
I remember playing at Rock Palace with The Three O’clock who had various Bangles in tow. As for Circle Sound, it was Run by Richard Bowen. Manual Scan recorded almost exclusively there (including sessions with Anthony Meynell (Squire) and Paul Bevoir (Jetset) and had left tapes there. The ballroom was also used for recording. Circle Sound recorded a lot of well known names, but made it’s $$ as the place where Judie Shepard Missett recorded her “Jazzercise” albums. here’s my Circle Sound anecdote: In the late (?) nineties I drove by and saw the conveyor belt in use and stopped in thinking the studio was up and running. While everything was still in place, mixing board, grand piano and all, the place was being used to assemble some sort of game. The new owner asked what I was looking for and it was then that I saw boxes and boxes of master tapes piled into one of the offices. I told him I’d like to go through the tapes and collect whatever I could find of mine and made arrangments to return the next day. I spent hours the next day, and found everything except our first E.P. Anybody that spent time there will remember that the walls were covered with nicely framed album and single sleeves from groups that were recorded there. I made arrangements to return the next day to take another look for the missing tape reel and asked the new owner what they were going to do with the studio stuff -he gave me the framed copies of our discs. When I showed up the next day, arson investigators were putting up the yellow crime scene tape. Not sure how bad things were in there, but a lot of music history went up in smoke. And Tony, as for New Sounds, where would I start?:-) When I look back on all those shows (and the “week of” concerts leading up to it,) I can’t believe it (except one:-) all went relatively well. I’ve watched various tapes of the fests in recent days -- they are a real time capsule. And you left The Funseekers off the list:-) As for Mod Fun, we’re good friends still:-) They played around town quite a bit (Club Zu) and places like the Cavern as well. I defintiely have pictures of them at a Secret Society meeting as well. Heck, it was Mick that turned me on to “All Night Stand.” I believe that one of thier albums was named after a local scenester. Thier influences would be Syd Barrett, The Action and so on…
The Funseekers! great band.
Bart,
Great yet tragic story. How strange and incredible fortuitous that the new owner allowed you to pillage the storeroom for tapes. I’m also assuming they were the big two inch masters that would have been fairly difficult to carry on a scooter! I’m still scratching my head over the ballroom and its origins--I’m thinking it had a separate address from the storefront and recording studio address because it doesn’t show up in any city records. . .As for Mod Fun, never saw ’em, but I checked out their myspace page and the song that automatically plays is one of yours!
Bart,
Those New Sound festivals were a massive undertaking. Looking back I’m amazed at the way you were able to pull them off--I know SS had a lot to do with keeping things organized and on schedule. By the way, I’m still waiting for those Cox Cable tapes you were going to track down!
Ray -- I do indeed consider it odd and lucky that I got those tapes out -- yep, 2″ reels:-) For whatever it’s worth, there was a door from the studio into the ballroom. As for the Cox Cable videos, I’m still waiting for the DVD, as soon as I get them I’ll pass them on:-) Thanks for the kind words on New Sounds. They were indeed a massive undertaking, as well as a nerve wracking and bank account draining, experience. But I wouldn’t have traded a minute of it- they were so much fun, especially all the smaller events around the big show. It was fun trying to bring different scenes together and getting such great bands in one place at the same time. I have a shot a friend took backstage that sums up the atmosphere, in one corner it’s Jeff from The Lyres, in the other is the Untamed Youth and in the middle are Carl Tusk and myself. Favorite “side shows” would include St. Louis trio Corporate Humour playing “Tommy” at 2581 and Keith Patterson of The Funseekers stalking the length of the bar at the old Casbah. I remember during the one at Soma (1990) I had four or five bands camping out at my house, literally tents in the front yard and sleeping bags across the living room. I think the Montezuma Hall events were the most fun and drew the biggest crowds, though they all had thier moments. It was nice that people outside the scene were so supportive as well- 91X, KCR, The Reader and The Union Tribune in particular. I still find it kind of wild that people like Johnny Marr ended up backstage watching The Trebels:-) A few “top” moments: 1) The Event smashing TV’s onstage 2) Boys About Town’s only appearance (with members of UK groups Television Personalities, The Jetset, Mood Six) breaking into an encore of “Ever Fallen In Love.” 3) The Mummies! 4) A rare appearance from The Leopards 5) Minneapolis trio 27 Various.
