What can we say about Cyndie Jaynes? Not only is she a published author and successful graduate of the San Diego underground, she’s also a marvelous documentarian with an unrivaled cache of photos and flyers from early-’80s SD.
Here’s a sampling of the great things she’s shared with me … I’m very grateful for the chance to bring these treasures to light. Stay tuned for more!
My god, Cyndie. What a documentarian! I’d no idea.
Congrats on the book and the kids! So nice to hear of you, and your doings. Thanks for sharing these, too.
Shades of Z Man Barzell! I don’t know if my kids should see these!
Jerry’s hair ruled the universe!!
Ha! Lucky for you guys I’m censoring quite a few of the juiciest ones in case the whole publishing thing doesn’t work out.
What ever happened to Jill Ruzich? I went to high school with her, but it’s been way too long….
BTW -- in the photo, Pat Works is holding Bo Diddley’s string -- I don’t know where he got it or why I remember that, but it’s true. My favorite one is Mike singing with the shadowy lurking figure of Eric right behind him.
I’ll send in a bunch more when I scan them. I’m feelin’ mighty old these days. I’ve had a great time reading about everyone, and it’s it’s been lovely to hear Jerry, Ray, Eric, Paul, Pat and everyone else talk about their lives.
Thanks for the nice comments Jerry! Sounds like things turned out okay for most of us.
I saw Jill last probably 15 years ago. Last I heard, she was living in LA and working in the record industry.
Wow! Thanks, Cyndie and welcome. I’m looking forward to seeing more. The picture with you, Jill and Zoe is adorable. The Jerry photos are incredible--I particularly like the pipe and Meisterbrau 12 pack shot. My favorite overall might be the Paul Howland photo--great photos!
My favorite is the Paul Howland one. He’s oozing cool.
Cyndie is a fantastic photographer. I’ve been hoping someone with her eye was making the rounds back then! You really captured the essence of our friends. Wish I could wield a camera like that.
These pictures are great! I really want to see more.
I like all the background figures in the shot of Brandes and Stax at the Che … Kind of like some sort of “Sgt. Pepper” tableau … I see Pat in the Hat (in his Pep Boys T-shirt) with Bart Mendoza behind him … David Watkins … some other faces I can’t put names to … And waaaaay over on the right-hand side, Chris Negro!
You guys rock! I’m scanning as fast as I can…
Cyndie, nice one for the photos. Good stuff. Here’s my recollection about Pat Works and the Bo Diddley guitar string, scholars among you correct me if I’m wrong. It was an “A” string. Eric Bacher got it at a Bo Diddley show when Mr. Diddley broke it. Eric gave it to Pat Works.Pat kept the string in his cap for quite some time. I seem to recall having a conversation with Eric about the possibility of repairing and using the string. As I recall, Eric had thought of it, but the remaining portion of the string was too short to fix. Chris, I think the bass in that picture may have belonged to Cyndie, as I recall there were a few people around at the time with those Fender Mustang basses and I think Cyndie was one of them. Nice little basses… and they were pretty inexpensive at the time.
When Bo Diddley played at the La Paloma Theater in Encinitas, he caused quite a stir and left a trail of fun anecdotes.
As I recall, our high-school friend Nora Berger was supposed to pick him up and drive him to his accommodations … She didn’t know whether to call him “Bo” or “Mr. Diddley.”
I also got to watch the great man himself in Encinitas’ late, lamented Blue Ridge Music, trying out different effects boxes. Very exciting, totally private mini-concert!
BTW, Cyndie: Thanks for closing the loop with this beautiful blog post.
“Back then, things were real and raw and everyone was cool and unusual and very, very intelligent. And funny. I was so lucky to have found a group of people to hang out with to get me through a tough time in my life.” Nailed it in one!
…and thank you, Cyndie, for sharing these with us! We were all hoping we’d find someone who was taking photos back then.
Just to add to Paul’s post above, if this was indeed Bo Diddley’s string, Eric got it at the Belly Up Tavern the night Mike, Eric and I went to see him play (’84 or ’85). He broke it during one of his encores, a fifteen minute version of a song called “If You Drink, Don’t Drive.” That was a great show--pretty much ninety straight minutes of the Bo Diddley beat.
Of note: On the way home, Eric said, “Man, I could really go for some rolled tacos!” We made a stop at La Posta on Washington, where at the last minute, Eric opted for something else while Mike and I stuck to the original plan: rolled tacos with guacamole. MIke and I got a severe case of food poisoning from the guacamole, and were bed ridden for couple of days afterwards. The next morning MIke actually tried to ride the 11 bus from Hillcrest to College Copy and ended up getting off the bus six or seven times to vomit. Thank God for transfers.
Oh yeah--and in the picture above it looks like Eric is playing one of his Sears Silvertone Danelectros. He got a couple of them for about 100 dollars, I believe.
Eric: Didn’t you find the money to buy a guitar while collecting trash at the side of the road as part of a public-works project?
Yikes. Hearing Ray’s story, I guess I’m lucky that I missed out on the special guacamole recipe during all those visits to La Posta. Unfortunately, my back up plan, Los 7 Burritos in PB, is long gone.
Paul Kaufman: I believe Paul Brewin and I poisoned you on one trip to Tijuana. … I remember an urgent foot race north to get you safely to U.S. plumbing.
oh my. yes, you’re correct. I got mono my Junior year, and for six months I didn’t have much defense against the usual stuff that I fought off with ease. I’ve been back many times since, happily with no incidents to report. La Vuelta is still swinging!
