Archive for the ‘Morlocks’ Category

Gravedigger V from the Bacher Collection

Sunday, October 28th, 2012

Leighton Koizumi and Chris Gast, Gravedigger V, ca. 1983Befitting their short, colorful career from the summers of 1983 to 1984, souvenirs of the Gravedigger V have been in short supply on Che Underground: The Blog. Now, Tell-Tale Hearts guitarist Eric Bacher steps up with two new additions to the set.

“We just did some ‘fall’ cleaning, and I found a few old pictures,” Eric writes. “The one of Leighton and Chris Gast was given to Denise by Leighton some time in the 80′s, I’m not sure of the provenance of the other.”

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Geeked Podcast Episode 1:
Pure Boom Hi-Fi Live

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

(Paul Howland, a k a P Man, ushers in a new podcast straight out of San Diego.)

Detail: Pure Boom Hi-Fi cassetteOct. 11, 2011, was the official launch night of a new dance called “Geeked.” Geeked was very pleased to be able to present The Pure Boom Hi-Fi.

Episode 1; Pure Boom Hi-Fi Live at Geeked Launch Night 10.09.11

Pure Boom is one of my very favorite selectors. I met him through the Dubstep scene in San Diego in early 2009. Here though, by special request of Geeked, he’s playing roots steppers dub. Pure Boom is the only selector I know of who actually mixes this type of music, as it’s usually played “sound system style” (play the dub, flip over, play the vocal, no beatmatching). Heavy-duty mixing chops and super-sick selecting and programming skills, combine to make each of his sets a very special occasion.

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Support for ‘The Lion’s Jaw’

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Jeffrey Luck Lucas at micHere’s an urgent opportunity to support one of our own and get some fine, fine music in return!

San Diego expat-turned-San Francisco solo artist Jeffrey Luck Lucas is preparing to re-release his third CD, “The Lion’s Jaw,” and it will require $1,300 within the next two weeks to print the CDs his record label will distribute and promote.

It’s a quid pro quo: Donate to to “JLL, The Lion’s Jaw CD Release and General/Overall Local Artist Support Fund,” and Jeff will send you a signed copy of the newly redesigned “Lion’s Jaw” CD as well as his nearly completed new studio album, “The Love of Leaving.”

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The Crawdaddys, Nashville Ramblers
in Spain: A view from Toledo

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

Ron Silva, The Crawdaddys; El Sol, Madrid, Spain; June 12, 2011 (Silvia Zadarnowski)In mid-June, the reunited Crawdaddys and Nashville Ramblers were the latest of our San Diego crowd to enjoy the hospitality of Spain. Both bands played the Go Sinner Go! festival in Toledo June 10 and 11, and the Crawdaddys followed up the next day with a surprise appearance at the renowned El Sol club in Madrid.

Go Sinner Go!, Toledo, Spain; June 10, 2011 (Silvia Zadarnowski)I’m grateful to Silvia Zadarnowski (spouse of Crawdaddys bassist Mark) for these photos of all three events and to musician and show organizer Eduardo Arriero Hernandez for answering my questions about the show and Spanish fondness for this San Diego scene.

Buy your tickets now for the Crawdaddys and the Unknowns at San Diego’s Casbah, Sept. 2-3!

What is your own involvement with the Spanish music scene? You have a band, and you’re an organizer of the Go Sinner Go! Festival. Can you tell me briefly about those and how long you’ve been part of the music scene over there?

I’ve played in bands since I was 17, and I’m 32… so half of my life!! I’ve played guitar and sung with Hollywood Sinners for 11 years and keyboard with Fumestones for one year. I started organizing concerts in Toledo, my home town, of national bands I liked, and I continued it in Madrid. I can try get my favorite bands from all around the world, spend some days with them and have fun!!

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Crawdaddys/Scan/GDV at the Syndicate

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Crawdaddys, Manual Scan, Gravedigger V; Syndicate, May 26, 1984This hitherto unpublished 1984 flyer from the Bruce Haemmerle Collection portrays the Crawdaddys, Manual Scan and the Gravedigger V at Point Loma’s Syndicate all-ages club.

I’m giving it pride of place for a few reasons:

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Jeffrey Luck Lucas: ‘We Were on Fire’

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

We’re overdue to devote a post to the recent work of one of the Che Underground’s most protean talents: Jeffrey Luck Lucas, veteran of San Diego’s Morlocks, Mirrors and Answers and a prolific Bay area solo artist.

I was privileged to play with Jeff for a few years in San Francisco — a longtime aspiration of mine — and I can testify to the intensity of his artistic vision through many incarnations.

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Che Underground Rock-’n’-Roll Weekend!

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

(David Rinck cuts the ribbon on a late-July musical extravaganza in San Diego!)

jll copyHow could we let a year go by since the Che Games for May? It is high time to do it again!

chepink_2Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and get ready to experience the Che Underground Rock-’n'-Roll Weekend. Here’s what we have in store for you:

Friday, July 30, at Lestat’s Coffee House (3343 Adams Avenue; $10; doors open at 9pm)

Plus a photo retrospective of San Diego Underground Rock ‘n’ Roll by Dave Doyle and Sean McMullen.

Saturday, July 31, at Bar Pink (3829 30th St.; free; doors open at 9pm)

  • Wendy Bailey & True Stories
  • The Answers
  • Bombast

Plus, dubstep deejaying by the P Man

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The Morlocks between the covers

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Detail: Morlocks: Proofs from Time magazine shoot (collection Jeff Lucas)More video from the original Morlocks has emerged on YouTube, including covers of songs by the 13th Floor Elevators, Q65 and the Count Five.

Exhibit A is a video by Eric Predoehl of the Morlocks performing the 13th Floor Elevators’ “You Don’t Know.” According to the post, it’s from an event produced by KFJC Radio and I.B.S. at the Works Gallery in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 22, 1985:

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Jeffrey Luck Lucas + Blues Gangsters:
Live in Alameda, Feb. 11

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Jeffrey Luck LucasOn the heels of their live debut at last weekend’s Che Underground showcase at San Diego’s Casbah, the Blues Gangsters will be joining our own Jeffrey Luck Lucas at the Speisekammer restaurant in Alameda, Calif., Feb. 11 for an evening of semi-acoustic dinner theater.

Jeffrey Luck Lucas is a veteran of the Che Underground scene and longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay area who has played with many of us over the years. He recently sat for an interview with Osmosis Online, where he discusses his musical roots; his methodology; and his latest album, titled “The Lion’s Jaw.”

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Surfacing the Gravedigger V

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Gravedigger VA recent comment by Kristen Tobiason has me puzzling over how best to focus conversation on the Gravedigger V, a youthful San Diego band whose brief existence in 1983-1984 has inspired a quarter-century of notoriety.

There are plenty of online references to the band and its album “All Black and Hairy,” but many pieces are of questionable accuracy. What can we do to set the record straight?

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