Chick Rockers, Kid Swingers, Hello Satan, Goths for Jesus, Skinheads, Hip-Hop VS Rap, Creepy Old Guy Goes to a Rave, Death Metal, Fashion Freaks, & more

Contents

1 - Collecting Local Music: eBay Treasures

2 – Rocker Chicks Do San Diego

3 – Underage Swing Dancers Battle Local Law

4 - Hello Satan: Dark Metal In Dago

5 - History Of Death Metal – comic strip by JAS & Scott Pentzer

6 - Goths For Jesus: Pastor Dave’s Christian Goths

7 - Racist Rock: Do The White Thing

8 - Creepy Old Guy Goes To A Rave

9 – Where’s the Reader’s Hip-Hop Coverage?

COLLECTING LOCAL MUSIC – A PRICE GUIDE ENCYCLOPEDIA

A 45rpm vinyl record featuring “The Twelve Days Of a San Diego Charger Christmas” was released in 1980 on the Paid label (a subsidiary American Record Corp. in Texas). Two bidders competed for a copy with the winner paying $8.01 plus $3.50 shipping.

A five CD lot described as “The Ultimate Mojo Nixon Collection” featured Bo Day Shus, Root Hog Or Die, Gadzooks The Homemade Bootleg, The Real Sock Ray Blue and Horny Holidays. After an opening bid requirement of $24.99, sixteen bids were entered with the final price $68.01.

A seller in Yellow Springs Ohio sold the black "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Mojo [Nixon]" shirt off his back for $9.99 - two bids were placed. It took three bidders and $13.50 to land a large Stone Temple Pilots shirt from their 1994 tour. I purchased the same shirt at Salvation Army on University Avenue near College Grove for $2.00.

A 1986 CD featuring Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper compiles two earlier releases – the full-length “Frenzy” album and an EP called “Get Out Of My Way.” “Twenty root-hog rollicking rockers” was how its seller in Minneapolis described the CD’s content, which includes “Burn Down The Malls,” “Jesus At McDonalds,” a cover of “In a Gadda Da Vida” (originally by local legends Iron Butterfly) and “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin,” Nixon’s ode to MTV Veejay Martha Stewart which got him banned from the music network for several years. Bidding began at $7.99 – four bidders competed for the CD, which ended up selling for $17.17.

Slow Children’s 1981 vinyl 12” single “Spring In Fialta” b/w “Too Weak To Eat” was described as a DJ promotional copy. Its seller in Boston wanted $10.00 for the record, but the only bid placed was for $3.00.

The interesting thing about searching for this item on eBay’s database was seeing other auctions with the words “Slow Children” as part of the lot description. Apparently, there’s a booming market for actual yellow metal “Slow Children At Play” street signs – these always seem to attract multiple bids and usually sell for $20.00 to $30.00. If the “Slow Children” sign on your street disappears, you might try looking for it on eBay.

An “original 1968 first printing Bill Graham uncut sheet for Iron Butterfly Joshua Light Show at the Fillmore East” poster also mentions co-headliners Traffic and Blue Cheer from the April 26 and 27 shows. The colorful 22.5 X 28.5” print drew twenty-five bids, opening at $9.99 and closing at $360.50.

Celebrated underground comic artists Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso illustrated a 14" X 21" concert poster featuring Iron Butterfly, with Sir Douglas Quintet and Sea Train, when they were set to perform at the Fillmore West October 17th - 19th 1968. Described as being in "excellent condition," it sold for $249.99, having more to do with the popularity of the artists than the performers, in addition to the rarity of mint condition posters from this era.

Another copy of the Fillmore/Bill Graham series (serial # BG141) featuring Iron Butterfly and the Sir Douglas Quintet was said to be a mint condition first printing. “This poster has been in my collection in a sealed box that I got from Winterland Productions in 1980,” said the seller of the print. After opening at $48.88, the psychedelic relic attracted eight bidders, who placed ten bids before the auction closed at $191.38.

The Iron Butterfly concerts at Kaleidoscope in Hollywood on May 31st and June 1st 1968 (with opening acts Life and Things To Come) were promoted with an unusual round-shaped 18 ½” poster, because that club had a circular stage. These posters are in demand among collectors, as they’ve been hard to preserve in good condition and have never been reprinted. According to the auction description, “This is one of the rarest of the Kaleidoscope pieces, if not the rarest. Collectors trying for full sets of the series of posters often come up short on this one. Condition is excellent - there are two fairly light tape stains, one each top and bottom, and several pin holes and scratches throughout plus some tape on the reverse.”

The seller in West Palm Beach Florida placed an opening bid requirement of $279.00 which, one bid later, is what the auction closed at.

The two used ticket stubs from a 12/16/77 Queen concert at the San Diego Sports Arena were for side by side upper level seats that originally sold for $5.50. “The shorter stub has wrinkles like it was in a back pocket but second stub is in very good condition,” according to the seller in Boise Idaho. Three bids were offered and, twenty-six years later, the pair was worth $36.00 to its buyer.

A ticket from a 3/7/82 Rick Springfield concert at the same venue ($11.50 - section F/row 8/seat 4) sold for $5.99, in complete unused condition.

Slightly Stoopid’s self-titled 1996 CD on Skunk Records was described as being in “good condition. Disc has some surface marks/scratches but does not affect play…the blue color on the front and back insert is off when pressed and front insert has four tab marks.” Tracks include “Smoke Rasta Dub,” “Wake Up Late” and “F*ck The Police.” The seller in L.A. placed an opening bid requirement of $5.00; the CD attracted twelve bids and sold for $50.00.

Another auction of the same debut CD sparked a bidding war among seven eBayers. Its New Jersey seller said, in the item description, “This is one of the hardest Slightly Stoopid CDs to get…Bradley Nowell of Sublime and Ras 1 of Long Beach Dub All Stars guest star on this CD.” Bidding started at $23.95 and the lucky winner took it home for $61.00

The photo sleeve for a “splash-shaped” 7” vinyl LP featuring five songs by the Locust and two by Arab On Radar shows an eviscerated rubber baby doll with blood splatters dripping behind twin band logos. The LP opened at $1.00 and closed at $5.50. “For this record,” said the San Francisco-based seller, “they put it out on four different thick colored vinyls, each to represent a bodily fluid color, all in the shape of a liquid splotch. This one is white.”

The other vinyl color editions were in yellow, red and, um, brown.

A belt buckle featuring the wordless insect logo for the Locust, approximately 2” square and “unused,” opened at $5.00. Four bidders battled it out, totaling fifteen bids before the item sold for $14.50.

A guitar tablature book ("good condition") featuring songs from Stone Temple Pilots’ 1992 debut album "Core" was auctioned by a New York-based seller, drawing 11 bids before selling for $41.

An auction for “Two Super Rare STP Stone Temple Pilots Tickets” featured “Two tickets for the show that never happened back in 1996,” according to their seller in Chicago. The concert was to be at the Riviera Theater, “which is a small club here in Chicago, when Scott Weiland had his drug rehab deal going on with the law and all they originally had like 10 small club shows lined up across the country. Well here is the story. I won these off of the local station 103.5 at the time drove downtown to pick them up get back to work 2 hours later and the show was canceled [when] he got sent to rehab by the judge. These tickets are dated April 26 1996 general admission ticket numbers 399 and 400, showtime 8pm. These are cool as hell and mint!”

After opening at $10.00, two bidders fought it out with fourteen bids fired off before tix for the show that never happened sold for $51.00 (plus $3.00 insured shipping).

Six bidders drove the price from $5 up to $31 for Rocket From the Crypt’s 1995 vinyl LP "Hot Charity," available only in England on the Elemental label and unreleased in the U.S.A.

Rocket From The Crypt’s 7” vinyl EP “Rocket Pack” was one of their first recordings, done for a friend of the band, splatterpunk artist Pushead, best known for his album artwork for Metallica and the Misfits. In return for Pushead’s design of the RFTC rocketship logo, the band recorded four songs for the artist, who subsequently released them in a limited edition run in 1991. “This is hand-numbered # 18 of only 75 copies made,” said the seller in Gainesville Florida. “Pink/Red swirled vinyl that comes with a hand numbered, printed inner sleeve.”

The record comes with a fold-out felt rocket, with a silk screened RFTC rocket logo autographed by Pushead himself. After opening at $15.00, twelve bidders placed a total of thirty four bids. A buyer with the eBay handle hillsidestrangler looked to be the winner until the final seconds of the auction, when stinkterror took home the coveted EP for $716.00.

According to its seller in Germany, the 7” vinyl Rocket From The Crypt single “Lose Your Clown” was never available for public sale. “Only a few people who have the RFTC logo on their bodies and some people at the RFTC gig at Intoxica Records in London had the chance to get this item. There are less than 200 pressed, most of them came in a blank sleeve with a jukebox strip. Very few exist with the rare Intoxica gig fold out poster sleeve.” The auction photo shows the sleeve folded out, with the signatures of all five bandmembers accompanying some crude cartoons. The single sold for $149.99

The Penetrators' vinyl EP "Walk The Beat," with Dan McClain (aka Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers) on drums attracted six bids, closing at $15.51.

The Penetrators’ 1979 “Sensitive Boy,” b/w “Stimulation” 7” vinylrecord on the World Records label, was described as “Very rare early punk new wave from California” by its seller in Macon, Georgia. Reportedly in mint condition and including the original custom sticker insert, the 7” vinyl single earned two bids and closed at $10.00.

Ten bids were placed for The Zeros' 7" vinyl "They Say That" before it sold for $42.89.

The Beat Farmers 1985 Rhino Records CD “Tales Of The New West” features twelve tracks, including the radio favorite “Happy Boy.” A seller in Phoenix offered a version of the CD issued in France the following year, on the Demon Records label (with an alternate cover and CD booklet), which included four bonus songs originally appearing on the “Glad ‘N’ Greasy” EP. These cuts are highlighted by a cover of Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock’s “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” which would seem on reflection to have been tailor made for the rowdy, unkempt Farmers (“In the Big Rock Candy Mountain, you never change your socks, and little streams of alkyhol come trickling down the rocks”). The auction opened at $7.00 and closed fourteen bids later at $37.00.

A 23" X 14" poster sheet featuring The Beat Farmers, Cadillac Tramps and Lucy's Fur Coat from an early 90's show at the La Jolla Marriott earned $9.99.

“The Home Of Country Dick Montana,” a 1987 12” vinyl LP by the late Beat Farmers drummer/singer, was said by its seller to be “released as a promo-only to little fanfare, and even smaller distribution. Someone said around 200 to 250 of these records were pressed, but I'm unsure of the exact figure. Nevertheless, it is a decidedly rare record, the beauty of which lies in the pristine condition of the vinyl--shiny, glossy and fresh.” The auction photo shows it to be on Curb Records, with a white label reading “promotional only, not for sale” and listed tracks including “Little Ball O’ Yarn” and “The Definitive A Cappella Led Zeppelin Medley.” Produced by fellow-Farmer Joey Harris, the vintage vinyl received eighteen bids before closing at $36.76.

Country Dick Montana’s 1996 debut CD “The Devil Lied To Me” on the Bar None label features nineteen tracks from the late drummer (and sometimes vocalist) of the Beat Farmers, including “It’s Only Cocaine” and “King Of The Hobos.” Four bidders placed five bids and the CD sold for $17.49, despite the fact that it’s readily available on amazon.com for $11.99 (used) to $14.99 (new, sealed).

A 23" X 15" linen poster announcing a concert by Inch and Creedle at Bodie's downtown earned its Carlsbad-based seller $11.99.

The Cramps’ 7” vinyl EP “Smell Of San Diego” was recorded June 2nd 1984, at the North Park Lions Club, just days after ending their first headlining UK tour. There are two limited numbered editions of this record, one on red vinyl and one on black – this auction was for a black version, #280 of 475. Four songs appear on the record including “I Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Gorehound” and “Faster Pussycat.”

The seller in New York said “Cover is mint, vinyl is pristine mint,” referencing a scan of the record sleeve (depicting a B&W photo of a dismembered man with red highlights where the body is sliced and bleeding). The auction opened at $9.99, with four bidders going head to head until the record sold for $46.00. The winning bidder’s eBay handle is axemurder72.

Another Cramps “Smell Of San Diego” ’45, stamped #40, attracted five bids and sold for $23.83.

Rosie And The Originals 45RPM single “Angel Baby” b/w “Give Me Love” was released in 1960 on the Highland label, hitting #5 in the U.S. John Lennon cited Rosie Hamlin (who was 15 when the single was recorded in San Marcos) as one of his favorite singers in a 1969 Life Magazine interview, and recorded the song for his mid-70s Rock 'n' Roll oldies collection although the track wasn't issued officially until later. This copy described in “mint condition, slight scuffing of labels” drew fourteen bids and sold for $26.00.

Another copy of “Angel Baby” b/w “Give Me Love,” on the Highlands Records label was described as being in “mint minus” condition, with “sticker residue on lbl.” The auction photo shows a nice condition orange label and the plain paper sleeve but doesn’t depict the condition of the record grooves, only the label and sleeve. The winning bidder paid $9.99 plus $1.75 for USPS first class shipping.

A “Jewel Kilcher CD Collection” was comprised of six different imported European (IE bootleg) CD sets. One 16-track CD features an 8-17-01 concert at San Diego’s Border Café. Another, “Kiss The Flame, is a 2-CD pack recorded on the second night of a two evening stint at Humphrey’s, 8-20-01. The setlist includes both encores, “Angel Standing By” and “Chime Bells,” though sadly unrecorded is her encore from the previous evening, “Break Me,” by far the superior number and performance. Also included is a live version of “Hands” recorded at the local KPRI radio studio 11-17-01, the Monday after the September 11th terror attacks. The collection sold for $89.00 plus $9.50 shipping.

A few hundred copies of Jewel’s “Save The Linoleum” CD were given out in late 1994, as a promotional item only, at concerts and other events. Released in advance her platinum “Pieces Of You” album, the seven track disc includes live cuts recorded at the Innerchange Coffeehouse. The seven tracks include the hit “Who Will Save Your Soul” as well as lesser known songs like “God’s Gift To Women” and “I’m Sensitive.” A copy said to be “signed by Jewel herself” earned three bids and closed at $81.00.

Another copy of Jewel’s “Save The Linoleum” was described by its seller in Victor New York as a “promotional release…very rare CD, a must have for Jewel fans.” Bidding opened at $20.00 and closed seven bids later at $40.01.

Only three bidders were interested in a 23" X 46" cloth banner promoting Jewel's "Spirit" album on Atlantic Records, which sold for $15.43, while it took seven bids to bring in a mere $9.75 for a cardboard promo album cover flat, reportedly “autographed by Jewel.”

Jewel teamed up with Taylor Guitars in 2000 to produce a limited edition JKSM (Jewel Kilcher Signature Model) acoustic-electric Grand Auditorium six string guitar. Only 1,000 were manufactured, and this auction was for #36. The guitar has a solid gloss Stika spruce top, faux-tortoiseshell binding and wood inlays with Jewel's name in “yellowheart script” on the fingerboard, as well as an engraving of Jewel's Celtic knot symbol logo on the upper back of the instrument. “This rare ‘jewel’ has been my primary acoustic instrument over the past 1 1/2 years,” said the seller in Philadelphia, “and many musicians have complimented me on the tone and appearance of the guitar.”

A hardshell case was included in the auction, which opened at $700.00. Even though no auction photo was included with the listing, three bidders wanted to get the axe bad enough to place six bids totaling $820.99.

Another Jewel JKSM guitar, #574 (Serial #20000905048), was also auctioned. “This guitar has only been played a few times and never had a pick used,” according to the seller in Des Moines. “Always kept in its hard case…not a scratch or nick in the guitar.” The case was included in the auction, which opened at $500.00. Two bidders went head to head for the instrument, placing seven bids before it sold for $1,250.00.

A home-burned CD compilation of Jewel performing live collected ten tracks from the singer’s MTV Unplugged edition, recorded May 7th 1997, as well as five songs from a VH1 special which aired near Christmas of that year. Two additional cuts were included from an unspecified “private fan club show” – “Her Pleasure is My Pain” and “Tiny Love Spaces.” After opening at $9.00, nine bidders entered a total of twenty bids until the CD sold for $37.00.

A 3X5 “Jewel Kilcher Autographed Signed Index Card” (“Authentic International Item #1232”) was said to have been “signed in-person by Jewel at the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford, Connecticut,” according to the seller. “She added ‘Justin’ and a heart above her signature” – this can be seen in the auction photo of the card which Authentic International insists was “obtained in-person, directly from the celebrity. We do not purchase autographs through unreliable wholesale outlets like our competition do. This is how we are able to guarantee that all of our items are completely genuine, without question. Going beyond the Certificate of Authenticity, we also offer a ‘Proof Photo’ with each of our items when possible.”

No “Proof Photo” was offered with this auction. It attracted one bid and earned its Connecticut-based seller 99 cents. The average cost to list items like this on eBay.com, in the same category with similar site features, is $1.00.

“Marc Rude Memorial Garage Sale,” read the auction description for this collection of San Diego punk rock memorabilia dating back to the late 70s. “Were you at the Skeleton Club? The Fairmount? Adams Avenue? Well if you wuz, you gotta get this here stuff before you forget it all! I'd keep this crap but I've seen my plot and it ain't big enough to take it with me!” Mad Marc Rude was a legendary local illustrator who drew album covers for bands like the Misfits, magazine covers for area ‘zines and flyers for punk shows at the Spirit, North Park Lions Club, Zebra Club and other long defunct venues. He died, and items in this auction all sport Rude illustrations - a 1982 EP by San Diego punk godfathers Battalion Of Saints, a Battalion ’45 from 1983 on Mystic Records, a vinyl compilation of local bands from the early 80s “Our Blowout!” and 20-year old area ‘zines like “Charred Remains,” “Be My Friend,” “Testicle Head,” “Pallas Athena” and “The Leading Edge.” After an opening bid of $9.99, twelve bidders placed twenty-one bids until the entire lot sold for $125.00.

Long defunct punks the Cardiac Kidz recorded a few obscure vinyl singles in the late 70s and early 80s, on a label they called Lub Dub. Demand for those records skyrocketed in 1988, when the Kidz’ “Find Yourself A Way” was featured on Volume 007 of the popular “Killed By Death” series compiling the best and rarest punk singles.

That song appears on a 1980 Lub Dub 7” single, “Playground,” recorded at the Spirit nightclub (now Brick By Brick) September 13th 1979 (according to a flyer, the Standbys and the Exterminators opened). Four songs are featured, each about two minutes long, and only 500 copies of the record were printed.

Described by its San Diego-based seller as in “VG++ condition,” the auction page included a photo of the cartoon sleeve (which has “minor ringwear”) and a posted opening bid of $10.00. The auction received 249 customer hits with six bidders placing eight bids before buyer besofunny picked up the Kidz for $179.50.

Another Cardiac Kidz 7” vinyl single, “Find Yourself A Way” B/W “Get Out” (1979 Lub Dub), was auctioned by the same seller and closed the same day, earning thirteen bids starting at $10.00. It also sold for $179.50, this time to buyer chibbeekit.

The CD version of the 1968 debut album by the Brain Police, released on the German label Normal as “The Brain Police: San Diego's Only Psychedelic Cops," included ten bonus tracks featuring singles from 1964 through 1969.

“It is a stunning portrait of a 60s also-ran. Very reminiscent of Buffalo Springfield with Beatles-y overtones,” according to the auction description. “A must have for any fans of West Coast psych, British Invasion-influenced folk-rock.” Four bidders racked up the price from $3.00 to $8.25.

Rockedelic Records’ “Brain Police – San Diego 1968” was described by its Texas-based seller as “An amazing record from San Diego’s finest proponent of psychedelic rock music…vinyl and jacket are in beautiful condition.” Songs include “I’d Rather See You Dead”, “Election For Mayor” and “My World Of Wax.” On green vinyl and limited to only 500 copies pressed, the 12” LP features a custom die cut cover which, when opened, reveals a gold Brain Police badge. The first bid was $9.98 and, three bids later, the item closed at $27.62.

The Brain Police album reissued on the German CD label Shadoks Records was described by the CD’s auctioneer as “Absolutely perfect fuzz guitar psych with great rhythm guitars, organs and St. Pepper-style vocals. With more luck this band could have been as famous as Strawberry Alarm Clock. They played on many bills together. The music is not as soft. It has a much stronger output than most of the famous bands they played together with.” The sealed “test pressing” CD sold for $16.95 when a bidder exercised the seller’s “Buy It Now” option to purchase the CD outright rather than waiting for a seven day auction.

“Like A Hole In the Head,” a 10” vinyl picture disc by El Vez, sported a photo of the Hispanic Elvis impersonator wearing a glitter gold jacket, comically oversized sombrero and holding twin silver plated pistoleros. The album included a lyric sheet and a version of “Fever” recorded live in Denmark, earning its Dearborn, Michigan based seller $15.50.

An auction photo of a Paladins Tour Work Jacket showed off its large sewed-on patch on the back, reading “Paladins Speed Shop fine tune & lube, San Diego California.” One bid was placed for the men’s size 38 quilted jacket, measuring 19” across the shoulders with two front pockets and a talon zipper. It sold for $14.99.

The Injections’ “Police Attack” was described by its seller in Riihimaki, Finland, in somewhat fractured English, as “The incredible 82 lost album, hyper rare single & killer80 Skeleton Club live by San Diego killed by death punk rockers!” The auctioneer was willing to accept dollars, pounds, euros, kronors and yens as payment. Only one bid of $4.99 U.S. was placed for the 25-song cassette.

Unwritten Law’s “Visit To Oz - Rare Demos EP” inspired another bidding war, as two individuals were determined to own the four track CD released in conjunction with the group’s 1999 Australian tour. Featuring “Cailin,” a remix version of “Lonesome” and demos of “Driven” and “Kill To Breathe,” sixteen bids were place before it closed at $31.00 Australian (approximately $17.00 U.S. dollar value).

Sprung Monkey also seems to have a following down under. The band’s 2001 “Party” CD, available only in Australia and now out of print, contained three tracks, one of them previously unreleased and exclusive to this disc – “Half Past A Monkey’s Ass.” The other songs were “Party Like A Rock Star” and “American Made.” Its seller in Eugene, Oregon set an opening bid of $8.99, which is what the CD sold for.

A used concert shirt from the 1985 “Ratt Patrol” tour, featuring giant rodents devouring a panicking crowd of concert patrons, was auctioned in conjunction with a Foreigner shirt from the same year, opening at $9.99 and closing at $36.00. Several copies of the band’s self-titled debut CD went on the auction block, attracting multiple bids and averaging $50.00 to $60.00 apiece, compared to $10.00 to $15.00 each at the beginning of 2002. Presently, you can’t even find a Ratt guitar tab book for less than $30.00 or $40.00.

The seller of a Jackson Firebird style guitar said “I had this custom made and professionally finished with this graphic made famous by the late, great Robbin Crosby of Ratt.” Auction photos show both the guitar for sale and a shot of Crosby playing his trademark white axe, and the custom copy looks identical right down to the fish skeleton logo on the lower body. “Show your devotion to heavy metal and King Crosby and bid your ass off!” Only one bidder took the challenge, getting the axe for $200.00 and presumably keeping his ass in the bargain.

