Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
While we await the arrival of new video from Che Games for May 2009, here’s some more vintage footage of the Hair Theatre lineup that reunited for that show.
Like “What Should I Say,” this sizzling performance of “Final Steps” dates from 1984 and features Sergio (vocals); Sergio Castillo (bass); Cesar Castillo (guitar); Paul Allen (guitar); and Steve Broach (drums).
Check out more Hair Theatre and other Che Underground video morsels on the Che Underground YouTube channel!
(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.
Now it can be told: When we concocted the idea of the Che Games for May reunion show at San Diego’s Casbah Club, I was very apprehensive about what it would sound like.
After all, we were bringing together bands that for the most part hadn’t played together since the mid-’80s. Plus, we were asking these folks to practice more or less on the fly. The Che Underground diaspora dispersed us geographically for many years; for most of the acts, opportunities for full rehearsals were few and far between.
I was amazed by the results: The bands were so tight, and I daresay many of the musicians are better now than they were in 1984!
It makes me want to learn more about how all our players keep themselves musically active — not just the people who performed at the Casbah, but the rest of the musicians on the blog.
(Ex-Wallflower Paul “The P Man” Howland brings his Dubstep stylings to the Kava Lounge June 20 courtesy of Dub Smugglers.)
I’ve been working hard sorting through my tunes to decide which ones to bring down to the Kava Lounge on June 20.
Since I’m playing first, it’s definitely gonna be a fairly mellow set, at least to start out. I’ve got a fair bit of really good unreleased stuff from some UK producers, some new releases, as well as a few favorites of mine that have been out for a while. My set is gonna be from 9 ’til 10 pm, so please try to arrive early. I hope you’ll be able to stick around too, Austin Speed and Criminal (Subliminal DJs) are playing a back to back set after me, then you’ve got headliner Noah D, and doing a special closing set San Diego’s own PK.
(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.
Wow. Just … wow. The Che Games weekend was an emotional, artistic and spiritual triumph — throw in a few adjectives of your own there! I’m grateful that so many other people feel so energized and fulfilled by the time we spent together.
I think most of us need at least a little while to digest (and for those of us heavily involved in prep, to reclaim our schedules). But hey: While the iron’s hot, I want at least to hear what new worlds you want this blog and this community to explore next.
Here are a few items on my personal menu … Please chime in with more!
What’s an iconic concert without an iconic poster? In honor of Che Games for May, the 25th anniversary tribal gathering slated for May 29-30 at San Diego’s Casbah, Ray Brandes and artist Kevin Diamond have created this handsome memento so participants near and far can own a piece of music history.
Enjoy this commemorative gift, and we hope to see you there!
(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles counts off drummers he’s worked with.)
No doubt about it: Kevin Donaker-Ring and I have worked with a lot of drummers over the decades, keeping in mind that we first began our team-up in 1976.
Here are a few of the incredible musicians who have spent time behind a drum kit with Manual Scan or the Shambles over the past 30-plus years. Not pictured: Paul Brewin, Morgan Young, Terry Moore, Rob Wilson, Trace Smith, Brad Kiser. … There’s a future post there.
1) “I was a Shambles drummer” pin. People have sat in with the band for one song to obtain one of these.
(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles talks about how he got from there to here.)
Of course the various members of the Shambles knew each other for years before the band’s formation, but I can put down the beginnings of the band to two events.
In the late ’80s, Kevin Donaker-Ring co-produced Manual Scan’s “Days & Maybes” EP with Ray Brandes (side note: humorous liners by Mike Stax), and we were all part of a group of musicians that frequented Megalopolis on Fairmount Ave., often playing round-robin style — David Moye and Jon Kanis amongst the round-robiners who didn’t end up in the band (though we did back up Kanis on a compilation-album track).
Hey! Let’s talk about music, and San Diego, and San Diego music …
A long, long time ago, Che Underground: The Blog hosted a thread about our musicians’ first times on stage. Let’s reach even further back into the collective memory banks and talk a bit about those formative shows that made you feel like part of a scene of interesting people listening to interesting sounds.
We’ve talked about many local bands and a slew of notable visitors at venues ranging from the Skeleton Club to the Zebra Club to the International Blend/Kings Road Cafe … Adams Ave. Theater to the North Park Lions Club et al.
Now, which ones came first for you, and why?