Courtesy of Rockin’ Dogs drummer and band archivist Cole Smithey, here’s a collection of photographs from the band’s last phase, when it became a trio with the departure of founding guitarist/vocalist Dave Ellison.
In addition to Cole, these pictures from late 1984 and early 1985 feature Sam Wilson (guitar, vocals) and Jane Bunting (bass, vocals).
“The outdoor concert shots are from one of the SDSU Friday noon shows — remember those?” Cole writes. “Man, that was a big deal.
“The other outdoor shots are from Balboa Park, late ’84 — taken by my girlfriend at the time, Lori Stalnaker, who was big into the scene.
“The indoor shots are from Studio 517. I think we stayed together for about nine months after Dave left the band.”
Rockin’ Dogs MP3s:
I don’t think I ever got to a noon show at San Diego State … Who-all played these?
I remember playing at a show there and it was something along the lines of torture.
There were loads of Monty’s frat boy types (it was SDSU) who were a joy to piss off but there was one who was smarter than he looked who figured out that he could unplug the power going to the stage. We would be playing all all of a sudden-only drums and the sounds of the amps fading out. I am assuming this a-hole was trying to get our music to do a fade out like all the other crappy MOR music he was used to hearing from folks who couldn’t figure out how to end a song properly.
This was with a band called Dave’s Brother Phil that had Barney Firks and Adam Kopald. Adam and I worked at KCR which was at SDSU so we dragged a few out into the sunshine but it was just not the best place to play but it was an interesting fun angry.
Better by far was when we played at the Back Door. There was a fundraiser for a Mexican earthquake situation as well as a show w/ the Replacements.
Nice photos. I don’t think I ever saw the band without Dave--he seemed kind of indispensible to me.
Those lunchtime shows at SDSU were examples of well-meaning but misguided bookings. Crowd and bands didn’t seem to mesh well. We played a couple of those, and I seem to remember that we brought in most of the people who were interested in seeing us play. I have always hated playing outdoors in the sunshine during the middle of the day. Rock and roll needs to be played indoors, at night, preferably in the dark.
Wow, I’ve never seen any of these. Who took them? …and where are the live shots from? The “happy birthday” shot is obviously 517. The shot with the hammock is great…it looks almost like a set.
I guess it’s just a tree… no hammock. Good photo, in any case.
Sam & I are really disturbed, but amused.
Sam makes me erase everything we look at here because if the kids saw..it would all be over, the jig would be up.
Thanks Cole?
Sam says Lori, Cole’s girlfriend took the pictures Dave.
Awww, come on Stacy… Don’t you think your kids need to learn about San Diego’s underground music scene of the 1980s?
>>Don’t you think your kids need to learn about San Diego’s underground music scene of the 1980s?
Dave Ellison: I’m actually speaking to the Maplewood/South Orange, NJ, school board about having this added to the middle-school curriculum for the 2009-2010 term.
I’ve already suggested we bring in Debbie Harry as a guest speaker:
I remember a noon time show in 1988 or sowhere they moved it to the Backdoor. Lunch time frat guys and Thelonius Monster (the band) didn’t mix too well. The band poked fun at the lack of enthusiasm that they received from the SDSU crowd. I couldn’t muster much myself.
I remember ditching class for one show at lunch, as it was rumored that the Pogues were going to play a free show at SDSU. This was a tour with Bob Dylan (?). They were a no show and all I got was this lousy art degree.
This was one of the last shows that we played, and we had a blast. We played for a full hour to roughly 150 people. Having so much time to fill meant that we played all of Jane’s songs. Jane really leaned into the country aspect of our music, and was writing some really good songs at this point. Also, her voice had matured out of the little girl voice she started out with.
Jane brought a fun “Go-Gos” energy that attracted a lot of women to the gig at SDSU that day. This was no Mojo Nixon sausage fest.
I was in the process of dropping out of SDSU, fed up with Drama Department politics. So switching out this stage for the Mainstage felt like a real step up.
I have to say, SDSU’s PA and sound guy were great that day. Lori took the great black and white photos.
For photography sake, there’s nothing better than natural sunlight for black and white.
Special thanks to Lori for taking great shots of us.