apologies for the poor editing on the prior post, and that’s Carl “Rusk” 🙂
Bart: I kinda like “Carl Tusk.” Made me think of Fleetwood Mac, which I’m sure is an association Carl would welcome! LOL
Regarding the New Sounds of the 6 t’s. I have a memory of going to one of these. maybe the first? Was it held at a club in Point Loma across from Point Loma High? I could be totally off on this.
I think I still have a patch from the show that I salvaged off my old parka.
Hey Steve
Those patches were designed by John Ryan. If you still have it, let me know. Yes it was across the street. It was either known as The Syndicate or JP’s. I can’t remember which came first.
i have a few nitestalkers photos I took over the years, some with an Brownie that took 120 film, at a rally that left Presidio Park in 1986-87.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12931658@N03/2331613631/in/set-72157604114158543/
Bart, I recall recording “All Night Stand” with you at Circle Sound. We did maybe four, five, a half-dozen tracks as I recall. But you would know, as you have that reel now. Although who has a 2″ machine to play it back on? Somebody, certainly, but fewer people all the time.
I wasn’t wild about the bass tone. Maybe we took it direct. I had to face the shame of knowing that the honorable Mike Stax could not possibly respect the bass tone on the Scan version of the Pretty Things “I’m Your Man” (and here’s a guy essentially named after the bass player on the original) but of course that version was more about the Secret Society singalong, anyway. But of course, the proper tone for that tune is a mic’d-up bass amp that is distorting like mad. The Manual Scan production team went for ultra-clean! No amp at all, I believe, just plugged into the board, where tone was out of my hands, to be determined in post-production. Sometimes the opposite approach is the one to take, but I was none to sure at the time! Just for the record.
It was neat to work with you cats and I still didn’t have much studio experience at the time. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to acquire a bit more experience.
I played an unusual bass on that session--a Gibson EB-0 from 1968 in a seldom-seen “factory black” finish. As musicians here will know, most of them were red. I sold it on to finance something else, not sure what. Sixty-eight had the newer bridge and tuning machines, making it in a sense “too new.” 😉
I well recalled having played at the Rock Palace next door about a year before this session. The Wickershams (with Tony Suarez, Shari, Ron Silva, and Jim Davies), a short-lived folk pop combo that mixed an interest in twelve-string Byrds-iana with covers by the Easybeats, the Beau Brummels, a lesser-known number by the Jefferson Airplane as I recall, and obscurities like Mr. Lucky & the Gamblers. This performance was, yes, in one of those months in early 1985 mentioned as the possible lifespan of the club. Little did I suspect there was a recording studio on the other side of the wall, and that I would be recording there a year or year and a half later with Manual Scan.
Bart, I always wished you’d put a “the” in front of the name, but of course it wasn’t so much a feature of the times in which you started. Yet I would’ve preferred “the Manual Scan.” Is it too late? Can we alter history as a special favor to me? 😉
The story I heard was that the name came from a Radio Shack catalog, where manual scan was a property that some radios possessed. I suppose the other setting was automatic scan--like what a police scanner does, monitoring all channels. Pretty much what we’ve been doing here! Each thread introduces more topics. The ultimate book will have been a group effort.
I still hear from Keith of the Funseekers sometimes. His post-Funseekers group was called the Spectors, and then he had one called the Conquerors. The Conquerors featured an extremely talanted guitar player who filled in on drums when the Monks played in Spain in 2004. I call that versatility! Not just anyone can sit in with the likes of the Monks. Not that they are so filled with prowess; it’s demanding in other ways. But back to the Funseekers--it was a big deal when these odd “Sixties” bands came to town from other far-flund parts of the world (like Minneapolis). When exotic folks like this came to town for one of Bart’s big productions, it communicated something about the world at large. If only they’d brought beads and smallpox! But I for one felt encouraged to keep on doing what I was doing in music. Now why’d so many of these bands have the word “fun” in the name? Although one of the dear girls on the scene rather summed it up one night when she announced, “having fun is fun.” At the time it seemed worthy of one of the better moments of an Edie Sedgewick, but I heartily agreed: having fun is fun. Sounds better in her voice, tho’. 🙂
Tony,
Thanks for jogging my memory. It was first Syndicate and then it became JP’s, short for Jimmys Place if I am not mistaken.
