(Wallflower/Blues Gangster/BeatHog Dave Rinck recounts a major skirmish in San Diego punk history.)
I wanna say it was the summer of ’80 or ’81 …
In those days, punk rock in San Diego was pretty much like a club that met at a mutually determined location every weekend. A secret underground planning system worked out the details of the meetings and spread them with military precision through a highly effective communications network.
The system functioned like this: A secret cabal of “Organizers,” consisting of the highest ranking punk rockers (like Marc Rude and any member of F.O.N.O.), would determine the event from a menu of options that included:
- Shows, probably at the North Park Lions Club, since the Skeleton Club had closed by then. But once in a while it could have also been at some one-off club that was reckless enough to wade into the mirage of the punk-rock phenomena. Profits usually proved illusive at these places, especially the ones with a lot of glass.
- Special parties, usually at the homes of official punk rockers, but also occasionally at the homes of non-punk rockers. In the case of non-punk rocker homes, planning was needed to ensure that actual punk rockers arrived in sufficient mass in case things got ugly, like in the volatile case of Mod parties. Now, occasionally, if it was the home of a member of a really serious opposing group, like Stoners or something, a serious logistics plan would also need to be arranged, so the troops could get in and get out as needed. OK, I know it wouldn’t seem like a great idea for the secret cabal to select a stoner party as the venue for the meeting, but it did happen a few times, with predictable results.
- Fallback parties, probably at one of Cliff Cunningham’s several residences through those years, he was such a saint. Either that or he had good friends in home reconstruction-related service sectors.
- Other “special events” TBD.
The Organizers would then communicate their dictate to the second-tier punk rockers, the “spreaders of the word,” who would in turn let the foot soldiers know where to go.
I, having just started high school at the time, was a junior member in the club, so I was not at a rank sufficient for actual organizing of events. (That would have to wait for several more years, actually until after punk rock ceased to be a specific club, and the San Diego “scene” had pureed into a general “underground,” one that pretty much included anyone who felt like being a part of it or any male who wore mascara.)
Read more about our antecedents!
I was just a foot soldier in the club in those days. The network functioned flawlessly through those years. We never missed a single meeting, neither a Friday nor a Saturday. The club always met. Always.
Anyway, I guess it must have been a Friday night, and the organizer-level punk rockers were making the plans for our Saturday event. They then communicated it to the “spreaders of the word,” and then it filtered down to me.
Now for a group with such impressive martial discipline when it came to organizing, a predisposition toward all types of mass campaigns, and of course more than a passing interest in chaos, I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened. Alarmingly, the decision had been made to hold a “special event.” Specifically, it was to be War Games.
The venue was determined to be Fiesta Island. As to the “how would it work” question, a variety of approaches were meticulously studied, and a special set of rules was adopted from various sources, including the childhood games of Capture the Flag, Kick the Can and Tag, as well as Sun Su’s “Art of War,” the Vietnam War, the Alamo, Altamont, the Rape of Nanjing, and other various and sundry melees. Also, there was talk of duct tape …
I rode out to Fiesta Island with some punk rocker foot soldiers from my neighborhood, the driver being a girl named Caroline who hated me and had just stolen a sweater from me as punishment for something I had done which I now forget, except to say that it was almost surely a crime of the heart, since that was the kind of thing most girls hated me (and in fact most of the male punk rockers) for at the time.
Anyway, I was pretty sure she wasn’t gonna back me up if things went south. I think about 40 or 50 punk rockers showed up for the first War Games, but that’s just a wild estimate. Teams were chosen, and sure enough, duct tape was in evidence.
I was pretty nervous, so as soon as the games commenced, I pretty much ran like hell for a spot far enough away that I could observe the proceedings, but not get duct-taped. After about an hour, I figured it was safe to go back and see if anyone was winning the war games.
Now I’m not sure if there were any winners or losers, or even exactly what really happened out there on the battlefield. This is where memory (or lack thereof) comes into play. A lot of vets suffer from post-traumatic stress-induced memory loss.
So, here’s my question: Are there any unsolved cases that this information might be of use for solving? I.e. have any unidentified bodies ever been found out there on Fiesta Island, I mean cases in which there are no apparent motives, and no clues except for duct tape and a safety pin through an ear?
Does anyone else here remember War Games?
