San Diego music | The Che Underground

Time-machine sidecar

January 6, 2011June 28, 2010 by admin

Two things that make me happy about this blog: It puts a lot of people and images and music I loved as a kid in one place, and it gives me a second chance to understand what I witnessed the first time around.

Sharing an adult perspective on the passions of our youth is a very cool thing to me. Even with those tools, though, I sometimes find it hard to explain to people who know me now what excited me then.

Hence today’s conversation-starter: Is there anyone you wish you could take back in time for a one-day tour of your wasted youth in San Diego? If so, who would it be? What would you like to show them?

Forever changes: Che Games for May
and the the perpetual nostalgia machine

January 6, 2011May 29, 2010 by admin

Detail: Dave Fleminger, the Mirrors; May 30, 2009 (photo by Dave Doyle) Ava points out that it was exactly one year ago that Che Underground: The Blog hosted its first-ever reunion gig (a k a “Che Games for May”) at San Diego’s Casbah.

The two-night blowout included eight great San Diego bands (nine, if you count the unannounced, sizzling first-night mini-set by Lemons Are Yellow), most of whom hadn’t played together in a quarter-century. It marked the first time most of us had been together since the mid-’80s — and the opportunity to meet a few new friends who’d met through the site and their shared San Diego musical history.

This anniversary thus represents an interesting object lesson in the recursive nature of memory: This event itself has now passed into its realm and hence deserves its own commemorative post!

Glory reunited!

December 11, 2017April 30, 2010 by admin

Readers of Che Underground: The Blog who thrilled to Ray Brandes’ history of Glory will have an extraordinary chance to see the legendary San Diego band in action.

Glory (which dissolved in 1978 after a storied 11-year run) will reunite on May 26 to raise funds for the California Music Project and raise funds for music education in public schools. The event will feature Glory alumni Jerry Raney, Jack Butler and Jack Pinney as well as their current musical projects: the Farmers, Private Domain and Modern Rhythm, respectively.

Bamboohead’s back!

January 6, 2011April 23, 2010 by admin

We’ve cited Clayton Colgin’s Bamboohead among the influential ‘zines that helped shape the underground aesthetic of San Diego at the turn of the ’80s. In honor of the new millennium and the net, Clay has reimagined his brainchild as Bamboohead 3000, available now on a MySpace page near you!

First up: an interview with Sasha Pfau of the Hot Moon, “a young band in San Diego that I first saw about six months ago … who just continue to energize my sense of what a young modern young band can be about today in the 21st century.

One for the books

January 6, 2011April 14, 2010 by admin

All your friends seem larger than life when you’re young … But I believe that many of the people who made up our scene really did have the charisma and thirst for new experiences to make great protagonists in an epic novel.

Jack Kerouac built his legend on a lightly fictionalized (and beautifully written) portrayal of his friend Neal Cassady, with a supporting cast of other people in their circle.

If you were going to write the Great American Novel about someone from the San Diego scene, who would it be? And why?

Causes

December 16, 2017April 1, 2010 by admin

"Community Activism" graphic Here’s a first post crafted in response to my recent call for new topics: “It would be fabulous to learn about what types of positive contributions all of us scene skeptics are currently participating in to actually improve our society,” writes Robyn Wexler, who goes on to describe her personal involvement in animal-rescue causes.

A great question that I hope will inspire some spirited discussion! To what political, social or spiritual causes have you invested yourself lately? And are they the same sort of causes you would have envisioned back when we were kids?

The British Invasion hits San Diego

April 14, 2012March 24, 2010 by admin

(Bart Mendoza gets a sneak peek at a new DVD collection straight out of SD.)

San Diego has many great music-related companies within its borders; besides music labels, Taylor Guitars, NARM, Carvin Guitars and Deering Banjos immediately spring to mind. Top of the list for me, however, is El Cajon’s Grammy-nominated music archivist Reelin’ in the Years, “The world’s largest and most respected source of music footage.”

I bring this up because I’m really excited about a new DVD series from RITY, The British Invasion. The first four discs are out March 30, the box set featuring a bonus disc. I love that this, and RITY’s other series devoted to jazz, folk, blues and Motown, are from a San Diego company. But as you’d guess, any series that includes The Small Faces is especially going to get my attention.

Back to the Gaslamp!

December 13, 2017March 15, 2010 by admin

A quick one, while he’s away: I’m blogging from the Hilton in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, where I’ve arrived for a very short conference. In all my years of business travel, this is my first event in San Diego … And I do believe this is my first time in this part of SD since moving away in February 1987!

Thanks to Kristen Tobiason’s documentary efforts via her “Then and Now” series, we’ve virtually revisited sites of past glories before this neighborhood was cleaned up and relabeled the Gaslamp: the Zebra Club/Saigon Palace, Greenwich Village West, Studio 517, Funland …

My time is short and packed with grown-up business, but I’m hoping for a few minutes to stroll the old ‘hood. What do you think I’d see, if I could walk away from me?

The request line is open!

January 6, 2011March 1, 2010 by admin

If only February were as long as other months, we’d have another traffic record on our hands! Two years since it began, Che Underground: The Blog keeps growing; every week brings more veteran San Diego scenesters into our orbit, all of them with their own stories and insights about the town where we grew up.

In that spirit: What bands, gigs, people or places would you like to learn more about? With nearly 10,000 of us hanging out here each month, we’ve got a mighty store of memories — and chances are awfully good that someone visiting the blog has answers to your questions. Let’s train the group mind on new subjects!

Men of Clay: Artifacts

December 31, 2010December 25, 2009 by admin

Courtesy of Clay himself, here’s a set of artwork that evokes his work as editor of Bamboohead and eponymous frontman for Men of Clay.

As these flyers demonstrate, MoC performed frequently in San Diego at the turn of the ’80s and was featured in 1983’s “Our Blow Out” compilation. So far, however, we’ve only discussed the band in passing. Please chime in with your memories of Men of Clay!