I will try to dig up that patch. I knew John Ryan. I remember him having a German theme to his Vespa.
Nightstalkers was started by Mike Stobbe, Jay Telier and myself. Thanks for the NSSC pics!
>>I remember him having a German theme to his Vespa.
Steven: When I read this, I thought you meant a musical theme … Like, big speakers roped to the scooter blaring “Ode to Joy.” 🙂
No Matt but close. I seem to recall German national colors on the leg shield and an iron cross on the mud flap.A little ode to joy would have been a nice touch. At the time I had an old GS that was black with orange fender and cowels. Nick Hunt named it “The Magic Pumpkin”
Tom wrote: >>one of the dear girls on the scene rather summed it up one night when she announced, “having fun is fun.”
Woah, that’s deep, man. 😉
The Conquerors were one of the better bands to play at the Las Vegas Grind (number two I think).
I recall a story where John Ryan rode his scooter with the German national flag theme on the cowls up to LA for one of the early Scooter rallies. He encountered a Lambretta in the parking lot at the rally with the same German flag layout as his! Shock, Horror!
He still owns that scooter, repainted. He bought that thing new 26 years ago.
>>“having fun is fun.”
“It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” — G.G. Allin
Tom, for you sure, we’ll go with “The Manual Scan.” Funny enough, you’re not the first to menton that. You are correct about the Radio Shack catalog -- we needed a name, asap , and Kevin put his finger down on a page at random. The tracks we recorded at Circle Sound were the “Lost Sessions” EP on Get Hip and The “Phase 3” EP on Unicorn. And I loved the Spectors! I really enjoyed thier version of “The Trains.” And it was certainly great to have people from all over congregate here for “New Sounds” -- I made a lot of life long friends from that and got to see so many great bands:-)
Actually, I believe “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how” is a quote from The Cat in the Hat, By Dr. Seuss. No offense to Mr. Allen.
Shari: You are indeed correct about the Seussian origins of that phrase — I just find it terrifying to imagine G.G. Allin’s idea of fun. 🙂
bite it you scum
The original quotation attributed by Tom to one of the dear girls on the scene was actually, “Having fun is fun, huh.” It was uttered often, along with the phrases “Sad, huh. ” And “Happy, huh.” The “huh” was spoken as an interrogative, meaning “isn’t it?”
HI Shari! Welcome aboard.
Steve: I recall Nick removing the little chip from a musical christmas card and dropping it down the horn box/frame of your G.S.. The Great Pumkin played Jingle Bells 24 hours a day for about a month.
GG Allin’s idea of fun is appearing on TV on massive amounts of drugs!
Welcome Shari! It would be great if you can scan and post any pictures you have because my memory isn’t as keen as Tony’s or Tom’s.
Shari Graham! It’s about time that you posted! I have a few Photos of the wickershams (in storage, I’ll get it to it shortly) and one of you and me posing with Liz Pepin in July 1985. I think Robin Wexler took the photo! Can you recall our show at the Rock Palace on a lonesome weekday night? I think there were more people on stage performing, than in the audience and staff!
Matt,
Whoa, your right that is an odd image. But you know when I really think back on those days it seemed like all aspects of my life were conducted on, (or near), my scooter and the music celebrated on this website was the soundtrack!
MATT ROTT/Steve: Making love on a Vespa is very easy, the center stand makes the bike very stable but you do really need a good back rest(sissy bar).
If you need to bring some spice back to your married life try riding a Vespa into your bedroom, your wife will thank you. Mine did.
Simon: A two-stroke engine, even!
