San Diego music | The Che Underground

Sympathy for the forum

December 18, 2017March 3, 2009 by admin

In recognition of all the new participants tangenting tirelessly on Che Underground: The Blog, it’s probably time to remind everyone about its anemic younger sibling, Che Underground: The Forum.

One of the bedrock rules of natural Web selection is that if people want to visit somewhere (like this blog!) there’s no holding them back — and if people don’t want to visit somewhere (like the forum, at least lately) there’s no forcing the issue.

However, I thought I’d mention some cons and pros of this sere and lonely message board in case our members would like to irrigate it with their wisdom …

Noise 292: “Never Come Near”

January 1, 2011February 27, 2009 by admin

(Dave Fleminger recalls this performance from Noise 292’s April 25, 1984, appearance at UCSD’s Center for Music Experiment.)

I strongly remember this show, and especially this song. It was one of the last shows I saw before I left San Diego. Noise 292’s set was solid and focused, and unrelenting. This song, the last one in the set, struck me especially in its cold and alienating embrace.

The vocals and the high melody lock together into a single statement that shatters by the end into a mass of confusion and disjointed thought. Like so many great songs, it was easy to relate to it as a manifestation of my own mixed feelings — in this case about leaving home, my friends, this amazing music scene, everything familiar.

Read moreNoise 292: “Never Come Near”

Noise 292 gets into gear

January 1, 2011January 23, 2009 by admin

Preparations for the May 30 Che Underground reunion at San Diego’s Casbah are picking up steam and uniting musical collaborators separated by miles and decades.

Last weekend marked the first studio reunion of the Northern California contingent of Noise 292, comprising four of the five musicians who played together at the Che Cafe in July 1983: vocalist/ bassist/ guitarist Kristin Martin; vocalist/ guitarist David “Kavika” Rives; percussionist Hobie Hodge; and the Answers’ Dave Fleminger, who reprised his historical role as substitute drummer. (The San Diego faction — drummer Joanne Norris and percussionist Wendell Kling — are on deck to join the festivities in time for the May performance.)

Dream Sequence: The history of the Unknowns

December 11, 2017January 18, 2009 by admin

(Excerpts from Ray Brandes’ epic account of San Diego’s first major-label band since Iron Butterfly. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)

Anyone who had the opportunity to see the Unknowns play had an unforgettable experience. Crisp, staccato drumming and the dripping-wet reverberation of Mosrite guitars through Fender amplifiers was punctuated by the yips and howls of the legendary melodramatic lead singer, Bruce Joyner, who sang from a chair or aided by a cane, looking every bit like a down-home Barnabas Collins in search of fresh blood.

Their tight and powerful act upstaged every band with whom they played, including the Go-Gos, Madness, the Blasters, the Plimsouls, Wall Of Voodoo, the Romantics, Joe King Carrasco, Romeo Void, the Textones, the Suburban Lawns, Missing Persons and scores of others.

At times the band members themselves have lamented that their place amongst their peers seems to have been forgotten over the years, yet they were the first San Diego band signed to a major label since the Iron Butterfly in 1967. They were named one of the top four bands in California by the Los Angeles Times in the early ‘80s. They were the first band from the San Diego scene to perform live on a major syndicated television show, Peter Ivers’ “New Wave Theater,” which was picked up by Armed Forces Television and the USA Network’s “Night Flight.” And their Sire album “Dream Sequence” has sold nearly 100,000 copies to date.

Madison Avenue hipster holiday, December 1985

December 31, 2010December 24, 2008 by admin

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

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.

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!)

This We Dug: K.C. and the Sunshine Band

December 13, 2017November 28, 2008 by admin

(In this installment, Wallflower Dave Rinck revisits the bouncy side of the ’70s.)

We used to have a great Halloween tradition in San Diego, which I am frankly surprised hasn’t been covered here yet. Anyway, I’m sure someone will get around to this one soon enough. Of course I’m talking about the Pink Panther Halloween Ball. Man, that was fun!

The deal is, one year I was attending this event, and I ran into Darren Grealish and Burt Huerta, and these guys had on these leisure suits with lapels out to their shoulders. (I think I was dressed as a gerbil or something equally stupid.) I mean, they looked great, almost as if they had just stepped out of Studio 54 in about 1978. And Darren says to me, “People think I’m dressed up for Halloween, but this is how I like to dress every day!”

