Patrick Works | The Che Underground

This We Dug: The Rolling Stones

July 3, 2011December 20, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(David Rinck recalls the moment that made him a rocker.)

The other day, I picked up the obligatory copy of Keith Richards’ new autobiography “Life.” OK, no surprises — there’s some really interesting stuff in here, but it predictably enough reads sort of like “This I Took.” Maybe he should get a program?

Also, I happened to see the new(ish) Martin Scorsese live film of the Stones. “Shine A Light,” about a month ago, and I really didn’t think it was very good. I mean, come on guys: Christina Aguilera? Really? And poor ol’ Keith looks like he’s just exhausted. Well yeah, when you talk about the Stones nowadays, it’s hard to ignore the fact that these guys are getting a bit torn and frayed. But let’s be fair here â€¦

The Calaveras Carnivore

December 31, 2010October 27, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(A culinary blogging adventure from Che Underground veteran Patrick Works.)

While he’s been shooting a lot lately, Patrick’s also been busy writing.

This gets him hungry, so he eats while he writes.

Lately he’s been thinking he should really do some writing about eating. At least that way he’s got a good excuse for all the grease on the keyboard.

Cecil “P’Nut” Daniels speaks

December 18, 2017October 4, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

One of the most exciting revelations inspired by Che Underground: The Blog was the reintroduction to our circle of original Wallflowers drummer Cecil “P’Nut” Daniels.

His arrival from Texas in the early ’80s (under the name Aaron Daniels) and unlikely alliance with the nascent Wallflowers wrought a profound influence on the band and on other members of our crew, such as Kristen Tobiason and Patrick Works.

“Aaron elevated the proceedings,” writes Wallflowers bassist Paul Howland. “He showed me how to play slap-style bass, (which we called ‘Thumpin’ ’ or ‘Poppin’ ’); played me recordings of some of the best purveyors of that technique; and even showed me how to set up an amp properly to achieve the right sound to enhance the technique.

Read moreCecil “P’Nut” Daniels speaks

Lend Me Your Comb: A short history of the Hedgehogs

January 1, 2011July 22, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes applies his narrative skills to documenting an influential early band from his own back pages. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)

At the beginning of the summer of 1981, the Ideals (comprising 18-year-old Ray Brandes on lead vocals, 17-year-old Tony Paulerio on lead guitar, 20-year-old Maure Silverman on rhythm guitar, 17-year-old Paul Carsola on drums, and led by 14-year-old prodigy Carl Rusk on bass) were gearing up for a summer of Point Loma keg parties at $50 a performance.

The band, whose short career had reached a pinnacle opening for the Penetrators at Mission Bay High School’s prom, played mostly rockabilly and early rock and roll, with Eddie Cochran’s songs making up about 50 percent of our set list!

At the end of May, with Paul away on a summer vacation, Carl called up the Crawdaddys’ Ron Silva to sit in on drums. Ron knew Carl from years of Skeleton Club shows and had recently seen the Ideals play at the Zebra Club, so he was more than happy to oblige. The gig was to be a massive block party in Crown Point, but it never materialized because the set by the opening band, Stonehenge, resulted in several noise complaints.

Who’ll be my role model?

December 18, 2017July 2, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

The recent spate of celebrity deaths and some spirited discussions on the blog about guilty pleasures and musical mystification suggests an interesting topic: As music fans, how much do we care about the musical preferences, personal philosophies or other opinions of popular artists whose work we admire?

A frequent right-wing put-down of (generally liberal) celebrities is, “Shut up and sing.” Is there a grain of truth in that slogan? Or is it the responsibility of popular figures to use their celebrity to champion what they think is right?

Bandmates/other friends 1982-1990 (+1)

January 1, 2011June 6, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles — San Diego music historian extraordinaire — shares some highlights from his stacks.)

Some call it being a pack rat; I prefer the tag “archivist”! The dream is to put together a DVD/book with the rooms full of stuff I’ve accumulated in 30 years of collecting San Diego music memorabilia.

But in the meantime, in honor of the recent Che Underground reunion shows, here are 20 relevant vintage photos from my archive. For this fifth picture post, I’ve included a little bit of everything: random photos from 1982-1990 (+1), including bandmates and other friends.

1) Dean Curtis at Club Zu. You know it’s a good show if Dean is in attendance.

Hobbies and diversions

January 1, 2011April 7, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

Having known most of you best during one little window of our lives, in a scene focused on music, I really cherish the opportunity to learn about the before, after and sideways.

Over the past year, we’ve heard a lot of passing mentions of folks’ extracurricular activities — the stuff they loved as kids and the things they like to do now. I discovered that I wasn’t the only aspiring magician on the blog, we’ve learned about Patrick Works’ fascination with Russian in general and Rasputin in particular, Dean Curtis (and others) have shared their epicurean enthusiasms, Toby Gibson (and others) have cited their affinity for matters aquatic … The list goes on.

So, open question: Besides listening to and playing music, what did you like to do then? What do you like to do now? Do the dots connect, or would the kid you were then be surprised at the activities that amuse the grownup you’ve become?

He’s a complicated man … Who’s your hero(ine)?

December 18, 2017March 23, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Patrick Works invokes a roll/role call of history.)

A long while back I went to see the remake of “Shaft.” I decided in the end that the movie fell kinda flat because the director missed a crucial half of the character. As I see it Shaft was Shaft because of two distinct things:

1. Shaft is a bad motherf*cker.
2. The chicks really dig him.

While Sam Jackson’s Shaft was definitely a pretty bad dude … Richard Roundtree he ain’t.
Then it occurred to me that Shaft was really a rock star character on screen … or that our rock stars are really screen stars on stage. Mick Jagger has of course explored this at length, as has David Bowie more fully and completely.

Now of course we have more than just music figures as role models, though so many of us fix on entertainment. Lately some dialog here has revolved around historical figures of influence so I thought I’d post the Lester Bangs Memorial Personality Survey:

Who in history is your underground hero? Punk progenitor? Fifth Column Forebearer?

Photo paydirt from the garage

January 1, 2011February 7, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

“Hi Matthew,” writes Greg S. “Maybe you remember me. … Toby Thunderbird/ Lifehater/ Gibson told me about your site.

“I’m visiting the US and thought I’d dig up some old photos to contribute, which have been sitting in a box in my mom’s garage. … Wasn’t sure how/where to post them, so here they are.”

This We Dug: Laurie Partridge

March 29, 2019January 9, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Editor’s note: When asked whether guest columnist Patrick Works could add this submission to the “This We Dug” franchise, series founder Dave Rinck wrote, “Of course! Anything Pat says is automatically cool.” And so it is.)

Or were you secretly in love with Keith? Or perhaps you were a wannabe Reuben Kincaid just like me?

For some strange reason amidst the caca-phone of 60s/70s TV the Monkees begat all kinds of media attempts at duplicating pop super-stardom, and the rest is of course TV history.