San Diego Underground | The Che Underground

Opening Kings Road Cafe

January 1, 2011August 25, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

Jason Seibert’s generous donation of early-’80s San Diego flyers offers a prime opportunity to open discussion of the Kings Road Cafe (née the International Blend), a small venue that played an enormous role in fostering and showcasing an eclectic mix of bands.

The Seibert Collection represents a slice of life at Kings Road in the summer of 1982, starting in June when the club morphed from the I-Blend under the management of Peter “English” Verbrugge. Other artifacts, including a July 1982 calendar (with membership card offer!), highlight the variety of performers that visited 4034 30th St. that summer, both San Diego regulars and up-and-coming out-of-towners.

Then and now: Topsy’s

December 11, 2017August 15, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

(Roving correspondent/ photographer Kristen Tobiason revisits and documents the scenes of our youth. Today, Topsy’s becomes a bear sanctuary! Photos by Kristen Tobiason; text by Kristen Tobiason and Matthew Rothenberg.)

In the pantheon of 24-hour, Formica-countered restaurants of early-’80s San Diego, Topsy’s was the Rolling Stones to El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s’ Beatles: less-polished and slightly tougher than its competitor to the east.

But like “Gay Denny’s,” Topsy’s’ after-clubbing hours and proximity to San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood also put a queer spin on the mix of patrons.

Reborn as Brian’s American Eatery, the restaurant at 1451 Washington Ave. expands on Topsy’s’ tradition of diner fare and a mix of gay and straight clientele, with special affinities for the “bear” subculture of the former.

The birth of Everybody Violet

January 1, 2011June 14, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

(Everybody Violet co-founder Kristi Maddocks reminisces about making the band. Read these excerpts, then check out the full account in our Related Bands section!)
I hung out in the San Diego underground late ’81 to early ‘82, but I wasn’t an out-‘n’-out player until 1983. After years of watching shows I began to assert myself as a writer, a poet — and a wannabe singer/songwriter.

It was like kismet: As soon as my old roommate moved out, Michelle [Krone] moved into the Madison Avenue place. Tired of being known as just “The Morlocks’ Girls,” Michelle and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s start our own band!” I would sing lead, and Michelle would sing back-up and learn the bass guitar.

Word got around the scene we were looking to become a legitimate group. A couple of days later, Michelle and I were introduced to Anni and Carina, and the great musical partnership of Everbody Violet was born.

San Francisco exodus

January 1, 2011April 24, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

Here’s a conversation-starter, or -killer: Most music historians would agree that the Che Underground era came to an end when a substantial percentage of its key participants decamped to San Francisco. Beginning in 1985 with the departures of Jerry Cornelius, Dave Fleminger and the Morlocks, a steady stream of San Diego expats made its way up to the Bay area through the 1990s.

I joined the throng in August 1987, met my wife and had two kids there, and stayed almost 14 years in San Francisco. It’s still my favorite American city; I had two great bands there, of which the majority of the members were beloved old friends from Slow Death; and I never once regretted the move.

And yet … the sense of a music scene just never happened for me in SF the way it did in SD.