Perhaps Simon. Thanks for the advice Dylan, sadly I no longer own a Vespa. But my love for beautiful and horribly unreliable Italain modes of transportation continues in the form of a 35 year old Alfa Romeo spider. And Dammit Matt, still no back seat.
Tony, I’m so glad to hear you have some Wickersham pics. I think that Rock Palace show was our first, aside from the spaghetti party gig at my parents’ house. I remember Carl and Claudia standing up front, but not many others. I wore a knee length pencil skirt with a sleeveless top, light brown cowboy boots and a brown suede jacket. I always preferred the early Joan Baez, Mary Travers look to the mod thing. Sorry! Remember how you and Ron would switch off on guitar and drums?
I do have some pics of the wickershams’ Tiajuana Trip. How weird is that?
Hey, remember the time you took me to the paint store on your scooter? I think that’s the one and only time I rode on one of those modmobiles.
That Tijuana trip was the day we all came to grips with the fact that the supply of pointy boots and mary janes we’d find on trips down there had dried up or been sold to Cowboys and Poodles on Melrose!
Those Wickersham show were sooo… fun. However, the band practices were MUCH better and ALWAYS laced with MAJOR band member induced DRAMA.
Steve Dietz . . . you sir are a hero of mine . I’ve never had a bad thought regarding you my friend , and I’m glad to see you’re still kicking . We need to catch up over a drink or 7 .
Regarding Rock Palace . . . I’m sure there are a few of you who remember the night I waited outside the club for Peter M. and he somehow managed to slip through the small bathroom window to avoid his medicine .
That guy did more than a few people wrong and I tried to catch up with him that night but he managed to slip into the darkness unchecked out of a second story bathroom window that a child would have had a hard time navigating . . . he disapeared into the night only to face the music at a much later date .
Wow, look away and about ten super-interesting posts pop up! Shari, great to find you, or for you to find us--it’s been years! Gosh, Robyn, I hope not too much of the bandmember-induced drama was my doing! 🙂 Or maybe I wish more of it was, if there’s such a thing as good drama. Or like the Shangri-La’s “good-bad, not evil.” Mike, I hope you had better dealings with at least ONE of the M. brothers! The younger one, maybe you had better diplomatic relations with him? Well, even if not, good thing the statute of limitations has surely kicked in! After all, it was another century! Ah, but amusing to hear you still savoring some kind of vengeance after the “curses, foiled again” of a Houdini-like escape worthy of Bond or the Men from U.N.C.L.E.
Now about this Tijuana trip--Tony (and Shari)--I had forgotten who all was along, but I do remember, we had no luck at Tres Hermanos or the other zapaterias. Someone had soaked up the new-old-stock! Shari, I even think I briefly eulogized your white Volkswagen somewhere in an early post on the blog months ago. You were driving the night a bugload of us caught the Morlocks out at Brown Field. I was so grateful--being such a kid--when cool people drove all the way to a ridiculous Serra Mesa cul-de-sac to pick me up.
Your arrival, Shari, completes the circle of Wickershams alumni, from that performance at the Rock Palace and beyond--as I’m in touch with even Jim Davies, though he’s not on the blog (that I’m aware--it wouldn’t be his style)--and Ron Silva and his paper sacks (as you’ve recalled) (and hopefully the “I’ve (bean) to El Indio” bumper-stickered suitcase, too) are back in Alameda these days. Tony, when did you last play some drums? I recall that you were a multi-instrumentalist in the band, with you and Ron switching off on drums and rhythm guitar. Jim played a Gibson electric twelve, and possibly his 335 six-string on a few. I played bass. Shari wielded a mean tambourine.
Yes, that Rock Palace show had to be one of the most well-attended in the three-month history of the club! My memory is mostly of floorboards.
Speaking of Seuss, there was a Seussian origin of the Wickershams’ name. Just a coincidence, but it’s true, you have to know how. Wickershims--which book is that from?
Hey, you two! Snap out of it!! Jeez!
Tom: The Wickersham Brothers were the mean monkeys in Horton Hears a Who. As for the Tijuana trip, it was actually the whole band, in my white bug, of course.