A DVD video collection “Ratt: Videos & Unplugged 1983-1991” features fourteen music videos as well as live cuts and unplugged numbers like “Round and Round,” “Lay It Down,” etc. “All the Ratt you’ll ever need,” pitched its seller. Five bidders drove the cost from $14.99 to a closing price of $36.00.

A “Ratt Robbin Crosby Jackson Collection Poster” drew four bids and sold for $10.50.

A 90 minute “Ratt Detonator Tour VHS Rare [with] Robbin Crosby” videotape of a 1991 Osaka Japan concert featuring one of the last performances by the “classic” Ratt lineup closed at $9.99. Its “unofficial” (read “bootleg”) origin is hinted at by the seller’s disclaimer – “I bought this at a collectibles convention, it is not a store bought video.”

A 20” X 30” concert poster promoting Cheap Trick at the San Diego Sports Stadium, (August 5 1979) featured a day-glo cartoon of the band barreling down city streets in a vintage pink and green Chevy, led by a police escort with a logo reading “San Diego’s Finest Get Cheap Trick!” The poster, originally produced by EMI/CBS Records and sent to area DJs and record stores, drew three bids and closed at $356.00.

An 11” X 17” concert poster advertising AC/DC at the Sports Arena on 2/12/96 was used to promote the band’s “Ballbreaker” tour, featuring a shot of guitarist Angus Young sitting atop a giant planet Earth globe. It sold for $9.99. The same San Diego-based seller got $9.99 for an 11” X 17” Motorhead poster, promoting a 5/19/02 show at 4th & B.

An autographed Polaroid of Jason Mraz came accompanied with a T-shirt worn by Mraz on a Pepsi Smash TV concert (WB Network) in August 2003 (worn in the photo also). Auction pictures showed the signature itself to be illegible. Also written on the Polaroid is “Pespi Smash thermal,” larger and more neat than the scribbled signature but possibly done by a different hand. The auction page received over 3,900 hits, fifty-five bids were placed until the auction closed at $346.07.

A “Jason Mraz T-shirt worn with Dave Matthews” was auctioned by Jason Mraz himself. According to the auction description, Mraz “wore this shirt on many tour dates” and he “wore this actual shirt the first time he met Dave Mathews.” A photo of this meeting appeared in the 10-17-02 issue of Rolling Stone. The auction also came with an autographed Poloroid of Mraz wearing the shirt, a longsleeve baseball jersey with red letters reading “Animal” on the front. Mraz said auction proceeds would be donated to the Make A Wish Foundation. “The idea came to me when I discovered that a beverage container I sipped from at a performance sold on eBay at an unreasonably high price.” After opening at $1.00, twelve bidders placed fifty-eight bids until Mraz sold the shirt off his back for $800.00.

An opening bid requirement of $7.99 was set for a 16” X 12” concert featuring Drive Like Jehu, Deadbolt and Fluf at the Doubletree Hotel in Horton Plaza (10/30/93). Said the seller, “This is an original single sheet printed paper poster advertisement (sometimes known as a flyer or print) for a concert movie performance gig by professional musicians at a live music venue that pictures Satan as a winged devil.” A photo of the color poster shows the item has some wear and tear, including tack holes, but that didn’t deter five bidders from placing eleven bids totaling $20.50.

The poster promoting a concert by Drive Like Jehu at Jabberjaw in Los Angeles, August 13th 1993, was illustrated by famed Artrock Gallery designer Lindsey Kuhn, whose underground comic-inspired designs graced dozens of early 90s posters which are now highly prized collectibles. Unfortunately, potential bidders couldn’t view this art, because the seller in Seattle said “[I’m] trying to post a picture of it but [I’m] having camera problems.”

A description was instead offered, reading “Yellow and orange op-art-ish dragster design, mint condition.” Despite the lack of an item scan, and the seller’s refusal to accept online payments, checks or money orders (“bidder pays w/money”), the poster was only on the auction block for one day before someone exercised the seller’s “Buy It Now” option and purchased the item outright for the posted price of $45.00.

Ten bids were placed for a self titled CD release by the rockabilly blues band Cadillac Tramps before it closed at $20.50.

The auction for a factory sealed copy of “Voodoo Trucker” by Deadbolt, issued on CD in 1999 by San Diego based label Cargo Music, was accompanied by an item description reading more like a record review than a sales pitch. "The scariest band in the world…imagine the Ventures playing spooky surf music behind a dry, Dragnet-style narrative of both supernatural tales and everyday trucker situations.

Some of the CD highlights are ‘Whereabouts Unknown,’ which describes many CB radio terms and lingo over the top of clean, slinky guitar lines and a thick, driving bass. ‘Truck Driving S.O.B.’ is one of the more catchy tunes, characterizing the typical habits and lifestyle commonly associated with truckers, while ‘McGortsy’ delves into a twisted tale of murder and bodies hanging from trees.” Bidding opened at $5.99, with a total of four bids placed before it sold for $9.50.

A limited edition Frank Zappa Japanese Mini-LP CD Box Set contained 21 disc reissues of Zappa solo LPs and his work with The Mothers Of Invention. “The only way to get it was to send 10 proof of purchase labels from the CDs as a special promotion,” according to the auction description, and a promotional advertising sheet for the box set was included with the lot. The Anaheim-based seller posted a “Buy It Now Option” of $1,000.00, but there were no takers. Instead, two bidders went head-to-head for the item, with the winner shelling out $525.00.

The 45rpm single by Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention, “Lonely Little Girl” b/w “Mother People” on the Verve label (both songs taken from the band’s 1968 album spoofing “Sgt. Pepper” - “We’re Only In It For The Money”) was said to be a “radio station copy” in “mint-minus” condition. Six bids were placed before it sold for $24.00.

A CD version of the 1968 debut double-LP by former San Diego street performer and onetime Frank Zappa protégé Larry Fischer - An Evening with Wild Man Fischer - was pitched several times by the same L.A.-based seller. This album has never been officially released on CD, due to a dispute between Fischer and Gail Zappa, Frank's widow.

The unauthorized CD's auction description, while not admitting its bootleg origin, does say, "CD is made to look like a record" - this is because the box graphics are reproduced directly from the original Bizarre Records LP sleeve. "This may be your only chance to get this on CD," claimed the seller, despite the fact that the same auctioneer sold the identical item three times between March 27 and April 2 - for $42 (3/27), $37.95 (3/28), and $37.95 again (4/2). That's $117.90 over seven days for three homemade bootleg CD sets - someone's CD burner paid for itself pretty quickly.

According to the auction description, only 400 copies were pressed of a 1979 vinyl 45RPM single by the X-Terminators, “Microwave Radiation” b/w “Occasional Lay.” The record was offered in VG- condition with a minimum bid of $49.99, but the record went unsold.

A rolled 24" X 34" poster promoting a Jane’s Addiction show in San Diego closed at $7.95 on February 18th, while another copy of the same poster sold for $20.00 just six days later on February 24th. Mint condition is important to buyers, but contemporary merchandise can earn big bucks regardless of wear and tear if the featured performer is popular enough.

A look at the scan of an Allman Brothers concert poster from September 21st 1979 (San Diego Sports Arena) reveals that disco-slickster Boz Scaggs opened the show and tickets were only $5.25, or $5.75 on the day of show – which included parking! The New Jersey seller said “The source is Lelands.com…the chairman is my brother. He has sold me [the poster] at a brotherly price.” The item opened at $9.97, attracting four bids and selling for $20.50.

Offtherecordvinyl.com auctioned a concert poster promoting the Jesus And Mary Chain at downtown's California Theater, with artwork by Frank Kozik, for $25.26. Seven bids were placed, despite it being described as having "light rounding at the corners and some light edgewear all the way around...a three inch crease in from the left edge...bottom edge has some light fading."

A KGB 1360 AM Radio "Boss 30" music survey sheet from November 16th 1966 was described thusly: "Mid-day guy (and Program Director) Les Turpin is on the front. The Beach Boys are scoring with Good Vibrations, it's #1. Note that the artist is listed as The KGBeach Boys...also on the back, an ad for MacLeans toothpaste. This item measures approx. 6.5" X 5" and has one vertical printer fold down the middle. It's in near-mint condition, no tears or markings."

Among the bands on the station's top 30 list that week are The Supremes, ? & the Mysterians, The Monkees, The Animals, Frank Sinatra, Donovan and The Lovin' Spoonful. Up and coming "Boss Hit Bounds" on the verge of stardom include Neil Diamond, The Yardbirds (correct), The Innocence and The Incredibles (who?). Few people saved this sort of record store flyer but only one bidder surfaced for the relic, paying $13.60.

A “Hard Rock San Diego Jimi Hendrix Dead Rocker pin” was auctioned. The small red and white flying "V" shape pin with a "Jimi Hendrix" illo is part of the Hard Rock Cafe's 2nd Memorial Series of pins. Eight bidders racked the price all the way up to $31.00.

A black and white 8" X 10" press photo of the light jazz band Fattburger closed at $5.00.

Fattburger’s 1990 Enigma Records CD “Come And Get It” – the last release from the band featuring founding guitarist Steve Laury - includes nine “smooth jazz” tracks including “Almost An Angel” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” One bid was placed for $9.99.

In the early-eighties, heavy metal hairfarmers Victim were among the house bands at Straita Head Sound, a long-gone La Mesa club unique to its era due its ability to serve alcohol to the 21-and-up crowd while still allowing minors in the door (thanks to closed loophole in the “dinner theater” permit laws). In 1985, the four members of Victim self-recorded and released a vinyl LP “DMN” (said in the liner notes to stand for “Dirty, Mean & Nasty”) with only about 1,000 copies being pressed. “Their sound leans heavily on glam metal, like Poison or Ratt, but a little heavier,” said the seller. Said to be in “near mint minus” condition with “some light scuffs that don't effect [sp] the sound,” the vinyl relic opened at $5.00 and closed nine bids later at $16.38.

A 100% cotton extra-large Rugburns shirt sporting a logo meant to spoof the Rolling Rock beer logo was described by its seller as "super-clean, with no stains, rips or tears...stored in a smoke-free environment, folded instead of hung, so it’s not all stretched out. I offer only the best vintage stuff, laundered (not stinky!) and ready to wear." Eight bidders brought the final price up to a not-too-stinky $31.00.

Steve Poltz’s 56 track CD collection of “Answering Machine” songs he used to actually record daily for his callers, collected on the Scam O Rama label, opened at $3.00 and sold, four bids later, for $6.50.

A metal watch featuring the logo for POD – Payable On Death – with an 8” chain link metal band, packaged in its original metal box, sold for $29.99. [Jennifer – I have this graphic, attached auction8-05 podwatch.jpg]

A 1981 first edition of “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” by Cameron Crowe opened at a mere $9.99 but, nine bids later, in the auction’s final moments, the price rose to $101.01. The book tells of Crowe’s undercover adventure when, at the age of 22 (in 1979), he posed as a senior at Clairmont Hight School.

The book “A Whore Just Like The Rest” by former Reader contributor Richard Meltzer was described by its New York based seller as a “pre-read but good condition copy of ‘gonzo’ music journalist[‘s] finest work…some of this stuff is unbelievably funny. He was a friend of Lester Bangs, and his style was just as irreverent.” Published by Da Capo in 2000, it features 575 pages by Mr. Meltzer, tracing his music writing career from 1967 through 1999. Five bids were placed before the hardcover book sold for $12.51.

The cover of Voluptuous Magazine’s September 1997 issue (“All Stacked! All Natural!”) features busty blues singer Candye Kane, barely wearing a white lace top and gloves. According to the cover text, this issue also contains a “Perfect Ass Contest” and a pictorial entitled “Hairiest Bush Ever.” It’s unclear whether Miss Kane was the subject of either feature. The auction opened at $5.00, with four bidders placing sixteen bids totaling $26.00.

Candye Kane’s D-cups runneth over in a 1983 X-rated video entitled “Huge Bras #4,” co-starring Mindy Rae, Kelly Stewart and Tommy Byron. “Good photography,” said the discerning seller, “essential for D cup fans. Contains full previews for Huge Bras 3, 2 and 1.” Advertised as having “no box” (presumably not a pun but a reference to the packaging), the 60 minute VHS tape sold for $8.99.

Candye Kane was featured in “Legendary Titters – Stacked Nudie Cuties,” described by its seller in Chicago as a “CD containing 100+ quality movie clips plus accompanying JPG images” featuring Miss Kane and several dozen other “stacked” models. It sold for $9.75. In addition, the September 1986 issue of the magazine “Gent: Home Of the D-Cups,” with a text blurb on the cover reading “Enjoy Candye’s Fashion Show And Win Her Undies,” earned it seller in San Francisco $5.50.

The Tell-Tale Hearts’ limited edition 7” vinyl record “Circus Mind,” b/w “Flying” features as its a-side a Pretty Things cover song, with sleeve liner notes written by the once-Pretty Phil May. “The Tell-Tale Hearts of course featured Mike Stax, currently of The Loons,” noted the seller, “and this single is superb and in great shape, M[int]-minus with the very slightest wear to the sleeve and the single.” Three bids were placed with the final price $10.50.

A concert flyer was auctioned which promoted a 1981 appearance by new wave faves Gang Of Four, backed by then-unknown REM, at the Adams Avenue Theater. The B&W 8 ½” X 11” piece of paper is offset printed with no photo or illustration, only block text letters reading “Tim Maze Presents Gang Of Four with REM Saturday September 11th Adams Avenue Theater, 75cents, $1.00 at door” along with several ticket outlets listed. “Tim Maze” refers to Tim Mays, currently the owner of the Casbah in Midtown. “Slight wrinkle on right edge of flyer, otherwise in great condition,” described its seller. Six bids were placed and the flyer flew for a stratospheric $89.99.

The Burbank-based seller of a 13” X 23” concert poster for a 70s performance by Gino Vannelli, at the UCSD Gym, was unsure of the item’s origin. “I do not know the year [of the concert] but judging from the $5 admission price my guess would be 1972 – 1974.” Vannelli’s first album was released in 1973 but he didn’t get any airplay until his sophomore release “Powerful People” in 1974 (the single "People Gotta Move" reached number 22 on Billboard's Hot 100 in October and garnered a Grammy nomination).

Described as being in “near mint condition,” the B&W relic featured a drawing of the Italian disco stud with a huge white-guy afro and wearing what appears to be a Karate uniform. The auction received sixty-one hits, opening at $24.95 and closing two bids later at $34.33.

A 1982 vinyl 12” LP containing demos by heavy metallers Battalion Of Saints also included live tracks recorded at Bob’s Place (a long-gone North County bar) on 6/11/82. Containing 24 songs in all, the Mexico-only release was imprinted on purple vinyl and included its original black and white insert, selling for $9.99.

Hi-Five’s “The Other Side Of Us” LP was released in 1981, featuring modern soul from a San Diego sextuplet (five black males and a female) said by its local-based seller to include “players from the San Diego Chargers.” The album jacket was described as having “minor wear on front” and the vinyl itself with “minor surface scuffs.” Four bidders entered seven bids before the LP sold for $85.49.

A copy of the self-titled 1980 debut vinyl LP by Bratz was auctioned in its original shrink wrap (albeit sliced open to remove the disc), in mint condition “with no cut-outs, seam splits or writing.” The San Pedro-based seller summarized Bratz’ music as “very good dual lead guitar hard rock with some progressive tendencies and strong keyboards and vocals.” The auction opened at $9.99 and closed six bids later at $25.49.

"The Litanies of Satan," Diamanda Galas’ 1982 debut vinyl LP (a U.K. import on the Y Records label), was described by its auctioneer in Sacramento as “a raging beast of a record capable of blowing your mind and speakers simultaneously.” The album has two side-long tracks – “Wild Women With Steak-Knives (Homicidal Love Song for Solo Scream)” and "The Litanies of Satan" (based on a poem by Charles Baudelaire). “What makes the LP more desirable than the CD,” said the seller, “is the fact that the vinyl is mastered at 45rpm speed and this record sounds great when spun at 33rpm. I’m sure Diamanda would frown upon such audio tomfoolery, but I won’t tell her if you won’t. It’s like getting an extra album for free!” Bidding began at $7.00. A total of ten bids were placed and the winner (eBay handle “sh-tofgod”) paid $36.00 for the long out-of-print album.

A used copy of No Knife’s 2002 “Riot For Romance” CD was described by its Massachusetts seller as being in mint condition. After a total of six bids, the ten-track release sold for $7.00.

“Everything Under The Moon” by Natasha’s Ghost, released in 1995 by FUA Records, was described by its seller in Philadelphia as “brand new, sealed, perfect.” The 11-song CD earned four bids before closing at $4.51.

Three vinyl albums described as an “80s Mod Rare LP Lot” included a British version of the 1986 debut record by San Diego’s Manual Scan. “Vinyl is in excellent shape, cover has minor wear (ring wear, slight yellowing),” according to the seller.

The second LP in the lot was “The Cutting…Edge,” a 1985 UK compilation featuring Manual Scan along with Purple Hearts, the Risk, Beat Direction and others (“Vinyl and cover in great shape!”). The Risk are from the Channel Islands in the UK, though they resided in San Diego during the mid-eighties, playing local venues like SDSU’s Backdoor, JP’s and elsewhere (their debut album was produced by Matt Camione, of the local band the Tracers).

The final item was another UK compilation, "Modstock - Starbrucken '94," including tracks by the Jaybirds, Apemen, Statuto, the Aardvarks, the Beat Set and the Clique. All three LPs sold together for $9.99, with only one bid placed.

“Automatic Midnight,” a 2000 CD release by the band Hot Snakes, features members John Reis (aka “Speedo”) of Rocket From The Crypt, Rick Fork (aka Eric Froeberg), formerly of Drive Like Jehu and Jason Kourkounis (of Mule). The Bakersfield CA seller described it as “Eleven tracks of Black Flag, the Wipers and Suicide inspired turbulent sound,” posting an opening bid requirement of one penny. Ten bids later, it sold for $8.50.

A seller in Boston auctioned his Hot Snakes T-shirt, saying “It is red and has only been worn once. Apparently I have grown without noticing. This is a Hanes 50/50 Youth Large and it is too short for me…this band is amazing and it bums me out to no end to not be able to keep this shirt. Give it a good home.” Four bidders battled it out for the shirt off his back, entering ten bids totaling $20.50.

An 11” X 17” poster promoting a concert at the Epicentre by the band Homegrown featured a photo of the three bandmembers in blue ink on white paper stock (in “mint-minus condition”) and went for $9.99.

A concert poster (11 ½” X 17 ½”) and handbill (5 ½” X 8 ½”) from the “Halloween ‘99” concert at the Westin in Horton Plaza mentions Rocket From The Crypt, Southern Culture On The Skids, Deadbolt and others, but the only graphic was an orange pumpkin head on a stick figure body. The set sold for $11.99.

Another poster and handbill set, promoting Unwritten Law concerts at 4th & B (January 14th) and SDSU’s Montezuma Hall (January 21st), featured photos of the band and listed opening acts 22 Jacks and the Hippos as well. Three bidders racked up eight bids before the auction ended at $22.50.

Blink 182’s “Apple Shampoo” CD was released in Australia in 1997, featuring the title track plus “Voyeur” and “Good times.” A copy “guaranteed” to be signed by the band attracted fifteen bids and closed at $98.79.

A San Diego based company called Target Collectibles auctioned six identical Blink 182 autographed concert programs, posting the same item photo for each auction even though there were presumably six different programs. “An original Blink-182 signed KROQ Weenie Roast concert program,” read the auction descriptions. “This is signed by all three members of the band. This item is in perfect condition (mint/near mint). It includes a lifetime 100% money-back Certificate of Authenticity from Target Collectibles. All items were obtained in person by Target Collectibles.”

The six programs, apparently indistinguishable from each other, sold on various days for $10.45 (2/15), $12.50 (2/2), $15.50 (2/21), $20.50 (2/12), $26.00 (2/9) and the February 18th auction attracted sixteen bids totaling $66.00. Target Collectibles is a new eBay seller, with a “Feedback Rating” of 5, meaning only five customers who’ve bought from them have posted reviews about their deals with this seller.

Previous auctions launched by Target Collectibles have been for concert programs signed by the members of Linkin Park, Jane’s Addiction and 311, all of which look from the auction photos to have been signed using the same or a similar blunt tipped silver-ink pen as the one used on the six blink 182 programs.

It only cost $15.00 to take home a “Genuine blink 182 song list” from an Atlanta, Georgia concert on 11/20/99, with a “Genuine Mark Hoppus footprint!” Said its seller, “The set list still has the tape on it from being taped to the stage, along with Mark's footprint…the list is in the condition that it was on the stage, a bit wrinkly and dirty (but that's because it was being stepped on by the band). I attained the set list at the end of the concert - I ripped it from the stage. I will send along a few great pictures from the signing and concert (I was leaning on the stage at Mark’s feet) to prove that everything in authentic.”

Since the auction had already closed, I was unable to request an email scan showing an actual photograph of Mark’s actual foot actually stepping on the actual set list being auctioned.

Three 7” blink-182 vinyl singles were auctioned in one lot – “First Date” b/w “Don’t Tell Me It’s Over” (picture disc, only released in UK), “They Came To Conquer Uranus” (three songs, with picture sleeve) and “Lemmings,” a split colored vinyl single with two songs by the Swindles and the title track by blink. Twenty-one bids were entered and the lot sold for $87.43.

A custom surf-green colored Tom DeLonge signature series Fender Strat guitar, with a tweed hardshell guitar case, auctioned by Guitar Central in Louisville Kentucky. According to the auction description, “[The Guitar] has professionally installed Sperzel locking tuners (just like the ones Tom uses on his) instead of the very bad vintage tuners that come stock ($75 installed). The stock tuners do not stay in tune! Next, it has Dunlop strap locks installed ($30 installed) plus a nice black strap with the strap locks ($15)…it has been professionally set up by an authorized Fender repairman so it plays way better than it did straight from the factory ($40 labor).”

An opening bid of $400.00 was placed on April 22. Less than one day and six bids later, someone selected the seller’s “Buy It Now” option, which allows the seller to set a price that automatically ends the auction if a buyer meets it – that price was $615.00

An unused blink 182 backstage pass sold at $6.00, about the average for recent passes by even the most popular groups due to the ease of "bootleg" reproduction and market saturation. There were no bidders and no sale for a 1985 Ratt backstage pass.

Only 30 copies of blink-182’s 1990 “Flyswatter” demo cassette-tapes are known to exist. “It has come to my attention that these tracks were recorded in the basement of either Tom or Mark's house around 1990,” said the seller, “consequently, the songs are not what I would refer to as ‘good quality.’”

An auction photo shows the cassette box to have hand-colored artwork which, if this is indeed one of the original cassettes, was decorated by blink and family members before they passed out the demo tapes to close friends and prospective record-company contacts. Considered the holiest of grails among blink collectors, the 8-song tape includes early versions of several cuts which later ended up on the “Buddha” album, as well as “The Longest Line,” a cover of a NoFX song. Even though the seller’s eBay history shows only one other completed auction, five dueling bidders took it on faith that this oft-bootlegged cassette is the real deal and placed twenty-seven bids (starting with $1.00) until the auction closed at $405.00.

Blink-182’s original “Buddha” cassette appeared in 1994 on Filter Records, a handmade limited release that was later reissued on the Kung Fu label in 1998. According to the seller, “It has a different track listing [from the Kung Fu version], and a number of between song segways [sp] that were not kept when it was remastered… the cassette also comes with the original lyric sheet with tons of artwork done by Tom.”

Though supposedly less than 50 copies of this tape are said to exist, the same seller auctioned two copies of it during the same week. The auctioneer is new to eBay with less than two dozen completed transactions, and two negative customer comments already posted in their “feedback profile.” One complaint reads “Sent $$$$ but he will not send cd......he should be out of business.” Despite this, the first cassette auctioned received thirty bids, closing at $192.50, while the second copy sold for $117.50.

Blink-182’s limited edition 1997 CD “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” was offered by a seller in New Jersey, autographed on the cover in red marker pen by the original threesome of Scott Raynor, Mark Hoppus, and Tom Delonge. “These are extremely rare and out of print,” read the auction description. “There are only a handful of these in the world. They were only given to people in the music industry…this was signed many years ago at Warped Tour.”

The auctioneer listed an opening bid requirement of $7.89. Despite an out-of-focus photo of the CD and the signatures, five bidders were determined to win the item, placing forty-eight bids before the auction closed at $300.00.

A skateboard deck with the blink-182 logo and artwork was produced by MCA Records in 1998 as a giveaway to promote the group’s “Dude Ranch” album. The deck auctioned by an L.A. based seller was said to be signed by the original trio of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Scott Raynor while the band was visiting the MCA offices. “There were many of these decks made and given out,” said the auctioneer, “but this signed deck is one of a kind and will never be found anywhere again.” The auction page received 365 hits, though the opening bid requirement of $99.00 wasn’t met until the final three days of a seven day auction. Five bidders then entered a total of eleven bids until the board sold for $280.00.

Blink 182’s limited edition 2000 CD release “Mark, Tom, Travis Show,” comprised of nineteen live tracks and one new studio recording - “Man Overboard” - was auctioned by a seller in Chicago calling him/herself a “former music industry doing this [selling on eBay?] as a dream job.” The CD had “very slight surface marks” which “do not affect play.”

The track list includes songs from all four of the group’s previous albums as well as unreleased material, and “the band also provides fans with an extra seven minutes of conversation and clips of some humorous moments on the end of the album and an extra bonus of a great photograph-filled booklet.” Bidding opened at one penny – seven eBayers placed thirteen bids before the CD closed at $12.50.

LOCAL CONCERTS

A CD featuring a 1976 set by Linda Ronstadt at the San Diego International Sports Arena was offered with a $29.95 starting bid requirement. At the time touring with guitarist Waddy Watchel, its fourteen songs include “You’re No Good” and “When Will I Be Loved.” Six bids were placed until the CD sold for $37.00.

The Rolling Stones 11/10/69, Sports Arena: This multicolored vinyl album from the K&S label was auctioned by a seller in London. "I believe only around 100 of these were made," read the item description. The listing showed a blue vinyl LP partially pulled from a plain white cardboard sleeve, with text reading "The Rolling Stones San Diego '69" on the front cover. In the tradition of most '70s vinyl boots, a paper track list with a black-and-white illustration of the band was glued to the back cover. Seven bidders placed 17 bids until the auction closed at 185.00 GBP (approx. $323.07 U.S.).

The same Stones concert on CD, said by its seller to be a "20 bit digital mastering from the original tapes," sold for $15, while a two-CD set of the Stones at Qualcomm Stadium on 2/3/98, originally broadcast on local radio by 98.3 FM, earned $25.

Pink Floyd 10/17/71, Golden Hall: This is a CD version of a widely distributed '70s vinyl bootleg, Pink Floyd: Embryo. The Florida seller bragged, "This is not a CDR, unlike many concert CDs on eBay," placing an opening bid requirement of $25. The auction earned 11 bids, closing at $42.00. The same concert from a different seller, with an alternate CD cover (described as "custom art"), was said to be "Pink Floyd at its most experimental, creative genius...it's almost impossible to get such a great collection of songs from one show."

Not that impossible; the same auctioneer sold three more copies of his "custom" (read: homemade CDR) version of the Golden Hall concert over a one-month period, for $15.95 (twice) and $20.

T. Rex 1973: A bootleg vinyl LP of Marc Bolan and T. Rex supposedly performing on the syndicated TV show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (1972-1982) was auctioned under the item description "T. Rex Concert San Diego 73 vinyl album." The track list included "Jeepster," "Token of My Love," "Born to Boogie," "The Groover," "Zip Gun Boogie," and "Get It On (Bang a Gong)."

This listing would seem incorrect regarding either the year recorded, the TV show it was taped for, and/or the locale of the concert. T. Rex did play in San Diego in 1973, on August 10, but it wasn't recorded for the Kirshner series. The bootleg's set list is similar to a performance the band did for the show In Concert that aired in June 1973, though whether this was recorded in San Diego is unclear.

The source recording was more likely a 1975 episode of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, which aired in February and March of that year, recorded in late 1974 at the San Diego International Sports Arena and with a set list identical to the one on the bootleg album's back cover. The U.K. seller got three bids, earning GBP 8.00 for the LP (approximately $13.11 U.S.).

Captain Beefheart 2/16/78: On this day, Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet, performed two shows at SDSU's Back Door. This CD captures the shorter 45-minute set by Frank Zappa's onetime protégé. The track list included "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" and cuts from the Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) album he was ostensibly promoting at the time, such as "When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy" and "The Floppy Boot Stomp." After an opening bid of $18, six bidders entered a total of ten bids before the CD sold for $52.50.

Van Halen5/20/84, Sports Arena: "Sound quality is very good" on this CD..."has artwork," according to the seller. David Lee Roth-era tracks included "Jump," "Pretty Woman," and the furiously drummed "Hot for Teacher." Two bids were placed, and the CD sold for $11.

INXS 3/31/88, Sports Arena: A "Live Radio Broadcast" recorded on CD, from Westwood One's Superstars in Concert series. Running just over an hour, the CD was "not a commercial release," said the seller, and "not taped off the radio...ran off the broadcast master in the studio." This seems to indicate it originally came from a radio DJ who surreptitiously ran a dub from Westwood One's source recording. It sold for $4.25.

Depeche Mode 7/31/90, Sports Arena: DM -- Everything Counts is a bootleg vinyl album recorded during the band's "Violator" tour. Their characteristically mopey set list that night included "Shake the Disease," "Waiting for the Night," and "Enjoy the Silence." One of the last vinyl bootlegs issued before the explosion of CD pirating, the double-LP sold for $150.

Richie Sambora 11/16/91, Spreckels Theatre: Bon Jovi's guitarist, recorded just a few weeks after the September '91 release of his first solo album, Stranger in This Town. "This is a very rare pressing only available in Thailand...not a CDR," according to the seller in Bangkok, Thailand. The set list included Bon Jovi staples like "Wanted Dead or Alive," as well as covers such as "Midnight Rider" (Allman Brothers) and "With a Little Help from My Friends" (Beatles). The auction opened at $9.99 and closed 12 bids later at $41.02.

Nirvana12/91, Del Mar: A 12-song CD said by its seller in Bloomington, Indiana, to be "a rare live mint CD that I purchased for $34.99 and must now sell...I take good care of my things and my items do not smell of smoke as I am a nonsmoker." The CD earned six bids and sold for $20.

Metallica 1/14/92, Sports Arena: "James Hetfield interacts with the crowd a lot during this concert," said the seller of this video, which catches the hard-rock quartet covering Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy." The closing price was $1.

Smashing Pumpkins 10/26/93, Crosby Hall: This unauthorized concert CD entitled Dream was pictured with a ten-song set list and a scan of the CD cover's professional, colorful graphics, an unusual perk with homemade recordings like this. The auction opened at $9.99 with two bidders battling it out, entering 13 bids until the single-CD sold for $122.52.

Nirvana 12/29/93, Sports Arena: Among the last dozen shows performed by Nirvana, the set list for their San Diego date covered the gamut from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart-Shaped Box" through more obscure cuts like "Territorial Pissings" and a dreamlike cover of David Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World." A VHS video recording of the concert sold for $10.

Stone Temple Pilots 8/23/94, New Haven CT: This 150-minute compilation video featured a complete recording of an STP show from their "Purple" tour, shot by an audience member. "Sound and picture quality are awesome!" said the seller. "Great head to toe shot of the whole band and stage. On the side of the stage are two huge lava lamps and an absolutely amazing visual show."

The video also had the band's complete MTV Unplugged performance from NYC and live TV cuts from 1993 (Headbangers Ball and MTV Spring Break, "with singer Scott Weiland in drag!") and 1994 (Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman). The VHS tape drew ten bids, selling for $42.99.

The Moody Blues 9/29/94, Starlight Bowl: Accompanied by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the Moodies surely had no idea their performance would someday appear on a CD from Germany's Ride the Tiger Records, one of the many overseas microlabels currently flooding the U.S. with quasi-legal bootleg recordings of live performances, which fall under cloudy international copyright protection. Entitled Starlight Sojourn: Live San Diego 1994, the "import" CD featured the entire 13-song 72-minute set, including their 1967 hit "Nights in White Satin." Ten bids were placed before eBay member Whitesatin713 got the Blues for $81.09.

Smashing Pumpkins 4/23/99, Spreckels Theatre: A two-CD set described by the seller as coming from "the Arising Tour, which was the first tour with Jimmy [Chamberlin, fired over his drug habit in 1996 following the heroin overdose of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin] back on drums... lots of crowd noise on first three tracks due to familiar songs. Crowd noise diminished for rest of set as most are new songs at the time." The tour was promoting Machina -- The Machines of God, with cuts from that album played live, including "Glass and the Ghost Children" and "Speed Kills." The San Diego seller got $5.99 for their 16-song set.

The Black Heart Procession 1999, UC San Diego: Alternately goth and progressive, locals the Black Heart Procession were part of the 1999 Ché Fest, at UCSD's Ché Café. This "fantastic live CD...comes with some beautiful liner notes," said its seller, who rated the sound quality at "A+" and posted a track list including "Song About a Mule" and the eight-minute-plus "Heart the Size of a Horse." Sixteen bids were placed before the CD closed at $54.

Kiss 3/19/00, Sports Arena: In 2000, Kiss were about $20 million into their never-ending "farewell" tour, starring the original aging foursome in full makeup and featuring all the fire breathing, blood, and platform boots beloved of nostalgic boomers and gullible guppies alike. The two-CD set contained the complete Sports Arena show, with track spacing to make song cuing easier. The selling price was $6.50.

blink-182 7/25/00, private show: According to its seller, this "pro-shot" VHS video captured blink-182 playing in San Diego for a select audience of about 100 radio contest winners. With requisite songs like "All the Small Things" and "What's My Age Again," the 80-minute video sold for $8.99.

Tesla 12/7/00, 4th & B: In 2000, the original five members of progressive rockers Tesla, best known for their version of "Signs," reunited for two concerts in California and a third in Las Vegas, with the opening date at 4th & B. A videotape of the show, running 104 minutes and of "very good quality," closed at $9.99.

Tool 8/15/01, SDSU: A two-CD set featuring industrial heavy metallers Tool playing the Open Air Theatre was described as a "rare import," although the supposed country of origin isn't specified (copyright laws are fluid regarding "imported" music recordings). Unfortunately, the superior set performed that evening by co-headliners King Crimson wasn't included, but the CD managed to sell for $36.75.

Social Distortion 9/7/01, Street Scene: This VHS video featured "a cool night time outdoor show in downtown San Diego," according to the local seller. The tape also included "bonus footage" of the band playing two songs on a Warped Tour date ("Under My Thumb" and "Don't Drag Me Down"), plus an episode of Orange County public-access show Request Live with Social D leader Mike Ness as guest host. Two bids were placed before the tape sold at $10.99.

Tori Amos 11/20/01, Copley Symphony Hall: During this stop on the "Strange Little Tour" (promoting her Strange Little Girls album), the scarlet-haired songstress played two shows in one evening. This no-frills CD featured her 7:00 p.m. performance, with no accompanying artwork, only a printed set list. It sold for $7.99.

Zwan 11/20/01, 'Canes Bar and Grill: Among the first half-dozen shows performed by this (already defunct) band fronted by former Pumpkin Smasher Billy Corgan, and the bootleggers were there to immortalize it. Nineteen songs are spread across the two-CD set auctioned by a seller in Ontario, Canada, including covers of the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" and the Burt Bacharach standard "What the World Needs Now Is Love." Two bidders clashed, with the winner taking the prize at $9.49.

Sheena Easton 12/12/01, Civic Center: "A rare uncommercial release," said the seller in Singapore; "A super hot and power packed singer." The James Bond theme crooner ("For Your Eyes Only") and sometime actress (Miami Vice) sang "Don't Send Flowers," "Modern Girl," and 16 others, including the horrifyingly catchy "9 to 5 (My Baby Takes the Morning Train)." The CD sold for $9.99.

Garbage 5/31/02, SDSU: Led by wicked waif Shirley Manson, Garbage's 77-minute performance was captured on DVD video. "Don't miss out on this amazing show with fantastic video quality and crystal clear hi-fi audio," hyped the seller. Fifteen bids were placed, with the final price $12.

Morrissey 9/15/02, SDSU: Featuring songs like "I Want the One I Can't Have," "Hairdresser on Fire," and, for an encore, "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out," this CD closed at $7.

Bob Dylan 10/19/02, San Diego State University: The legendary troubadour actually plays piano for some songs on this two-CD release. The set list included surprising non-Dylan numbers like "Carrying a Torch" (Van Morrison), "Old Man" (Neil Young), and "Mutineer" (Warren Zevon). It sold for $9.99.

The Goo Goo Dolls 1/25/03, Embarcadero: The Goo Goo Dolls' set list for the SuperBowl Concert Series gig included "Naked," "Here Is Gone," and "You Never Know." Graded with "sound quality A," the recording attracted four bids and closed at $10.

Nashville Pussy 2/13/03: This VHS video was described by its seller as "professional looking, shot from Ruyter's side of the stage from the very front. See Ruyter strip down to her bra and panties while rocking out!" In rock and roll, as on eBay, the mere suggestion of sex sells, so this lusty pitch drew 11 bids, driving the price to $53.06.

The Foo Fighters 4/15/03, Rimac Arena: Two CDs, coming from a DAT (digital audio tape) source, according to the seller in Winnipeg, Canada. DAT is the professional bootlegger's weapon of choice: small, easy to sneak in, but with 21st-century sound capability, which can be duplicated with no loss of sound signal. The Foo set list included "My Hero," "Weenie Beenie," and "Everlong." Seven bids were placed, raising the sale price from $7 to $15.50.

Simon and Garfunkel 7/15/03, Cox Arena: Performing in San Diego for their first time in 20 years, the duo was featured on a two-CD version of the show, with no accompanying auction artwork. After an opening bid requirement of $9.99 was met, six bidders logged ten bids until the auction closed at $53.

The oldest apparently unauthorized recording listed during this monitoring period was a 60-minute VHS episode of The Milton Berle Show, with Elvis Presley performing 4/3/56, live from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock docked at San Diego's Naval Air Base. Elvis sang "Heartbreak Hotel," "Shake Rattle and Roll," and "Blue Suede Shoes" for several hundred sailors, as well as doing a brief comedy riff with Berle.

Television shows from the '50s often have tangled copyright histories -- video manufacturers regularly acquire prints, kinescopes, or master video copies for reproduction without bothering to research who owns current media rights to these programs. This seller seemed to be an individual, not a manufacturer, stating in the video's auction description, "It is part of my personal collection and I only have one." Seven bids were placed before the video sold for $17.86.

The Smashing Pumpkins were recorded live 10-26-93 at San Diego’s Crosby Auditorium for this unauthorized concert CD entitled “Dream,” according to the Illinois based seller. A ten-song setlist was included in the auction description, as was a scan of the CD cover’s professional, colorful graphics, an unusual perk with homemade recordings such as this. eBay technically forbids selling bootlegs but seems to turn a blind eye toward items modestly disguised. The auction opened at $9.99 with two bidders battling it out, entering thirteen bids until the single-CD sold for $122.52

The Cardiac Kidz were recorded 9-13-79 at the Spirit nightclub (now Brick By Brick) for the 7” vinyl “Playground.” Only 500 copies of the obscure punk single were released in 1980, on the Lub Dub label - four songs are featured, each about two minutes long. Described by its San Diego-based seller as in “VG++ condition,” a photo was posted of the cartoon sleeve (which has “minor ringwear”). The auction received 249 customer hits, opening at $10.00. Six bidders placed eight bids before buyer besofunny picked up the Kidz for $179.50.

“DM – Everything Counts,” a bootleg album featuring Depeche Mode, was recorded at the San Diego Sports Arena July 31 1990, on that band’s “Violator” tour. The band’s characteristically mopey setlist that night included “Shake The Disease,” “Waiting For The Night” and “Enjoy The Silence.” One of the last vinyl bootlegs issued before the explosion of CD pirating, the double-LP sold for $150.00.

A double CD featuring the Rolling Stones at Qualcomm Stadium February 3 1998, while technically a bootleg, sported professional graphics and attracted six bids, selling for $120.50 plus $5.00 shipping.

No date was given for the “Ratt – Live In San Diego” CD listed by a seller in Great Britain. A 15-song setlist was included, including “Round And Round” and “Lay It Down,” which would become the band’s best-known hits. The concert CD sold for 14.99 GBP (approximately $27.30 U.S.).

When Pearl Jam played San Diego on June 5 2003, someone captured the show on videotape and several copies have already turned up on eBay, under various seller names. Containing the entire set through its unexpected encore “Baba O’Riley” (the Who), VHS copies recently auctioned on the site are averaging $26.00.

Aerosmith's 2002 "Just Push Play" show in San Diego was captured in digital sight and sound. The product description even includes an entire set list of songs to entice buyers. "The [VHS] video is crystal clear with beautiful hi-fi stereo audio!," says the seller, who earned $18.00 for one auctioned tape.

When Kiss said farewell (again) to San Diego on 3/19/00, someone captured the performance on video and eight bids earned its seller $31.00.

An older show featuring King Crimson on 6/28/95, promoting its album "Thrak," has hi-fi sound and runs 105 minutes but only three bids were placed before it sold for $15.50.

That's the same amount earned by a seller in Alabama who auctioned a 60 minute concert video featuring Rob Zombie playing in San Diego on 4/17/99.

When the Moody Blues played Starlight Bowl 9-29-94, accompanied by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, they had no idea their performance would some day appear on a CD from Germany’s Ride The Tiger Records, one of the many overseas micro-labels currently flooding the U.S. with quasi-legal bootleg recordings of live performances which fall under cloudy international copyright protection.

Entitled “Starlight Sojourn: Live San Diego 1994,” the “import” CD features the entire 13-song/72-minute set, including their 1967 hit “Nights In White Satin,” which on its original release featured the London Festival Orchestra (conducted by Peter Knight, one of rock’s first classical crossovers). Ten bids were placed before eBay member Whitesatin713 got the Blues for $81.09.

A 12-song CD featuring Nirvana performing in Del Mar (venue unspecified) in December 1991 was said by its seller in Bloomington Indiana to be “a rare live mint CD that I purchased for $34.99 and must now sell…I take good care of my things and my items do not smell of smoke as I am a non-smoker.” The CD earned six bids and sold for $20.00.

A bootleg LP featuring the Rolling Stones at San Diego Sports Arena 1-10-69, on multicolored vinyl from the K&S label, was auctioned by a seller in London. “I believe only around 100 of these were made,” read the item description. The photo scan shows a plain white cardboard sleeve with attached photocopy drawing, but the image is too fuzzy to make out artwork. Despite this, seven bidders placed seventeen bids until the auction closed at 185.00 GBP (approx. $323.07 US).

The Foo Fighters concert at Rimac Arena on 4/15/03 fills up two CD discs, coming from a DAT (digital audio) source, according to the seller in Winnepeg Canada. DAT is the professional bootlegger’s weapon of choice – small, easy to sneak in but with 21st century sound capability which can be duplicated with no loss of sound signal. The Foo setlist includes “My Hero,” “Weenie Beenie” and “Everlong.” Seven bids were placed, raising the sale price from $7.00 to $15.50.

A VHS videotape of Social Distortion playing Street Scene on 9/7/01 is from a “cool night time outdoor show in downtown San Diego,” according to the local-based seller. The tape also includes “bonus footage” of the band playing two songs on a Warped Tour date (“Under My Thumb” and “Don’t Drag Me Down”) plus an episode of Orange County public access show “Request Live” with Social-D leader Mike Ness as guest host. Two bids were placed before the tape sold at $10.99.

Richie Sambora, playing the Spreckles Theater November 16th 1991, was recorded just a few weeks after the September ‘91 release of the first solo album from the Bon Jovi guitarist, “Stranger In This Town.” “This is a very rare pressing only available in Thailand…not a CD-R,” according to the seller in Bangkok Thailand. The set list includes Bon Jovi staples like “Wanted Dead Or Alive” as well as covers such as “Midnight Rider” (Allman Brothers) and “With A Little Help From My Friends” (Beatles). The auction opened at $9.99 and closed twelve bids later at $41.02.

The Florida seller of a CD titled “Embryo,” featuring Pink Floyd at Golden Hall October 17th 1971, bragged that this is “not a CD-R,” unlike many concert CDs on eBay, placing an opening bid requirement of $25.00. This pitch plus a scan of the cover illustration earned eleven bids with the auction closing at $42.00 on May 28th.

The same concert from a different seller, with an alternate CD cover (described as “custom art”) was said to be “Pink Floyd at its most experimental, creative genius…it's almost impossible to get such a great collection of songs from one show.” Not that impossible – this auctioneer sold three copies of his “custom” (read homemade CD-R) version of the Golden Hall concert between May 20th and May 27th, for $15.95 (twice) and $20.00.

A CD set featuring the Smashing Pumpkins at the Spreckles Theater, April 23rd 1999, was described by the seller as coming from “the Arising Tour, which was the first tour with Jimmy [Chamberlin, fired over his drug habit in 1996 following the heroin overdose of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin] back on drums…lots of crowd noise of first three tracks due to familiar songs. Crowd noise diminished for rest of set as most are new songs at the time.” The tour was promoting “Machina – The Machines Of God,” with cuts from that album played live including “Glass And The Ghost Children” and “Speed Kills.” The San Diego seller got $5.99 for the 2-CD set.

The Rolling Stones 11/10/69, San Diego Sports Arena: The auction photo shows a blue vinyl LP partially pulled from a plain white cardboard sleeve with text reading “The Rolling Stones San Diego ‘69” on the front cover. In the tradition of most seventies vinyl boots, a paper track list with a B&W illustration of the band is glued to back cover. Six bids were placed before the wax relic sold for $177.50. The same concert on CD, said by its seller to be a “20 bit digital mastering from the original tapes,” sold for $15.00 and a 2-CD set of the Stones at Qualcomm Stadium on 2/3/98, originally broadcast on local radio by 98.3 FM, earned $25.00.

Van Halen 5/20/84, San Diego Sports Arena: “Sound quality is very good” on this CD…has artwork” according to the seller. David Lee Roth mans the mike and tracks include “Jump, “Pretty Woman” and the furiously-drummed “Hot For Teacher.” Two bids were placed and the CD sold for $11.00.

