(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.
If that’s too P.T. Barnum, I can say with nearly no confidence that the recordings forwarded to you by Joyce were likely done at Accusound with John Hildebrand.
The Dinettes play “Poison”: Listen now!
My memory, which is tenuous at best, places the recording sometime in the summer of 1979. I think we did it to have some kind of evidence that we really existed, and maybe even as a primitive marketing effort, knowing that polished was the antithesis of punk. Or whatever we were. I am beginning to write more about our earlier political beginnings, reminded that I submitted song lyrics as my final project for some UCSD Sociology of _______ course one quarter in the late ’70s.
The Dinettes play “Motorqueens of the Night”: Listen now!
Here is a great flyer from a Straita Head Sound gig, with Joyce looking real fly. A photo of Sue Delguidice, Cindy Brisco and me standing outside the Mabuhay Gardens at the Western Front festival [can’t remember if we were there to play or see the Dead Kennedys, or both]. A scan of the cover of Quasi-Substitute magazine, with me actually playing guitar. Hmmm.
What a great band! Thanks, Doriot. I’m hoping you’ll sit down some time and write the entire band history--I and many others would love to read it.
Awesome! Thank you! The Straita Head show was a blast.
This is great… much more garage/punky sounding than I imagined them to be. Never got to see them, unfortunately. Was Cindy the bass player? I think she was the same person that I was trying to get to play bass with us in the Rockin’ Dogs back around ’83. I think she didn’t wanna play with a bunch of kids… ha.
Sheesh! I was so busy playing host, I neglected to mention how great this stuff is! Like Mr. Ellison, I never saw you play … I do feel like I missed out, and it’s a great honor to include these songs here.
Thanks Ray, Robin, Dave, and Matt. All compliments accepted. We were trying to play new music at a time when a lot of people couldn’t get away from the “novelty act-pretty good for girls” mentality. More later on that…. For now, thanks again.
Dinettes shows were fun! I wore my Dinettes button until the late 80s. I loved your hats!
Yes, that is Cindy Brisco. I am so happy to see this come together after all these years. Thanks to Doriot & Joyce for making it happen!
It was a great time to be involved in the music scene- so many great bands were happening then.
Amazing tracks! Thanks Joyce and Doriot! I would love to hear more about your band.
Hi Jim, it was great to see you as well, and the show at Bar 11 was alot of fun. You guys are in fine form these days. Thanks for the nice words! Hopefully we will release a CD one of these days; there are some live tracks from the Deaf Club in SF that need to be restored, plus more tracks from the Accusound recording.
haven’t found any pictures of suzie from when we were goofin together (year from yesterday v.1) but i did find these of irene back from our dogs with masks days….pre-chanel with zadirnowski on bass.
and paul friedman on drums (RIP).
good to hear the dinettes are rockin the house.
Jim--Thanks for the fantastic write-up. Yes, it’s true. The Cardiac Kidz and the Dinettes shared the same bill more that a few times. Between our two bands I think we caused a lot of confusion in the scene, due to our impossible-to-categorize music. That kind of confusion is good because it makes people think. That’s art.
God, I miss you guys. These were the best times of my life . The scene was kickin” The Skeleton Club was fun. Life just seemed so easy. The Dinettes were always so kind to me. Fun and smart. We have all moved on, but the punk days during this time were golden.
I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve heard these songs. They’re not as good as I imagined, they’re BETTER. What pioneers.
Doriot -- Nice to see that there is actually proof of the existence of Jane Plane and the Cockpits. I missed the metamorphosis into the Dinettes, but really enjoyed the short time I beat the bass with the Cockpits.
Heather, glad you found this site. I barely remember the Cockpit days, as that is when I first joined, but I bet Doriot would love to hear from you. I will let her know that you commented. Cheers!