And who wouldn’t? I mean, come on get real: Black leather biker jackets and torn jeans every day? How much of that stuff can you really stand before you need to cut your jive talkin’ and lighten up a bit? Yes, if punk rock can be summed up as the Mister Hyde of our angry rebellious youth, then Disco would be the happy Doctor Jekyll.

Read moreThis We Dug: K.C. and the Sunshine Band

Peers who made it

April 23, 2012November 24, 2008 by admin

Here’s a topic that could spin in a few different directions: Many musicians from our circle have made wonderful sounds since our 1980s salad days. … Considerably fewer have made some money in the process. … But I don’t believe any of us hit the commercial jackpot in the music industry.

The wheels of that industry continued to turn, however, and musicians of our approximate age and subcultural pedigree did make it big in the late ’80s and early ’90s. (To start the ball rolling, I’ll throw out three names from our native time zone: Nirvana, Sublime and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)

I know these big, commercial acts traveled many miles from our DIY roots (and from most of our musical discussions here). But that’s the point: What do you consider musical success, and do you hear echoes of our own aspirations in these huge revenue engines of decades past?

The Casbah turns 20!

December 18, 2017November 22, 2008 by admin

(Dean Curtis hails a major anniversary for a San Diego institution.)

In 1988, I finally got serious about a higher education. I previously tried college at SDSU in 1980/81 but it interfered with my social life and record-buying fund, so I dropped out. (I hated SDSU anyway.) But in 1988 I packed up the 1967 VW van, and me and my girlfriend Michelle headed off for Humboldt State University, after a fine summer living in the van and beach-combing up the California coast.

Soon after I left San Diego, the Casbah was opened by legendary San Diego show promoter Tim Mays (who with Laura Frasier operated the Skeleton Club in the late ’70s, and with Peter Verbrugge and Bob Bennett opened the Pink Panther in 1986).

Since he started the Casbah in 1989 (before moving it in 1994 down the street to its current location on Kettner and Laurel), Mays has also opened some great restaurants, including the Turf Club and Starlite.

Hair Theatre: “What Should I Say”

January 1, 2011November 9, 2008 by admin

More Hair Theatre on YouTube, this time ca. 1984 with Paul Allen on lead guitar.

This video portrays the second major phase of what would prove to be the Che Underground’s longest-running group, enduring into the ’90s. (This is also the lineup that recorded the classic MP3s we’ve shared so far on the blog.)

When I first encountered Hair Theatre in July 1983, it was a four-piece with Howard Palmer on drums. By the end of the year, Howard had ceded the drum stool to Steve Broach, and Paul had added his guitar to Cesar Castillo’s.

Hearing “What Should I Say” after 25 years is another Proustian revelation to me; the tight songwriting and machine-gun delivery cuts through the murk of the video and taps wellsprings of love and admiration for this band.

Can anyone identify the venue? And who’s the young lady with the pink hair gyrating in the front row?

David Anderson: Drummer at large

April 21, 2012October 24, 2008 by Paul Kaufman

(Manual Scan/Lemons Are Yellow vet Paul Kaufman recognizes a man who set the pulse of the scene.)
Many contributors to Che Underground: The Blog have already mentioned David Anderson, a legendary figure in our musical history. To recap, he made major contributions to The Gravedigger V, The Answers, Manual Scan, The Crawdaddys, The Trebels and I Spy. This vast resumé reflects the fact that Dave was already a formidable drum talent by his early teens. At one point his kick drum read, “Your Band Name Here.”

But Dave was much more than just a guy behind the drum kit. Answers bandmate David Fleminger says, “I first met Dave (I think he was 13) when he was playing with I Spy. He’s an amazingly energetic and innovative talent who can lay down a foundation beat like no one else. A fantastic bandmate with a great sense of humor.”

“David Anderson? A legend!” Manual Scan co-founder Bart Mendoza recalls. “Some of my fondest tour stories involve him. We once snuck all our friends into the General Public shows we were opening in San Francisco and had one of the best parties ever. I remember playing bumper chairs as beer was spilled all over the floor of our dressing room at The Kabuki Theatre and the night getting pretty rowdy. David nearly caused a riot in Las Vegas because he went commando onstage. He played a squeaky-toy solo at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco.