Blogs | Rock Around the Town
Randy California and Spirit in San Diego 1968 to 1996, Worst Concerts, more
By Jay Allen Sanford | Posted February 23, 2009, 6:19 p.m.
Spirit local concerts, memorabilia, setlists, more
Press illo to play the Overheard song!
HERE’S THIS WEEK’S NEW Overheard in San Diego
AND THE NEW Famous Former Neighbors
ROCK AROUND THE TOWN TONIGHT/TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH
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LOCAL RECORD RELEASE EVENTS - Feb.
Escondido
Pop songstress Miz Mandy’s sophomore album Today’s the Day was released last week on BabyLove Records. “We did a soft release in December for presales to the fan club,” says Mandy (real name Mandy Gasparich) “and now that it’s through the distribution channels, we are officially releasing it to the general public.”
Mandy scored a national chart hit in 2007 with a dance remix of her song “In the Mix.” She’s one of several frontwomen of locals Liquid Blue to go from one-time BlueGirl to recording artist. A locally-shot music video for her song “Let Love Be Free” debuts Friday, February 27, at Universal Hillcrest, 1202 University Avenue, 7 to 9:30 pm. www.myspace.com/mizmandy
Also new this month, rock ‘n’ rappers Irradio have a new full-length I Am the Horn, on Blindspot Records, home of the Staring at the Sun local band compilations. www.myspace.com/irradio
The recently released movie Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom (based on a 2004/2005 TV series) features singer Danielle LoPresti in a small role, as one character’s mother. www.danielleandthemasses
Comedic singer/songwriter Happy Ron Hill will debut cuts from his upcoming album If You’re Bored in
ADELITAS WAY SINGS THE WHOREHOUSE BLUES
Many songs have been written about whorehouses, from traditional numbers like “House of the Rising Sun” to “La Grange” (ZZ Top), “Whores in This House” (Frank Ski), “Out of the Blue (Into the Fire),” (The The), and of course the musical Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.
Add to that list “Adelitas Song” by Adelitas Way; both the band and song are named after a brothel in Tijuana’s Zona Norte, Adelita Bar.
Bandleader Rick Dejesus says an impromptu trip south of the border with friends spawned both names. “I fell asleep in the back of the truck,” he says, “and four hours later we were getting arrested in Tijuana and extorted by the cops. They robbed us for all our money. We were so bummed out, [but] I hid my $20 in my sock.”
Dejesus says they ended up at Adelita, in search of beer. “There was like fifty young beautiful women in there, talking to old men. One of the prettiest women I ever saw comes up to me and starts talking to me. She looks at me and says ‘Fifty bucks and I'm yours.’ It made me sad. She was so pretty, and anyone could sleep with her for fifty bucks.”
“So I said ‘Why do you do this?’ She broke down crying and said ‘It’s the only way I can live and support my family here in Mexico. You can't make money, and I can't get into the USA.’ It broke my heart.”
After writing “Adelitas Song” (“about a girl with no chance”), Dejesus liked the whorehouse name so much that he decided to use it for his band, as a constant reminder of the lesson learned that day in Tijuana. “Some people are born into hardships and poverty, and can’t help the life they are given,” he says. “We are very fortunate.”
RANDY
Spirit has been my favorite band for 30 years now. I’ve come to feel the same way about guitarist/bandleader Randy California that Deadheads feel about Jerry Garcia, a performer inexplicably linked to Sprit only by virtue of both bands having dedicated jam-fan followings. I can’t stand the Dead, or most jam bands for that matter, but Spirit were far above and beyond mere hippie trailz and melting muzik.
Before discovering Spirit’s 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus in 1979 and playing it over and over in my little corner room at the Palms Hotel on 12th and Island, I had heard jazz bands that rock (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Spyro Gyra, the Headhunters, et al).
But I had never heard a rock band that, well, jazzes -----
Next time I update this page, when (if?) I get to transcribing my backstage La Paloma interview with Spirit, I’ll talk a bit about why their music continues to appeal to me so, even years after Randy California’s tragic death in 1997 (drowning while saving his son from an ocean riptide) and the band’s final dissolution.