These picures really capture the fun times, thanks Cindy! I love the picture with Denise and Mike (and Carl). It warms the cockels of my heart considering that to this day he’s still a close friend, and we still hang out (as time permits).
Paul (hey Paul!) is correct about the Bo Diddley string, the best part of the story really is that Pat won a free ticket on the radio for the show but had to work that night, so handed it over to me. Not only did I get the string and give it to Pat who kept it in his hat (until he was assaulted at Presidio park with John Murphy), but I also got all my albums signed by Mr. Bo Diddley Hisself.
Matthew, I did find $22.00 working off an underage DUI ticket ($33.00 earned playing a TTH show spent too quickly on 11 vodka martinis), but I’m not sure where it was spent; quite possibly on a bottle shared with Paul around the time of this mustang bass photograph.
As far as the Sivertone guitar, it was purchased from a weird empresario type guy that used to hang with Steve Epineter. One night I was having problems with my amp, tried to smash it with the guitar so it would work better (mid-song), and broke the neck. I remember John Burkholder was very impressed by the whole proceeding (he was frying).
Great Googly Moogly, Cyndie’s a wealth of photographic excellence! She’s sent me a ton more beautimous stuff, including ripping-good shots of the Wallflowers, TTH, Morlocks, Crawdaddys and variegated scooterishness. I hardly know where to begin!
I’ll always remember the clapboard walls of the Che undulating that night.
Cyndie, I think the last time I saw Jill was when her and I went by your pad back in ’95. I was heading to Paris out of LAX after my first semester of law school and she gave me a ride to the airport. You had just got back from Scotland and still had a little accent. She was, indeed, working in the music biz. She graduated from Rasputins in Berkely to working for CEMA distribution, to wherever she was at the time (some major label). One of the last conversations I remember having with her was how miserable I was in law school, and how much she disliked the industry (her grass looked pretty green to me!). She was intent on living somewhere other than the U.S. at the time. I hope it happened for her.
That’s funny Matt -- was that in SF? I lived in the city for about seven years, mostly in the Mission and the Haight.
I saw her a few years after that, right before she moved to LA, still in the music biz. I’ve tried Googling her, but nothing comes up. I’d love to see how she’s doing.
We should start a MIA thread for people that we haven’t seen or heard from in years. The whole six-degrees thing should mean that we could round up everyone eventually.
I think I may be confusing stuff. Jill and I must have visited you when I was in S.F. with the Morlocks, around ’88. Does that sound right? The L.A. trip was summer ’95. I’ll try and track down her mom’s number in Rancho Bernardo….
That sounds righter. I got back from Scotland in 89. Her mom used to live in Rancho Santa Fe before her dad died. That house was so big we needed skateboards to get from one side to the other.
Flash: Bo Diddley died! 🙁
So I’m laura and I was sergio’s (big serge’s) girlfriend from about 1984 (i was 14) until about 1990. Well, one of his girlfriends- but main one! We were in touch in fact up until I was pregnant with my second (about 6 years ago) but lost touch somewhere after that. My sister, Stacy, dated Sam- the Hair Theater’s guitarist -and they are now happily married and have 3 kids with the 4th on the way. I have a ton of pictures, fliers and drawings of sergio’s from that time frame- with the hair theatre and supporting cast. My sister and I were at that first Davefest and we must’ve been at every hair theatre show from about ’83 on. I think many of the pictures paul allen sent were phots I took, in fact. I’m so glad to hear that Serigo is married and happy- I often wondered where his adventures took him.
Hi Laura,
Welcome! Give Stacy (who went out with Mike Stax for about two weeks, I think) all our best and have her join us, too.
Wow, this is excellent! Hi Cyndie, Jerry, Matt, Ray, Mark (you went to Mira Mesa high with me -- you were a total punker ;-), Kristen, Ted, Jeff et al.
What a pleasure reading and viewing these historical musings and photos.
I’m in SF since about 93′. I married Chris Gast, we divorced very soon after, guess that’s what happens when you marry your highschool sweetheart, eh? Unfortunately as you all probably know he passed away many years ago. (RIP) I think I have a few copies of Black Mushroom, (Chris & Larry Halterman’s zine) that I’ll scan and send here, plus photos.
Am in Sf, thriving with a successful career working with philanthropist bankers…I love this city! I’ve visited SD and haven’t felt at home. I did take a friend to Presidio and Balboa Parks, that was interesting!
I have so many memories of all of you and am so pleased that this site was created.
More to come,
Cheerio! Lori
Wow Cyndie great pics…I have some pics most of the TTH’s, Crawdaddys when Jack was in the band before Peter joined the TTH’s. I will go through my storage and see what I can find. Cyndie your photos are amazing and I also look forward to more.
Laura of course we all remember you with Sergio (you two were always together) and Stacy (that is great that her and Sam are married). I always admired Stacy, she has a great personality! Please tell her “hello” for me.
Cyndie-I am so glad to hear you are doing well! I remember days of hanging out with you and Karen in the Sirrocco, and thrift shopping @ PB Salvation Army! You and Loni and Keona were like big sisters to me, you all seemed SO grown up. FB led me to Kristen Tobiasen, Lori(Lola), Shawna, Mara(Ava), Megan, Carla, Kevin Ring, Bart Mendoza and so many more people. I look forward to the show in May!