Ray: Could that life intrusion possibly be the beginning of the school year? Don’t you hate when people go on and on about how we get “all that time off?” It’s about eight weeks after set up, tear down, planning and staff development. I understand that this is a considerable amount by American standards, but we work BLOODY HARD to earn those eight weeks! Every year we have to get to know a whole batch of new kids, earn their trust, set limits, teach them THE STANDARDS, assess them, evaluate them, while at the same time being evaluated by administrators and parents. I work in Mill Valley, or Me Valley, as I like to call it, with very affluent children and their rich, smart, hovering parents. I love it, but it’s hard! I earn every flippin minute of my time off! I’m actually considering becoming president of our teachers’ union this year, as nobody has stepped up to the plate. We are getting more and more young teachers who don’t really appreciate what the union does. Stepford Teachers, I like to call them. I will have to learn to keep my mouth shut and be more discreet and diplomatic yada,yada…..(ya think?)
The majority of the Wickershams DRAMA centered around Ron Silva and his current or current set of female friends.
There really should be an entire blog about Carl Rusk and all of the women he destroyed!!!
Tom , in the end it was all a non issue . He ended up in trouble with the law for various different reasons and for the most part fell off the face of the earth . Certainly fell off my radar . I think his brother ended up being a camera man or reporter for the news or something . Not entirely sure so don’t quote me .
Robyn, fortunately he hasn’t destroyed any in many years--or if he’s doing so now, it’s only in slow motion, like in geologic time. We erode as quickly. He’s long married, they have a pair of children, all quite cozy and domestic. Try to imagine that his wife is some sort of avenging angel, perhaps! She’s great. But also, he is quite changed.
* * * *
“…current or current set…”--I did enjoy that fine distinction, quite rich! But in my other bandmate’s behalf (more-or-less to say defense), he’s been getting that side of things together over a period of years. A bit of professional talk may have helped. And high time, there was enough minor havoc that affected me, too, along the way. Records that didn’t get made. People to whom I had to make explanation. Yet it’s not that I am perfect, either! But in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you give (at the speed of ligtht); all the world’s a stage, and each must play their dangnable part. Now the stage is bare, and I’m standing there in my underwear…. It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how! I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours…I think Robert Zimmerman said that.
Perhaps the best I can offer is this mixture of callowness, chagrin, and comeuppance set to music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_8P7ceqsGs
Shari--Me Valley, that is indeed funny! The Valley of Me. How green was my valley? And for me the place probably can’t be the same without Village Music! I get the feeling Mill Valley isn’t as “mellow” as it once was reputed to be. But I do know there’s at least one old-timer from twenty years before us in the person of a guy who is on a vintage bicycle list I subscribe to. Well, do your best with the kids and for the kids. And I bet some of the parents are peers of ours!
Mike Stobbe,
Thanks Mike! I would be happy to have that drink with you. You can get my contact info. from Matt.
We should have a whole thread devoted to Elaina-isms. Of course, just like with reading quotes from our president, you’d have to imagine the voice to get the full effect.
Hello Ray,
Was merely stating a fact for MANY women regarding Carl.
I DRANK and cried over Carl’s leaving me for quite a long time.
Special Carl memory: On one of our first dates we made brownies at his house.It was FAB!!!!
Robyn! I hadn’t realized--or had long forgotten--that it was as personal as that! My sympathies. But also my narrowed eyes are green with envy! For in all these years, Carl and I have never made brownies!! Actually, there may have been some around the house that were shared out with me, but mostly it’s just been coffee and oatmeal with the kids or something, for breakfast, punctuated by the occasional delicious stir-fry or other Asian specialty of the house, for dinner.
Are you saying Carl’s method of womanly destruction involved dessert-type menu items? I should have known. I think I did overhear him say “I laid some brownies on her again last night” once but I thought it was just a holiday exchange, you know. Like he was too broke for gifts and made some home-made treats. Four fresh brownies, three french hens, two turtledoves, and Andy Partridge of XTC!
Ah, but it is better to have loved and lost, having made brownies, than to never have had brownies a-tall.