INXS 3/31/88, San Diego Sports Arena: A “Live Radio Broadcast” recorded on CD, from Westwood One’s “Superstars In Concert” series. Running just over an hour, the CD was “not a commercial release,” said the seller, and “not taped off the radio…ran off the broadcast master in the studio.” This seems to indicate it originally came from a radio DJ who surreptitiously ran a dub from Westwood One’s source recording. It sold for $4.25.

Metallica 1/14/92, San Diego Sports Arena: “James Hetfield interacts with the crowd a lot during this concert,” said the seller of this video, which catches the hard rock quartet covering Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy.” The closing price was $1.00.

Nirvana 12/29/93, San Diego Sports Arena: Among the last dozen shows performed by Nirvana, the setlist for their San Diego date covered the gamut from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Heart Shaped Box” through more obscure cuts like “Territorial Pissings” and a dreamlike cover of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World.” A VHS video recording of the concert sold for $10.00.

Stone Temple Pilots 8/23/94, New Haven CT: This 150 minute compilation video features a complete recording of an STP show from their “Purple” tour, shot by an audience member. “Sound and picture quality are awesome!,” said the seller. “Great head to toe shot of the whole band and stage. On the side of the stage are two huge lava lamps and an absolutely amazing visual show.”

The video also has the band’s complete “MTV Unplugged” performance from NYC and live TV cuts from 1993 (“Headbangers Ball,” “MTV Spring Break” with singer Scott Weiland in drag!) and 1994 (“Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night With David Letterman”). The VHS tape drew ten bids, selling for $42.99.

Black Heart Procession 1999 UC San Diego: Alternately goth and progressive, San Diego’s Black Heart Procession were part of the 1999 Che Fest, at UCSD’s Che Café. This “fantastic live CD…comes with some beautiful liner notes,” said its seller, who rated the sound quality at “A+” and posted a track list including “Song About A Mule” and the 8-minute-plus “A Heart The Size Of A Horse.” Sixteen bids were placed before the CD closed at $54.00.

Smashing Pumpkins 4/23/99, Spreckles Theater: A two-CD set from the “Arising” tour with sixteen songs attracted two bids totaling $5.99.

Kiss 3/19/00, San Diego Sports Arena: In 2000, Kiss were about 20 million dollars into their never-ending “farewell” tour, featuring the original aging foursome in full makeup with all the firebreathing, blood and platform boots beloved by nostalgic boomers and gullible guppies alike. This 2CD set contains the complete Sports Arena show, with track spacing to make song queuing easier. The selling price was $6.50.

Blink 182 7/25/00, Private Show: According to its seller, this “pro-shot” VHS video captures blink 182 playing in San Diego for a select audience of about 100 radio contest winners. With songs like “All The Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again,” the 80-minute video sold for $8.99.

Tesla 12/7/00, 4th & B: In 2000, the original five members of the progressive rock band Tesla, best known for their version of the 60s youth anthem “Signs,” reunited for two concerts in California and a third in Las Vegas, with the opening date at San Diego’s 4th & B. A videotape of the show, running 104 minutes and of “very good quality,” closed at $9.99.

Tool 8/15/01, San Diego State University: A two-CD set featuring industrial heavy metallers Tool playing SDSU’s Open Air Theatre was described as a “Rare Import,” although the supposed country of origin isn’t specified (it’s tougher to stick copyright infringement suits to “imported” music recordings). Unfortunately, the superior set performed that evening by co-headliners King Crimson wasn’t included, but the CD still managed to sell for $36.75.

Tori Amos 11/20/01, Copley Symphony Hall: During this stop on the “Strange Little Tour” (promoting her “Strange Little Girls” album), the scarlet haired songstress played two shows in one evening. This no-frills CD features her 7pm performance, with no accompanying artwork, only a printed set list. It sold for $7.99.

Garbage 5/31/02, San Diego State University: Led by wicked waif Shirley Manson, Garbage’s 77 minute performance is captured here on DVD video, from a summer ’02 concert at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre. “Don’t miss out on this amazing show with fantastic video quality and crystal clear hi-fi audio!” The auction photo feature a video-freeze of Manson in full vocal flight. Fifteen bids were placed with the final price $12.00.

Morrissey 9/15/02, San Diego State University: Featuring songs like “I Want The One I Can’t Have,” “Hairdresser On Fire” and, for an encore, “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” this CD closed at $7.00.

Bob Dylan 10/19/02, San Diego State University: The legendary troubador actually plays piano for some songs on this 2-CD release, and the setlist reveals surprising non-Dylan numbers like “Carrying A Torch” (Van Morrison), “Old Man” (Neil Young) and “Mutineer” (Warren Zevon). It sold for $9.99.

Goo Goo Dolls 1/25/03, Embarcadero: Already on CD after just a few weeks, the Goo Goo Dolls’ setlist for the SuperBowl Concert Series gig included “Naked,” “Here Is Gone” and “You Never Know.” Graded with “sound quality A,” the recording attracted four bids and closed at $10.00.

A VHS video of Nashville Pussy playing San Diego on 2/13/03 was described by its seller as “professional looking, shot from Ruyter's side of the stage from the very front. See Ruyter strip down to her bra and panties while rocking out!” This lusty pitch drew eleven bids, driving the price to $53.06.

$9.99 was the minimum bid for a VHS concert recording of unclear origin featuring Blink 182 and Unwritten Law. “This is the rarest of the rare,” according to its seller, “a live concert from 1997, a year before both these bands broke out and made it big. You can catch them before the rock stardom when these bands still played small clubs. Both shows are excellent quality and both are super rare.”

Despite the lack of information about when and where the shows were recorded and only a partial track listing, six bids were entered and the video sold for $20.53.

After Simon and Garfunkle played Cox Arena, their first time in San Diego in 20 years, one seller offered a 2-CD version of the show, with no accompanying auction artwork, posting an opening bid requirement of $9.99. Six bidders logged ten bids until the auction closed at $53.00.

On February 16th 1978, Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet performed two shows at SDSU’s Back Door. This CD captures the shorter 45 minute set by the sometime-Frank-Zappa-protégé, including “A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond” and cuts from the “Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)” album he was ostensibly promoting at the time, such as “When I See a Mommy I feel like a Mummy” and “The Floppy Boot Stomp.” After an opening bid of $18.00, six bidders entered a total of ten bids before the CD sold for $52.50.

An auction for “Two Live Unwritten Law Videos” attracted seventy eBay user hits, meaning the auction was viewed seventy times. Of the two tapes, “One has two shows on it,” said the seller in Tampa Florida, “and they are from July 29 1996 at the Underworld in Montreal, Canada and September 26 1998 at Cepsum, also in Montreal Canada…in the first show, they play stuff from ‘Blue Room’ and ‘Oz Factor’ and in the second show they also play songs from self-titled [album]. The second video is a show that they played in the parking lot of a Best Buy on November 10, 2001 in Hawthorn, CA…there is also extra footage of the guys just hanging out, and the music videos for Lonesome and Up All Night.” The auction earned five bids, closing at $23.50.

AUTOGRAPHS

Tom Waits’ signature on an 8” X 10 black and white photo was done sideways in blue pen, one uninterrupted word which looks more like “mommys” or “morons” than anything akin to his name. Twenty bids were placed – closing price $101.76.

A color photo of blink 182 had signatures literally scribbled across the bandmembers’ faces, but it came in a 16” X 12” aluminum frame along with two CDs, Dude Ranch and Enema Of The State (the latter with porn star Janine on the cover). Closing price: $136.28.

A Fender electric guitar autographed by all four members of Box Car Racer was offered with a “certificate of authenticity,” though no further indication was given as to who issues or signs this supposed guarantee that the signatures are authentic. Auction photos show the autographs are all done in the same blue ink pen, said to be by Anthony Celestino, David Kennedy, Tom Delonge and Travis Barker. A fifth handwritten blurb appears to be a bandname acronym/logo but it’s unspecified who drew this. Seventeen bids were entered before the guitar sold for $217.50.

Jim Croce’s “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” LP was offered with the songwriter’s signature in black ink on a large all-white section of the jacket cover. COA [Certificate Of Authenticity] from Authentic Autographs [“a group of twelve collectors that began pooling their resources to help one another about five years ago”] did not state how signature was obtained, when or by whom. Closing price: $118.05.

A copy of the early 1973 LP “Life And Times” LP by Jim Croce was said to have been autographed by the singer on 7/9/73, weeks before his death on September 20th. The Kent, Washington based seller, Authentic Autographs, describes itself as “a group of twelve collectors that began pooling their resources to help one another about five years ago. The funds received are used to help our members further their abilities to get quality autographs from the stars they adore and follow...[this] is a perfect collector's item from one of our private collectors list of articles.” The vinyl rarity earned five bids, selling for $107.50

A “Jim Croce - rare signed large album page” was described by it Las Vegas-based seller as an “approx 5" x 6" ink signed page…by the deceased singing legend.” The auction photo shows a yellow piece of paper with the word “thanks” written in black ink, and beneath that “Jim Croce,” with a curly underline. “Includes guaranteed Certificate of Authenticity which is lifetime transferable from Kevin Martin's Piece of the Past, Inc. - one of the most respected entertainment autograph dealers in the country.”

Martin cites his credentials as having been an “authentication case consultant to governmental agencies and corporate supplier to major celebrity themed restaurants and casinos.” No governmental agencies or restaurants or casinos are mentioned by name. The seller posted an opening bid requirement of $74.99, which is what the sheet of paper sold for.

Listed on the site as an “Autographed Jim Croce LP, ” Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name” was the singer/songwriter’s follow-up to his 1973 “Life And Times” LP, which hit #1 while the Croce and his family were living in San Diego. The album included the hits "Time in a Bottle" and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song."

There was no photo of the LP or of Croce’s signature, for which the Maryland-based seller apologized (“My scanner is acting up”). The auctioner, eBay username “rockraretees,” posted a low minimum bid of $9.99 but nobody tried to win the autographed album over the ten-day auction.

Perhaps this is because the record wasn’t released until several weeks after Croce died on September 20th 1973, in a charter plane crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Rockraretees’ eBay account has since been suspended.

A CD autographed by Switchfoot – “The Beautiful Letdown” – was accompanied by a “promotional only remix CD” of the song “Meant For You.” Switchfoot were nominated for a Grammy Award in 2001, for Best Rock Gospel Album, and their music has been featured in TV shows such as “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity.” The autographs feature the bandmembers’ first names only, and are barely legible – Jon (Foreman), Tim (Foreman), Chad (Butler) and newest member Jerome (Fontamillas). The seller in NYC received fourteen bids for the two-CD lot, earning $27.75. (Jennifer – pic at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2518045205&category=1572)

POD’s self-titled new CD was said to be “signed for a top DJ in New York” and appeared to have all four bandmember signatures on a CD sleeve stamped “promotional use only.” The DJ was not named. COA included a “lifetime guarantee,” with no indication as to what the seller is guaranteeing against (damage? fraud? wear and tear? artistic merit?). Closing price: $37.99

A “Sexy Jewel 10X8” color photo showed the singer busting out of a tight denim button-up vest and wearing low slung jeans with “Jewel” scrawled in blue-pen across her cleavage. “Hand signed…comes with COA stating the item is authentic.” No information was given as to who issues this COA or when and where the photo was signed. Closing price: $20.90.

A “brand new Fender Strat style full size electric guitar” autographed by Jewel (who apparently never played the instrument) was auctioned by a New York firm called Autograph Pros (“registered dealer #237 of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club”). “This is an authentic signature, not any kind of copy or facsimilie [sp],” insisted the auctioneer. “All winners will also be offered a soft shell guitar case, a wall mount to hang your guitar, and a guitar stand…a copy of the original photos taken at the time of signing for me will also be included with nearly every guitar we auction.”

Auction photos show Jewel looking at the same guitar pictured in a close-up shot of the instrument bearing her signature - which in this case seems to be simply the letter “J” with a small heart drawn near it. The seller originally set an opening bid requirement of $199.00 – no bids were placed. It was offered again with a $149.00 bid requirement – nobody bid at this price either.

Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida” vinyl LP was offered with five bandmember signatures on the cover, said to be “autographed in person” [as opposed to autographed from a remote location?] by mssrs Lee Dorman, Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy, Derek Hilland and Erik Barnett. “Many of these types of items were obtained at private signings, premieres, and special engagements by our group of collectors,” according to seller Authentic Autographs, “a group of twelve collectors that began pooling their resources to help one another about five years ago.”

All five signatures appear to have been done at the same time, in the same gold ink – Barnett’s is capped by a peace symbol and Hilland’s has a drawing of a keyboard.

The remaining trio of Dorman, Ingle and Bushy are the only signees who actually played on this album. The auction opened at $39.99 and closed five bids later at $88.00.

An 8 ½ X 11” piece of plain unlined white paper was auctioned containing “Blink 182 original handwritten lyrics w/COA.” “The lyrics were donated by the band for a charity auction with People For The United Way,” according to the seller in Minneapolis, Startifacts, who say that’s where they purchased this item. The lyrics to the song “All The Small Things” are handwritten in blue ballpoint pen by Tom Delonge, who also signed the paper.

Startifacts describes itself as “one of the nation’s leading supplier [sp] of genuine autographs…all items are guaranteed for life.” One assumes this refers to the piece of paper’s authenticity rather than durability. The auction received 249 hits and closed at $395.00.

A Focus electric guitar manufactured by Kramer/Gibson and hand-signed by the members of blink 182 was offered with an accompanying “certificate of authenticity” with a “tamper proof seal,” according to its seller, Memorable Moments. “This item was signed by Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge on 10/29/02 in Atlanta, GA outside the venue,” according to the auction description.

A photo shows the signatures on the bottom of the guitar’s body – each done in a different color ink. Nine bidders fought to get the axe, entering seventeen bids, with the winner taking it home for $224.72 (and $25.00 additional for shipping).

An issue of Rolling Stone featuring blink 182 on the cover and autographed by the band was described by its seller in Atlanta Georgia thusly: “Hand signed, custom framed and acid free double matted 16X20 piece…with Tom, Mark and Travis on the front and each of them have signed in bold sharpie.” A copy of the band’s CD “Enema Of The State” was included in the framed display, which sold for $199.87 and came with a certificate of authenticity from the seller and a “lifetime money back guarantee.”

A “Signed Travis Barker OC Drum Set,” described as a “custom short stack made for Travis Barker of Blink 182 by Orange County Drum and Percussion. This is a new set [was] signed by members of blink 182 and Green Day from the Pop Disaster Tour in Spring 2002.” The auction photos show a red, white and blue painted kit including one snare, one 5" x 12" Tom, one 5"x16" Tom and one 22" bass. The set earned its Huntington beach seller $2,000.00.

“It’s not easy being a chick rocker,” says Vv Loveland of Scary Mary. “One time at Scolari’s, when I went up to play, this guy shows me his penis while I’m onstage. He was drunk and dancing and jiggling it around and I told him ‘Mine’s bigger than yours’ and he put it away.”

She says her fiancé Patrick brings a camera to shows and gets to witness fan lust firsthand. “He hears all the guys talk about how they want to touch me in naughty places. I dance around and I'm alive so I guess people get the wrong idea. It's funny these guys have no clue who he is, Patrick just takes it in stride. He tells me after the show how many drunk guys wanted to put their hands up my skirt.”

“Sometimes,” she says, “the drunks are onstage. We played before Terror Whore at Scolari’s and, next thing I see, the lead singer is barfing everywhere in the bar. Does he stop playing? No, he gets down on the floor of the bar and starts humping the ground where his spew is. Yikes! The strangest thing was the band was totally unfazed by his behavior, they acted like he f-ks barf puddles all the time.”

“At the same show, there was a fight outside when I was leaving and the bartender had to clean that up as well as the puke inside. He doesn't get paid enough for that sh-t.” Loveland’s new side band is VV Morgue (“Scary Mary is in hibernation for now”).

Singer Amber Ojeda says “For a young girl trying to get recognition in the music industry, your morals are tested on a daily basis. My first experience meeting a record producer seemed to go very smoothly. He told me he loved my voice and liked my style. However, as soon as I left to use the bathroom, he told my manager that he couldn’t wait to sleep with me…yes, there was a couch in his studio.”

Ojeda was later hired as lead singer and songwriter for a female vocal group, but she says the first recording session wasn’t much of a group effort. “The other girls were p-ssed that I was in the booth 75 percent of the time, and not them, and one of them stole my lyric book. Someone later left a comment on my website message board with the words of a poem I had written in that book, with a note bragging ‘I have something you don’t have.’ I couldn’t believe it!”

She has since gone solo, but Ojeda says would-be impresarios still assume a single female needs some kind of gimmick to succeed. “I was recently offered a record deal, but they didn’t even want me to use my name or sing my music. They just wanted my look, and they wanted me to sing hard rock, which is so different from what I actually sing. I felt totally disrespected for my voice and musical style, like a piece of meat.”

This year, Ojeda has aligned herself with Sellaband, which connects performers to investors interested in their music. According to Sharon Holleran of A&R Management, “It’s a free service the artist signs up for, where ‘Believers’ buy stock in the music they love. The Believers then become like a street team, one who has a vested interest in promoting the artist, because they all continue to make money off that artist’s success.”

Sellaband.com posts music samples by participating artists, for potential Believers to review. Purchasing a single Part (ie stock) in an artist costs $10, with no quantity limit. Purchasers get a limited edition CD by that artist, plus a percentage of income from downloaded music files. Sellaband sells tracks at 50 cents per download through Amazon, with Believers receiving a percentage based on the size of their Part investment in that artist.

Once an artist has sold 5000 Parts at $10 each ($50,000), Sellaband provides the performer with a range of recording, mixing, and production services, at no charge. “The company is owned by former music executives from the big labels,” says Holleran. “They’re doing a lot of advertising, to bring in more potential Believers.”

Amber Ojeda joined Sellaband on February 24. Within the first thirty days, she reported selling 100 shares of herself, totaling $1000.

Local rock chick Eve Selis may not sell shares of herself, but she WAS involved in a government-related cover-up.

On September 9, 2000, she was to sing the national anthem at the America West Arena in Phoenix. The performance was supposed to be capped by an American bald eagle being released from a balcony to circle the arena and land on its trainer's wrist. However, the bird instead chose to land on top of Selis's head. She maintained her composure and even managed to bow for the audience, most of whom likely thought the landing had been planned that way.

Says Selis on her website, "The trainer asked us not to speak of it, for fear of the eagle losing his congressional approval. This bird, which is an endangered species, was the only bald eagle sanctioned by the U.S. government to fly free at sporting events, rallies, military celebrations, etc. So we understood and kept it on the down low. We recently heard that the bird had retired, so what the heck. The truth must be told."

Selis says her music has been legally downloaded over two million times on the Internet due to her successful self-marketing. She's sold 35,000 CDs, her music is heard in four movies, and she has performed on CNBC, ESPN, and the BBC. She has opened for Travis Tritt, Crosby Stills and Nash, the Doobie Brothers, Joan Osborne, Heart, Dwight Yoakam, Garry Allan, Chris Isaak, and Hootie & the Blowfish.

The Selis band frequently includes "Cactus" Jim Soldi and Sharon Whyte who, along with Mark Intravaia (the Monroes) have their own band, Cactus Twang & Whyte. Soldi played with Johnny Cash for four years and Ricky Skaggs for two years. She's frequently seen around town playing with Tim Flannery and the duo Berkley Hart. Her album Angels and Eagles was released in early 2008.

Last year, when Anya Marina appeared on the Sirius Radio program "The Sh-t Show” with comedian Andy Dick, she took it in stride when Dick introduced her as “Nuts Anya Chin.” “We made out once, I know you don’t like to admit it,” Dick told her. “We were drunk and I took advantage of you. I mouth raped you.”

“Well, it wasn’t really my choice,” Marina replied with a laugh. “I did ask for it, though. I was wearing a miniskirt.” Marina sang backup on Dick’s all-music album, and the duo performed a bit of one tune, singing “Loving you is very nice, but not as nice as drugs.” Later on the show, she played her tune about Lindsay Lohan, “Lindsay Goes To Rehab.” Dick interrupted to announce “I wish I’d mouth raped her [Lohan] too.”

Marina’s fame has been spreading far afield of San Diego. She was name-checked in TV Guide and on Entertainment Tonight after performing at the September 1 ‘07 wedding of Grey’s Anatomy star Kate Walsh’s and film executive Alex Young. Marina played at the couple’s rehearsal dinner in Ojai and sang the newlyweds’ post-wedding dance song, “Someday My Prince Will Come,” from her album Miss Halfway. Music from Miss Halfway has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

A TV ad for Jeep features a song by Marina, “You Remind Me,” co-written with Steve Poltz.

Few chick rockers rock as hard as the all-female Zeppelin cover band Zepparella. “We got dissed on the Howard Stern show!” says drummer Clementine. “He played our version of ‘The Lemon Song’…someone told us about it and we downloaded it off the internet.”

Stern was discussing a new compilation of female tribute bands “Girls Got Rhythm,” which also features tracks by Hell’s Belles (AC/DC), Ms. Fits (Misfits), Mistress Of Reality (Black Sabbath), Cheap Chick (Cheap Trick) and the Iron Maidens (duh).

“Howard said he didn't know why in the heck anyone would ever put out a record like this, he wanted to know why anyone would buy it. He was just dissing the concept. Honestly, I was wondering similar things about the compilation too, Howard wasn't saying much that I didn't agree with. When I want to listen to a record, I wouldn’t usually think ‘tribute band.’ But, even though I sort of agreed with his comment, I know there are a lot of great musicians on this record.”

Her bandmates didn’t take Stern’s commentary so lightly. “The girls have a problem with Howard judging naked chicks, but I don't think anyone's dragging those dumb girls on there and it makes for good entertainment. I think it's funny. Howard cracks me up, I listen to him pretty regularly.”

A.M. Vibe vocalist Lisah has a rockin’ story, about the time she got her throat slit on Valentines Day.

“It was the end result of a horse accident,” she says. “My C4 and C5 discs were touching each other, and I had Spinal Stenosis, which means my spinal chord was being smashed. You couldn't even see the protective canal around my spinal cord.” She was told that virtually any movement could cause crippling damage.

“It was horrific,” she says. “The only option was spinal fusion surgery, unless I wanted to live a sedentary life. But I was very concerned about my vocals. My surgeon told me they’d be cutting through or very close to a nerve that affects my vocal chords and voicebox. He couldn't guarantee that my voice would go back to normal.” While awaiting her operation, she says “I lost all the strength in my arms and hands, and trying to play guitar was brutal. I had to sit down to play, and eventually I had to stop playing at all. I can’t even tell you how many Advil I ate.”

On February 14, 2007, “They [doctors] went in through my neck to my spine. Afterwards, I found out that they discovered a piece of my crushed disc lodged in my spinal chord, which could have paralyzed me for life just from turning around or bending over.”

A little over a year later, she says “No harm was done to my vocals! Sometimes my shoulders and neck get tired…I have a Titanium plate in my neck, and sometimes I can feel it in there behind my esophagus, especially when I laugh really hard, then I can totally feel it. It’s funny and strange all at the same time.”

Elan is a female Latin performer based in San Diego, who counts among her rockin’ guitarists Slash of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver. Her 2004 Street Child CD (sung in English) was self-written and recorded on Elan's Silverlight Records ("a home studio in my apartment in La Jolla"). The album earned the then-22-year-old two Rolling Stone en Español awards in 2004.

