Nairobi | The Che Underground

We are all Blues Gangsters

January 1, 2011June 26, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Wallflower David Rinck introduces a new project by old friends.)

Here’s our new record. As far as we know, this is the latest project by musicians associated with the Che Underground.

We wrote the music over the Internet, since we now live in various far-flung corners of the globe (Africa in my case). One of us would write a riff and a few lines of lyrics and then send it on. Pretty soon it added up to a song, and then the eight on the record (actually more, but we could only record eight ’cause of time limitations).

But we all used to be in bands in San Diego and play shows together, so we were used to working together, and the distances were easily overcome.

UETA and the Beathogs: Live at Underground Express at Dass, Nairobi

January 1, 2011April 5, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Wallflower Dave Rinck files an update from Africa.)

March 19 the Underground Express rolled on at Dass in Nairobi. We had a particularly awesome night out, largely due to a rare visit from my own very favorite Kenyan rock band, UETA.

Consisting of three brothers and a cousin, UETA is one of the hardest-rocking bands on the local scene. They mixed heavy metal with a mini-set of acoustic numbers to create a really dynamic show that left the audience (literally) screaming for more.

Son of Che: Underground Express at Dass, Nairobi

January 1, 2011February 19, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Peripatetic Wallflower Dave Rinck extends the Che Underground to East Africa.)

Somebody called me on the phone … They said, “Hey! Is David home?” It was Gilbert Barthe, lead guitarist of my current band the Beathogs. “We’re all down at Dass. You wanna come down and play a show in about 45 minutes?” Well, sure, I thought. Why not? I was always under the impression that Dass was just this sort of funky Ethiopian restaurant located on the second floor of a grim concrete building on this crazy street of bars in Westlands (a part of Nairobi near where I live). But anyway, I was at this lame party, kinda bored, so I though well what the hell … it’d be more fun than staying here. So I grabbed my guitar and headed on down.

Next thing you know, I found myself climbing this narrow cement staircase up to the second floor of this dusty old building. I knew the place on the first floor was Havanas, a nightclub and restaurant that a friend of mine named Zelalem deejays at, attracting huge unruly mobs some nights that spill off the sidewalk out front and into the street until all hours. I myself had frequently held court over plates of fish almondine on linen tablecloths and huge carafes of wine in the backrooms of that place well after midnight. But I’d never made the haul up to the second floor. Well, that was all about to change …

Ché Games for May: Musical Promo 2

December 13, 2017December 22, 2008 by Paul Kaufman

(Once again, Manual Scan/Lemons Are Yellow veterans Paul Kaufman and David Fleminger bang the gong to promote the Ché reunion. Except this time, they get some help from a very special guest.)

Last week, the planets aligned — I was in San Francisco, visiting Dave Fleminger at his house; this led to the first musical promo for the reunion in May 2009 that was posted recently. Little did we know that our musical universe was about to explode.

Someone was calling on the phone. A voice said, “Is Dave Fleminger at home?” It was Dave Rinck, the iconic lead singer of the Wallflowers, visiting from Nairobi. Soon we’re all in the studio, and here’s the result. Considering the last time I had seen Dave Rinck in person was when he was onstage in 1984, this was an especially big thrill for me.