— David Rinck
Bizarre twist: While Googling links for this piece, I discovered that “Fono” is the name of a Christian rock group that coincidentally has taken up residence in San Diego from its native Britain.
Apparently, the new San Diego Fono (who opened for Bon Jovi!) is completely ignorant of the old San Diego FONO. “This Christian rock band has stated that the name ‘Fono’ has no significance; in an interview, Currie said ‘It means absolutely nothing’.”
There’s something kind of tragic about searching “FONO +’san diego'” in Google and finding link after link about this band.
There is only ONE FONO. As far away from a christian rock band as possible…certainly more influential!
Look at them… they’re “the christians with attitude” …or maybe “not your father’s christians” … or something.
war games were good scary fun…..if you liked the taste of sand
and beer (at the same time) while getting pummelled, captured, and restrained by hopefully-good but intoxicated friends.
release would be negotiated eventually.
the NEW fono does not look nearly as fun.
they could very well be the led zeppelin of christendom though….come to attack our native shores.
i think we should give them a chance before we pass judgment.
religion isn’t ALWAYS an ego-trip after all.
>>i think we should give them a chance before we pass judgment.
MCC: Yeah, I wasn’t actually even trying to dis this band … Just feeling a little mordant about the plowing under of SD history.
It would be kind of nice if the OG FONO appeared *somewhere* when I ran that search!
OK…If you Google FONO… the search within results for “Friends of No One”, it leads you to Marc Rude site, links, etc…
So they’re there…and they’re here
i was kidding matt about giving this band a chance.
4 pratty brits relocate to sd to spread christianity via rock music under but a name which has no meaning to THEM…..
and somehow immediately opens up for bon jovi?
this is the worst of the worst.
call me prejudiced…quick to judge…..whatever…..
this reeks to high heaven if you ask me.
>>So they’re there…and they’re here
Bruce: Well, yeeeeah … But it takes some gymnastics!
Even Googling “friends of no one” plus “san diego” gets a MySpace page for some kinda electronica act rolling under that name — I didn’t have time to explore whether it has a connection to Rude’s FONO.
An original inspiration for this project was that so little of our youth was searchable on the Web … So hard to find each other and stuff that shaped us!
I’m very pleased at how much that’s changed … Googling all kinds of names and bands brings up this site now, front and center.
I’d like to do the same for FONO. Dave’s story here helps — and c’mon, I wanna hear more about War Games! — but I’d also like someone closer to the subject than I to give us a full-on FONO post.
>>i was kidding matt about giving this band a chance.
4 pratty brits relocate to sd to spread christianity via rock music under but a name which has no meaning to THEM…..
MCC: Ha! Yeah, it is a little rich. I haven’t listened to these people’s music, so I can’t dismiss that part out of hand …
I have to admit, though, that any band that insists on characterizing itself as “CHRISTIAN rock” has its work cut out wooing me. (Not musicians who are Christian … There are wonderful ones. But making that the genre/marketing vehicle — meh!)
And if you’ve been in SD eight years and claim to be “alternative” and apparently haven’t heard of FONO … Something insufferable there. 🙂
Christopher Turek (Jerry’s younger brother) and I used to attend most of the above mentioned events as token Mod kids. War games that I remember were held at Fiesta Island more than once. Wearing suits we were happily targeted. I got tied to a car bumper once.
I don’t remember any sounds from inside the car’s trunk, but then I have my own hazy recollection of those days too…not so much the traumatic stress as the chemical warfare…amyl nitrate is a brain cell killer…
Indeed after the hostilities commenced there was a general retreat to Cliff’s house where much spaghetti was consumed. I remember a cute punk wannabe girl taking pity on my rope burns…
I remember (vaguely) an attempt at wargames in Balboa Park, though I may just be confusing that event with much later numerous events at the Park. We spent a LOT of time there over the years.
Does anybody remember when the general occupation of the Fruit Loop began and if it had anything to do with these games?
Patrick Works
AKA Ensign Pulverized
The Brit FONO guys look like they all work at Shakespeares pub.
OK, so help me out … Who was in the original inner circle of the original, non-wanky punk FONO?
In a comment from the “Our family tree” thread, Bobby Lane (who started his own art career apprenticed to Marc Rude), recalls, “Marc told me once that FONO was originally a band with himself, Testicle head, Tony Chuco and Terry Marine.”