"Some fans who've followed me for years thought it was weird, having Slash on the record and in the video [for Street Child]," says Elan of the album's guest guitarist. "But I grew up on hard rock; the first rock concert I ever saw was Guns N' Roses in Guadalajara, when I was, like, eight years old." Elan says the Velvet Revolver guitarist "definitely likes to drink beer, he's into it! He always had one in his hand."

With her 2005 album London Express, Elan gave fans another reason to cry "what the...?" On the cover is a photo of her with her long blond mane shorn to jawline-length. "Some people act real upset. They say, 'How could you?'... I get insane fan mail. I got a letter about a pink jacket I wore to an awards show in Mexico, and it was practically a death threat if I ever wore it again. I don't want to get strangled over my fashion choices."

In August 2006, Elan filed an 11-count lawsuit against Wailers singer Elan Atias, who had begun using just the name Elan for solo recordings. “This is the kind of thing that made my brother and I start our own company,” says the local Elan. “They don’t care about music or who they hurt.” The lawsuit alleges "craft, yet overt maneuvering" to take over local Elan’s given name (which she trademarked and has always recorded and performed under) by defendants Atias, Interscope Records, and public relations firm the Mitch Schneider Organization.

The other Elan's PR company used to represent local Elan, and a link on their website that formerly led to local Elan’s site now sends users to Mr. Atias's webpage instead. Interscope Records told the Los Angeles Times’ "Calendar" section in 1999 that signing local Elan was their "second highest priority after Enrique Iglesias' new album."

“I am shocked that now, my former PR firm and a label that actually wanted to sign me, would try this,” says local Elan. “They thought they could just run us over and get away with it and we wouldn’t say anything. They were wrong!”

"If you take a look at the timing, you have to be very disappointed in how these music industry players behaved," said lawyer Matt Rifat of Manning And Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez LLP, who is representing local Elan in San Diego federal district court. “The sequence of events is unbelievable. Interscope and the Mitch Schneider Organization deal with Elan one day and the next they are slapping her name onto Atias, who never went by the one name until this year…it is as unseemly as it is illegal."

Elan's new album is What Can Be Done at This Point.

Lindsey Troy was once part of a rock duo with her sister Anna, the Troys. “We were signed to Elektra on my fifteenth birthday, but the record was never released” says Lindsey says of the album she and her sister Anna recorded in 2002. “They kept pushing the release date back and they didn't do what they had promised, which was to make a window of time where they would only promote our single. Instead, they were pushing a bunch of different singles to radio stations at the same time, including Missy Elliott's. I think there was a lot of turmoil within the label, because they were on the verge of folding into Atlantic.”

“Pretty much everyone who originally worked at the label when we were signed lost their jobs when Elektra folded,” says Lindsey. “I believe Elektra still owns all of the recordings that they paid for. We don’t have the masters but we do have a copy of the album, which is nice for memories and what not. Elektra owns the recordings but not the songs so, theoretically, if we ever wanted to, we could sell those songs to someone else.”

Lindsey Troy says neither sister regrets their album as a duo going unheard. “Anna and I were getting older and couldn't really relate to those songs anymore. We both kind of felt that our fetters had been taken off, we were finally free to play and do whatever we wanted. And to grow up.”

Cindy Lee Berryhill’s song “When Did Jesus Become a Republican?” has spent the better part of the last year being featured at Neil Young’s “Living with War Today” website, where songwriters are encouraged to submit political music. “They actually have a kind of ranking system there for the protest songs,” she says. At one point, her tune went from ‘Newly Added Songs’ to number 13. “I didn’t even know it had been added until L.A. Air America radio called and said they found my song on Neil’s site and would I do an interview.”

Among others who offered political songs for inclusion were Steve Earle and Kris Kristofferson. Berryhill says she went through the regular submission process, and the song’s embrace on Young’s webpage is unrelated to the fact that, a few years ago, she worked for Young’s manager Elliot Roberts and Lookout Management.

“One day at that job, I was to go to the Santa Monica airport and pick up David Crosby and bring him back to the office. I had this 17-year-old Toyota station wagon that was filled with boxes and chairs in the back 'cause I was moving and here’s David Crosby climbing in.” She says the two of them talked about “science fiction books and terraforming of the planet Mars.”

Featuring backup vocals by local underground comic icon Mary Fleener, “When Did Jesus Become a Republican?” includes lyrics such as:

“When did Jesus turn the tables on tender and join the money lenders?

'Stead of sharing with lepers, he's sellin’ shares of Haliburton?

When did Jesus tear away the heartland from the New York Island?

Start throwin' stones at the helpless

when you can't get health insurance?

Take away the shelters for the homeless?

This don't sound like you, Jesus.”

Berryhill performed the song at a May 2007 Songs of Protest event she organized in L.A., where she had a notable brush with fame. “Jackson Browne hung out with us after the show,” says Cindy Lee. “After my little set, I introduced the next songwriter and made my way to the back of the room. On my way, someone at a table touched my sleeve and said, ‘That was great.’ I patted them on the shoulder and whispered 'thanks.' As I was walking away, I realized it was Jackson Browne!

“After the show, Jackson came up to me and told me how much he loved the show, and I noticed he'd even bought a poster. I introduced him to my husband Paul Williams, who started the first rock magazine in 1966, Crawdaddy! Jackson looks at Paul for a minute and says, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen you since you were 15 years old.’ They were both actually 17 when they met in New York City, during that first year of Crawdaddy! So it was all very cool, and Jackson has shown an interest in joining us at one of the next shows.”

More Songs of Protest concerts are planned. The multiperformer event is sponsored by Neil Young’s web project “Living with War Today,” which at this writing includes around 1900 songs, ranked according to visitor votes. Other locals represented on the site include Joel Rafael, Mark DeCerbo of Four Eyes, and Reverend Madison Shockley, a pastor at Carlsbad’s Pilgrim United Church of Christ.

Jenn Grinels grew up in Northern California, before landing at UC Irvine to study musical theater. After graduating, she moved to San Diego and began appearing in local stage productions, which she still does from time to time. One of her most challenging roles was in reverse-drag, playing bearded rock musician Yitzhak in the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, at the Cygnet Theatre. Most recently, she portrayed Janis Joplin in the '60s musical “Beehive,” at the Theatre in Old Town,

She tours and plays locally as a solo singer/songwriter. “Many of my songs are inspired by my boyfriend, Marine Captain David T. Russell, who was recently re-deployed overseas. I write about the pain of separation, and how difficult that can be. Before he left, quite a few of his coworkers and guys from his platoon came out to see me play. A lot of them brought their girlfriends and wives, or they bought one of my CDs to send home to their girlfriends and wives. It’s amazing to play for people who so strongly relate to the music. I just got an order from a friend serving in Iraq right now, who bought six CDs because she wants to give them to fellow marines for Christmas.”

“There are a couple of songs on the new album that deal with [my boyfriend's] past deployments. He happens to be highly decorated -- Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart -- which he doesn't like to talk about, but I'm very proud of him.”

The story of how Captain Russell earned his Purple Heart and Silver Star awards was featured in a December 2006 GQ magazine article, "A Few Good Medals."

“They ran a photo of him smiling and covered in blood,” says Grinels. “That picture was taken right after he was shot. One of his Marines joked with him, 'Sir, can you try to look injured?'”

The couple met two years ago when a group of Marines caught Grinels performing at a pub. “I heckled the Marines from the stage,” says Grinels. “I made them put their arms around each other and do a kick line while I sang. When I got off stage, Dave approached me and said 'You have characteristics I'd like to pass onto my children.' It worked!”

Grinels says the captain helped get her new album made. “He acted as executive producer and was involved every step of the way,” she says. “He gave feedback on the music, offered a few lyrics here and there, was present for the recording when he got back from his tour, enlisted graphic designers, and dealt with the duplication company. He also wrote some of the mass emails, and he’s always my roadie when he's available.”

While touring, Grinels often performs at functions organized by KVN, the Key Volunteer Network (“Basically, the military wives club”), and she’s looking into a related charity in order to donate a portion of her CD sales (“Probably Operation Homefront”).

You may have heard Victoria Robertson singing in the chorus with the San Diego Opera over the past several years (M. Butterfly, etc.) or soloing the national anthem at a Miramar Air Show. Or you may have seen her modeling in international print ads and catalogs for Kyocera cell phones and Road Runner Sports. If you hung around La Jolla's Living Room on Thursday nights, you might have caught her with acoustic guitar (Taylor model 414, made in El Cajon) and perhaps a band, performing what she describes as "acoustic-pop-Sheryl-Crow-meets-Jewel-with-a-touch-of-Sarah-McLachlan"-style originals.

If you're in the armed forces, however, you probably know her as Miss USO San Diego, a post she's held since shortly after relinquishing her Miss San Diego crown from the 1998 Miss America competition. "People think the USO died with Bob Hope, World War II, or maybe Vietnam, but the entertainment department is still out there playing all kinds of training bases, all over the world, in war and in peacetime. We've even landed on aircraft carriers, coming down in this little plane on a postage-stamp-sized spot on the ocean and then playing on a stage at the flight line!"

Accommodations for her and her backup band are paid for by the USO when they perform far-flung places like Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Thule Air Base in Greenland (where only 700 troops were stationed). "The A-list performers are building morale in the war zones. We get sent to the other places, where the support troops are warming up." She says she'd have no problem going to a hot zone like Iraq. "I'll sing wherever they send me, wherever they think I can do some good. No matter what your politics are, whether you're for or against the war itself, the men and women in uniform are just doing their job. They deserve support."

Only one other state has a Miss USO -- New York -- and that post is voted annually via pageants and judges. "I'm told they'll let me be Miss USO San Diego until either the troops don't like me anymore or I can't sing. I hope that's a long time away. Boy, that'll be a sad day when they come up to me and say, 'It's time.'"

Originally from New Jersey, Robertson graduated from UC San Diego with a Visual Arts degree. Her album, Say New You,was released in August 2007, and her album Celebrating is often sent to troops overseas.

In February 2008, Robertson won the "Carlsbad to Karlovy Vary" vocal competition for the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Young Artist program. Karlovy Vary is Carlsbad's "sister city" in the Czech Republic. At SDSU, Robertson is a part of the Artist Diploma Program. She runs her own side business entertaining at children's parties, Princess Parties and Friends.

San Diego native Rachael Gordon makes music ranging from classic sixties styled folk to straight ahead rock and roll. “ I’m into all sorts of things,” she says. “There's some garage rock, some powerpop and some folk. I grew up in the 70's, so there's all those influences from AM radio.”

Asked her influences, she starts off with “Joan Jett! All that Runaways and early solo stuff! And I really love Linda Thompson, anything she's done, Fairport Convention. And a guilty pleasure is early Heart, there's a folk side while still rocking out.”

Her recording sessions are known for including dozens of San Diego’s best-known and most accomplished talents. “There’s Hector Penalosa of the Zeros and Flying Colour, Bart Mendoza of the Shambles and Manual Scan, Ray Brandes of the Tell Tale Hearts and Mystery Machine, and AJ Croce, they’ve all written songs for me. And Frank Barajas of JuJu Eyeball and Richard Livoni of Comanche Moon have come up with some real great tunes. That's, what, 1000 years of songwriting experience?”

I asked her if it’s ever hard to get promoters to take her seriously because of her gender? “Absolutely, that’s always a problem. It's very hard to get someone to stop looking at your ass and listen to what your saying...believe it or not, it’s still considered pretty wild to be a girl fronting a rock band in this day and age. Occasionally, you'll see a girl fronting a punk band, but that doesn’t count.”

Asked about her worst gig, she says “It wasn't great being called a Nancy Sinatra wannabe in the San Diego Union in a review. But I think the worst was when I was forced to sing the Mary Tyler Moore show theme at a coffeehouse [laughs].”

Wild Weekend – an all-girl (mostly) tribute to local '70s/'80s punk innovators the Zeros -- signed a deal in November 2007 to release two vinyl singles with Spanish indie Munster Records. In the '90s, when the Zeros reunited, the same label released an album and three singles for the Chula Vista rockers.

On November 11, 2007, Wild Weekend actually found themselves performing in the Zeros' stead when the sometime-reunited band was unavailable to play Los Angeles punk club the Masque's 30th-anniversary show. The Plugz, the Eyes, and the Skulls also performed in the legendary venue, which operated for years in the basement of the X-rated Pussycat Theater flagship locale.

Former Zero Robert "El Vez" Lopez, who had caught Wild Weekend that summer at North Park'sPink Elephant bar, recommended the band for the recording project and anniversary show. Lopez's endorsement came to the group's attention when the Munster label MySpace'd the band with an offer to release their music.

"We just made these recordings for fun when we first started playing," says singer Maren Parusel, who also performs in Squiddo (with former Zero Hector Peñalosa) and the Baja Bugs ("They're kind of rough").

The Wild Weekend discs will include versions of "Don't Push Me Around" with "Wimp" on the flipside, and "Black and White" with "Cosmetic Couple" on the B-side. On the cover art, Wild Weekend struck the same poses as the Zeros did for their releases.

Wild Weekend lost their girl-group status in late 2007, after drummer Melissa (aka "Christy Beats") and bassist Kaitlin Kait-O left to concentrate on their own combo, the Atoms. The newly co-ed Wild Weekend now includes guitarist Kelly Alvarez, former Prayers/Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower drummer Brian Hill, and Sexies bassist Wendy Jeffers.

In April 2008, the band released two 7-inch singles (tributes to the Zeros, 'natch), on Spain's Munster Records. Around the same time, they entered the studio with Keith Milgaten from Vision of a Dying World.

(Thanks to Bart Mendoza for Wild Weekend segment)

2 - UNDERAGE SWING DANCERS BATTLE LOCAL LAW

The San Diego Municipal code defines a “teenage dance” as “any event open to the public that allows dancing by teenagers.” A teenager is “any person who is at least fourteen or more years of age but less than twenty years of age.”

Some of the operating provisions in the Teen Dance code (originally drafted in 1967) certainly make sense. No alcohol can be sold, served or consumed on the premises. Nobody has a problem with this, except for perhaps a few alcoholic teens.

Then SEC. 33.1585: “It is unlawful for any person to allow a minor who is thirteen years of age but less than eighteen years of age to be on the premises where there is a teenage dance being held unless such person is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.”

The city code, for many years, made it virtually impossible for Alan Minton to do what he wants to do - run an all age swing dance venue, the Rocket, where teens (and young adults and anyone else) can dress up and get down like forties-era hipsters, withOUT having to tow along one parental unit per teen. Originating in El Cajon (as Rocket Ranch), with country, ska and punk nights, the twice-weekly swing dances were – around 2000 - being held at Vasa Hall, on El Cajon Boulevard near 30th street.

In Minton’s opinion, the ordinance’s restrictions are unfair and based on mistaken assumptions. “Their justification is that dances, dance venues, draw gangs and drugs. But I don’t think anyone’s ever proven that’s the case.”

The San Diego City Council maintains (SEC. 33.1581) that “the operations of teenage dances present an environment with the demonstrated potential for excessive noise generation and disorderly conduct by patrons, particularly at closing time...the Council also finds that dances involving teenagers have the demonstrated potential to attract gang and drug activity.”

Minton says this is ridiculous. “I always read about how we need more positive activities for kids. Now you’ve got one, kids are voluntarily stepping away from negative things in their lives and stepping into something that’s really almost sickeningly wholesome. And you can’t allow them to do this [dance] because somebody else might do something wrong?”

He says he was unaware of the ordinance’s guidelines until around September 1998. “I got up on the [Rocket] stage the following week and announced that anyone who was under 18 and didn’t have a parent would have to leave, and I’d refund their money. We gave back eight hundred some dollars right there on the spot and turned another thirty or forty away that night. Then business just went into the toilet.”

“Soma had to go out and get a concert permit. Meaning that kids could be there unattended until ten, they just couldn’t dance. But that would be difficult for us because swing is all about dancing. What makes it legal to have the same people, the same bands, everything the same except the dancing? This kind of thing [swing] doesn’t attract gangs. The agenda they’re still pushing is to have us adhere to a rigid set of rules. I’m finally of the opinion that they can’t legally do that...they can’t come back and say [someone under eighteen] can be at the Sports Arena or the Coors Amphitheater where adults are, where liquor is served, but you’re not allowed to be at a non-alcoholic swing dance!”

When the City Council scheduled its next meeting, Minton showed up and signed on to the list of citizens who wanted to address the Council. “I was told I’d have three minutes but they cut it to two. I was halfway through getting to my point when Byron Wear said ‘Thank you for showing up.’ ” He says that no indication was given that the Council would consider revising the dance laws.

On December 22nd 1998, Rocket supporters held a rally at downtown’s Civic Center Concourse to “Save Swing for Under 18,” hoping to bring attention to the ordinance. Minton says that more than four hundred people attended. “Barbara Warden from the city council came down on the day of the rally. Juan Vargas danced with the kids and talked about the positive aspects of what we’re doing.” He says he was told that the proposal to update the ordinance was “on the fast track (he laughs). Yeah, really, that’s what they said.”

The drive to revise the law seemed to have supporters on the City Council itself. “I say let the kids dance,” Barbara Warden said in a December statement. “While I believe that keeping our children safe is among our highest priorities, I also believe that we must remain receptive to change, especially when trying to provide alternative activities and opportunities for San Diego youths who might otherwise choose unsupervised or illegal activities.”

Warden said “There may have been good and valid reasons for this law in the '60s. To many adults in 1967, some dance moves were considered shocking. But we’re certainly smart enough to realize that this law was not intended to preclude wholesome after-school and other non-drinking social activities so desperately needed for teenagers in today’s society.”

Warden then sent a memo to City Attorney Casey Gwinn, asking that an amendment to the ordinance be drafted which would “protect our children while allowing for their participation in organized, supervised dance activities.”

The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee met in the City Administration Building, to look at the ordinance and make some suggestions as to revisions and deletions. City Council members on the board included Barbara Warden (chairperson), Christine Kehoe (Vice Chair), Harry Mathis, George Stevens, and Byron Wear. Several members of the public stood up to voice their support for updating the code. Specifically, to change the ordinance so that teens could be supervised without having to bring their own chaperone and to allow dance events to be open to all ages.

Minton from the Rocket spoke once again and was allowed a little more time. “Then Kristine Kehoe got involved. She and Barbara Warden set everything up in motion...they seemed very receptive to what we were doing, very supportive. They referred us to a committee to try to draw up the language that they could approve. So they set us up with the vice squad and the police department (laughs). Now you tell me what I’m gonna get out of either one of those guys! The vice squad is opposed to any changes.”

Minton joined with several supporters to form the Teenage Dance Task Force. Their goal was to change “a hopelessly outdated and self-defeating law which keeps kids from being able to enjoy wholesome, supervised activities like dancing.” His group includes Sharon Wilson of San Diegans United for Safe Neighborhoods, Kevin Six of the San Diego Dance Institute and several parents of patrons at the Rocket.

One of the Task Force’s main problems with the ordinance is its provision that “It is unlawful for any person over the age of twenty years to enter the premises where there is a teenage dance unless that person is an employee of the premises, a parent or legal guardian, or responsible adult, accompanying a minor.”

The city does not want non-parental grown-ups mingling with the kids. By the letter of the law, I could be arrested just for showing up at the Rocket to interview and/or take photographs.

Exceptions are made for cops, emergency personnel or folks connected with the band, “provided that the entertainer or musician is restricted to those areas of the premises necessary to their performance.”

Can’t have those musicians with their loose morals mixing it up with our wholesome, untainted teenagers!

There’s actually a separate, emphatic entry (33.1593) in the code which reads “It is unlawful for any musician or entertainer performing at a teenage dance to mingle with or physically contact the patrons.”

Laws originally drafted back in the days when Jerry Lee Lewis was blowing through town, to be sure.

“The city fears that if adults who aren’t parents can freely mix with underage teens at dances,” says Minton, “then the older patrons will be able to take advantage of younger ones. Now I’ve done this for five years. You make it exclusively teens and you create a lot of problems.”

He explains, “You’ve got two hundred people from thirteen to nineteen. When you have an all ages venue, and you mix in responsible adults, college students and the younger crowd, the fifteen year olds behave more like the adults...kids behave along with the lowest common denominator. Put the adults in and it changes the whole mix [for the better].”

Other provisions Minton has difficulty with: each patron must have “a picture identification card that has been taken within the preceding two years.”

Also, there must be one adult acting as a chaperone for every thirty patrons (originally fifty, until a latterday revision). These chaperones “may not act as the ‘responsible adult’ for purposes of the curfew law,” so these adults are required IN ADDITION TO the adults who must attend with each and every underage patron.

The staff chaperones “must wear an identification badge approved by the Chief of Police.”

Finally, the ordinance states that a premises which hosts a teen dance “must close by 10:00 p.m. on any evening which is followed by a school day. The premises must close by midnight on all other evenings.”

Minton points out that “There are no such restrictions placed on any other activities from concert venues to any other event that kids are allowed to go to...they’re stipulating that my business, unlike any other business in this city, would have to close at ten o’clock.”

When the next/newest revisions to the ordinance were given to Minton to review before the next scheduled city council meeting, he says “It really wasn’t revised. It was the same old thing. Those of us who represent my point of view called and told them we weren’t going to show up for the meeting. There was no point.”

City officials in Vista spent a lot of time grappling with their own problems regarding teen activities, or the specific lack thereof. The city received a $72,717.00 federal grant to hire a consultant to advise on ways to combat teen loitering at retail centers near the high school.

One youth-oriented North County event, a dance with swing nights remarkably similar to the Rocket’s, received both community praise and official accolades.

For several years, the Vista dances were held three Fridays a month at Brengle Terrace Park’s recreation center, sponsored by the Parks and Community Services Department, part of their Late Night Out program. The San Diego Union Tribune reported that the program won an achievement award from the state and was “honored for its innovation and creativity in providing young people with a worthwhile activity.”

“This very thing in Vista,” says Minton, “they’re getting awards. Ironically enough, after that article came out, the parks and recreation department called me and asked me if I would like to take this [the Rocket] up there, in addition to running it down here.”

The same UT article pointed out the all-age mix at the Vista venue, quoting patrons aged fifteen to twenty-seven. “But we can’t do that down here,” says Minton. “It’s just weird.”

Writer Lisa Conway surveyed the scene at the Rocket while writing about swing for Swivel Magazine. “It doesn’t get much more wholesome than that. I could see there being a problem with a place like Soma where it’s an insane atmosphere.” She says that she became a regular at the dances, though she noted that “What was once a booming club is now in rapid decline. It has nothing to do with the club itself or, as some might say, the declining popularity of swing. It has to do with an archaic law that does not allow kids under eighteen to dance without their parents present unless it’s a school or church function.”

On my own first visit to the Rocket, Minton was maintaining a paternal presence just inside the front door, talking to various patrons. “We’ve never had a fight, we’ve never had a confrontation,” he told me.

He said he doesn’t miss running country and rock events. “The swing crowd is the best clientele, the best behaved and most appreciative. A lot of times, young people are getting out their angst and angriness with the vulgarity of a lot of the hip-hop stuff and this is an alternative. There’s no peer pressure here, nobody’s saying ‘let’s go have a joint’ or ‘let’s go get a beer’ or ‘how about having sex.’ It allows these young people to be young people.”

