Todd Barker | The Che Underground

Jerry Cornelius & The Cooler Heads: ‘Electric Flowers’

February 28, 2021February 28, 2021 by Mmrothenberg

When do you celebrate the first anniversary of an event that happened on a Feb. 29? Che Underground: The Blog is jumping the gun with its birthday salute to “A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase,” which transpired Feb. 29, 2020, and featured performances by The Wrecktangle; Jerry Cornelius & The Cooler Heads; and P-Touch All Stars.

On offer today: JC & TCHs’ cover of The Answers classic “Electric Flowers,” along with some liner notes by Mr. Cornelius himself!

“Memories, they have no place/They take up precious time and space.”

When I first saw David Fleminger and The Answers in their form with Tony Suarez and Dave Anderson at the Adams Avenue Theater, I was struck by the force and musicality of what they were playing.

Over the 37 years since then, several of these songs — especially “Color Notes” and “Electric Flowers” — have never been far from my mind.

P-Touch All Stars: ‘Cry Baby Cry’

October 9, 2020October 4, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have spawned a thousand new flowers of socially distanced creativity — and the artists of the Che Underground are tending their mind gardens for your delectation.

Case in point: This latest effort from P-Touch All Stars, which gives an old favorite a new cinematic treatment (with a little help from the Library of Congress’ film archives).

Jerry Cornelius’ Cooler Heads: ‘Shot by Both Sides’

September 24, 2020September 23, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

Scholars of San Diego music agree: The Che Underground might have happened without Jerry Cornelius, but it wouldn’t have been happening.

Jerry was a catalyst, MC, artist and style guru associated with The Answers, The Wallflowers, The Morlocks, and related acts. On Feb. 29, he returned to a San Diego stage for the first time in 35 years. The event was “A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase,” and he deftly led San Diego supergroup The Cooler Heads.

This video presents the Heads’ slinky and sizzling version of Magazine’s “Shot by Both Sides.”

P-Touch All Stars: ‘Remake Remodel’

October 4, 2020September 21, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

Remember the pre-pandemic days when a few hundred close friends could pack together into a crowded club and make music?

Che Underground remembers: Viz. the collective manifestation of musical solidarity that transpired on Feb. 29 at La Mesa’s the Riviera Supper Club & Turquoise Lounge under the name “A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase.”

The gig featured a trio of Che Underground supergroups that brought special guests back onto a San Diego stage for the first time in more than 30 years.

Ready for ‘A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase’?

February 13, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

Most rock-‘n’-roll historians know San Diego’s Che Underground scene as a mad scientist’s lab for musical experiments at the top of the ’80s.

Named for notable shows they staged at UC San Diego’s Che Café — but active across the region — the bands of the Che Underground brought together artists steeped in punk, psychedelia, garage and more. Throwing their influences into a high-speed blender, bands like The Answers, Hair Theatre, Noise 292, The Rockin’ Dogs, The Tell-Tale Hearts and the original SD Wallflowers provided a soundtrack for Southern California youth culture.

Four decades later, those musicians and artists continue to kick out the collective jams — and on Feb. 29, some of the best minds of that generation will stage a family reunion at the Riviera Supper Club & Turquoise Lounge for “A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase.” The night’s lineup of Che Underground supergroups will feature two stars of the scene who haven’t performed in San Diego for more than three decades: Jeremiah Cornelius and Tom Clarke.

Mark your calendars: Jerry Cornelius returns!

September 15, 2020January 22, 2020 by Mmrothenberg

As we prepare our Che Underground family reunion for Leap Night 2020, a highlight of this magnificent evening is a musical set fronted by by none other than Jeremiah Cornelius — back on a San Diego stage for the first time in decades.

Jerry Cornelius was a legendary presence on the scene: writing, illustrating, managing, MCing and otherwise setting the tone of the entire Che Underground. His taste was impeccable, and his influence extended across the bands of the era.

Check out the details of ‘A Che Undeground Leap Night Showcase’!

The Amazons make Rolling Stone! (Thanks, Vedder)

March 5, 2016February 23, 2016 by Mmrothenberg

After all the blood, sweat and tears secreted over the years by the musicians in our combo, a Joe Jackson cover and shambolic version of “Roadrunner” got us national press on Monday in Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound and Pearl Jam’s site. I believe a couple guest turns by our old high-school theater buddy Eddie Vedder had something to d0 with all the to-do. But hey, while we’ve caught the buzz, I might as well tell the story.

The Amazons were an acoustic guerrilla rock trio we put together in San Francisco in 1997: me; my fellow San Dieguito High School Theater alum Todd Barker on drums; and on bass, Jason Brownell, a friend of mine who went all the way back to fifth grade in Milwaukee before I moved to San Diego.

Listen now: The Amazons play “Brother P-Touch”

The Amazons: “Procrustes”/”Sisyphus”

February 2, 2011September 1, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

Here are two parts of an uncompleted song trilogy I wrote for the Amazons, the acoustic band I was in until I left San Francisco in April 2001.

I always liked the weird anti-heroes and losers in Greek mythology, two of whom figure in “Tales of Brave Procrustes” and “Roll Like Sisyphus.” (I always intended to write that third one about Icarus, mainly so I could be the first songwriter I know to get the word “heliocentric” into a lyric.)

The Amazons: “Brother P-Touch”

March 29, 2019September 16, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

“Brother P-Touch” is a song I originally wrote for the Ho Hos that became a flagship number for my last San Francisco band, the Amazons. I share it here with a San Diego twist and a fun anecdote about the power of Web distribution.

When I penned this number around 1993, I was writing about printers for MacWEEK magazine. The Brother P-Touch was and remains a very popular line of label printers. When I first heard the name, I pictured this lecherous messianic figure, kind of a cross between Rasputin and David Koresh, and built the song from there. The chorus leads with the exhortation, “Brother P-Touch — raise your arms!” I don’t think any of my San Diego expat bandmates ever realized I was evoking not only a charismatic preacher but the Penetrators’ song “Nervous Fingers,” during which those of us in the pit would raise our arms and wiggle our fingers.

Read moreThe Amazons: “Brother P-Touch”