the Cardiac Kidz | The Che Underground

Cardiac Kidz with Blood on Fire

September 4, 2011May 7, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(The Cardiac Kidz’s Jim Ryan recounts his band’s recent performance to support Gary Heffern’s return to San Diego, including new collaborators and material.)

After a Penetrators reunion show the Sunday before, Gary Heffern appeared once again at the Casbah for his CD release show to debut “Gary Heffern & Beautiful People” and his San Diego all-star band “Blood on Fire.” Those of us who came prepared were able to take not only the show home but the CD from this consummate artist, now living in Finland.

Sean McMullen’s words and images from the Penetrators reunion!

Here I am over 30 years later, remembering my last performance with Gary when the Penetrators, the Cardiac Kidz and the Standbys played the Spirit night club in 1980.

After getting the call from Gary that he would like the Cardiac Kidz to open the show, I was on the move. The boys digging the opportunity and me looking forward to seeing Gary again, I knew this show had to be special. Gary is a special guy.

Setting ‘Blood on Fire’

September 4, 2011April 23, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(On April 6, a group of San Diego music veterans backed local hero Gary Heffern when he returned from Finland to play the Casbah. Joe Piper recounts the 34 years leading up to his own part in the gig.)

Life’s funny…

When Gary Heffern’s Blood On Fire took to the Casbah stage earlier this month it was, for me, more than just an opportunity to play with some truly outstanding musicians who just also happen to be a group of the greatest guys you could ever hope to meet. It was more than a chance to take part in what is possibly the most enjoyable project I’ve ever worked on. It was all that and more — it was a chance to take care of unfinished business.

Introducing Sceneroller

September 4, 2011March 11, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

We’ve spent the past three years here on Che Underground: The Blog talking about the bands, people, places and shows that made our scene. Now here’s a way to connect them to each other — and to other scenes around the world.

San Diego is my musical home, and our musical history is precious to me … So this is the right place for the first real public launch of Sceneroller, a software platform that lets users connect bands, people, venues and gigs to write a shared history of local music scenes.

Update from the Cardiac Kidz

April 21, 2012December 4, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Dave Rinck a k a Wallflower keeps us posted on the Kidz’s revival.)

It’s been an honor for me play rhythm guitar for the last few months with this classic punk-rock band. This is a working band, and it has a new lineup, new CDs (I’ve never released two CDs on the same day before!), and new shows! Here’s an update:

THE NEW LINEUP:
Jim Ryan – bass and vocals
Jerry Flack – guitar and vocals
Jimi Flynn – drums
Dave Wallflower – guitar and vocals

Live at Lestat’s: An underground evening

April 21, 2012November 9, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(David Rinck offers a performer’s-eye view of a recent night of musical eclecticism in San Diego.)

On the evening of Thurs., Nov. 4, we again converged on the little theater at Lestat’s Coffee House on Adams Ave. in Kensington, which is beginning to feel like home for some of us here.

Lestat’s most recently hosted the first night of the Che Underground Rock and Roll Weekend on July 30 and 31, and the Nov. 4 show was an exciting follow-up to that event. Some of San Diego’s finest underground musicians offered up an eclectic array of sounds from a range of genres. At the same time, the visual arts were represented by terrific graphics, photography and video recording, some of which is available here.

Cardiac Kidz reloaded

July 3, 2011October 20, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(The Cardiac Kidz’s Jim Ryan announces an eclectic night of musical merriment Nov. 4 at Lestat’s Coffee House in San Diego.)

The Cardiac Kidz are winding down their 2010 San Diego “Performance Blitz” tour with the end of the year finally in sight. The band has played an unheard of 10 shows in less than six months.

From what started as a onetime reunion show to an expanded booking schedule, The Kidz have even gone so far as to add the talents of David Rinck (frontman for San Diego’s Wallflowers) to the band.

Mali Blues

December 11, 2017October 8, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Reporting from Burkina Faso, David Rinck searches for our rock-‘n’-roll roots in the landlocked shore of Africa.)

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry.” — Jack Kerouac

To a visitor today to these scrappy, drab concrete towns in the center of West Africa, it’s hard to believe that just a century ago this was the epicenter of a magnificent and vital trans-Saharan caravan trade in gold and salt, stretching across the world’s greatest desert. Linking Morocco and Mediterranean Europe with the gold kingdoms of the Gulf of Benin, and giving rise to mysterious and fabled cities that were centers of learning and culture, like Gao; Djenne (with its famous UNESCO World Heritage Grand Mosque); and Timbuktu, today the epitome of remote, it was where the Moors built one of Africa’s earliest universities and a library famous throughout the Islamic world for its handwritten manuscripts and Korans.

Likening it to the shore of the vast sand ocean that is the Sahara, south of which lies the Bilad as Sudan, or “land of blacks” (Sudan, means “black” in Arabic), the Arabs named this part of the world the Sahel, or “shore” (the same root from which we take the word for Kenya and Tanzania’s national language, Swahili, or “the language of the coast” — Saheli).

The Cardiac Kidz, then and now

January 6, 2011July 1, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

The wave of reunion gigs continues as San Diego music vets the Cardiac Kidz announce their “Last Chance Tour,” featuring an appearance in Ramona, Calif., July 10.

The band’s triumphant return, supported by Doggy Daddy and the Fry Catz as well as French Vampires, runs 7:30-11pm at Ramona Mainstage (626 Main St., Ramona, Calif. 92065).

To warm up for the show, here are a couple of covers by the Kidz, separated by more than 30 years.