Born February 20 1951, today would have been his 58th birthday -------
First, here’s a comic book bio I did awhile back (1991), followed by some of my Spirit memorabilia from San Diego appearances, most of which I attended, beginning in 1979 –
SPIRIT COMIC AUTOGRAPHED BY RANDY AND ED
SPIRIT IN
8-13-68 - Spirit, with Jello's Gass Ban, downtown Community Concourse:
9-20-69 - Spirit, San Diego Sports Arena:
According to xahne@sbcglobal.net, “They played Fresh Garbage, Brown Eyed Woman Nature's Way and the impressive Mechanical World. Which was written about a bad sushi experience by Jay Ferguson- so he said when he introduced the song.”
11-11-80 - Bacchanal:
Two shows, 7:30 and 10
Setlist: Body For Sale, 1984, Shattered Dreams, All Along the Watchtower, Nature’s Way, So Little Time to Fly, All the Same, Got That Kind of Love, Come on Woman, Mr. Skin, I Got a Line on You
May 1983 - Kobey's Swap Meet, Sports Arena Parking Lot:
Imagine my amazement to walk up to the Swap Meet to find the three-piece Spirit, performing on the back of a flatbed truck! During “Hey Joe,” Randy jumped down from the flatbed with his radio-controlled guitar and walked around the crowd of 50 or so people, all just standing around, with no seats or anything – really odd gig!Setlist: Prelude/Nothing to Hide, Dark Eyed Woman, Sister Tell Me, 1984, Hey Joe, I Got a Line on You, Nature’s Way, Animal Zoo
8-6-84 – The Rodeo, La Jolla: The reunion of Spirit's classic lineup should have finally earned them the fame and acclaim they'd long deserved. Guitarist Randy California and drummer Ed Cassidy had been calling their band Spirit, but this date at La Jolla's defunct Rodeo was the group's first performance in nine years to also include original members Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes (who were having hits as Jo Jo Gunne) and John Locke. It was the opening date of their first tour together in 14 years.
Cassidy was 61 years old, Ferguson and Andes had tasted considerable post-Spirit success (Andes had also played with Firefall and was still with Heart), and California had clearly taken his version of Spirit in a more hippie-jam direction since the original lineup fractured.
My balcony seat afforded me a great view of both the band on fire and a wildly enthusiastic audience stoking the flames. Even if it weren't a historic occasion for Spirit (in my opinion the best and most underrated band ever to emerge from L.A.), I'd still rank it among the top fives shows I've seen.
However, despite the five-album deal they'd just signed with Mercury Records, and regardless of the demonstrative sellout crowd in San Diego, the reunited Spirit only played a handful of subsequent gigs.
Members soon went their separate ways -- again -- leaving only core members Ed Cassidy and Randy California to carry on the name. For a while. California drowned in 1997, while saving his son from an ocean riptide in Hawaii (his son survived). Locke died in 2006 from complications due to lymphoma.
Here’s a backstage Rodeo interview done for the Reader ----
6-5-86 - Belly Up Tavern:
Rehearsal/soundcheck: Island of Roses, Sweet Child, Mr. Skin, jam
Setlist: Veruska, Mr. Skin, Nature’s Way, Island of Roses, Rasta Girl in a Ferarri, Sweet Child, 1984, Animal Zoo, Dark Eyed Woman, Like a Rolling Stone, Miss This Train, All the Same, drum solo, I Got a Line on You, Romance in Time, Body for Sale, Fresh Garbage
9-20-87 - Magic 102 Birthday Party, the Bacchanal:
3-piece SpiritSetlist: Fresh Garbage, Miss This Train, Nature’s Way, Animal Zoo, Dark Eyed Woman, Jackrabbit (from Randy California solo album), Sweet Child, Nothing to Hide
6-25-89 - Del Mar Fair, with Robbie Krieger (Doors) and Steve Hunter:
Setlist: Need Your Love Tonight, Mr. Skin, Dreams Come, Fresh Garbage, Nature’s Way, Rapture in the Chambers, Don’t Want You Around, Like a Rolling Stone, (unknown), I Got a Line on You (this song and all but the final track are jams with Robbie Krieger and Steve Hunter), High Heel Sneakers, Back Door Man (Krieger vocals), All Along the Watchtower, Dark Eyed Woman
12-1-89 - Winstons, Ocean Beach:
Setlist: Fearless Leader, Fresh Garbage, Love From Here, Nature’s Way, Mr. Skin, Jack Rabbit, All the Same, the Land of Bismo, I Got a Line on You, (unknown), Miss this Train, Like a Rolling Stone
