(Dean Curtis hails a major anniversary for a San Diego institution.)
In 1988, I finally got serious about a higher education. I previously tried college at SDSU in 1980/81 but it interfered with my social life and record-buying fund, so I dropped out. (I hated SDSU anyway.) But in 1988 I packed up the 1967 VW van, and me and my girlfriend Michelle headed off for Humboldt State University, after a fine summer living in the van and beach-combing up the California coast.
Soon after I left San Diego, the Casbah was opened by legendary San Diego show promoter Tim Mays (who with Laura Frasier operated the Skeleton Club in the late ’70s, and with Peter Verbrugge and Bob Bennett opened the Pink Panther in 1986).
Since he started the Casbah in 1989 (before moving it in 1994 down the street to its current location on Kettner and Laurel), Mays has also opened some great restaurants, including the Turf Club and Starlite.
Every summer and holiday break I would head back to San Diego, and there would usually be a good show at the Casbah. I would often run into old friends there. I remember one particularly fun New Years Eve show in the early ’90s (I think it was the Zeros and The Dragons) when I ended up riding around with [Wallflowers vocalist] Dave Rinck looking for an after-party. And last year’s Tell-Tale Hearts reunion at the Casbah seemed just like old times.
This January, the Casbah is celebrating its 20-year anniversary with a great lineup of bands including the Nashville Ramblers, the Penetrators, the Loons, the Dragons, Deadbolt, Big Sandy, Dave and Deke Combo, and many others.
You bet I am going to try real hard to be there to see the Nashville Ramblers!
January Casbah Lineup:
Fri 02 Nashville Ramblers and guests
Sat 03 The Slackers, The Impalers and guests
Thu 08 Lucy’s Furcoat and guests
Fri 09 Lucy’s Furcoat and guests
Sat 10 The Dragons, Deadbolt, Wild Weekend, Black Hondo
Tue 13 Meat Puppets and guests
Fri 16 El Vez Greatest Hits Show
Mon 19 Anti-Monday League Presents Three Mile Pilot
Tue 20 Three Mile Pilot
Fri 23 No Knife, Creedle, Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver
Sat 24 The Penetrators, The Loons
Sun 25 tapes n tapes and guests
Wed 28 Goblin Cock and guests
Fri 30 Adolescents and guests
Sat 31 Dave and Deke Combo, Big Sandy and His Flyrite Boys
— Dean Curtis
I recommend everyone in SD see the Adolescents. I saw them at the Casbah on a visit last December and they were a great show!
Penetrators and Loons? Wow.
FYI: Tom Ward is with the Nashville Ramblers.
Indeed, the Nashville Ramblers comprise three names mentioned often on this blog: Tom Ward, Ron Silva and Carl Rusk. Both Tom and Carl are on the East Coast now … Cool they’re gathering in San Diego for this event!
If you speak with Carl Rusk, tell him I still have the video he shot in 79.
CRAZY,CRAZY FUN!!! I hope I am able to attend.
Dean:I went to The London Tavern Show prior to meeting you in NY.
I believe the Roosters played.
I have a fair amount of 1980 photos of the early days hanging out at Jimmy’s in PB, ON Klub, I Blend and Maria Dudley’s fabulous parties.
Killer!!!! Thanks Dean!!!!! Ha, I am so stoked I will be in San Diego and for the first time in two and half years my wife and I will have a baby sitter, and all these great shows!!!!!! Plus one of my best friends bands The Slackers(Dave Hillyards, Donkey Show) will in town from New York!!! Man, my wife and I need this, we are on the verge of going bonkers!!!!
Dean, Thanks for the heads-up on The Casbah 20 year anniversary party!
I definitely will try to attend the Nashville Ramblers show on January 2nd, but I’ll be busy with Dave Rink, Dave Ellison and others rehearsing for a new project most of the day-and I’m not sure I’ll have energy to do both!
I’d kill to see The Penetrators…my ex brother-in-law Russell Stevens caught them at their “good-bye show” last year and he said it was a riot. The Penetrators rocked the Casbah, and a lot of old-timers from the early days showed up for the fun!
Hats off to Tim Mays, he’s been an incredible asset towards the cultural evolution in San Diego. Shucks, haven’t seen Tim in at least 18 years.
” Hi old pal Tim! Can I buy you a drink?”…I can’t wait to see him there!
On another note, Robyn Wexler…please bust out your old photos and share them on the blog! you pobably have some incredibly fun and interesting shots to share!
I’ll be down in SD for the holidays and def considering The Slackers show on the 3rd, since I’ll miss their New Year’s Eve show in SF @ Slim’s. I’ve seen these guys twice in SF, but it’s been several years. Don’t wanna miss them — dig ’em muchly. Plus, would be totally cool to visit the Casbah once again…can’t even remember the last time I was there.
Robyn; i was at the Bullet soul club in Hollywood last night and Clyde Grimes was there! we reminisced about the weekend the UTs came to SD in ’81! shortly after that the UTs got so big and I didn’t see the guys much anymore, so it was great seeing Clyde after 25 years. he was looking sharp of course!
Dean: Do you know how to contact Clyde? It would be great to see the original UTs reunite for a show down here in Jan. or May.
Dean, shoot me an d email. I’ll be in SD for New Years, Dave Ellison too, so let’s all go together to the the Nashville Ramblers. Maybe we can go out for some Mexican food with our wives before the show. Is there any good places nowadays for rolled tacos?
Ha! Matthew, it’s fodder for FUNNY. Loki Sinjugler!
“Musically, they play a form of doom metal/drone metal with rather unusual lyrical subjects (i.e. the Snuffleupagus from the TV show Sesame Street).”
