The Penetrators, the Bedbreakers
and Manual Scan at the Casbah

(After collecting a lifetime achievement award at last week’s San Diego Music Awards, the Penetrators performed Saturday at the Casbah Club, supported by fellow music veterans the Bedbreakers and Manual Scan. Che Underground: The Blog presents accounts of the evening by Sean McMullen, Gary Heffern and Kevin Donaker-Ring as well as a luminous selection of photos by Mr. McMullen.)

It was a full moon, I remember, and I was already sweating and thirsty after walking down from Banker’s Hill to the club, but couldn’t seem to get past the patio to the bar for a bubbly cold Tecate due to the onslaught of embracing and handshakes and stories that followed. Every one of these nights serves to reinforce the depth of this bizarre alter-family I have collected since I was a wild-eyed runt getting dropped off at Golden Hall for a Penetrators show, amongst others, full circle.

Indeed there are few things in my life as gratifying as seeing people who used to revolt and butt heads like rams getting along with so much love and joy and pride. And the sheer fact that we remain so devoted to our music, to this town and each other, speaks volumes of the magnitude of our youth, and how we carry it forward incessantly with age.

Ultimately I did made it to the back bar to see good sir Michael Porter, and gather more affection and wisecracks and cold beer. Go figure. The rest is best described in the images that follow. As always, I look ever forward to more. Hallelujah, my friends. Hallelujah.

— Sean McMullen

The Bedbreakers at the Casbah:

I will tell you that Manual Scan did one of their best shows ever, with a great lineup … The sound at the Casbah was phenomenal; we opened with “Tigerbait,” which was one of our earliest songs — written about Deborah Harry and never got recorded (as lyrically, it’s pretty bad). But the audience loved it and had a few laughs as i was telling the story behind it … we did “Casanova” for the first time in 30 years as well … It was a long, exhausting night, but here was a magic in the air, so many folks coming out of the woodwork …

There’s a picture on my Facebook that has Arturo (SDSH), Chuck Cole, Al Brown, Tim Pinnell and a whole slew of people from back in the day.

— Gary Heffern

The Penetrators at the Casbah:

For me, the show was fantastic.

It’s always a complete honor to open for the Penetrators. They were — hell, they still ARE — my local music heroes when Bart and I were first exploring the local San Diego music scene. And, as always, they completely delivered. After the first few songs (damn, they opened with “Tiger Bait” — a song I remember seeing them do at Glorietta Bay Park before Manual Scan ever formed), I managed to work my way up towards the front, next to James Harrell. We jumped up and down, and sang — the correct lyrics — at the top of our lungs. At one of the many times we stared, transfixed, at Chris Davies’ masterful guitar playing, James said, “It’s like water” — which was the perfect description for the fluidity of the reverb-drenched runs and licks that just dripped from Chris’ guitar. (After the show, when I was telling Chris how great I thought the show was, he was honestly surprised. “Really?” Yes, Chris, really. It took me an incredibly long time to learn this, but energy and showmanship will trump a bum note or flubbed lyric every time. And they had energy and showmanship in spades.)

Gary was, as always, such a commanding presence on the stage. The emotion he brings to each performance is so powerful. You can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He even got in a somersault — I don’t think I’ve seen him do that since the last time they played the Spirit. The only disappointment of the evening is that I know they had a second encore planned (“Jimmy Don’t Do It”), but the sound guy turned up the music and lights so everyone thought the show was over.

For our part, with just three rehearsals (and only one with the full band in its new lineup) I felt completely comfortable up on stage. That is due in no small part to the ability of the consummate musicians Bart and I now have the luck to share a stage with: Tim Blankenship on bass, Dave Fleminger on keys, and now Jarrod Lucas laying down a solid and powerful beat on his massive drum kit. I love this lineup. One of the things about opening for the Penetrators is that we have to rise to the occasion. There’s no room for namby-pamby shit. We had to rock, and I’m pretty sure we did. And we were rapid-fire. I think the longest pause between songs was all of fifteen seconds. We did 16 songs in less than 40 minutes. I totally enjoyed myself, and Bart, Tim, Flem, and Jarrod are all saying they can’t wait to do this again.

— Kevin Donaker-Ring