‘I saw a film today, oh boy’: A Che Underground feature film

(Ray Brandes brings the casting couch to your browser.)

director's chairThe characters and events of our youth, it has often been suggested, would make excellent material for a big budget, Hollywood drama. Imagine having $100 million to re-create a show at the Che Cafe, a late-night Presidio Park gathering, a line of scooters outside the Ken Cinema for a showing of “Quadrophenia,” or a fight behind the North Park Lions Club, for example, using some of the top names in the business today.

Earlier threads, back in the days of the Che Underground blog’s infancy, floated names like Christopher Walken, Shia LaBeouf, Johnny Depp and Daniel Radcliff (of Harry Potter fame) to play Steve Garris, Matthew Rothenberg, Jerry Cornelius and Bart Mendoza, respectively.

Read more‘I saw a film today, oh boy’: A Che Underground feature film

Che Games for May: Extended play!

Set the controls for the heart of the sun: The Che Underground’s quarter-century reunion looms ever larger — so large, in fact, that one night just couldn’t contain it.

Now scheduled for May 29 and 30 at Tim Mays’ legendary Casbah Club in San Diego, the event will comprise:

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A message from the Wallflowers

Wallflowers David Rinck, Paul HowlandAs the Titans of the Che Underground suit up for their 25-year reunion at Che Games for May (May 29-31, 2009, in San Diego), vocalist Dave Rinck and bassist Paul Howland of San Diego’s original Wallflowers took time out to videotape their personal invitations to the event.

Be sure to catch the Wallflowers along with the Answers; the Gay Dennys (featuring members of the Tell-Tale Hearts and the Crawdaddys); Hair Theatre; Manual Scan; and Noise 292 at the Casbah May 30, 2009!

Got Che? Check out David Rinck, Dave Fleminger and Paul Kaufman’s musical promo!

Noise 292 gets into gear

Detail: Kavika Rives, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)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.

Detail: Kristin Martin, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)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.)

Detail: Kavika Rives, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Hobie Hodge, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Dave Fleminger, Hobie Hodge, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Dave Fleminger, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)
Detail: Hobie Hodge, Kristin Martin, Kavika Rives, Dave Fleminger, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Hobie Hodge, Kristin Martin, Kavika Rives, Dave Fleminger, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Hobie Hodge, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Kavika Rives, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Kristin Martin, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)Detail: Kavika Rives, Hobie Hodge, Noise 292 practice January 2009 (collection Kristin Martin)

Read moreNoise 292 gets into gear

Che Games for May (2009)!

Believe the hype: May 29-31, 2009, is the time and San Diego is the place for the Che Underground’s 25-year reunion and performance showcase.

A crack team of musical geniuses, party planners and cranky old hipsters is hashing out the details, which will be forthcoming in this space. But go ahead and book your E-tickets now for a long weekend in America’s Finest City!

Among the bands on track for the show, Che Games for May will feature:

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The Answers: “Annual”

(Answers guitarist/vocalist Dave Fleminger discusses the genesis of another crucial track made more poignant by the years.)

Detail: The Answers’ Dave Anderson, Jeff Lowe, Dave Fleminger (collection Dave Fleminger)The Answers, “Annual,” recorded at Ewing’s SoundTech studios, one of 13 songs recorded one day in February 1983.

I originally wrote this song in advance of receiving my high-school annual. Even before I got the book I didn’t want to read it … I was already trying to form a picture of how my connections with my friends and classmates would last over time and how I would view that period of my life in retrospect … And now in retrospect, I see this more as a way to disassociate rather than feel and experience the process.

Read moreThe Answers: “Annual”

Hair Theatre: “Rolling Soul”

Detail: Hair Theatre on stage (from crowd)From the same 1983 Lab Studios demo that brought us “Nightfall,” here’s Hair Theatre performing “Rolling Soul,” another signature number and staple of the band’s early-’80s repertoire. This track showcases the clean confidence of Hair Theatre’s early years and highlights the sophistication and charisma that vocalist/ songwriter Sergio demonstrated by age 18.

Detail: Hair Theatre’s Sergio at the micIt also commemorates the collaborative skills of Sergio and Answers co-founder Dave Fleminger (demonstrated elsewhere with a recording of Sergio’s “He’s Calling You Tonight.”) “Sergio and I wrote that song one afternoon at [original Hair Theatre drummer Howard Palmer’s Carlsbad] shack,” Fleminger recalls. “The song was part of the expanded ‘3 Daves’ Answers sets, including our ‘Painted Sun’ gig opening for the Unclaimed at the UCSD Rec Gym” April 14, 1984.

Read moreHair Theatre: “Rolling Soul”

More Answers (and questions) in flyers

Detail: Manual Scan/Answers Anders flyer, July 18, 1983 (art by Jerry Cornelius, collection Dave Fleminger)The Answers’ busy gigging schedule (at the Headquarters and other venues) between 1981 and 1984 generated myriad flyers by a variety of artists, many of them masterworks of psychedelic imagery. Much of the art was created by two towering figures: Jerry Cornelius and Answers guitarist/vocalist Dave Fleminger.

Of Jerry, Tom Ward writes, “Sooner or later, one way or another, we’ll have all of Jeremiah’s flyer illustrations. My junk is in storage on the other side of the country, but I made a point at the time of saving all the Cornelius flyers. You could see that each was an effort to top the previous one, and it was good work. I had the feeling a day would come when they’d be needed in an archival sense. … To me they were, after awhile, like the expressions of a local Aubrey Beardsley. … [T]hey added a real measure of class to the events they heralded, and were a distinct part of the flowering of our particular underground.

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Noise 292 reunion!

Detail: Noise 292 David Rives, David Fleminger, Kristin Martin, Hobie Hodge (and Hobie’s son Trevor) July 2008 (collection Kristin Martin)The Che Underground adventure inspired yet another historic gathering July 28, 2008, as veterans of Noise 292 assembled at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a crucial Che Cafe performance with the Answers and Hair Theatre.

Left to right: Noise 292 guitarist/ vocalist David Rives; Answers guitarist (and frequent Noise 292 pickup drummer) David Fleminger; Noise 292 guitarist/ bassist/ vocalist Kristin Martin; Noise 292 percussionist Hobie Hodge; and Hobie’s son Trevor, standing in for Yours Truly.

Here’s everyone (except Trevor), probably at the aforementioned July 29, 1983, show:

Detail: Kristin Martin/Hobie Hodge of Noise 292Detail: Kristin Martin and David Rives of Noise 292Detail: Matthew Rothenberg and Hobie Hodge of Noise 292Detail: Dave Fleminger sits in with Noise 292

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The Answers: “Home”

Detail: The Answers’ Tony Suarez, Dave Fleminger, Dave Anderson (collection Dave Fleminger)Here’s Answers Phase Two in kinetic action!

“[‘Home’] is from a performance at King’s Road, Aug. 13, 1982, opening for Banner,” writes guitarist/ vocalist/ songwriter Dave Fleminger. “Luv the impromptu intro with [MC] Jerry [Cornelius].

“As always, Dave Anderson delivers the powerhouse drumming that propels the breaks right out of the gate. One minute and 40 seconds in the key of A, all about an unfamiliar place with dirty dishes that remind you of home.”

Read moreThe Answers: “Home”

The Che Underground