I asked if the legally mandated adult chaperones had to pay the ten dollar admission also. “Only if they participate,” said Minton. “Some of the parents come to dance so they pay. Some come to just sit. They might bring their own kids, they might bring their neighbor’s kids.”

The hall itself was a big open room with a wooden dance floor and an air force hanger style roof. It was brightly lit with white and colored light bulbs. About seventy-five people, teens and older adults, danced as a band played from the stage.

Others were sitting in chairs alongside the floor, the whole tableau looking much like a vintage high school dance only with far too many teachers. Quite a few attendees wore period swing clothes.

In pairs and groups, the dancers showed each other complex moves, picking each other up and flipping and dragging each other and, yes, even jitterbugging.

My mind automatically tinted the scene black and white. A few of the younger folks actually resembled Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, while others could have easily passed as Disneyland employees.

Nearly everyone was meticulously dressed; no greaser or slut clothes in sight. The girls were wearing tights or long dresses, guys in suits - it could have almost been a church group meeting.

One nineteen year old with the unlikely name Jacob Faust told me he’d been coming to Minton’s dances since they were held in El Cajon. “The crowd has changed. It’s a lot different. No one dresses up anymore, not like they did back then. There’s not as many hard-core fans.”

Faust said he’s always had an affinity for swing music, even before it became faddish and hip. He likes Squirrel Nut Zippers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and he even owns his own zoot suit, square shoulder pads and all.

Seventeen year old Noah Henry (biblical and literary names are big with this crowd) looked dapper in a crisp white shirt and black pants, his dark hair neatly trimmed thin white duke style (think Sinatra circa ‘55). He said he’d been coming to the Rocket for six months. “Most everybody here knows each other. The regulars hang out up front. I started [getting into swing] by going to street fairs and stuff, and then my friends told me about this place.”

While we were talking, a perky older woman came up and told me “I’m the swing mom. You want to learn to dance?”

Not wanting to wound either my pride or her feet, I declined. The two of them trotted off happily (one might even say merrily), to dance a dance that I suspect my own mom forgot some half century ago.

Fifteen year old Brittany Krasner, a blonde with “Sassy” cover girl features, said she’d been going to the Rocket every week.

I asked her what she likes about swing. “Oh my gosh, everything. How much fun it is, the people you’re with....it’s a good activity for teens to do, really high energy.”

It’s surreal to hear the names of her favorite performers coming from her fifteen year-old lips. “Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, I like Cab Calloway, Louis Prima...my grandpa was in World War II and when I was thirteen he started showing me all his records and all his pictures. Then I went by here one time and saw some kids practicing and said ‘wait a second.’ And so I walked inside and made all my friends and got hooked.”

If given the chance, what would she want to tell the city council? “Stop being so paranoid and open up your eyes to what you’re missing. This isn’t like a rave party or a concert. This is swing dancing, this is the stuff our grandparents did. There is nothing wrong with this.”

She didn’t think that dances attract a delinquent or criminal element. “What would be safer, us out on the street trying to figure out what to do right now or being in a really healthy, supervised environment? Having a good time with our friends, all of whom don’t smoke, don’t drink and don’t do drugs.”

Though the Rocket is now no-more, Minton and his group kept busy. “We’re having some meetings of our own and putting together our proposal as to what we think is fair and reasonable and conforms to the existing requirements for young people.” He says they went to schools and churches with petitions, as well as spreading the word to patrons who may want to voice support.

“At some point, they have to demonstrate why they want this to be so restrictive. They can’t just say, ‘ah, they draw drugs and gangs.’ They’ve got to have some proof of that. They’d be even harder pressed to come up with information that public dances or concert type venues draw child molesters.”

“If they’ve got some stats to back that up, that would be beyond bizarre.”

3 - HELLO SATAN: DARK METAL IN SAN DIEGO

"Some rock and roll groups stand in a circle and drink cups of blood. Some get on their knees and pray to the devil. Rock and roll hypnotizes us and controls our senses." (Little Richard, quoted in 1974)

The L.A. band Slayer, formed in 1982, was among the first black metal groups to forge this permutation of heavy metal music, characterized by fast strumming, hyperactive guitar solos, distorted tones, chromatic note progressions, fractured rhythms and guttural, barely coherent vocals.

Mid-eighties headbangers like Sodom, Sepultura, Entombed and Morbid Angel willingly encouraged the term “death metal” in reference to their music, more than appropriate considering the atmosphere created by bloody album graphics, nihilist themes and lyrical obsessions with death and Apocalypticism.

Glorifying Satan (portrayed as an actual anthropomorphic being) became a popular motif and marketing axis for groups like Venom, Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, and Danzig, amusing rock critics and horrifying PMRC-minded parents. Most of these bands - tho not all - have one thing in common; using morbid narrative ideals and grotesque imagery as their greatest focus and priority, often (IMO) at the expense of musical form.

Followers of these bands differ as to what constitutes “Black” Metal compared to subgenres dubbed “Death,” “Thrash,” “Hardcore,” “Grindcore” “Speed metal,” etc. For our purposes, the term black/dark metal applies to bands whose music is loud, fast, aggressive, and thematically focused on pain, death and/or occultism.

Norway and Sweden have been and remain hotbeds of black metal, due in part to political and sociological issues too complex and contradictory to go into here. In Norway, the scene, its fans and musicians are inexorably linked to – perhaps not surprisingly – church vandalism and arson.

The only Norwegian band most Americans have heard of is A-ha, but that country's black metal scene has long been home to Satanic cults, onstage animal sacrifices, and over 100 burned churches, some of them torched by Varg Vikernes of the band Burzum.

A local film company - ZU33 – recently made a movie based on the book Lords of Chaos, about Vikernes and his conviction in the early '90s for killing Øystein Aarseth of Mayhem. Directed and co-written by local avant-garde musician Hans Fjellestad (who also helmed the 2004 electronic-music documentary Moog), the film is a somewhat fictionalized account of the infamous "Black Circle" of Norwegian black metallers.

Some people think any band that makes “devil finger” gestures with their hand… …is somehow invoking Satan. While this may sometimes be the case, nowadays the devil fingers are thrown up by anyone and everyone who’s ever been inclined to bang their head. Devil fingers alone do not a black metal band make.

Just ask Ronnie James Dio, who gave a local-centric example in a 2001 interview with Rudezine: “We were doing one of the last ‘Inferno [To Hull And Back]’ shows at a college in San Diego [SDSU 8-3-98] and the audience was full of 20-year-old blonde surfers and short haired college kids, all giving me the [two-fingered devil] sign, which you know I’m the one who made it famous but, I mean, you can see that now at an N’ Synch show where they’re doing the same thing with their hands! It’s lost its meaning, so I hardly ever do it now.”

“The Devil diddled my mom, and I don’t care

Satan whizzed in her mouth but she swallowed and wouldn’t share.”

(“I Saw Mommy Ripped By Satan’s Claws” by Bloodbat)

North County record collector Ivan Torres founded and played guitar with one of the area’s earliest dark metal groups, Bloodbat, from 1987 through the band’s breakup in 1994. “Our bass player was a member of this Satanic cult called Rainbow, so a lot of times we’d have actual factual animal-sacrificing devil worshippers in the audience! Sometimes we’d do covers of King Diamond stuff but we were so sloppy nobody recognized the covers.”

“The most common thing people would say to us after our set was ‘I can’t tell your songs apart, they all sound the same.’ Instead of being insulted, we told ourselves ‘Cool, we have a consistent theme…our own sound!’ We didn’t want to be compared with anyone, not even ourselves.”

Torres recalls “We used to play the old downtown Soma building, and we’d project black and white horror movies on the walls around us while we played. Like, 8 millimeter loops of giant spiders and ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ stuff, way before Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson came along. We weren’t playing for laughs…we were seriously into serial killers and building replicas of torture devices to use onstage.”

“I found a box of 16 millimeter ‘educational’ films at a county auction, and one of them was that bloody driver’s ed movie they used to show to scare the kids…with car accidents and ripped up bodies, brains on the pavement, that kind of thing. Girls in the audience would be screaming and covering their eyes and crying, but those were the same girls who were first in line trying to get backstage and get closer to sick f--ks like us.”

As to their name Bloodbat, "It started as a Kinko's error.,” according to Torres. “We originally called ourselves Bloodbath, but the first time we had show flyers printed up, they cut [the flyers] at the wrong size and cut off the H. We went ahead and got a refund from Kinko's, but we kept the name Bloodbat because we're goth, so blood and bats make sense."

Torres stopped following the local black metal scene around the time Club Xanth on 30th Street near North Park took over the goth club Empire. He says he attended a few editions of “The Catacombs,” Xanth’s monthly dark metal event, featuring area acts with morbidly descriptive names like Noctuary, Gutrot, Mortuus Terror, Abysmal Nocturne and Crematorium.

“But there were too many little vampire girls running around dressed like Morticia,” says Torres, “and I stopped going.” So did a lot of other people - Club Xanth closed down.

Torres says Blue Meannie Records in El Cajon is still his favorite pick as the best local source for related recordings, as well as opportunities for face-to-face time with acts like Cannibal Corpse and Dark Funeral, both of whom have done CD signings at the shop.

“Dark metal started underground, and the real sincere stuff is still on indie labels or self-released,” he says. “I’d rather go see any of the local metal bands than sellouts from the mainstream who try to imitate [dark metal]. Bands like Pantera and Anal C-nt are for rich suburban kids who desperately want to pretend they’re ‘alienated,’ when really they’re just looking for something guaranteed to p-ss their parents off. Some kids think all you have to do is gross out your audience, and you’re playing in the devil’s league.”

“Torn apart, upon a hook, limb from f--king bloody limb.

Carbonized and oxidized, pancreatic ducts ripped out.

Cleaned of all its organs, nephrons smother in their wake.

Bludgeoned with a steak knife, prepare a tasty meal.”

(“Bludgeoned, Beaten, and Barbequed” by Cattle Decapitation)

Local gorehounds Cattle Decapitation don’t barter in occult or Satanic imagery, but neither do they skimp on morbidity and blood ‘n’ guts.

According to their press bio, “Cattle Decapitation brings forth the ideas of vegetarianism with the utmost brutal approach in expression, both musically and imagery…[their] sound will bring elements of older death/grind, inbred with utterly impossible low vocals, while being stabbed by immense drumming.” The group is known for wearing masks made of beef jerky onstage, an apparent statement regarding the trivialization of animal remains for human consumption.

Cattle Decap was originally formed as a member-swapping side project of the Locust (drummer Dave Astor founded the Locust, and former Cattle Decapitation guitarist Gabe Serbian has played drums for the Locust). A good introduction to the band is the remastered "Human Jerky" CD, enhanced with bonus CD-Rom type content playable on any computer, such as live footage from the jerky mask shows, downloadable desktops and a link to the band's website.

Song titles on Human Jerky include “Colon Blo,” “Constipation Camp,” “Roadkill Removal Technician,” and “Parasitic Infestation (Extracted Pus Mistaken For Yogurt, And Gargled).”

The band really began to take off after being signed to Metal Blade Records, home of Satan-loving, makeup-wearing 2008 Grammy Award nominee King Diamond.

On signing with Metal Blade, guitarist Travis Ryan said "To us it is an honor to be chosen by a label that is responsible for such greats as Rigor Mortis, Cryptic Slaughter, Cannibal Corpse and King Diamond as a theater to present to the unfortunate public our brand of extreme music. Being on Metal Blade is going to allow us to reach a higher level of exposure and ability to play in places and in front of crowds that we wouldn't normally be able to, and that is something we need right now."

The group’s debut for Metal Blade, “To Serve Man,” was named after a classic episode of “The Twilight Zone” TV series, wherein nine-foot tall alien “Canamits” utilize an intergalactic cookbook to make lunchmeat out of human beings.

“Alive you are no more

Let them see what my anger's for

Temper's rise - No disguise

I've done my deed - I'll watch you bleed.”

(“My Dying God,” by Daemos)

The four piece band Daemos has been playing San Diego venues since the early-90s, as well as landing slots opening for Judas Priest at L.A.’s House of Blues and for Testament at the Whisky A Go-Go. Guest appearances on local radio stations like KIOZ and San Francisco’s KSJO have elevated interest in the band’s website, Daemos.com, which claims to receive over 275,000 hits yearly.

The group has performed various cover versions of songs by other, on tribute albums like “Megaded” (Megadeth songs – Daemos plays “Looking Down The Cross”) and “SuperCharger Hell” (they cover White Zombie’s “SuperCharger Heaven”). "We're really combining two different worlds," according to bassist Jason St. Aubin. "Our music appeals to the new school crowd as well as diehard metalers."

Guitarist and vocalist Eric Nunes says “Basically my take on music is that any music style can be good if the musicians like what they are doing. That's not to say that everyone can play well. But those that can and stick to their heart are great in my book. One thing that really p-sses me off is a band that is obviously writing and playing music to become rich and/or famous. It makes the rest of us look bad. Plus, if you try to play something that you don't like, it will never sound good.”

“I'm all for having influences,” says Nunes, “that's great, but you need to grow away from those influences and let your own unique style come through. The record labels will come around, once they see people digging your music. At that point you can either tell them to f--k off or give you the freedom you deserve.”

“Raise the battle-axe unto the skulls,

In the bliss of spilling blood on enemy soil.

Towards the synagogue, with thirst for Semite blood,

From a trail of churches burning.

Under the Haunting Moon, with sword in hand I ride

and I exalt the horns of battle towards the sky.

I slay the souls of the Jesuit creed, and bathe in their curdled blood.”

(“Raise The Horns Of Battle,” by Crimson Moon)

Crimson Moon is a recording unit only, comprised of two members and a drum machine. Bassist/vocalist/lyricist Scorpios and his bandmate Nocturnal Overlord (guitars, keyboards, drum programming) wear King Diamond/Kiss style Kabuki makeup – whiteface with black patches curling and dripping around their eyes and mouths to present a patina of WWF level ferocity.

They first surfaced in San Diego in 1994 with a self titled demo release, followed by 1995’s “Into the Nocturnal Forest” demo collection, earning both praise and notoriety for their straightforward and straight-faced obsession with all things occult.

Scorpios is a well-read and fascinating character who writes lengthy, learned manifestos on lucid dreaming, medieval theology and astral projection which he posts on websites (www.geocities.com/kthuluproductions) and emails to fans by request.

In songs like “The Stormbringer,” Scorpios seems to be reading incantation spells direct from some arcane text, summoning “creatures of darkness and hatred” and intoning “For I have consumed the blood that lives forever more, the blood of the Draconis, I drink the blood, the hate of Kingu rages on, the furious tempest unleashes black storms and the chaos crawls beyond the stars, to unleash fury amongst the blackened earth.”

The end passage of “Raise The Horns Of Battle,” after praising the destruction of churches and synagogues and the murder of Jews and Jesuits, includes conjurations to the unholy trinity of Lucifer, Beelzebuth and Astaroth, each ending with a cheeky “Amen.”

Crimson Moon’s 1996 debut CD “To Embrace The Vampyric Blood” (Abyss Productions) contained nine tracks and was recorded on a 4-track machine, as was a 1997 rehearsal performed with a third player on synthesizers, Khaija Ausar, which was later circulated as an “unofficial release” called “Under The Serpentine Spell.”

With no new material and no stage performances over the ensuing years, it seemed the group had disbanded, but Nocturnal Overlord says Crimson Moon has recorded an album archiving all the music they have done to date, including re-recordings of their demos plus three unreleased songs.

“My lyrics in Crimson Moon are occult based and not from a horror movie or fiction book,” according to Scorpios. “It is not an image. It is what we do and we will not change this because it is getting too trendy or too hated, etc. We do this for ourselves.”

He says he rarely reads fiction and especially hates “vampire novels,” but admits his lyrics are often inspired from arcane mythology. “I have studied the myths, magick and lore of not only Sumerian but Babylonian mythology as well. When I say study, I mean going further than just reading and practicing rituals from the Necronomicon."

He seems so sincere, it’s simply buzzkill to point out that the “Necronomicon” is a fictional invention of 20th century gothic writer HP Lovecraft, and texts purporting to have originated in this tome are of recent construct or from other sources entirely.

Discussing his views about Christianity versus Satanism on the San Diego Metal website (www.geocities.com/s_b_resistor/local.html), Scorpios said “They are actually very similar in many ways and they both need each other to exist! Satanism is not what I am into. I have studied much about it but it is basically a Judeo-Christian mutation of a religion. I prefer to go back much further in history to seek information.”

Scorpios says he’s familiar with – but doesn’t place much stock in - the Satanic Bible, written by Anton Szandor LaVey, the man who formed the Church of Satan in 1966. Scorpios claims not to ally himself with the philosophies set forth in this notorious book, which has sold more than 600,000 copies since it was first published by Avon Books in 1969.

“If you read Ragnar Redbeard’s book ‘Might is Right,’ which came out much before LaVey was around, it is interesting to see how many of the same ideas LaVey had! I don’t consider his form of Satanism to be…true Satanism. To me, true Satanism is a form of devil worship, not psychology. The Church of Satan is not much different than any other church, perhaps a bit more honest. They still feed off their followers’ money.”

Scorpios wraps up his commentary with an unctuous grab for the wallets of his own followers – “May chaos reign…and contact Nocturnal Overlord for merchandise (shirts, long sleeves, cds stickers, new promo tape, etc.).”

After all, ancient scrolls, eyes of newt and faux Necronomicons don’t come cheap!

According to Scorpios, “I have another ritual/acoustic project totally devoted to the Dieties of Sumeria/Babylonia called ‘Akrabu.’”

Crimson Moon never performed live until 2006. Core members Scorpios (bass, vocals, lyrics) and Nocturnal Overlord (guitars, keyboards, drum programming) have split and are now battling over the bandname, especially after Overlord announced an impending new CM album (sans Scorpios), with rehearsals already posted online.

“[This] material was recorded between 1997-2000 solely by Overlord on a portable four-track and with an old drum machine,” reads a post on Overlord’s MySpace page.

“Overlord was kicked out [of Crimson Moon] in September of 2006,” according to Scorpios. “This [new CM album] is another one of Overlord's desperate attempts to cause confusion…just because Overlord played in Crimson Moon in the past and decided to steal the logo, name, artwork and concepts that are beyond his limits of understanding, bought out a bunch of domain names and made a MySpace page, doesn't change the fact that he was and will forever remain, kicked out of the band.”

Scorpios has grouped with three others (including a synthesizer player from previous CM recordings) for his own version of CM, with its own new album in progress. “Overlord was not even a member of Crimson Moon when it started in 1994 and released the debut self-titled demo,” he says.

Replies Overlord, “In actuality, Scorpios was released from Crimson Moon in 2006, and has gone around making a fuss, and started childish internet drama ever since. He has even gone as far as to steal artwork, image files, HTML coding, avatars, sound files…[it’s] simply pathetic, and there is no need to explain why he was kicked out. I won’t waste any more time on this.”

Dueling MySpace pages are titled “crimsonmoon666” (Nocturnal Overlord) and “crimsonmoonofficial” (Scorpios).

(Oni Press 2007)

SATAN CAME TO US: DEEP INSIDE THE DEVIL

“Satan came to us and told us that San Diego needs to experience a Black Metal revolution,” according to the MySpace page for Ruines ov Abaddon, based in La Mesa. This for me raised several questions, to which the band replied in an unsigned message.

Approximately when did Satan arrive? “3 a.m. on February 3rd.”

Was he basically human, or did he have one of those goat bodies or stag heads or something? “Perhaps it was his beady eyes, frowning like he’s looking into the glare of the sun, or his overly large ears, [but] his Texan accent and inability to enunciate reminded us of good old George W. Bush.”

Can you quote what he told you as closely as possible? “He’s actually more conversational than he seems. You would think him being the Lord of the Underworld, he would have more important matters to take care of…He’s quite the inspiration, you should hear him talk about everything he’s been through.”

Did Satan explain WHY San Diego needs a Black Metal revolution? “Because the music industry has sold out and is producing repetitive, untalented noise they’re labeling as music. Satan seemed quite upset as he explained this.”

Did you and Satan discuss anything else? “He actually mentioned that if, in the upcoming election, another Republican like, say, John McCain became President, he was going to have to burn down the entire United States.”

What else can you tell us about Satan? “He’s good with his anger management.”

Interestingly, a promoter in Mexico tried not too long ago to book a show COMBINING black metal bands with Christian groups!

It was billed as "Hell and Heaven United," with Satan-loving Slayer co-headlining with Christian rockers Stryper. However, this Monterrey Metal Fest event in Nuevo León, Mexico, scheduled for September 23rd ’06, was derailed "due to Slayer not wanting to share the stage with Stryper," according to an e-mail from show promoters.

"This came as a shock to us after eight months of long and very complicated negotiations with Slayer's booking agent,” said promoters. Even before Slayer's cancellation was announced, the band's website had indicated that they'd be appearing in Mexico City on the same day as the Monterrey festival. A band press release cited "personal reasons" for the pullout.

"I was literally booking our plane and hotel reservations when they sent word not to confirm anything yet," says Veronica Freeman, singer for local band Benedictum.

Slayer's album Christ Illusion, was released 6-6-06; on their website that day, the band urged fans to "desecrate a few churches." The entreaty was removed a day later, after several churches reported being defaced by depictions of the band's logo.

Since not all black metal bands have Satanism in common, nor is grotesque imagery mandatory to qualify, what DO most all black and dark metal bands have in common?

All the band logos look like they were designed by the same guy!!!!!!!!

4 - HISTORY OF DEATH METAL - COMIC STRIP BY JAS & SCOTT PENTZER

YOUTUBE GEM: Here's "Humanure: The Art Show," inspired by the veggies-no-meat music of our own Cattle Decapitation:

5 - GOTHS FOR JESUS: PASTOR DAVE’S CHRISTIAN GOTHS

"The Lord said...'Stretch your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread...darkness that can be felt.'" Exodus 10:21

Old school “goth” can be traced back to the third and fourth centuries, when a Germanic tribe known as the Visigoths waged war against the Roman empire throughout Eastern and Southern Europe. They didn’t wear eyeliner but they did collect skulls and gaudy silver jewelry. Later, an architectural style called “gothic” became popular, favoring wrought iron trim, gargoyle draped columns, cathedral spires and belfries suitable for bats.

As far as ideology and fashion goes, 19th century poet Lord Byron and Frankenstein author Mary Shelley were most certainly goth, with their dark clothes, powdered white faces, poofy laced sleeves, depressive outlooks and morbid imaginations. Musically, goth culture coalesced with the minor-chord melancholy of 80s bands like Joy Division, The Cure, Fields of the Nephilim, Sisters Of Mercy and Siouxsie And The Banshees.

Back then, the darkly dressed in San Diego congregated at now defunct venues such as the Skeleton Club, the original downtown Soma and clubs like Stratus and SubNation. In the late 90s, the place to be pale was Crocodile Rock, which regularly held goth-themed events like Soil, Savage Garden and Seventh Chamber. Trenchcoats and jewelry in the form of a religious cross were common, but one older gentleman haunting the scene wore both in a somewhat more official capacity - Christian Pastor Dave Hart, who was there not to dance but to find what he calls “disenfranchised youth” in need of counsel and guidance.