Can we keep ’em? Can we? Can we?
Casper: [whispers] Can I keep you?
Kat: Mm-hmm.
Dean, what brought CG out of the woodwork? Did he say he might be back again (the Bullet, Satisfaction, etc)?
That night I didn’t bother going, and look who shows up…
hey all, just a visitor from the past here… if you went to shows from 78-84, you knew me.. anyone remember the softball team we had?? We had JMFMPM, the pens, and any one else that could be up by 9am, and out of jail!!!
don’t know how to get in touch with clyde, but remember the song tropical bird? the woman they wrote it for is my best girl. we’ve been friends for twenty years and that song cracks me up, because we had parallel lives but never met until long after all that.
modest mouse at casbah was great. back in 97. last show i caught there. living in oregon does that to a body. missing shows and all. ha. small town life.
The Nashville Ramblers show on Friday was a blast! So many old friends and SD musicians were there it was like a reunion. I wish that I had more time to chat with everyone. We got there just before the Ramblers played and left on Saturday afternoon to catch their show in LA at the Echo. I was a bit disappointed that the Casbah mgmt. made the band stop playing at 1:15 and made everyone leave the bar, but the Ramblers made up for it by playing for about 2 and a half hours on Saturday! Will have to come back in May! It was great seeing David Rinck, Dylan, James and Cristina, Bart, Matt, Sean, Steve, Monica, Shawna, Keith & Gordon & Peter from the Crawdaddys, Patti, Audrey, Lydia, Tony Suarez and Tony Sanchez, and of course Tom, Carl, and Ron. What a night!
Please post pictures if you got ’em.
Did anyone catch the Nashville Ramblers in Brooklyn last Monday? Here’s a good clip (among many on Youtube, all the LA clips are lousy).
I’m really sad to have missed both the Ramblers gig, as well as the Blues Gangsters recording sessions last weekend--strep throat is not much fun. Mark Neill tells me the boys were great, and that they looked the same as ever. He also tells me that Keith Fisher looks amazing, like he has aged in reverse, just like the picture of Dorian Gray! Tom, Carl and Ron: I miss you guys--hope you keep playing!
Blurry cam pic…
More (and better…) shots to come. Keith is the young Steve Jobs…
Dud! I have been super busy! Tom even told me about it and I put it in my calender, however I got a new phone and they couldn’t transfer the info. Hope everyone had fun! I look forward to the reunion. 🙂
Yeah, it was super fun, and the Ramblers played great.
Dave (Doyle) and I took a bunch of fotos and will have them available for viewing later this week.
So bummed I missed the Ramblers. I had to work. And as we all know, y’ don’t work, y’ don’t make no money. And I like money.
Ray… we were bummed too that you couldn’t play! It’s just that time of year though… I think pretty much everyone there had a cold.
Dave:
Is this what you had in mind?
I was getting over a cold as well, but still danced like crazy! I tried to get some people to go out for Mexican food after the show, but nobody was interested, so they must have been sick.
We REALLY needed a Gay Denny’s type after hours hangout on Friday. Everyone got kicked out at 1:30 and almost everyone just went home.
Ray:
YES!!!! roflmao!
Everyone had remarked on his fabulous-ness and such,and then later outside with Tim, Keith and others I pointed north and said to Tim “Cupertino is that way”…
I wish there was going to be an Unknowns reunion! We had half the band there on Friday, right?
I was browsing the GaragePunk forums and found a guy with an Unknowns test pressing. He is offering it in trade.
http://garagepunk.ning.com/forum/topics/any-fans-of-the-unknowns
Yup that’s correct, although since about 1985 Craig Packham played drums and we were a three piece, so really we were all there lol
As for the original lineup, it would be an interesting night for sure 😉
Man that album was a long time ago! And I remember it like yesterday… well maybe not quite yesterday. Thanks for the link Dean!
Megan: Glad someone here got to see them in Brooklyn. I wish I could have been there. They used to do 3 to 4 hour shows at the Ivy Room in Albany in the 90s when they were all living in the Bay Area. I get the feeling that Tom and Carl are so at home in New York now that they feel most comfortable playing to audiences there. There was very little onstage banter and joking at the San Diego show, which was surprising to me. I wonder if they were nervous about playing back in San Diego. They seemed more relaxed at the LA show the next day, and joked around quite a bit. I saw their set list after the LA show and there was about 60 or 70 songs on it!
This impressive article on the Casbah does in fact mention that it was founded in a former leather bar called the Bulc, but it doesn’t mention that the Bulc was a former lesbian bar called the Club. (I’m sorry, I’ve mentioned that detail before — but I loved, loved, LOVED that palindrome. “Bulc” — hahahaha!)
great article… i had no idea that peter lived in oregon too, tim worked at broadway and nirvana played that corner.
Craig Packham and Dave Doyle took a lot of photos at the Ramblers’ gig at the Casbah. They are posted here:
http://gallery.me.com/popeye_cahn#100082
Who caught the Pens show on Saturday? I heard all the bands were great (Manual Scan and The Loons also played). I was out of town but on the other side of the continent (in Florida).
Dean, Yup all in all a great gig. Here’s a load of pics, enjoy!
Great photos, Dave!! Thanks for sharing!
Mon plaisir!
Sadly I did not arrive in time to see or shoot pics of Manual Scan…
Did Gary sing ” I am currently in currency, pulled up from bankruptcy, far beyond mediocrity, all I want is me, me, me, me , money, you aren’t so funny, my playboy bunny.
Yeah some of that sounds right. But I was focused on something else…
San Diegans report that the site of the Pink Panther (which closed at the end of 1990) is now vacant. Let’s squat!