the Casbah | The Che Underground

Behind the Front’s reunion

December 11, 2017November 28, 2010 by admin

(After a Reagan-era hiatus, the Front will take the stage Jan. 28, 2011, at San Diego’s Casbah. Bassist Kevin Chanel provides the 411 on the forthcoming festivities.)

Morgan Smith (guitar player) talked with Tim Mays dating back to mid-2009. He then called Mark Baez (singer) out of the blue, with nice words about old times.

We put together a practice later that year. One day as a three-piece, next as all four original dudes. (Dan Mehlos is the drummer. He was also in Personal Conflict and Men of Clay.) Sounded pretty good. Most of us had not seen each other in 20+ years.

Noise 292: “Chanson Dada” at the Casbah

July 3, 2011November 20, 2010 by admin

Here’s a song that’s traveled with me since age 16 (when I first translated the words from the 1923 poem by Tristan Tzara) and got its definitive treatment when we formed Noise 292 in 1982.

I’ve played “Chanson Dada” in a lot of bands since (and even recently found my translation had been covered by some wacky Scandinavians!), but it’s probably the composition of mine I identify most closely with Noise 292. That made it a special pleasure to perform at our reunion May 31, 2009, when we presented Che Games for May at San Diego’s Casbah.

Noise 292 plays ‘Mr. Pumpkin’
b/w ‘Talking in Circles’

July 3, 2011October 30, 2010 by admin

I’ve written before on the blog about my oldest musical connection within our scene: with David (a k a Kavika) Rives, the fantastically talented lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for Noise 292. My musical association with Kavika began in eighth grade, ca. 1977, and was rekindled after a long separation when Noise 292 reunited to play Che Games for May 2009.

Here are two examples of Mr. Rives’ talent: his songs “Mr. Pumpkin” and “Talking in Circles.”

Hair Theatre: “In Obscurity”

December 11, 2017October 23, 2010 by admin

Our Che Games for May 2009 show at San Diego’s Casbah regrouped nine legendary bands and ignited countless personal reunions. The crescendo of the two-night event was the triumphant return of the incredible Hair Theatre, seen here performing “In Obscurity” for the madding throng.

Seeing Hair Theatre perform together again was a personal highlight. This band amazed and delighted me from the first time I saw them play a party in Leucadia in 1983, and the reunion of members scattered along the West Coast was more than I could have hoped for when we first conceived this event.

Read moreHair Theatre: “In Obscurity”

Cardiac Kidz reloaded

July 3, 2011October 20, 2010 by admin

(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.

Manual Scan: ‘I Can’t Don’t Want to Faster’

July 3, 2011October 13, 2010 by admin

Another artifact from the legendary band’s Jan. 30, 2010, Che Underground showcase at San Diego’s Casbah. This is the second-to-last song in Manual Scan’s 13-song set before being joined by Chris Sullivan and Chris Davies of the Penetrators.

This sequence was culled from Eric Rife’s video and Dave Fleminger’s audio, and features l-r: Dave Fleminger, Kevin Donaker-Ring, Bart Mendoza, Morgan Young and Tim Blankenship.

hING at the Casbah

February 2, 2011September 4, 2010 by admin

Another new collaboration from a beloved old friend: Lou Damian has been playing reeds with a new “collective improv” dubbed hING. It also features Josh Quan (drums); Michael J. Stevens (guitar and percussion); and Michael Zimmerman (keyboards).

“hING is an elemental assemblage of five individuals with disparate musical experiences,” Michael Zimmerman explains. “We have come together to investigate inner and outer space with a communal brew of free improv and sound/tone investigations that seeks to attain feral heights of aural extremity and sustained moments of contemplative beauty.

These five individuals are, much like a jumble of letters, constantly shifted and shuffled into different shapes and formations to create a singular sound which is best described as the music of hING.”

Manual Scan meets the Penetrators

April 14, 2012July 7, 2010 by admin

Among the highlights of our Che Underground event Jan. 30, 2010, at the Casbah was “Manual Penetration.” This collaboration brought Chris Davies and Chris Sullivan of San Diego’s legendary Penetrators onstage with the equally storied Manual Scan to perform a mini-set of Penetrators songs.

Scan co-founders Bart Mendoza and Kevin Donaker-Ring talk about the origins of this matchup, captured here on video shot that night by Eric Rife with sound engineered by Dave Fleminger.

The Wallflowers: ‘Walldrugs’ at Che Games

January 6, 2011June 6, 2010 by admin

One year later, we’re finally on deck to start releasing performance footage shot by Eric Rife at May 2009’s Che Games for May reunion, synchronized to Jason Brownell’s high-fi audio courtesy of resident polymath Dave Fleminger.

First up, the first live performance of the original San Diego Wallflowers’ signature “Walldrugs” since 1985. Lead singer David Rinck reflects on resurrecting the song:

“When we were putting together the Wallflowers set list for the Che Games last year, we had to listen closely to the old recordings to figure out how we played those tunes, in order to get us all on the same page on the arrangements and all, since with me in Africa and the rest of the band spread out all over California, we were basically working via the Internet.”