The Answers | The Che Underground

The Answers Never Existed

January 21, 2018July 13, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(In preparation for the band’s July 31 reunion at the Che Underground Rock-‘n’-Roll Weekend, founding Answer Dave Fleminger unvaults a historic track and the story behind it.)

Contrary to what this post’s title implies, the Answers did indeed exist; it was just too tempting to suggest that here was a band that never existed in order to introduce a recording few knew existed of a song entitled “Never Existed.” Enough of that …

During the summer of 1982 the Answers had the pleasure of performing a number of times at the Kings Road Cafe, previously known as the International Blend. Among the audience at some of these shows was Terry Marine, who enjoyed our noise enough to mention us in his mag Be My Friend, referring to us as “tight, nervous new stuff.”

Che Underground Rock-’n’-Roll Weekend!

March 24, 2018July 4, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(David Rinck cuts the ribbon on a late-July musical extravaganza in San Diego!)

How could we let a year go by since the Che Games for May? It is high time to do it again!

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and get ready to experience the Che Underground Rock-‘n’-Roll Weekend. Here’s what we have in store for you:

Friday, July 30, at Lestat’s Coffee House (3343 Adams Avenue; $10; doors open at 9pm)

Jeffrey Luck Lucas
The Comeuppance
The Davefest Four (with Messrs Dave Doyle, Fleminger, Klowden and Rinck)
Wendy Bailey & True Stories (with Bart Mendoza)
Thomas E Ward

Plus a photo retrospective of San Diego Underground Rock ‘n’ Roll by Dave Doyle and Sean McMullen.

Saturday, July 31, at Bar Pink (3829 30th St.; free; doors open at 9pm)

Wendy Bailey & True Stories
The Answers
Bombast

Plus, dubstep deejaying by the P Man

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

January 6, 2011May 29, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

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!

Then and now: The Che Cafe

August 20, 2011September 14, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(High time! Che Underground documentarian Kristen Tobiason revisits the spot that gave the blog its name.)

The first time I landed on the surface of the Che Café was at an early-evening soundcheck for the Wallflowers (not the Jakob Dylan pansy MTV sensation, but the raw & funky, OG Wallflowers), who were opening that night for Noise 292.

Arriving and styling in Paul Howland’s parents’ green station wagon, we unloaded a couple pieces of equipment, and then proceeded to hang out in the woodsy picnic areas surrounding the venue, creating a smoky haze amidst talk of music and the humor of Tom and Paul’s use of ordinary soap as an alternative to dime-store hair gel.

Surfacing the Gravedigger V

March 30, 2019September 2, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

A recent comment by Kristen Tobiason has me puzzling over how best to focus conversation on the Gravedigger V, a youthful San Diego band whose brief existence in 1983-1984 has inspired a quarter-century of notoriety.

There are plenty of online references to the band and its album “All Black and Hairy,” but many pieces are of questionable accuracy. What can we do to set the record straight?

Photos from the Coleman Collection

December 31, 2010August 18, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

Carol Coleman (née Anderson), Encinitas Pannikin manager extraordinaire and all-around rockin’ scenester, recently digitized some photographs that include shots tracking paths we took from Hair Theatre and Noise 292.

These pictures include Hair Theatre vocalist Sergio, Noise 292 guitarist David Rives (and Answers guitarist Dave Fleminger) at one of the occasions when the former drummed for us at the Che Cafe; several shows by 3 Guys Called Jesus, the band I formed with bassist Steve Duke and drummer Robert Labbe in 1985; and 1995 photos of Joy Bomb, San Diego’s successor to Hair Theatre.

Che Games: Mission accomplished!

January 1, 2011May 31, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

A quick one, while he’s away: I’m tying up some loose ends before my flight back from San Diego to New Jersey after Day Two of the Che Underground’s Che Games for May reunion event at the Casbah Club.

Thanks to a crack team of documentarians, we’ve got audio, video and photos to share and enjoy — and those will be making their way onto the site in the coming weeks.

But for now, a simple “Thank you!” and an open invitation to talk about what our quarter-century reunion did to or for you.

You’re all very, very important to me, and easily my biggest regret is that I couldn’t be everywhere at once to talk to you and share time. But please: Let’s come together here and swap a few stories for each other and for our friends who couldn’t be with us this time out.

Get your Che Games poster!

December 11, 2017May 27, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

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!

Let the games begin!

March 27, 2019April 26, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes lays the table for May’s audio feast.)

The Che Underground Weekend Showcase:
Celebrating more than 25 years of San Diego’s underground music history

An incredible opportunity to reconnect, reminisce and rediscover will unfold as 25 years and thousands of miles of distance disappear in a single weekend — May 29 and 30 at the Casbah in San Diego.

The lineups have been set, the bands are rehearsing, and the drinks are on ice. Here’s what to expect:

The Mirrors: “Blue”

May 9, 2015April 22, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Answers and Mirrors co-founder Dave Fleminger talks transitions.)

Blue: The Mirrors live at the Che Cafe, Spring 1984

“This one’s called ‘Blue,’ and we’re gonna make it up … ”

Sometime in late May 1984 the Mirrors played our last performance in San Diego at UCSD’s Che Cafe. The band had formed in late ’83 after the fall of the Answers and in March recorded an as-yet-unreleased album of songs entitled “Have No Mercy.” In June I moved to NYC, but we would continue to record sporadically over the next couple years.