“I became one of those ‘born-agains’ back in 1970, during the Jesus People days” says Hart, or Pastor Dave, as he likes to be referred. “I had a hard time settling on a church or denomination, because like most hippies in those days, I was distrustful of organizations and institutions and I suppose I retain some of that attitude to this day.”

He says he originally had no intention of going to seminary school, considering organized religion “just another institution that ultimately would crush my faith. But eventually I became convinced that I was ‘called’ to be a minister of some kind, and found myself at Talbot - the graduate seminary connected to BIOLA College in Orange Country. After I graduated [with a Master's Degree in Christian Education], I tried my hand at youth work, but found myself unable to steer successfully through the politics of the church system, and kept getting fired.”

After a stint in the Navy, as a drug and alcohol counselor, he noticed young people increasingly warming up to the word of God, at least when those words were dressed in rock and roll clothes. This led to him promoting local mid-eighties concerts by Christian heavy metal bands, such as Stryper and others.

He recalls one show at the Fox Theater featuring Christian punk rockers Undercover. “The Dead Kennedys had been in that theater two weeks before and the fans had torn the place apart. The vice squad was on the alert for any punk bands and shut us down while they [the band] were trying to load in - just on general principle."

"They ‘discovered’ that we were missing a permit. This was at 4:45 pm and the permit office shut down at 5pm so there was no time to go get the permit - convenient, huh?” He says he’d secured all the same approvals utilized at previous events with no problems. “Refunding the money back to twelve different Christian bookstores all over the county was a real headache.”

In the course of promoting shows, Pastor Dave says many of the young people he met yearned for spiritual guidance, while disdaining most forms of organized religion. “These kids already tend to view the traditional church with disgust and distrust. Feeling they have been misjudged, misunderstood, and/or manipulated by the church, they have rejected Christianity as hypocritical, cruel and irrelevant.”

This inspired him to launch a rock and roll driven youth ministry. “I had a meeting with a young Christian metal-head named Steve Gray, who was DJing a metal show on Palomar College radio. Soon we had a regular group meeting in my apartment on Monday nights, which we called The Rock and Roll Refuge. We did this for about two years with about 30-35 kids crammed into my tiny living room.”

When Hart heard about a similarly named group operating in Redondo Beach near L.A., he sensed a perfect match for his own San Diego ministry. Founded in the mid-80s, Pastor Bob Beeman’s “Sanctuary: The Rock And Roll Refuge” attracted hundreds of people to its Sunday services, as well as promoting events featuring the big name Christian rockers of the day – Barren Cross, Deliverance, Precious Death and others.

“Both ministries were birthed out of our relationship to Stryper," he says. "The only difference was that what I had been doing for three months, he'd been doing for two or three years…I was eventually ordained through Pastor's Bob's Sanctuary, and I became the infamous Pastor Dave.”

From the start, he was particularly interested in goth kids. He saw in them a fondness for the iconography and rituals endemic to church tradition (crosses, candles, incantations, etc.), as well as great intellectual capacity, emotional depth and spiritual yearning. “[Goths] are into art, poetry, and music. They are passive, introspective, and can be dramatically emotional. They can also be too self-absorbed, brood to a fault, and they internalize everything, even things that have nothing to do with them! As a group and as a rule, goths take their stress and pain out on themselves, not on others - cutters, piercers, slicers, suicide addicts - they will beat themselves up in their guilt and their sorrow to prove how real their pain is.”

Instead of trying to bring teens into church, Pastor Dave took his pulpit to wherever goths gathered - the Empire Club (30th Street North Park, later Club Xanth), which hosted mostly 18+ and all-age events, the Sin-Klub (inside Club Elements on University Avenue), Club Luminal (Tuesday nights at Hamburger Mary's) and Therapy, then held the first Friday of every month at Club Xanth (North Park) and every other Friday at The Flame in Hillcrest. “I try to go wherever there might be interesting sub-culture experiences…last summer I went to Comic-Con and the Tattoo Convention. I have been to a Wiccan Handfasting and occasionally get into a confrontation with a Satanist or two.”

Today’s most notable goth gatherings take place on Wednesdays at Kadan (Darkwave Garden) and Sundays at Club Montage on Hancock Street (Underworld).

A local volunteer organization called Goth Help Us regularly organizes beach clean-ups and other civic-minded endeavors.

Those who seek Pastor Dave’s advice aren’t told that aligning themselves with the goth lifestyle is a mistake, but they are counseled on its negative aspects.

"These kids romanticize death," he says. "They romanticize the blade, the blood that trickles down.” He says he was once invited by a fifteen-year old goth girl to attend a ceremony where her friends cut themselves and drank each other’s blood from a cup, believing the ritual to be a rite of passage into vampirism.

Rather than shrink away in horror or scream “Blasphemy,” the pastor clinically instructed them on health risks such as A.I.D.S. and Hepatitis. He says the girl ended up dedicating herself to Christianity.

The Sanctuary website is promoted as "a fellowship of Christian misfits.” Though delivered in an unusual manner, in unorthodox places, the message preached by Pastor Dave is textbook – or “Good Book” - Christianity. He urges young people not to use drugs, to avoid promiscuity, not to cut themselves and to steer clear of other self-destructive habits. He reminds them that Jesus himself was a social outcast and political iconoclast whose best friends didn’t understand him.

He points out that vampirism is a poor man’s translation of the salvation and personal power given to humanity via the blood of Jesus, and that Christ’s crucifixion was the most intense body piercing session in recorded history. These commonalities make it possible, he says, to embrace both goth and Christianity, while remaining true to the ideals of both.

Liquid Grey is a local DJ I contacted some time ago, when we were both members of the online mailing list and discussion group sdgoth.org. Replying to a list of queries I posted to the group soliciting their opinions about Christian Goths, Grey said “That would be kinda like the Homosexual Nazis or something paradoxical...the whole idea behind the [gothic] culture is freedom of the mind and soul, not imprisonment of them. A place to exist without judgment and forced conformity.”

Asked whether it’s possible to be a Christian goth, Grey says “I have met a couple people who have tried to have this point of view, but they were bigots and people have a way of contradicting themselves anyway…when I think of goth rock and the subculture around it, there is definitely a religious influence to it, in that it is averse to Christianity. However, in the current culture that exists locally, it is more of a complete separation from this or any religion.”

Bynner Drake responded to my post to say “Reconciling ‘Goth’ and ‘Christian’ is like reconciling Hip-Hop and Islam...or Folk Guitar and Zoroastrianism. One is an aesthetic and one a spirituality. And few things have caused greater suffering on this Earth than the implication that the depth or validity of one's faith can be judged by the outward forms of its expression, or lack thereof. The very notion creates a culture of convert-by-the-sword conformism where people are persecuted for not being sufficiently conspicuous in their ‘Rendering unto Caesar,’ as it were. Dangerous ground for a free society.”

Another sdgoth list member, Nick, AKA “DJ Aeon,” says the gothic scene has nothing to do with religion. “I was raised Christian and realized that it was completely the wrong thing for me when I was about fourteen. I've been following a Wiccan path since I was sixteen. According to the Christian/ Catholic bible, I should be killed for that. ‘Suffer not a witch to live’.” He says Christianity still makes him uncomfortable. “Everyone I know is strong enough that they find their own path everyone in this scene is very tolerant of every spiritual path. No one really cares what you believe as long as it doesn't involve hurting anyone.”

These insights from sdgoth members were offered in defiance of dozens of message posts warning them not to speak with me, citing the media’s tendency to portray goths as Satanic cultists seething with hate and malevolence and prone to violence against others.

It’s easy to understand their paranoia, especially considering the reporting that followed the shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado. In the weeks following the shootings, Pastor Dave was interviewed by radio, TV and newspaper reporters convinced that the killing somehow stemmed from adherence to goth culture.

“I tried to tell people that the [Columbine] gunmen were not gothic,"says Pastor Dave, "and most of the true goths I know were bright, talented, young people who could never perpetrate something like this. But after all was said and done, it's a moot point. This tragedy has put the gothic sub-culture in the public eye in a way that not even a year of [Marilyn] Manson's ‘Anti-Christ Superstar’ tour could…all things dark and black will now be labeled gothic. Anyone singing sad songs in a black dress will automatically become gothic.”

Sanctuary’s cyber-minister “Wayno” Guerrini witnessed this damning misconception in action while watching a TV news report on KGTV Channel 10, focusing on local goth culture. Dismayed by the portrayal of goths as obsessed with evil and hate, he e-mailed Bill Griffith, the station’s morning and midday news anchor.

Griffith has been with KGTV since 1976, hosting the long-running daily show "Inside San Diego" as well as the station’s “Charger Report” which, for ten years, followed ABC’s “Monday Night Football” coverage. Wayno’s initial letter and the subsequent volley of e-mail is posted at www.gothic.net, samples of which include the following:

Cyber Minister Wayno: “Dear Bill, I work with Pastor Dave Hart, whom your station interviewed last night. That same interview re-ran on the 11am news, which you anchor, today. You made a statement today which is totally false: You said that most goths are into Adolph Hitler. You could not be farther from the truth! Most of these kids are into Philosophers like Nietzche (sp), not Hitler. Please, don't start a witch hunt where none is warranted. As Dave said last night, goths are into self-inflicted pain, not into inflicting pain on others.”

Bill Griffith's response: “Thanks much for the e-mail. I respect your viewpoint – and Pastor Hart’s – as coming from someone who works with ‘goths,’ but I plead with you not to excuse or underestimate the deeply disturbed nature of this movement. It takes only a cursory look through the internet under ‘goth’ to see the kind of Satanic, nihilistic, anti-Christian credo the ‘goth’ culture adheres to. Just because some goths don’t follow every tenet doesn’t mean we should ignore their world view.”

Sanctuary’s ministry stresses that the world view of Goth culture is anything but anti-Christian. The gothic lifestyle values the importance and value of individuality. Passivity and tolerance of others are treasured ideals, and vegetarianism, volunteerism and humanitarianism are common in practice. Goth kids have even cultivated an image of themselves as a “chosen people,” special in the eyes of a contemporary, post-Millenium God.

This concept is encouraged and reinforced by Pastor Dave. “I believe that the Christian gothic/industrial community has been called for [in] such times as these,” he preaches on the Sanctuary website. “Who else is more prepared to deal with dark days and painful times? You are a tribe of poet/priests and poet/warriors called to fight the darkness you know so well. Like Stryder and the Northern Rangers in ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ you will be used to fight the shadows of fear and terror in the dark forests and murky swamps which lie outside the boundaries of the land of the Hobbits…be confident in your unique calling. You are a chosen tribe, a holy nation of priests.”

“Be ready to die,” says Pastor Dave. “To your old life, to your dreams, to your glory, to your sin-nature, to this world, to this body. Remember it's all going to burn. Remember that our suffering will not last forever.”

6 - RACIST ROCK: DO THE WHITE THING

"Throughout history, music has been used to recruit and unify ultra-right movements. A lot of people think the Third Reich couldn’t have happened without Wagner. For Skinheads, who follow the concept of leaderless resistance, white power music is what binds them." (Carl Raschke, Professor Of Religious Studies, University of Denver)

"White power" rock music provides the rallying call which unites racists and Nazi-inclined "Skinheads" hoping to develop a common culture - or at least present the appearance of one. Bands like Ethnic Cleansing, Extreme Hatred, Grinded Nig and Angry Aryans expouse hostile ideology directed against non-whites, particularly anyone of Negro or Jewish descent.

Racist rock is angry, nihilistic music, advocating intolerance, if not actual violence, against minorities. The great-grandaddy of the genre is 1960s singer Johnny Rebel, who recorded songs like "Some N--rs Never Die (They Just Smell That Way)."

Later, pro-white rock was dubbed "Oi!" music, goosestepping from the skinhead and punk subcultures of the '70s ("Oi" was a common greeting in the British Cockney dialect).

Skinhead style - shaved heads, Doc Marten boots, thin suspenders, rough trade tattoos and reverence for weight training and beer - originated as the working class antithesis of the hippie look and philosphy.

Adherants were prone to violence and criminal hooliganism from the start but turned toward national socialism and racial issues in the early '80s. Not all Skinhead groups are racist but, for the purposes of this essay, the term is used to refer to white supremacist variety.

The first rock stars embraced by the Skinhead movement came out of England - Ian Stuart Donaldson (Skrewdriver), Ken McLellan (Brutal Attack) and Paul Burnley (No Remorse), for example. In 1982, Skrewdriver headlined the first of many "White Power" concerts, though the event was called "Rock Against Communism" to disguise its theme.

By 1987, band leader Ian Stuart Donaldson was publishing a magazine called "Blood & Honour," the same words inscribed on daggers issued by Hitler to the SS Youth Corps. America's entry in the hate sweepstakes came out of Minnesota with the album "Warrior's Glory," the first call to arms from Bound For Glory, and soon Skinheads and neo-Nazis alike were pogo-ing and pounding each other to the strains of similar U.S. based knuckleheads like the Bully Boys and Midtown Bootboys.

The Oi! Boys, a neo-Nazi skinhead club, established one of the first internet websites devoted to racist rock music. It makes constant reference to the music of Skrewdriver's Ian Stuart Donaldson, who died in a 1993 car accident, advocating violence even more directly than Donaldson's in-your-face lyrics.

The Oi! Boys site also includes a page called "BootParty," featuring people said to deserve being kicked in the head by Skins wearing steel-toed boots. "This here is N--r Nate. Him and his mama are holding a N--r hunting tag that was gave [sic] to him. This story made the front page in the newspaper 'cause his mama is in the NAACP. N--rs Are Always Causing Problems. The one thing that his mama doesn't know is that her son is a gangbanger and his getto-slang [sic] name is Chicago. Well if you see this N--r, kick him in the [expletive] head."

American hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Hammerskin Nation (a Skinhead enclave originating in Dallas in 1989) didn't take long to realize the potential of hatecore music, and of the internet, to attract and convert alienated, antisocial young people to the white supremacist movement.

White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is based in San Diego, headed by KKK poster boy and white warlord Tom Metzger, who refers to Skinhead followers as his "shock troops for the white revolution." The WAR website features crude cartoon caricatures of blacks and Mexicans intended to celebrate worldwide "racial and cultural separatism."

Metzer declares white skinned people as "Nature's finest handiwork...your race and only your race must be your religion." WAR offers not just ideological guidance but also tactical advice on how to use violence to squash minorities and non-white cultural influences. In 1987, he booked several Skinhead bands for an "international punk white power record album." That record was "The Spirit Of Oi," released on London-based White Noise Records.

Metzger, who is well into his sixties, went bankrupt after a $12.5 million civil judgment was levied against him for his part in encouraging behavior which resulted in the beating death of an Ethiopian man by skinhead followers. However, Metzger still manages to publish an inflammatory tabloid magazine (also titled "WAR") which promotes Holocaust denial and ethnic cleansing, targeting the Skinhead demographic with ads for mail order racist rock recordings and videos of hatecore music festivals. The magazine is distributed from vendor booths at white rock gatherings and concerts as well as on the internet by most of the supremacist record labels.

These white power labels became prolific between 1992 and 1997, many of them founded in Sweden (Ragnarock Records, Nordland Records) and elsewhere in Europe, benefitting from the fall of Communism and relaxed trade restrictions. U.S. labels specializing in hate-themed music also thrived, such as Tri-State Terror of Pennsylvania, whose roster includes Mudoven. The cover of Mudoven's CD "Aryan Vs. Alien" sports a photo of corpses in a German concentration camp.

Another Tri-State act, Blue Eyed Devils, has a record called "Murder Squad" featuring a cover photo of three lynched Jews. However, it is Michigan-based Resistance Records which has, from the start, been America's best-known racist rock label, even publishing its own propaganda magazine.

Resistance was incorporated in 1994 by George Burdi and members of WCOTC, a Canadian chapter of an anti-Semitic group calling itself the World Church of the Creator. "Music alone cannot save our Race," Burdi said on his website, "but our music is precious to us, and highly effective as a recruiting tool."

He says supremacist rockers had difficulty getting recorded until Resistance came along. "Suddenly, it went from a couple of white power labels to a couple of hundred...I let everyone use our stuff. After all, I was motivated by altruism." At the time, Burdi sang and wrote lyrics for the Skinhead rock group RaHoWa, an acronym for "racial holy war."

"The concerts were crazy," remembers Burdi. "Friends would beat each other up and then laugh about it afterwards, with their eyes swollen shut and their noses broken and picking their teeth up off the ground."

"Kill all the n--s and you gas all the jews.

Kill a gypsy and a coloured too.

You just killed a k-ke. Don't it feel right?

Goodness gracious, darn right"

(From "Third Reich" by RaHoWa)

Burdi's record label was soon selling upwards of 50,000 white power CDs annually. However, the company was thrown into chaos in 1997 due to an American tax dispute and prosecution in Canada for distributing "hate material."

At the time, Burdi was serving a one-year prison sentence for kicking a female anti-racism protestor in the face at a 1993 RaHoWa concert. The Resistance catalog had grown to over two hundred titles and the label reportedly shipped around fifty orders each day, grossing nearly a million dollars yearly.

Resistance moved its headquarters to California and changed hands in April 1999, falling under the ownership of William Pierce, one-time head of an American neo-Nazi group called the National Alliance.

Pierce paid $250,000.00 for the label and its assets. "All too often we turn [our anger] against ourselves," said Pierce. "We need to give a proper direction to that anger…[Resistance Records] will be the music of the great, cleansing revolution which is coming." Pierce also bought the Swedish hatecore label Nordland, including its inventory stock and American band contracts, for $50,000.00.

Pierce had previously outlined his views on the importance Skinhead recruitment in March 1995 on his "American Dissident Voices" radio show. "What we have to do is encourage in every way we can the growth of the racially conscious portion of the Skinhead community...we have to give young people back their sense of identity. We have to give them purpose and direction again."

Around the same time that Pierce took control of Resistance, Aggressive Force was emerging as Orange County's flagship white power rock band. Their songs bear unmistakably racist titles like "It's O' Kay To Be White."

"Our first gig was at a place here in OC about two years ago," says the group's singer Brian online, "and we played with Youngland and Extreme Hatred. Well, the lady who booked the show for us had also booked a show for Extreme Hatred a few years back...[that] turned into a riot and the place was totalled. Little did she know that she had just booked them again plus two other WP [white power] bands."

"You should've seen the look on her face when carloads of Skins started pulling up. All I know is I heard her screaming 'Oh no, not again,' waving her muddy arms up in the air, 'it's the Nazi's again!' Capitalistic mud wench finally shut her face when she saw all the people paying to get in and all the bar sales."

"Since then, we have gotten our own place that loves to have us play and splits the door money with us to get other bands out here to play. We have our own security team and they keep the muds [dark skinned people] out, for the most part. One time this beaner [Mexican] just happened to cruise in, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We gave him a party and kindly showed him the door where a police escort was waiting for him that the owners had called...he was 'starting fights,' ha ha."

Regarding the racial climate in southern California, Brian says "There are n--rs here but the majority of the dung is Mexican and g--ks. The zipperheads out here have a town called Little Saigon, a name apply given to this large cesspool filled with ornamental written signs, g--k gangs, and dry cleaners. The beans are 'equal opportunity invaders' and pretty much ruin any place in O.C. they can get their greasy mittens on to. A common scene here is a pregnant bean pushing a double-stroller with a string of four baby beans being drug behind her on the way to the welfare office. We dig it because they do not use the crosswalks, are slow, and having such a large litter with them they equal more points!"

This statement refers to a game called "Death Race" wherein point values are assigned to pedestrians who can be hit with a motor vehicle.

By the late '90s, the U.S. was infested with the likes of Angry White Youth, Kick To Kill, Gestapo SS, H8Machine (formerly known as Dying Breed), Hatemonger, Final Solution, Mullet, Patriotic Front and The Brawlers. The latter band, from Kansas City, is known for their song "Dead N--r Storage Box":

"We're open for business and we're packing them in.

Got forty n--s in a garbage bin.

On the streets they're selling crack,

got ten more in a burlap sack.

Roll down the window, say 'What's up cuz?'

They reply back 'Not much, blood.'

Stick the shotgun out the window,

guess what, yo, you know where you're going to go?"

Though never signed to a hatecore label, the Santee based group InSanitee managed to earn some national press by provoking audience violence during performances.

Among their first gigs was a festival in Lake Havasau Arizona - not a racist event but promotors were apparantly unaware of set list titles like "Jewboy Roasting On A Fiery Cross" and "El Cajon Sand N--s." As the band played the all-age event, horrified parents hustled children away from the stage and delighted skinheads - many of them friends of the band - formed a rowdy mosh pit.

Anti-racist bystanders shouted angrily at bandmembers and were rewarded with beatings administered by Skinheads, seven of whom were arrested for assault. InSanitee also promoted itself as a "high school dance band" without disclosing their racist focus, instigating at least one teenage riot in Escondido in 1999.

Some concert events willingly announce themselves as racist gatherings. Using the Internet as a promotional vehicle, the Ku Klux Klan has staged successful hate rock concerts.

In May 2000, the Imperial Klans of America held a three day concert, Nordic Fest, in Powderly, Kentucky, co-sponsored by Panzerfaust Records (founded in September 1998 by former Resistance Records employee Eric Davidson). Around 500 American and overseas attendees accessed transportation and event information using the guestbook at Panzerfaust's password-protected website (guestbooks serve as electronic bulletin boards).

Another Nordic Fest was held in May 2001 and other recent gatherings include Peckerwoodstock, Skinfest '98, Oi Bash '99 and Oi2K.

Even skinhead extremists Hammerskin Nation now sponsor a travelling racist rock festival called Hammerfest. The Hammerskin website announces "The exact location will not be disclosed until the weekend of the concert...beginning Friday before the show. A cell phone will also be activated for people to contact, for directions."

The Eastern Hammerskins once had to cancel an event in Baltimore, Maryland at the last minute after local music venues became aware that the concert's theme was white supremacy.

Locally, hatecore concerts are difficult to stage, even with the James Bondian subterfuge. A "benefit" show sponsored by the California branch of Blood And Honor, intended to raise money for a CD compilation featuring neo-Nazi bands, was scheduled for August 19th 2001 at an Anaheim club called the Shack.

The bar was overwhelmed by angry phone calls from anti-racist activists, picket lines and negative media attention in the days before the event and it was subsequently cancelled.

Part of the Shack's reluctance to follow through with the concert stemmed from local reaction to an earlier event on June 24th, headlined by Brutal Attack, Aggressive Force and Extreme Hatred. Press reports had expressed particular outrage over the band Youngland, which performed a song called "Thank God I'm A White Boy" to the tune of John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," followed by a cover of Johnny Rebel's "N--r Hatin' Me."

The Nationalist Observer and its website loves white rock and roll too. They provide links to other supremacist clubs and hatecore music distributors on their website, as well as offering daily propaganda via an old school telephone message line.

The Observer was founded by Alex Curtis, operating out of what used to be his family's laundry room in Lemon Grove. Curtis uses the website to promote cooperation between "White nationalists, White separatists, Skinheads, National Socialists, Ku Klux Klansmen and Identity Christians." His "Tribute to Jewry" is a doctored photo of what he calls "Jew York City," after being blown up by an atom bomb.