1-30-93 - La Paloma Theater, Encinitas:
Setlist: Life Has Just Begun, Sadana, Mr. Skin, Hey Joe, I Got a Line On You, Prelude-Nothing To Hide, Going Back to Jones, Give a Life Take a Life, La Paloma Jam/Jamacai Jam/Super Paloma Jam
7-23-94 - Flash Cafe, Mission Valley (formerly Coach House South), with Arthur Lee and Love:
For the longest time, I cited my pre-show chat with Arthur Lee of Love as my Worst Interview ever…
I met with Lee outside the now-defunct and then-funky Flash Café in Mission Valley . About ten minutes into what seemed like a perfectly normal chat, Lee - who has a reputation for being, um, mentally unpredictable - suddenly shouted that I was a "lying son of a bee-yach" and that I wasn't really a reporter, I was an undercover police officer trying to trick him into admitting he'd done something illegal, on tape (I hadn't said a word about anything other than music).
Lee snatched a $200 recording machine from my hands and smashed it to the ground, kicking it across the asphalt and leaving the unit in pieces before turning to flee into the building.
Randy California and Spirit were also on the bill that night - California witnessed Lee's tantrum and the ensuing destruction from just a few feet away.
"You're lucky he only thought you were a narc," California offered casually as I bent over to pick up the busted remains of the most expensive tool of my trade. "He hates reporters a lot worse than he hates cops."
Setlist: Love From Here, Fresh Garbage, Pawn Shop Blues, Dark Eyed Woman, Nature’s Way, Prelude-Nothing to Hide, Give a Life Take a Life, Life Has Just Begun, Like a Rolling Stone, Red House, Animal Zoo, I Got a Line on You
5-20-95 - Catamaran Cannibal Bar:
7-4-96 - Del Mar Fair, with Moby Grape, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Terry Reid:
READER COLUMNIST JOSH BOARD emailed to say “I have a few Spirit stories that are fond memories. The first is from when I was around 12. I loved collecting autographs of my favorite basketball players in the NBA and my favorite musicians. The magazine Basketball Digest provided address to the teams, and I'd send letters with basketball cards, which most often were sent back autographed. Musicians were harder to get a hold of. I would have to have my parents drive me to, say, the Bacchanal. I would wait in the parking lot for Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek or Animals singer Eric Burdon, and I'd have them sign a few albums for me.”
”A friend once told me he had an address for Ed Cassidy, the drummer for Spirit. I owned the Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, which was their Sgt. Pepper. But, unlike today where you could easily send a CD sleeve to someone, I figured it would be too much trouble to send the album. And what if this address wasn't even real? I'd lose one of my favorite classic rock albums.”
”I sent a letter requesting an autograph. I think I asked a goofy question, too. Well, Cassidy responded by sending not only his autograph, but a letter he wrote out answering my question, and asking me to support the band if they ever came to town. He also enclosed a photo-copy picture of his bald head, dressed all in black, behind the drumset. He autographed that as well.”
”A few years later, my friend told me to call this A.M. radio station that had this music trivia contest on Saturday nights, hosted by Country Joe MacDonald. First place would win a thousand dollars in prizes. I came in second. I lost out on the last question, when they asked me to name three groups that singer Jay Ferguson was in. I only knew him from Jo Jo Gunne. And his solo hit "Thunder Island". The other guy named Spirit, and won the prize. I was devastated. I thought I knew everything about those old 60s bands.”
”There were no Spirit questions the following week.”
”And I won the thousand dollar prize.”
SOME POSTERS FROM MY COLLECTION –
WORST CONCERTS EVER – 25 GAWDAWFUL GIGS
UNWRITTEN LAW’s Scott Russo describes an onstage fight that took place March 23, 2005, at the House of Blues in Anaheim, that left Russo minus a tooth and guitarist Rob Brewer missing part of his pinky. "Long story short? [Rob Brewer] sucks. He hit me and then we fired him," Russo told MTV News.
