UCSD | The Che Underground

John Nee: From UCSD’s student impresario to Marvel Comics maestro

January 23, 2018January 21, 2018 by Mmrothenberg

Congratulations to John Nee for his high-profile hire as the leader of Marvel’s comic-book pack, where he’s taking over as publisher in the wake of Dan Buckley’s promotion to president of Marvel Entertainment. “As the Marvel publisher,” writes ComicBook.com (which got the exclusive), “Nee will oversee the health of the comics line both print and digital [and] be tasked with ensuring the quality of the line, managing budgets [and] guiding marketing.”

John has been a legend in the comics world for decades. He ascended to president of WildStorm Productions, then joined the executive team at DC Comics when DC bought WildStorm in 1999. John rose to Senior Vice President of Business Development at DC before staking an independent claim as co-founder of Cryptozoic Entertainment in 2010.

Like the rest of the heroes portrayed on this blog, John Nee arrives at his new job with his own Che Underground origin story.

End of the line for the Che Cafe?

October 21, 2014 by Mmrothenberg

Today carried this blog’s namesake closer to the brink, when San Diego superior court judge Katherine Bacal ruled in favor of UCSD in its efforts to evict the Che Cafe.

While the collective argued it believed it was protected from decertification before losing its co-op status in a vote by the Graduate Student Association, Bacal was unconvinced.

According to NBC, “she said the Che had the burden of proving that it sought dispute resolution, but there was no evidence that it had tried to obtain it, so the university was allowed to move forward with the eviction proceedings without dispute resolution.”

Save the Che Cafe!

December 16, 2017August 20, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

A Che PSA: UCSD’s Che Cafe is the target of a fundraising campaign to continue its decades-long run of music and memories. I hope a few of our many readers can get behind this cause with their wallets and creativity.

Followers of this blog will recall that the Che (for which this blog is named) suffered the catastrophic theft in August 2009 of its sound equipment, and insurance costs for the venue bring the fundraising goal to $12,000, according to the site.

The genesis of Elvis Christ

September 30, 2011August 2, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(Jack Gamboa continues his Che-infused memoir of his mid-’80s band.)

It was the very first day of school after summer break. I was walking to my Propaganda Films of the Third Reich lecture. (I had already taken Bram Dijkstra’s “Devils, Vampires and Other Horrible Creatures of 19th Century Literature.”) Suddenly on the path to the quad I saw my best childhood friend Steve. I had not seen him in months!

He was a guitarist, so we were talking about the local band scene, I was telling him about the rockabilly outfit the Wild Desires. I “BongoChild” drummed for Dave “LadiesLove” Ellison on Magnatone Typhoon and bass legend Andy “ThunderTrain” Seidlinger on lownotes. A bad-ass situation too perfect to last. We had broken up a few months before. Andy had also been playing my borrowed drums for a pair of punks who called themselves Leather Geek, but he transferred to UCLA to study Structural Engineering. I told Steve: “I would love to meet up with Leather Geek! I never saw them play, but I hear that they threw legendary parties. Rumor has it that Jory is an excellent guitarist, and Eric did a poetry reading of ‘Walk This Way’ by Aerosmith!” Steve was laughing and digging that. So we were gossiping about musicians and stuff like that. We turned a corner and entered an open lawn area (I think it was called ‘the Quad’ in those days) …

Elvis Christ at the Che Cafe!

September 4, 2011July 2, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(Drummer and rabble-rouser Jack Gamboa recalls a memorable performance at our namesake venue.)

The Che Cafe was an island of freaky, funky freedom in the otherwise cold, institutional-strength rigidity of the mostly cement UC campus. They used to serve a bowl of brown rice and pinto beans with a giant glass of iced tea for less than two dollars. I survived on that chow when I was an art student. I also flirted with the hippie-honeys who worked there and smoked a lot of weed out back.

I played drums for Elvis Christ in those days, and it seems like half our gigs took place at the Che. We also used to practice there, and when Isabelle Tihanyi shot photos of us naked for a Guardian interview (Vol.60 #38), it happened there.

Calling Poly Styrene from La Jolla

September 4, 2011April 28, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(Mikel Toombs takes inspiration from the late punk icon.)

Poly Styrene, who died Monday after battling breast cancer (she was 53), was the subject of the first interview feature I ever wrote. It appeared in the Triton Times, before it became the UCSD Guardian and moved in next door to the Ché Café, which you may have heard about.

And what would prompt a penniless college student to place a then-pricey phone call to London to talk to someone in a band, X-ray Spex, that had a single 1977 single (“Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” backed with “I’m a Cliché”) in a style (punk) that had yet to take hold in the US, which still wanted to get down tonight?

This: “Some people think little girls should be seen ‘n’ not heard, but I say,” Poly said, “oh bondage! Up yours!”

Salad days at the Che

September 4, 2011April 6, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(A new perspective on our old stomping grounds. Any other readers from the Che collective want to chime in?)

So, I am flipping through the Reader, and I see the short article about your site and I go check it out because back in the day I belonged to several lefty campus organizations that put on benefit concerts at the Che.

I recognized the name of your band, Noise 292, because of all the shows we did. I had one flyer saved from back in the day, and it has your band’s name on it along with The Front and The Odds. It was for a Feb. 24, 1984, concert [to benefit draft resister Michael Marsh] sponsored by the UCSD Committee Against Registration and the Draft which was a part of the Progressive Student Organization at the Che.

The Dinettes in the spotlight

December 31, 2013December 12, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(You asked for it, you got it! Che Underground: The Blog is proud to add San Diego female rock pioneers the Dinettes to its lineup. Doriot Negrette provides the narrative, with audio and visual artifacts contributed by Joyce Rooks.)

Disclaimer: Of course you understand that by daring to disturb the XX* Ark of the Covenant, all must pay by listening to the demanding sounds of San Diego’s own Dinettes. No longer satisfied and blissfully ignorant, the history camel has now gone and pushed its nasty nose under the tent and into the den of wild female rhythm. Lo, what a cavalcade of late-’70s sonic value those first recordings were…you’ll see. Left in a state of utter incomprehension and curious disbelief, any listener will be changed, forever.

*That’s chromosome, to you. Nothing more.

Urgent call for Che Cafe photos

July 3, 2011October 27, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

This is a public-service announcement, with guitars:

“I’m currently working with the Alumni Association at UCSD to acquire photographs of the history of various aspects of campus to include in a 50^th Anniversary book of photography,” writes Stephanie Usry. “Since the Che has been a continually important part of the campus and one that is held in high esteem by many students, we are planning to include historical pictures and we would also like to add some more recent photographs of the venue.

“Do you have any photographs that we may include that you feel represent the identity of the Che (recent shows or events, gatherings there) that we may be able to include in this publication?

Birth of the Che Cafe

January 6, 2011February 18, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

I love learning about the origins of our old haunts — those rare places in the San Diego construction boom of the ’70s and ’80s that actually pre-dated us! Case in point: the Che Cafe itself, which is profiled starting on Page 16 of this virtual version of the latest UCSD alumni magazine.

N.b.: While I appreciate the attention, the article gives me disproportionate credit for bringing rock ‘n’ roll to this hippie haven. (Considering I first saw the Answers at the Che and Noise 292 made our debut there as the Answers’ guests, it’s hard to paint me or my band as lone pioneers!) And it doesn’t quote some people I hoped.

That said, I really enjoyed learning about how that rickety old place got its start: “The three wooden structures … that today house the Che Cafe were accumulating grunge long before UCSD was even founded.