Not that I’m belittling heartbreak. But I hope you felt it again on other occasions--you’ve got to spread it around a little, especially when you’re young and can afford it. An emotion as sensual as heartbreak is too crushing to forego. One should experience it again and again.
I remember along about the time we discussing going to see the Jim Jarmusch film starring Roberto Benigni who, in character, keeps repeating, “It is a sad and beautiful world.”
In my experience of living, a little touch of cancer has rendered a number of small disappointments minor and moot. But I too still hope to find someone with whom stirring up a bowl of batter for brownies might be FAB. Will it be fab enough for both at the same time that there is enough to build a dream on? Hasn’t been so far. There are so many externalities…but:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBHhK7k5Q0
No harm done, Robyn. I hope you still have that great sense of humor that used to crack me up all the time!
Here’s a man known for magnetic brownies, sowing destruction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77qkB2TQAjI
But his heart is beyond broken, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IalINIREfc
Manon!
“Manon” spells heartbreak to me today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IalINIREfc
Ma -- non
Ray,
My sense of humor has expaned greatly due to the CRAZY life I lead.
I would love to speak to you off line. How do we do that? Through Matt?
Tony suarez destroyer of brownies.mmmmmm brownies.
Brownies!!! Yum. You guys are cracking me up.
I have, by no means, been “destroyed” by any boy/man I’ve been involved with. All my friendships and relationships have contributed to the woman, wife, mother, friend, teacher and citizen that I am today. In the words of Catherine Deneuve (sp), “I love the lines on my face, as they remind me of the men who put them there.”
Carl was harmless. He only loved girls who didn’t love him. (Been there, done that) Ron was kooky. He only loved girls until they loved him.
They both made me laugh and I’ll always be a sucker for that!
Shari, it may have been a Point Loma thing; the whole bunch seems to have been vying with each other in the satire, sophisticated humor & non sequitur departments. I had to speed my brain up in order not to be completely left in the dust, coming from slow Serra Mesa. I do feel for Robyn and many others, though (and for myself), for times when sophomoric wit, no matter how sharpened and seemingly sophisticated (and thus on a higher plane than the usual proto-frat variety), may have trumped sincerity somehow. It wasn’t easy being young any more than it was being green.
I tell you this much and I guess it was all down to time and place but I am truly surprised that nobody ever caught a statutory charge.
Re: Point Loma thing. That is, Point Loma and any community that can see Point Loma, perhaps! Man I love those old houses, large AND small. I had a date or two with a girl who lived in that wild mansion on Narragansett, behind huge hedges. I mean she LIVED behind the hedges--the dates didn’t occur there. Our mutual loss, I’d like to think--you’re only young once. Funny how the streets in Point Loma and Ocean Beach are largely named for stuff that’s kind-of associated with “old money” back east. Exhibit A would be Newport Avenue. The connection is coastline. Solid 1920’s marketing, no doubt, to capitalize on extant Eastern resort towns in the hope of creating a new one. Anyway, love those houses--large AND small.
BOogie, Good point. Maybe we just never heard about it? Someone on our periphery? I’ve been wondering about something similar in light of the daughter of a certain vice-presidential candidate. Not sure what gives there--I guess everyone concerned is a minor? Well, anyway, back in the times we’re concerned with, I think my (usually frustrated) interests were often with women who were in fact older than I.
Shari: “boy/man” about says it! Perhaps “boyIIman,” harhar. As in the singular of the ol’ boy band of hit parade fame. I think they have a new album out--a set of Motown covers, of all things. A review I saw was heralding them for not attempting to recreate the sound. Right! It would be too hard. Nobody can play that way convincingly, the studio production would never cut it, etc., etc. I hereby dedicate any Marvin Gaye / Tammi Terrell song to this blog post and to the spirit of girlfriends & boyfriends past.
That party was at Brad Willis’s house, and has been mentioned elsewhere on this site, too. In fact there are pictures from an issue Terry Marine’s Be My Friend which are posted as well. The Wilkins’ family fence was broken when everyone tried to escape when the police were called.
