Let the games begin!

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes lays the table for May’s audio feast.)

The Che Underground Weekend Showcase:
Celebrating more than 25 years of San Diego’s underground music history

Backlit AnswersAn incredible opportunity to reconnect, reminisce and rediscover will unfold as 25 years and thousands of miles of distance disappear in a single weekend — May 29 and 30 at the Casbah in San Diego.

The lineups have been set, the bands are rehearsing, and the drinks are on ice. Here’s what to expect:

Read moreLet the games begin!

Madison Avenue hipster holiday, December 1985

(Miss Kristi Maddocks plays the Ghost of Christmas Past with photos and memories.)

Detail: Kristi Maddocks, Christmas morning, Madison Avenue 1985 (collection Kristi Maddocks)Here are some snapshots from my very bo-ho holiday season in 1985.

At the time, I was living with Michelle Krone, Jeff Rierden and Keith Lockhart (RIP) in our tiny one-bedroom in-law apartment in the neighborhood around University and Park Avenues. I think Leighton Koizumi was in town for a visit from San Francisco, where he and the rest of the Morlocks moved six months before.

This arrangement left me sleeping alone on the couch in the living room — where I am captured waking up in a haze on Christmas Day.

Detail: “Jeff and Christmas guests at Madison Avenue. The collage on the wall is mine, the famous Go GO Girl murals were by Scott Ewalt” (collection Kristi Maddocks)One of the most memorable features of the apartment were the full-scale murals of cartoon Go Go Girls that our dear friend Scott Ewalt drew on our walls — they were way ahead of their time and adored by many visitors to out pad. (Needless to say, I never got back my apartment deposit!)

Read moreMadison Avenue hipster holiday, December 1985

My rockin’ Sweet 16

(Miss Kristi Maddocks takes one step beyond childhood with a heavy, heavy monster party. Pick it up, pick it up!)

Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party, 1982 (collection Kristi Maddocks)Before there was MTV, princesses all over the world celebrated their teenage years with fabulous Sweet 16 birthday parties. Although by that time I was a child of the Che Underground, celebrating this rite of passage was an excuse to throw a wonderful party, as well as an old family tradition that I could not pass up.

When I turned 16 in 1982, the Headquarters and Distillery East were my favorite hangouts. I spent my days playing volleyball and studying at Torrey Pines High School, and hung out with the mod/punk/surfer clique known as “The Scrubboes.” In the evenings I was out dancing with my friends from UC, La Jolla, PB and downtown. It only made sense that my ska-theme birthday party included kids from both walks of life!

Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party (collection Kristi Maddocks)Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party, 1982 (collection Kristi Maddocks)Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party, 1982 (collection Kristi Maddocks)Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party, 1982 (collection Kristi Maddocks)Detail: Kristi Maddocks’ Sweet 16 party (collection Kristi Maddocks)

Read moreMy rockin’ Sweet 16

Ask not what Che Underground can do for you …

If you were there, the Che Underground blog is your story, too. We’d love to hear and see your side of it.

Like PBS, we run on donations from viewers like you. This site is built on flyers, photos, audio and video from collectors including Kristen Tobiason, Toby Gibson, Cyndie Jaynes, Kristi Maddocks, Tom Goddard, Jason Seibert, Bruce Haemmerle, Mike McCarthy, Dean Curtis, Mark Mullen, Jeff Lucas, David Klowden, Cole Smithey, Bart Mendoza and Paul Allen. What rock-‘n’-roll treasures are growing crispy in your attic, your basement or  your mom’s house?

If you can scan them or digitize them, great! If you need some help, operators are standing by … We’ll find you someone who can. Either way, raise a virtual hand here or drop a line to cheunderground@gmail.com, and we’ll get you started.

The Morlocks in flyers

Morlocks/Tell-Tale Hearts, Sept. 1, 1985(?) (art by Kristen Tobiason, collection Tom Goddard)Tom Goddard’s trove of flyers continues to bear dividends for Che Underground: The Blog. Today’s bequest from the Goddard Collection features show pieces from the Morlocks’ 1984 and 1985 performances in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, created by artists including Jerry Cornelius and Kristen Tobiason.