In the same thread, Lou Skum comments, “F. O. N. O. Marc Rude’s conceptual group Friends Of No One, consisted of 4 people. Marc Rude, Chuko Tony, Shawn Kerri, and Rich Fortune.”
I am remiss in following up on leads to Carl Schneider, who had been working on a documentary about Marc Rude.
However, we probably have enough eyewitnesses here to identify the founders of FONO. Little help?
like i said here before…when i interviewed FONO it was shawn, marc, tony, and richie.
They were around us constantly. Clay and Lou have it right.
>>like i said here before…when i interviewed FONO it was shawn, marc, tony, and richie.
Clay: Sorry I didn’t spot this comment!
Did FONO membership itself change over time? On another forum, Joey Miller also mentions drumming for a short-lived FONO band with Marc Rude on vocals.
i don’t think membership shifted much but we saw very little of FONO as a unit when marc moved in with cleo.
i don’t think there was any official disbandment but marc had a new girl and he would be spending the majority of his time with her.
this union lasted for some time.
cleo would hook up with dennis….bassist for BOS…a couple years later.
I think FONO seems bigger now than they were then. Just a bunch of regular guys who got crazy when they were drunk. IMO.
not sure how “regular” anyone was but i think you summed it up fairly accurately.
ritchie looked kinda regular if you’re talking “50’s biker-movie regular”.
that guy’d make me laugh and then tony’d look at me like ‘what are you laughing about?’
think we’re joking huh?
then everybody’d laugh and drink and laugh and drink some more.
>>that guy’d make me laugh and then tony’d look at me like ‘what are you laughing about?’
think we’re joking huh?
then everybody’d laugh and drink and laugh and drink some more.
That reminds me of that scene with Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta in “Goodfellas”:
Pow! Bing!
>>Maybe Marc and TM were a little “edgier”
OK … So Terry was in FONO?
yes…no…maybe…..probably not.
relax…it’s sunday.
There was FONO and then there was FONO………..
Kind of like:
First there is a mountain
then there is no mountain
then there is.
Great Goodfellas scene…Pesci is always so believable. Even in My Cousin Vinny!
Another Vinnie … Who’s this fella in relation to FONO?
Very bizarre…the age, dates, everything looks legit. BUT I’ve never seen or heard of this cat, or any reference to him, in my life??
Vinnie Fono??
Another BIG?? Don’t get me started.
>>Very bizarre…the age, dates, everything looks legit. BUT I’ve never seen or heard of this cat, or any reference to him, in my life??
Well, he’s MySpace friends with our own Bobby Lane, for one …
Dan McLaine drew a cartoon in Hobogue or New Hippie… I laughed like hell when I saw it. A key feature of the drawing was a guy wearing a “Friends of FONO” armband.
Vinnie was the singer for Diatribe in the early part of the eighties,they played lots of all ages shows including Tim Maze shows.I’m not exactly sure when,but I believe he was in a band they called ‘FONO’ at some later point,possibly 80’s,possibly 90’s.I dunno.
“A little story about Mad Marc Rude” from GigPosters.com. …
So the other FONO currently features duct tape on its home-page publicity photo. Are they reading this blog and co-opting details?
Marc Rude, A Legend that is for sure. I like your story Gary quite poignant. I avoided the War Games on Fiesta Island, I believed someone may be killed, I would go to the parties afterwood. I truly believe that the leader of F.O.N.O. was Shawn Kerri, Marc’s beautiful, yet lethal girlfriend. She was calling the shots. Shawn, also a talented young artist, moved to Hollywood and became an Icon amongst the Punk elite there.
From MCC:
I remember the 1st War Games, I was one of the last girls caught on my side. I was caught on a fence by Cleo/Laurie Frame. She scared the #$%$%% out of me. LOL
My name is Jeff McGreevy and Marc invited me to be in F.O.N.O. back probably around 1979-1980. The idea only lasted a few days. I remember us meeting up and drinking lots of liquor and talking about playing music in a band. I really did not play any musical instrument and the drinking was a tab bit more than i was used to at the time. I was interested in protecting our shows and i remember a show at the North Park Lions Club when some people come down from Los Angeles who did damage to the bathrooms and got on stage and messed with the band and sound equipment. Also Tony Chico who was also in F.O.N.O. lived on the same street as i did in Chula Vista. I also used to go to shows at the Skeleton Club when I was a student at San Diego City College.