Russo says the onstage argument was over Brewer's refusal to play "F.I.G.H.T." from Here's to the Mourning. "So I said on the microphone that Rob's mad at us. I went over to try and give him a hug, and he pushed me." Russo says he threw some water at Brewer, whereupon "he knocked one of my teeth out. So I walked offstage. Rob did too. But I walked back out, threw his guitar on, and we finished the set without him. Then I threw his guitar into the crowd and gave it to the kids."
Russo says he found Brewer backstage holding a vodka bottle. "He tries to hit me over the head with it.... The bottle connects with the top of the door jamb and smashes, cutting half of his right pinkie off. Needless to say, he couldn't play the next two or three shows because he had to have surgery to reattach his torn ligaments."
According to Russo, Brewer also shoved a fan who made his way backstage to meet the band in Anaheim. "He yelled at the kid, 'What the f-ck are you doing in my [dressing] room?' and he hit the fan across the room. We were just, like, 'What the f-ck is wrong with him?'" The band continued touring as a quartet.
IRON MAIDENS drummer Linda McDonald says “The owner of the Rainbow Bar in Juarez, Mexico, locked us, the promoter and the sound crew in the building. We were doing a swing thru Texas, and did the Juarez show the night before our El Paso gig. The show went great, the fans came out in droves, and every thing was fine. Until at about 2:00 a.m., when we heard a lot of yelling in Spanish.”
“The promoter came up to us and said ‘Get all your stuff and move it all outside as fast as you can.’ We did so and, on about our third trip out, with about four more trips worth of stuff to go, the double doors slammed shut on us. We tried to open them, and found they were chained and padlocked from the outside. All the sound guys, the band, and the crew were locked inside. The promoter had to scramble to find $1,500 [U.S.], on a Sunday morning, at 2:30 a.m., or the building owner would not let anyone out. We were all in there for about 45 minutes, until the promoter came up with the extra money, and we all beat a hasty retreat.”
The Maidens are frequently seen at ‘Canes, but through 2009 they’ll mainly be touring elsewhere. “We play about 200 shows a year,” says McDonald. “We’re lucky to have played all over the U.S. and Canada, Greece, Korea, Japan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Turkey. Oh, and Mexico, which totally rocked, other than Juarez.” McDonald and sister Maiden Sara Marsh also play in an all-female Ozzy tribute, The Little Dolls.
BRANDON WELCHEZ recalls hitting a Utah stage in skin-tight pants, faux-fur coats, and mascara. “This didn't sit well with the conservatism of half the crowd, who immediately started heckling us…One of them came up to the stage and was yelling things, so I spat in his face. After our last song, a group of fifteen to twenty armed Mormon jocks gathered…One of them had keys in his fist and punched our drummer’s snare drum. One of them punched our drummer in the head and I swung a cymbal stand at him… I remember one of them looked me straight in the face and said ‘We've killed people before and we'll do it again.’" Bar employees diffused the brawl.
As for why the group was “banned in Baltimore,” Welchez says “Our roadie at the time was completely knackered. He was trying to make his way to the bathroom, which was upstairs, decided he didn't want to finish the walk, pulled out his penis and urinated down the flight of stairs. It was hilarious to see a yellow waterfall coming down the stairs, but of course the security and staff didn't see the comedic beauty. We were ejected and told never to return and that we wouldn't work in Baltimore again. We found the tires to our van slashed once we got outside.”
CHRIS LEYVA of Blizzard recalls “One time at the Shamrock Shack, a guy got stabbed, but the cops didn’t catch the guy who did it. Then we were playing our next gig at Chasers, and cops showed up to arrest the guy with the knife [from Shamrock Shack], because he was there at Chasers! The cops noticed we were the same band from the Shack and said ‘not you again!’ Knife wielding maniacs must make up a big part of our fan base.”
A SCRIBE AMIDST THE LIONS singer/guitarist Kristofer Towne says the band was unloading before a recent gig at L.A.’s Viper Room when “Out of nowhere, a speeding car [was] careening into the parking lot at more than thirty miles in hour. The car hits the curb, almost runs over three or four people, nearly slams into the extra rental van for fans, and proceeds to crash into the rear of the band van!” Towne says he and another band member avoided being hit by “just inches.” When police arrived, the woman was arrested.