Detail: Morlocks group shot (collection Tom Goddard)“For more information, call [Tell-Tale Hearts bassist] Mike [Stax],” reads the Tobiason flyer in the lead spot of this post. “If he ain’t home, call [Morlocks guitarist] Ted [Friedman] … If he ain’t home, call [Morlocks bassist] Jeff [Lucas] … ,” providing phone numbers for each. Now that’s customer service!

Detail: Tell-Tale Hearts/Morlocks, Studio 517, August 18, 1984 (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks/Need; Rave-Up, LA; Feb. 2, 1985 (art by Jerry Cornelius, collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks/Things/Through the Looking Glass/Nephews, UCSD Gym, April 26, 1985 (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks/Things/Through the Looking Glass/Nephews, UCSD Gym, April 26, 1985 (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks/Red Kross, May 1, 1985 (collection Tom Goddard)
Detail: Dead Kennedys/Morlocks/Stoney Burke/Camper Van Beethoven/Rhythm Pigs, Oct. 1, 1985, Mabuhay, SF (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Chesterfield Kings/Morlocks, Mabuhay Gardens, Nov. 14, 1985 (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks, Club 181, SF; Oct. 31, 1985(?) (collection Tom Goddard)Detail: Morlocks/The Fourgiven/Yard Trauma; Swedish American Hall, San Francisco; August 31, 1985 (collection Tom Goddard)

Read moreThe Morlocks in flyers

The birth of Everybody Violet

(Everybody Violet co-founder Kristi Maddocks reminisces about making the band. Read these excerpts, then check out the full account in our Related Bands section!)
Detail: Everybody Violet: Anni, Kristi, Carina and Michelle (collection Kristi Maddocks)I hung out in the San Diego underground late ’81 to early ‘82, but I wasn’t an out-‘n’-out player until 1983. After years of watching shows I began to assert myself as a writer, a poet — and a wannabe singer/songwriter.

It was like kismet: As soon as my old roommate moved out, Michelle [Krone] moved into the Madison Avenue place. Tired of being known as just “The Morlocks’ Girls,” Michelle and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s start our own band!” I would sing lead, and Michelle would sing back-up and learn the bass guitar.

Word got around the scene we were looking to become a legitimate group. A couple of days later, Michelle and I were introduced to Anni and Carina, and the great musical partnership of Everbody Violet was born.

Read moreThe birth of Everybody Violet

Miss Kristi’s Top 10s for San Diego ‘It’ Girls

Detail: Kristi Maddocks dancing (photo: Cyndie Jaynes)(Everybody Violet founder and SD scenestress extraordinaire Kristi Maddocks contributes practical tips for female food ‘n’ frolic in the San Diego underground.)

Author’s note: I have so much to say about the Che Underground, but I didn’t know where to start. So I began with the obvious: Being a female in the scene put you at a bit of a disadvantage … Even if you were smart and had creative contributions to make, the better sex was still received, perceived and judged on its looks and physical persona first and foremost.

Even though the sexual revolution had occurred in the ’60s-’70s, ironically feminism wasn’t a player in the retro mod/psyche scene of early-’80s San Diego. I was as guilty as the next girl for using my legs as a personal weapon or batting my big eyes at the boys in the band. Heck, these maneuvers got me in the door — and definitely helped me get deep into the scene and later helped me front my own band, Everybody Violet.

Read moreMiss Kristi’s Top 10s for San Diego ‘It’ Girls

Cyndie Jaynes: An evening with the Wallflowers

Detail: Paul Howland, Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)Cyndie Jaynes’ amazing gift to Che Underground: The Blog continues giving with this wonderful series of photographs from a late-era Wallflowers concert featuring Todd Lahman on guitar and Matt Johnson on drums. As always, Paul Howland (pictured in these photos) and Dave Rinck loomed large in the lineup.

MC/guest vocalist Jerry Cornelius, Tony Sanchez, Kristi Maddocks, and Audrey Moorehead also make the scene. What was the venue? The little picket fence and trellis evokes a freaky ice-cream parlor vibe. Who can ID this magic moment?

Detail: Todd Lahman, Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)Detail: Matt Johnson, Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)Detail: Jerry Cornelius fronts the Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)Detail: Kristi Maddocks dancing (photo: Cyndie Jaynes)Detail: Audrey Moorehead at the Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)Detail: Tony Suarez at the Wallflowers (photo by Cyndie Jaynes)

The Che Underground