Just to set the record straight, the party was at my house and I am and was Brad Willis and not Brad Wilkins. The party was in Point Loma and not Mission Hills as mentioned in a prior thread. I had friends who were punks and friends who were mods and thus the eclectic mix of attendees.
The fence was broken down, giant cable spools were rolled into the canyon, the band was sprayed with water, beer was poured down the crack of an unconscious buddy’s ass while his girlfriend came on to me, and my mother’s boots and my turntable’s needle ended up missing.
All-in-all, it was a terrific time and I wouldn’t change a thing! It did take awhile for the neighbors to start talking to me again, as that was the 2nd (and last) raucous party that I had hosted in a relatively short time.
Hey Brad,
Yeah--I meant Willis--changed above. That was a wild time--thanks for the good times.
I dont want my Visits here to be one appology after another but….
I have to say to Steve Dietz…
Man Im so Sorry about your Maltese Falcon…..
One of my bggest regrets, You were a friend to me when I had none and I didnt repay you the same and for that Im so sorry….
Im glad you are doing good….
Mark, I do not know if Steve will see what you wrote, but I will try and get the message to him.
I think it is great that you are making amends to people, and I do respect what you are trying to do.
There are not to many saints here, there are some and Steve would be among them so I would to thank you myself for saying your sorry to Steve.
Thanx Dylan,
Its one of those things that still kill me to this day,
Thanx again
o man, chui and art and company would have a mad santa bag of “taxation” to hand out.
I’d like my adolescent self-importance back, please!
I was at the Husker Du, Meat Puppets and Minutemen show. Husker Du was terrible. The rumor then was they were fighting that night about signing the Big Deal.
I danced with D Boone during the Meat Puppets. I will never forget how fantastic the Meat Puppets were.
Another great memory was looking at a guy who was talking to his friends. He was near a large trash can. He leaned over it puked, and resumed his conversation without missing a beat. People were amazing then! There was also a small hippie with a back pack who looked like Charles Manson. After a a minute of looking at him we realized it was Henry Rollins. Just hanging out in the audience and looking kind of shy in a manson-esque way.
Meat Puppets were amazing that night, Minutemen were legend…and Husker Du…yeah, I left in the middle of their set (my ears were hurting). Love them on vinyl but that night…no.
I remember Christian Death Playing there…
christian death way to go
Somebody way up there mentioned the SST show (Hüsker Dü/Minutemen/Meat Puppets) in 1985, so, for posterity’s sake, here’s the Minutemen’s Mike Watt reminiscing about the show (as I recall, the Minutemen even played some Meat Puppets songs that night):
“I remember I got bald. D. Boon asked us to cut our hair all off again, for the third time. And (Meat Puppet) Curt Kirkwood found a refrigerator box that said ‘Econowatt’ and taped it to my head,” Watt recalled. “That was so great, because the ‘trio of trios’ was all from different towns, all played different styles, but we felt so close to them.
“People would say, ‘How can you guys be kind of the same if you didn’t sound like them?’ But that was the point then, no branding of the sound.”
I went to a couple of shows here, I thought the floor was going to cave in or something.
It was kind of dingy in there, like some one else said it had a Pompeii feeling about it.
Saw Tell Tale Hearts play there, I was the only dirt head punk there.
For some reason, I was thinking about Circle Sound this evening and ran a search on it. I was surprised to find this site and this conversation because I was sure that it had long ago been forgotten and relegated to the dim, dark past.
I remember Circle Sound well. I took a ‘Recording Engineering’ course there, starting in January of 1982 but left it to return East, for family reasons, in August. I don’t think that I would have posted here if it hadn’t been for what Ray Brandes wrote, way, way up top. Instead, I guess that I would have just enjoyed reading what everybody else had to say on the subject and left it at that -- but when he mentioned Kevin and Manual Scan, the light bulb went off in my head. I remember Kevin being in my class, I remember him telling me that he had a band called Manual Scan and I also remember being very, very pleased to know that they did a Kinks cover. I’ve been a massive Kinks fan for 45 years and so I was curious to know which song they did. I remember being annoyed when Kevin told me that it was ‘Come On Now’, the ‘B side’ of ‘Tired Of Waiting’. On the one hand, I was happy to know that he thought well enough of them to cover one of their songs -- but on the other, I thought he could have chosen a better track to do -- and I think I told him that, suggesting that the ‘B’ of ‘All Day And All Of The Night’, ‘I Gotta Move’ would have been a better choice.