“During all of this,” according to Towne, “there was considerable stress, as the venue was expecting us to load up and play, while the police needed to get all the information and statements at pretty much the same time.” The band made their slot on time and, on packing up to leave, they were informed that the woman who crashed was actually on her way to the Viper Room. “She had a ticket and everything!”
CRIME IN AMERICA bassist Eric Marcrum doesn’t miss the old Scolari’s. “One time they paid us $24. The last time we played there, they didn’t pay us at all.”
“During our last gig there, between songs, I asked the bartender for some beers for the band, from the stage…she started yelling ’You’re not allowed to call out the bartender on the microphone,’ even though we do that all the time and we were telling people all night to tip her.” Marcrum says that, as the band was loading out, “[The bartender] was getting all in our face and saying ‘You don’t have that big of a draw’…our drummer Nate said ‘We’ll never play here again, you guys suck,’ and she yelled out ‘You guys are 86d, you’re never coming back.’”
Vv MORGUE recalls a July 5, 2007 event she promoted at Chasers, featuring Ghost Ship: “It was a full-on bar brawl, like you see on Most Shocking Videos. I saw one of the bartenders covering her ears and making fun of the [Ghost Ship] set. Then, she tells them to stop playing, because she thinks their equipment shut off an electrical breaker.” The band stopped for a moment, no electrical problem was found, and they began their final two songs. “I'm sitting in the back and I see the bartender getting on the phone and telling someone ‘Hey I know it's late’…five minutes later, five guys show up and one starts yelling [at the band] ‘Get the f-ck out, I'm a SHARP!’ [Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice]…I don't know if he was really associated with them, or if he was just trying to scare us off.”
“This guy goes up to a fan watching the show and punches him in the head,” says Morgue. Another patron reportedly snapped a picture of the alleged SHARP, whereupon, according to Morgue, “My good friend Bethany was between the running SHARP and the camera guy, and the SHARP punched her in the face and threw her against a wall.” Bandmembers got involved in the ensuing scuffle, during which “Ghost Ship’s PA system got destroyed,” according to Morgue.
DUST N’ BONES singer Richard Gwaltney describes an ’08 House of Blues gig: “By the time we went on stage, everybody had been drinking all night. “There were about 500 drinking fans, going crazy…about halfway through the set, a fight broke out. A few people said there was a guy groping someone else’s girlfriend, but a good friend of mine claims the moshing just turned a little too serious. I asked the crowd to calm down, but they started right back up after we began playing again. At that point, about a third of the crowd was thrown out.”
“It was nearing the end of the set,” says Gwaltney, “like the second to last song, and we were supposed to stop, at which point the fighting erupted again. I don’t know why…everyone I was knew was thrown out by then.” He praises HOB security. “They were pretty immediate about throwing offenders out. I especially remember this small, blonde woman being the first bouncer in the mix. She just dove in and took control.”
SUFFER THE HEAT singer Brandon Barclay recalls a Halloween ’06 gig at Mira Costa College’s Student Center. “In the midst of setting up our equipment, Travis [Du Bois, bassist] was being escorted outside by a campus police officer. Travis had and still has no idea why he was being arrested, so he asked the officer ‘why’ about twenty times and never got a response. A second cop comes in and starts yelling at the crowd gathered around the scene to disperse. They end up telling Travis that they want to check him for weapons…as soon as they cranked his arm up behind his back, he flinched due to discomfort, and was body slammed to the ground and taser-gunned several times. As they held him down, they restricted his arms from any movement and kept tasing him because he wouldn’t put his arms behind his back.”
Campus officials declined to comment on the incident, but did provide the preliminary police report which states that MCC campus police officer Benny Perez initially approached Du Bois because he “smelled marijuana smoke.” Perez says Du Bois “drew attention to himself” by walking away from the officer. Perez followed him into building, whereupon he “detected alcohol” on the bassist and decided to “conduct a weapon and/or alcohol search.”