On the Nationalist Observer website, he nominated the teen-agers charged with brutally beating field workers in Carmel Valley as "Aryans of the Month"

Among the organizations championed by the Observer are the Hammerskins, The American Nazi Party, Wake Up Or Die ("Powerful [web]page for regaining our forgotten courage"), Vinland Records ("Source for foreign music"), S.S. Enterprises ("Racist record producer") and White Power Music Dot Com, as well as the ubiquious record labels Panzerfaust and Resistance.

While attending SDSU in 1997, Curtis was charged with using La Mesa Police insignia without permission on flyers he'd distributed which described La Mesa as a "nonwhite sewer" and urged citizens to work with police in identifying undesirable "criminal minorities" and "interracial couples."

Curtis once told a reporter, via email, about watching news reports about the Columbine High School shootout in Littleton Colorado. "I did not feel remorse. Instead I was ecstatic and prayed that the shooters were open racists."

On the other side of the battlefield, pointedly anti-racist bands are popping up, such as the Red Skins and International Jet Set. Many feature mixed-race lineups, called "two-tone" groups, and this sort of activism is music to the ears of an organization founded in San Diego known as S.H.A.R.P., or Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice.

Anti-Nazi fanzines like Zoot and Spy Kids have also raised their profiles in recent years, as more and more teenagers react against the incursion of Skinheads and other race-baiters in high schools and mosh pits all over America.

After his release from prison, Resistance Records founder George Burdi severed his ties with the white power movement. He joined a band which included two black members, and now looks back with wry amusement at his attempts to recruit Skinheads to help achieve white supremacy.

"A large percentage of Skinheads, especially in North America, are really hardcore alcoholics," he says now. "It’s too much to expect them to put fliers on cars, but they’ll jump at the chance to buy beer. There’s a real irony in the fact that Hitler would have exterminated most of these guys as social deviants."

Asked how he feels today about calling for racial extermination in songs like "Third Reich," Burdi says "I didn’t write the music or the lyrics for that song...but the people who bought it, they wanted to listen to it and probably already had those ideas in their heads."

Mark Noah's punk band Anti-Heros records for San Diego-based Taang! Records. In the '80s, the group wrote several observational songs about the Skinhead movement for their albums "That's Right" and "Don't Tread On Me."

"It's 'reality rock,'" he says, admitting that, at one time, Anti-Heros didn't mind the occasional audience riot. "We don't try to get all of our crowd to come out and smash things up, or kick people...but it does have a very strong anti-social bent to the lyric construction, or the texture of the music, and, you know, it attracts people that are angry."

But the band is adament about not being considered part of the Skinhead scene. New Line Cinema recently approached Taang! about using Anti-Heros music in a movie about Nazi skinheads. "They wanted to have the inside of this Nazi's room covered with Anti-Heros posters and lyrics, and have him listening to us, and I was like, 'F--- that! Who wants to be painted up like that?' That's the Hollywood version of what this music is, and it's wrong."

Hard rock hero Henry Rollins, who headed one of punk's original front line bands Black Flag, laughs at the notion that white people in America are being driven to extinction. "White people in this country have no clue as to what oppression is," he told VH1 for a Race Rock special.

"I do not know what it’s like to walk into a restaurant and have the staff go, 'Okay, skin color - dodgy. Make 'em pay before they get their order.' My whiteness gives me credibility. I can look low rent, but with this white skin, I will get served. I never understood why rap guys wore the gold on the outside until I started hanging out with some of them...they have to say 'see, I can afford my Grand Slam at Denny’s because I have enough gold. I’m good for the bill.' "

Rollins downplays the influence racist rock bands have on young people. "Let’s not overestimate the sway these corny bands have. They’re really bad. They got no beats, no chops, and just read text when they sing. Their music is like Jamiroquai. It sucks. At the end of the day, people go for better music, but these guys won’t become better musicians."

WHITE THING ADDENDUM

While visiting family in rural northern Georgia, I learned that Hammerfest, aka "The Racist Woodstock," would take place nearby. The event would include sometime-Fallbrook resident Tom Metzger performing karaoke between sets by Whitelaw, Kremator, and Definite Hate.

Metzger, onetime Grand Dragon of the California Ku Klux Klan, was one of the first people to recognize the recruiting potential of white-power music. He has released tape and CD compilations to raise money for his causes.

Hammerfest organizers kept the locale secret until Thursday, only telling attendees (via the stormfront.org website) to book rooms near Douglasville and Lithia Springs. A number of tattooed skinheads and bikers arrived and filled area hotels. When directions were posted online, they indicated that the show would take place Saturday and Sunday at the Georgia Peach Restaurant and Museum, which is run by a convicted sex offender. The museum's relics include black lawn jockeys eating watermelon, "Whites Only" signs, and photos of lynchings.

I hid my long hair under a beanie and drove to the concert site (at which the NAACP later protested). Police were milling around, and I could see people gathered in a field alongside a ramshackle barn building near the restaurant. A security checkpoint had been set up by "Hammerskin Nation Security Personnel," who wore red shirts and black armbands.

I could hear a band playing (badly) and I saw several dozen people walking in and out of the fenced-in area. I don't think there were more than 400 people in attendance, though I was unwilling to pay $35 to enter and see. I asked a guard when Metzger's karaoke session was scheduled.

"He's your hero, too, huh?" said the guard. I nodded slightly, attempting neither affirmative nor negative conviction. The guard assumed the former, possibly sparing my skull from being summarily split. "He's going on [stage] tomorrow, but he's here today; I heard he's walking around, talking to people and checking out the bands."

I returned Sunday to catch Metzger's act, but, near midnight, another band was abusing their equipment and nobody knew when he'd go on.

7 - CREEPY OLD GUY GOES TO A RAVE

Okay, I know chances are good that my sideburns are older than a lotta people reading this blog. I’m old. How old AM I? I'm old enough to have…

a) …bought Beatles records while they were still together…

b) …witnessed Yaz in action, back when the name made you think of Fenway Park, not PMS pills, in a time when guys thought menstrual cycles were Italian bikes…

c) …carried an HR Pufnstuf lunchbox to school, with actual lunches inside rather than half-ounces of leafy, green puffin’ stuff…

d) …seen the first moon landing, live, as it was actually being faked…

e) …mailed in my vote for Quisp over Quake, for the Rabbit to get some Trix, and letters demanding the return of Star Trek (the FIRST time it was cancelled) and Lost In Space (if only in hopes of seeing the Robinsons finally throw Doctor Smith out the airlock once and for all)…

f) …played Pong on a sit-down arcade console…

g) …paid 65 cents for the first gallon of gas I ever bought, for the first car I ever drove (an AMC Gremlin...green)…

h) …watched Battlestar Galactica back when the fleet was led by the guy from Bonanza, Starbuck was still a guy, and the Cylons still wore silver painted pants and were ruled by an ambulatory bubble gum dispenser (who sounded suspiciously like the aforementioned Doc Smith)…

i) …seen Zeppelin with Bonham…

j) …Pink Floyd with Waters…

k) …Van Halen with Diamond Dave…

l) …Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny…

m) …Tull with John Glasscock (five times!)…

n) …Sabbath with Ozzy/before Dio…

o) …and Skynyrd with Ronnie & Wilkeson & Collins & Gaines AND the other Gaines!

So, yeah, I’m old. Worth bearing in mind as you read this account of my exploratory trips awhile back to three local rave parties.

For a tutorial in rave fashion, I first read the message board archives at socal-raves. The group philosophy stresses individualism and a come-as-you-are acceptance of all who enter. However, at the parties I attended, an unmistakable “dress to impress” code was evident, with certain constants seeming to be at least preferred, if not required.

Bellbottoms and black vinyl pants were common among both sexes, with the males leaning toward the extra baggy look while females wore their pants low on the hips, often riding below the visible straps of their thong underwear or bikini bottoms. Piercings and platform shoes were just as likely to be seen on boys as girls.

Oversized T-shirts and brightly colored sweatshirts were everywhere, though many guys shed these and went bare-chested after the first few hours of dancing. A majority of the girls wore their hair short, often in barrettes or kiddie pigtails. Bras seemed to be an endangered, almost non-existent relic.

Babydoll ruffled dresses and cut-off Ts were common, and the proliferation of people sucking on baby pacifiers or wearing these around their necks on candy-colored necklaces heightened the return-to-childhood (or never surrender childhood) infantilism prevalent in all aspects of rave culture.

I saw dozens of girls carrying stuffed animals and licking giant lollipops (a guaranteed attention getter that caused at least one four-male collision I witnessed). TV cartoon illustrations emblazoned more underdeveloped chests than the usual corporate or band logos seen on the shirts of female mallrats in the light of day.

Drugs have been a part of the rave scene from its inception, though it’s certainly possible to go to a rave and have a good time without being high. Among ravers administrating a buzz to the brain, MDMA (aka Ecstasy or “E”), tops the chemical chart and the most common fashion accessories – those baby pacifiers, as well as facemasks treated with menthol rubs like Icy Hot or Vicks Vapor Rub – often double as agents intended to assist the high (Ecstasy users say pacifiers keep their teeth from grinding together and menthol rubs sharpen the buzz).

In its pure form, it is a white crystalline powder, but the form sold at raves is usually a pill with a picture stamped into its surface, going under names like Green Nipples, Green Clovers, Pink Turbo and White CK. Ecstasy tablets come primarily from Western Europe where they can be purchased for around a dollar each. By the time they reach America, they regularly sell for between $10 and $45 per dose.

The drug is sometimes cut with amphetamines (speed), baking powder, caffeine pills or even pesticides or poisons. At the parties I attended, I saw various pills selling for between $10 and $20. Ecstasy can be swallowed, snorted or injected but the effects last longest when swallowed. Users on Ecstasy describe the phases of their high as "rolling" or "dropping." The initial rush can be accompanied by exhilaration and a tingling feeling like “butterflies” in the stomach, with the high lasting anywhere from four to six hours.

E instills energy and skin sensitivity is heightened, which is why people at raves are constantly seen touching, giving each other backrubs and, yes, since sexual sensations are heightened while in this state, lots of uninhibited bumping and grinding goes on.

“E is the ultimate aphrodesiac,” purrs one young lady in Cindy Brady pigtails who overhears me asking someone what the pill’s attraction is. “It brakes down barriers and makes you drop your inhibitions, so you feel at one with everything and everyone. I made out with a girl for the first time on E,” she says, “and, until I came down, I thought I was in love with her! I found out later she was just trying to get me to buy more E from her but, wow, we had an awesome time before I found out she was a pro [dealer].”

Others told me about their own favorite things to do while on Ecstasy:

“Dancing and jumping up and down makes you feel weightless.”

“Touching and being touched feels magical, even if it’s someone just blowing air into your face or your hair through a straw.” (This explains why I see so many people with straws in their mouths)

“It’s incredible to fall back and have someone catch you and slowly lift you back up…feels like slow motion.”

“Chewing hard candy, especially Wint-O-Green Lifesavers, because they make little flashing sparks in your mouth!”

“Being touched with a vibrator.” Actually, that particular conversation, with a young woman I’m positive was of legal age, went in directions best left unreported…

Ecstasy causes the body to easily overheat, so those dancing in close quarters can be in danger of heatstroke or dehydration if they don’t take in enough water. These are, in fact, about the only known causes of death while on Ecstasy.

Water bottles are probably the most commonly seen and most important accessories at any rave. Unfortunately, sometimes security guards don’t let patrons bring their own, because water is being sold by concessionaires inside for $3 to $6 per small bottle!

“Smart Drinks” are usually sold on site, made with amino acids and vitamin combinations - nutrients that supply the precursors and cofactors the body uses to manufacture neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that carry impulses in the brain. These neurotransmitters are depleted by heavy physical activity, stimulant drugs and lack of sleep and “smart drinks” are thought to battle these detrimental effects.

DMT, GHB and LSD can be found at many raves (I was offered several types of acid at two of the three raves I attended, and a surprising number of kids asked ME if I had acid to SELL...are old guys at raves typically there to sell drugs???).

Nitrous Oxide - “laughing gas” - has become popular, and I was offered this a few times too. Hard drugs have also moved into the scene, including crystal meth and even heroin, though I saw no overt use myself (I sure saw some suspected users, tho).

“Flipping” is taking a combination of Ecstasy and another drug. Some popular flips - Candy Flipping (LSD & E):

Elephant Flipping (PCP & E):

Hippie Flipping (Shrooms & E):

And Kitty Flipping (Ketamine & E).

However, many people I spoke with, in person and online, stress that drugs are frowned on and discouraged by many ravers, and even banned at some events with high enforcement by security to deter on-site drug use. Judging from the usual media preoccupation with drugs in connection with rave culture, this seems wise if ravers want to avoid being legislated out of existence.

Especially in light of the Congressional bill known as H.R. 3782, approved by the Senate and House Of Representatives on February 14th, 2002. The bill amends the Controlled Substance Act by inserting section 416A (21 U.S.C. 856), titled “Promoters Of Drug Oriented Entertainment.”

It reads, in part, “Whoever knowingly promotes any rave, dance, music, or other entertainment event, that takes place under circumstances where the promoter knows or reasonably ought to know that a controlled substance will be used or distributed in violation of Federal law or the law of the place were the event is held, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 9 years, or both.”

When federal law says anyone who throws a rave “ought to know” on-site drug use is likely and can go to jail for up to nine years, you can believe that a lot less people are anxious to promote raves nowadays.

Still, it’s no secret that even drug-free ravers can be seen sporting a wicked, knowing grin every time they see a commercial for the "E: Entertainment Network.”

Nothing much else interesting happened at the raves I attended, so here are some things I found out in researching the throbbing, concussive music that rang my eardrums like Quasimodo on a meth bender at Notre Dame…

The mostly electronic techno music favored at raves first took hold in gay dance clubs and discos in Chicago and Detroit, inspired by and often built from samples of progressive music by European artists like Philip Glass and Depeche Mode. DJs mix different prerecorded dance songs together using a drum synthesizer, alternate pitches, varying speeds and an equalizer, spontaneously creating “house” music - hybrid songs that change with every new spin.

Techno is anchored by a reverberating beat and the use of rhythm as a hypnotic tool. The music has a high concentration of bass in the forefront, with everything pumped up to a fast repeating beat, around 115 BPM [beats per minute] on up to 300 BPM. Songs programmed at 120 BPM create a trance-like effect because that’s the rate of your average heartbeat, and that subliminally recreates the sound unborn babies hear inside the womb.

Acid House has a lot of squeaks and samples, all stacked to play simultaneously. A synthesizer like a Roland 303 is good for mixing different layers and pitches that way, and what comes out is called a ‘funky worm’ sound…very liquid.

Trance is slow and steady, very melodic repetitive to create a hypnotizing effect.

Breakbeat uses sped-up hip-hop and reggae samples and it’s great for getting the crowd moving, but it has no hypnotic qualities.

Jungle is about percussion…bongos and drums and layers of chanting in the background.

Darkside is mostly minor chords, like a horror movie soundtrack.

Hardcore is basically a speed-metal tune treated with a beat-inducer like a TR-909 drum machine. When you advertise hardcore, it brings a lot of heavy metal and industrial fans into the rave fold and makes them feel at home.

Gabba is an extreme kind of hardcore, played fast with the bass so low [that] the walls rattle and your bones shake…it can run up to 400 or 500 BPM, which some people think is dangerous. I’ve heard stories about how gabba, along with flashing strobe lights, can actually give people seizures.

Of course, so can the drugs some people are taking, so don’t ask me how to tell what causes someone to end up twitching on the floor with foam coming out their mouth.

Maybe some jailbait chick just kicked him in the balls for rubbing her ass with a glowstick, or for blowing air up her nose with one of those damned straws.

8 - WHERE’S THE READER’S HIP-HOP COVERAGE?

We get a lot of emails asking this, and (hopefully) readers have noticed increased coverage throughout the music section, including Blurt, Lists, Of Note, and Club Crawler. It wasn’t that we avoided hip-hop before – in my case, at least, I did and do talk to a lot of people involved in the local hip-hop scene.

Unfortunately, I don’t always find stories that fit what we look for at the Reader, which is topical, offbeat, backstage stuff, in particular stuff that HASN’T BEEN COVERED ELSEWHERE (both mandate and mantra for all Reader contribs).

With that in mind, I set out awhile back to check out a grass-roots hip-hop event in person.

Porter’s Pub, on the UCSD campus, was doing a Thursday night open mic hip-hop night, with an open invitation to area DJs, musicians, performance artists, lyricists, and spoken word poets (aka rappers). On the night I attended, three-quarters of the participants were white males.

Seven guys had co-opted tables and chairs throughout the room to set up and fiddle with their gear. A 20-something black guy wearing sunglasses was testing his Yamaha DX7 keyboard with sampled voice tracks loaded to play at his touch. I wasn’t aware that such a vintage instrument was good for laying down hip-hop tracks.

I mentioned this to the guy, and he introduced himself as “Kev-4Play” (at least that’s how he wrote it in my notebook).

In answer to my question, he said, “Yeah, but it weighs, like, a half pound, and it’s got mad beats…drum tracks, vocal snaps, orchestra hits, and everything I need. I just hook up my master blaster,” he said, indicating an Ampeg bass amp that’s at least 15 years old, ”with a mic,” whereupon he plugged his microphone in, “and I’m rollin’ out the rhymes.”

He launched into beat-backed rap that lasts ten seconds before he’s shushed by fellow contestants and patrons. Outside on the patio, I spotted a post-teen, Irish-looking guy with bushy red hair teased out to Carrot Top proportions. He had no gear, but he was reading to himself from a ream of handwritten papers scotch-taped together into one long toilet paper-like roll.

He looked like David Caruso in a wig.

I heard his solo a cappella rap later -- an amphetamine-paced verbal barrage that appeared to be about McDonalds, Iraq, the San Diego Police Department, something about Britney Spears’ panties (or lack thereof) and…Vikings? Hard to tell -- his enunciation was hampered by the way he inserted the microphone partway down his esophagus, as if trying to swallow it.

Is this really hip-hop, I wondered?

”Rap isn’t synonymous with hip-hop,” I’m told by DJ EVS (real name Evan McGinnis), of the three-piece Mission Infinite.

“I think KRS-One [a social/political rapper, co-founder of Boogie Down Productions] defined it best: ‘Rap is something you do, hip-hop is something you live.’ Rap is the style of how you compose your words, the rhyming and rhythm. Kind of like scat. Hip-hop is how you talk, how you wear your clothes, more of the lifestyle.”

It doesn’t surprise McGinnis that most people lump rap and hip-hop together. “I think people will see what they want to see. Since mainstream rap music is all about being a gangster and having shiny cars and watches, that’s all the people know, because it’s all over MTV and the radio.”

Public perception makes it hard to get local gigs because promoters, venue owners, and booking agents have the impression that rap and hip-hop shows are synonymous with violence. After a stabbing murder took place in the Coors VIP parking lot during an October 2002 Nelly concert, it was hard to downplay the concern.

”The best thing about the San Diego scene is that it still exists at all,” says Mission Infinite “rhyme master” Eye Focus. He says he’s never seen anything unduly violent at a hip-hop show, but admits that things can get pretty wild. “We did a show at the Boars Cross’n Bar [in Carlsbad], and while I was doing my verse for ‘Champion Sound,’ some lady in her late ‘30s came up to the stage and handed me a drink. Then she just lifted up her dress, showed her jewels, and started wildin' out. She was so drunk.”

”All I know is that I looked up, and saw her ghostly flapping white -ss and her nasty mint green granny panties,” says DJ EVS. “I almost forgot what I was doing on stage.”

Twenty-seven-year-old John Cornett writes the content for sandiegoundaground.com, an online hip-hop e-zine. He admits the hip-hop nation hasn’t planted many longstanding flags in southern California soil.

“I would say about three or fours years ago, the local hip-hop scene was really in high speed, with a lot of local groups putting out albums and doing shows all over San Diego, and there were hip-hop functions being held every weekend. There was always something to do. Now, you really have to be involved in the scene to know what’s happening.”

When asked, Kev-4Play emails me a set of lyrics that directly address his experiences in the San Diego scene. “Slartibartfast” is one such cut (spelling and punctuation left intact, at his insistence):

”Spacey-O, Oreo, Wendy Whitebread on a niggah roll,

Workin the Trax, Brother gotcha Ace in the Hole

When ya bangbang, yinying, tippin the scales

While they be trippin with whales,

I can’t afford no f--k’n Sea World

Cuz I barely made my bail!”

Another one by Kev-4Play, called “Fo Zample”:

”Hip-hop’s something ya gotta feel in your soul,” volunteers Kev-4Play. ”And, I tell you what, you ain’t black, so you ain’t got the soul, you ain’t never gonna feel it. I mean, really, really feel it, you know what I’m sayin’?”

Pause.

“Really.”

Pause. I’m guessing I was fairly expressionless, which seemed to challenge him for clarification.

“You say this clear so I don’t sound like some kinda f--kin’ racist, but the reason San Diego’s so-called hip-hop scene is so lame is because it’s soooo white.”

Another piece later e-mailed to me by Kev-4Play is entitled “You Lite Up My Pipe”:

”Lite the Pizzo, burn the pipe, aight, aight

Rocky rules the ghetto, dimebag Gepetto

Make you feel like REAL boyz

But they got serious toyz, get the lead out, ballzout, headzup

AK-47 spray the night.

Cha lite yer pipe and its all right,

Ya never even saw the sight or heard the fight or seen the blood

through the glass o yo pipe.”

Kev tells me in an email “San Diego, I mean, it’s expensive; a yuppie, yacht club, rich b-tch, paint-the-ghetto, psychedelic kind of city, right? So you’re gonna see a lot of white guys slangin hip-hop. That’s lamelop… the whole f--kin’ thing makes it too f--kin’ white, too f--kin’ Blondie…I call it turning gabba to Abba…”

”Gabba” is an extreme kind of hardcore, a fast 4/4 beat with the bass low so that walls rattle (along with your bones), and it sonicates your organs. It can run up to 400 or 500 BPM (beats per minute). “Abba,” I’m assuming, refers to the ‘70s pop band.

Kev-4Play also says ”You go to any other city, hip-hop is gonna be a black thing, at least on the performance side…white kids’ll listen…but the shot callers [top talent] dropping beats on the street, DJing, rapping, graffing [which he later tells me is ‘bombing and tagging,’ explaining precisely nothing], those’re gonna be brothers most o’ the time…”

I can see that there’s some truth to what he says, at least about San Diego having a honky hip-hop scene.

Bad Credit fits the bill, a local guitar/bass/drum hip-hop trio of middle-aged white guys who call their craft “financial rap.”

Bad Credit

”It’s a different kind of hip-hop,” Dr. Cliff Mixtable told me awhile back. “It’s not about girls, unless the girl owes you money.”

The group’s lyrics are inspired by subjects like Wall Street Journal articles and personal bank statements, with song titles such as “Balance Your Checkbook” and “Bill Gates Owes Me Five Bucks.”

“Yo, I got the dough and I’ll spend it on a whim

’cause I got more cash than an ATM.

Don’t give me no check or no C.O.D.,

I want cold hard cash, show me the mo-ney!”

Listening to Bad Credit, I feel that at least I’ve discovered what hip-hop is NOT. I mention this to Kev-4Play.

”Yo,” he says disdainfully, “that’s what I’m telling ya…Gabba to Abba!”

(Abba...)

(Gabba Gabba...)

(Yabba Dabba Do!)