Anyway, I’m happy to know that Kevin’s band lived on to achieve a certain amount of guts and glory during its lifespan. It was a real nice surprise to find this out because I’d wondered, from time to time over the years, whatever might have become of them. Since leaving San Diego, I’ve lost all touch with just about everything cultural there -- and even Tower Records on Sports Arena, where I’d worked for a year and once considered to be the center of my musical universe (aside from London), has turned to dust and disappeared.
I always had the impression that Circle was living from day to day on a thin edge. It always felt, to me, like it could have gone under at any moment and, while I was attending their ‘school’, I never had faith that I wouldn’t show up for class one night only to find the place locked up and shut down. Regardless, it was a beautiful studio and I thought that I had died and gone to heaven every time I went there. All I remember about the owner was that he took over one of our classes at the last minute and decided that -- for our final exam -- we would each have to go about building a recording studio from scratch, on paper, and have to perform all the necessary research, pricing, contracting and blueprint work in order to pass that class and advance to the next level. It was my contention that I wasn’t there to learn how to build a goddamned recording studio, I was there to learn how to use one and so, when a family emergency occurred that required my attention, I was only too happy to leave.
On the positive end, one of our instructors was a man named Terry who was in the Music Department at UCSD and who was, as far as I was concerned, a first class teacher. He ran the class that had to do with the hands-on recording and he brought in a band for us to record that drove me up the friggin’ wall. I don’t recall their name but I do recall that we recorded one of their tunes called ‘La Sagrada Familia’ over and over and over and over again until I was about ready to turn into a psycho killer and put an end to it and them. Their bass player might have gotten me first, though, because he caught me making an unkind comment to Terry about him and his twiddly-twaddly bass-playing and if looks could have killed, I would have been.
Ah, memories!
Thanks to everybody who participated on this thread. You’ve really given me a trip back in time. And god bless the power of Google, too, without which ……..
>>And god bless the power of Google, too, without which ……..
Bongomania: Indeed! And thank you for resurfacing this thread — I’d forgotten what a great, weird patchwork masterpiece this one was. 🙂
Bongomania, “I Gotta Move” did join the Manual Scan songlist around that time. As memory serves, the Kinks songs the band covered circa-1982 were “Till The End of The Day”, “Come On Now”, “I Gotta Move”, and “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”.
“I Need You” also crept into the setlist, but I can’t remember what year. (Then there’s the fact that at school dances we’d also do very mainstream stuff like “You Really Got Me” when we had to fill three hours.)
I do remember those classes at Circle Sound. I even have my diploma or whatever the hell it was they gave out when you completed the course. I don’t remember any of my classmates, though. Sorry Bongomania. But I am extremely hazy on most everything from that era, so don’t take it personally!
I do recall that we recorded the Trowsers (who loved the kick sound I dialed in — Richard hated it and made me change it). We also recorded Greg Cooke’s band, whose name I’m currently forgetting. I do recall that he played a solid-body Rickenbacker guitar whose pickups had been replaced with three P-90s, and he was going into a Marshall. He managed to get a very Brian May-like sound with that very non-Brian May setup.
Those classes led directly to Manual Scan recording almost all of our released material at Circle Sound. Luckily, Bart went by there and brought some our 2″ master reels home from their storage area. Just a few days later, the place burned. Very sad.
saw Hüsker Dü there in 85. Shrill and not good.
Cleaning the garage this week I found my framed certificate from my Audio Engineering course at Circle Sounds. Gonna hang that in my control room / home office room / Playboy Magazine and CD storage room ASAP.
Saw quite a few shows there and have many good memories. Meatpuppets, Minutemen and Husker Du outstanding show! Fishbone! Miss the Palace
Barley?Bellerue?B who?