Noting the campus’ “standard procedure” is to put handcuffs on suspects during such searches, Perez says Du Bois “refused to cooperate.” When a second officer arrived, Jim Beckman, a struggle began and Beckman “discharged a taser into his [Du Bois’] back.” Du Bois (27) was taken to a police car and charged with public drunkenness, resisting arrest and possessing alcohol on school grounds (“a bottle of Blue Vodka”).
“The bottle was a mini two-ouncer, and it was still sealed,” says Barclay. “It was for after the show. But because he also admitted having two beers before the show, during dinner, off campus, they say he was breaking the law. What about burning nine inches of taser marks onto an innocent guy’s flesh? He didn’t deserve to be punished the way he was.” The MCC campus has a “zero tolerance” alcohol policy.
WASTING JUNE keyboardist Jeff Domitrz remembers "At our worst gig we kept getting pushed back later and later into the night. When we finally went on at one in the morning, the owner of the bar kept walking back and fourth across the stage holding a sign that read, 'Want to play? Call Ray.' "
JOHN HERMSMEIER, local drummer, says “My worst gig has to be when my college band Sandova played for a youth event that turned out to be about seven sixth graders who sat in the half-court circle at the gym and were uninterested, to say the least. The event leaders had to actually go up to the 'crowd' and tell them to stop playing on their Game Boys and pay attention to us. Now I can laugh about it with my former bandmates, but at the time it left quite a sting...probably like how Elizabeth felt when Rosie dissed her on The View.”
GABE LANDER recalls a Dateless Losers gig with band partner Tim Curns: "When we were first starting out we played at an open mic where Tim and I both had to share one microphone. We had to sit so close, we both forgot all the words to our songs. By the end of the most awful set ever, Tim was covered in my spit and our sense of dignity was utterly flattened. Luckily there were only, like, three people in the audience. And they weren't paying attention."
CHRISCHRISCHRIS frontman Chris Decatur says "The worst gig, without a doubt, was when we were served [legal papers] during a show and had to shut down in the middle of it. We were in B.F.E., Texas, and a bunch of suits straight out of a Blues Brothers movie flashback came up onstage with papers. I thought they wanted autographs. Turns out they did. The audience thought it was all a part of the act, and I had to tell them what was going on. 'Folks, I apologize, but we're apparently being sued for plagiarism.' Someone from the hushed audience yelled, 'For what song?' And I laughed because we were in the middle of playing it -- 'I'm Alright' -- the Caddyshack theme song. I told them this, and someone yelled, 'F-ck Kenny Loggins!' My face went red, my hands went numb. Hardy kicked his drum set over, and Capri threw his bass at the ground. I just knew it would be the last show we'd ever do as a live band, and it was."
GUITARIST PETER SPRAGUE remembers “I get a call from pianist Rob Schneiderman, and he’s got a gig playing jazz in Spain for a month, starting in one week, and he invites me on the tour [but] someone steals my precious handmade guitar...next, I’m off to Western Union to receive some wired money from my folks to buy a new guitar."
“While at the Western Union, an armed gangster holds up the bank next door, and I’m gathering my money amidst some gunshots...then I fly to Spain and I land at the airport, and my friends are not there to pick me up. I’m young, and I didn’t gather all of their info, so I don’t know how to get ahold of them...I take a cab to the city central, and I’m literally wandering around the streets, not sure what to do."
“Then I hear the sounds of Charlie Parker playing ‘Just Friends’ from a nearby street café. I move a little closer, and discover my friends listening to Bird and having an afternoon coffee. Unbelievable...I was saved, I thought, but it turned out that the rest of my time in Spain was filled with lousy gigs, canceled gigs, [and] very little vegetarian food. I survived and gained some wisdom, but I also got really sick and spent a week in bed with food poisoning.”
COLLAGE MENAGE twins Hans and Fritz Jensen each have their own Worst Gig story:
Hans: "We went to Mexico, and the federales stopped us at the border to search us and harass us for cash. We didn't pay, so we went home with no show that night. Bogus."
Fritz: "At 'Canes, the amateur booker had his PA show up late, and when the show went late, he cut off our set by standing in front of the stage and waving his hands around, shouting, 'Cut the PA.' The drummer quit that night. He was a wiener anyway."
