Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
In another selection from her collection of vintage San Diego flyers, Dawn Hill Waxon focuses on the Front, the mid-’80s post-punk outfit that featured Morgan Smith, Mark Baez, Kevin Chanel and Dan Mehlos.
These flyers date from 1984 and include the earliest show we’ve encountered so far at the short-lived but influential Rock Palace (a gig with the Tell-Tale Hearts to usher in 1985).
Lori Stalnaker-Bevilacqua continues to enrich our historical understanding of the Rockin’ Dogs with priceless artifacts. Here’s a pre-Jane Bunting photograph of the Dogs — ca. 1982 — when Scott Harber was the bassist.
“I loved this shot from the series,” Lori writes. “I love the fact that you got two lookin’ at the camera and two turned to the side. I don’t think I directed them to that, just spontaneous. Nevertheless, it works!
“That is one good-lookin’ band! ;)”
“I remember the photo, but I don’t remember much about it other than the fact that the red plaid scarf belonged to a girl I was dating,” writes Dave Ellison. “Scott didn’t play with the band for very long. I remember he was planning a long trip somewhere … to another country, I think … so he was more or less filling in for a while.”
(Excerpts from an epic history of the seminal San Diego punk band by 5051 lead singer David Klowden. Read the full version in our Related Bands section!)
When I sat down to write the 5051 story, I realized that, just as with most of my girlfriends of the ’70s and ’80s, I unfortunately couldn’t remember the beginning or the end. Also, I couldn’t remember most of what happened in between.
So I located Sam “Topper” Kolzar, lead guitarist of 5051, and Matt “Guy” Silver, producer of 5051’s record. It was my first time talking with either of them in over 25 years, so it was fun to reconnect and reconstruct the 5051 years of 1981-82. Other members of 5051—drummer Joel Roop, guitarist Steve “Squirrel” Oberg, and Squirrel’s half-brother, bassist Scott Harber, are still at large. With the help of Sam and Guy, I offer the following slice of San Diego music history.