COLIN CLYNE says ““I played in my hometown in Scotland a few years ago, and got dragged into a heckling match with some drunk, middle-aged woman who demanded we play ABBA. I backed down and we played the closest thing we had to that - AC/DC.”
BIG TOE drummer Ben Taylor recalls “At a club in San Francisco called the Stone, I was in a band opening up for Nuclear Assault and the stage was about ten feet high. The drums were on a piece of carpet attached to a sheet of plywood. Around the middle of the third song, the plywood was moving and there was nothing under it but the big giant void that I eventually ended up in, along with my whole kit. The 3,000 screaming people thought it was part of our stage show. I left very bloody and with quite the headache.”
BIG PROVIDER singer/guitarist Jackson Price remembers “Last July, South Lake Tahoe, we showed up just to find out we weren't even on the schedule. The place was a gay bar converted to a venue that had absolutely no draw. We played over two hours of music to about four people. We ended up getting drunk and skinny dipping in the lake at four in the morning with some girl from the show.”
JENN GRINELS says “I broke my ankle playing a singing, dancing mermaid on the Disney Cruise Line. I was loading into a lift that was about to rise up through the stage. I jumped in - wearing heels, because Disney mermaids wear heels - broke my ankle, and everyone panicked. I think we were all having visions of the smoke clearing on stage and 500 children gasping at the sight of a floundering, writhing, screaming mermaid. But they pulled me out in time and the show went on without a hitch.”
NAUTICAL DISASTER’s Grimis Apparatus remembers “I DJ’d a private party for a bunch of cops. They were all hammered and talking about all the DUIs they got out of by being a cop.”
TRAGIC TANTRUM’s two leaders Zeph and ZöE recall a show at Rebecca’s Café: “We were running late and, when we got to play, the sound was terrible. The vocals were too loud and then too soft, and we couldn’t hear ourselves at all. ZöE forgot her lyrics, Zeph lost his place in the song, and we were too busy trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the sound. The energy was off and, although the audience was paying attention, it was more like they were staring at a bad car wreck you can’t help but look at. In the end, though, no bones were broken or lives lost, so it was a learning experience.”
"Collecting Local Music" - an encyclopedia and price guide of local music collectables through the years. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/27/collecting-local-music-price-guide-part-3-plus-stp/
"The Day Happy Hare Got Ritchie Valens to Play Clairemont High" - Legendary local DJ reveals a lost chapter in the Valens story, when the rising rocker played the opening ceremony at Clairemont High. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/27/collecting-local-music-price-guide-part-3-plus-stp/
THE HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO MUSIC - PARTS 1 THRU 7
Part One:
Part Two: John Lennon Loves Rosie - guest blog by Bart Mendoza: John Lennon had a thing for Rosie & The Originals. He considered their debut single, “Angel Baby / Give Me Love,” to be one of his all time favorite records and often spoke of the songs... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/sep/26/sharon-hazel-is-not-tracy-chapman-plus-lindsey-yun
Part Three: The Brain Police -
Part Four: The Tell-Tale Hearts - Gone For Good, Or ???: The Tell-Tale Hearts evolved in the early '80s from an earlier band called the Mystery Machine, featuring Mark Z (later of Manual Scan and the Shambles). Though the group split in 1986, they later found themselves the stuff of garage band legend. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/sep/26/sharon-hazel-is-not-tracy-chapman-plus-lindsey-yun
Part Five: The
Part Six - Remember Puddletown Tom?: “The San Diego sound of old was a working class and slightly-depressed sound,” says documentary filmmaker Jensen Rufe, who from1991 to 1996 played around town with Puddletown Tom... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/sep/26/sharon-hazel-is-not-tracy-chapman-plus-lindsey-yun
Part Seven: Do-It-Yourself-TV - A History Of Local Public Access Music Shows: One of the many things we can either thank or curse the U.S. Congress for is public access television. In the 1970s, as TV cable companies were growing into regional monopolies, Congress mandated that larger cable providers must put aside channels for public-produced community programming... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/sep/26/sharon-hazel-is-not-tracy-chapman-plus-lindsey-yun
Like this blog? Here are some related links:
OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/
FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/
SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic
JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford
