To put the pieces back in place, I’ll need your help.

First, a brief explanation of what happened: We suffered some security breaches to the old version of the blog. Our Web-hosting service noticed unusual activity and blocked the site. I did a quick fix to the database. We updated the blog software, and the blog was switched back on.

Unfortunately, some important stories did not come along when we made the switch, including a number of Ray Brandes’ crucial biographies of San Diego bands.

Have no fear: All of these posts still exist on a backup version. The trick now is identifying which stories disappeared from the database so we can restore them to the live blog.

That’s where you come in. If you can’t find a favorite post, please tell me. We’re going to collate all the missing pieces and put them back where they belong.

If you notice a broken link or realize a post is gone, please note it in the comments section below or e-mail us directly at cheunderground@gmail.com.

Stay calm and carry on!

The last time we were in the same town, you were playing in the Frame and promoting gigs in SD and Orange County at spots like Greenwich Village West, Big John’s and Club Cult. How did you move from there to the culinary arts?

I started at a steak-and-seafood joint as a dishwasher in Mira Mesa when I was in 10th grade, moved into doing salad station. There were all these “college” girl waitresses who would flirt with the new kid.

After that I got a job across the street at Chuck E. Cheese, doing pizza, and I would go out and do promos as the rat. My favorite was when they had me do an event for kids with Daryl Strawberry, then a Padre, who took me aside roughly when he thought I was upstaging him and whispered, “Take it easy, Chucky.”

Scotty Nichols and I opened a then brand-new Denny’s in Ranch Bernardo, where I learned how to line cook and expo. Since then, I’ve worked in hotels, Spanish, veggie, Greek, up-scale deli, wine bars, catering, private chef, etc. Throughout my career, I’ve had the good fortune of working with a lot of talented chefs, from old-world grandmothers who brought their best into their restaurants to cookbook celebs.

From you to Jason Seibert to Tommy Clarke, a lot of the people in our scene have moved to cooking. What do you think is the connection between the DIY of rock ‘n’ roll and cuisine?

With the freedom afforded by poverty, I’d say the manipulation of all things Top Ramen.

Tell us about the birth of Soup Nation and Carte Blanche Caterers. How’d you become the leader of the band?

Ha. I never have liked people telling me what to do, I suppose, especially when I believed I could do better for myself, by myself. I started Carte Blanche as a Soup Carte on the UO Campus in 1997. I had graduated from college at a ripe old age and didn’t know what on earth to do with my humanities focus (great conversationalist, lousy job ops) and combined my culinary skills and penchant for organizing events into a business. Viola!

The soup emphasis came out of the flexibility of soup as a vehicle for a wide array of different cuisines, its ease to scale, and its unique concept as a comfort food everyone can relate to, from Bangkok Sweet Potato to Vegan Split Pea to Home-Style Beef Stew to Feta-Stuffed Lamb Meatball.

I built the soup cart with a friend of mine, and would shop, cook, vend, clean up and repeat every day, all by my lonesome, for the first year and a half.

I built the catering company off of the business interest of one pharma rep who enjoyed the soup carte. It’s now a full-service, off-premises catering company that does everything from boxed lunches to formal, plated events.

Speaking of which, how is running a kitchen like promoting a show?

Timing? Love of dissonance? Beauty from chaos? I like co-ordinating things, I like seeing schemes come to fruition, whether it pertains to my business or someone else’s. I love brainstorming, I love when seemingly disparate elements jive. I love talking about things I have no idea about, and seeing what sticks.

Did your experiences as a promoter shaped your work ethic and career choices?

As a business owner, most definitely. I am satisfying both the creative side and the coordinator/bullshitter side of myself. I’m in a place in my life where I accept the perfectionist, A-type, alpha, Virgo in me. I was 17 when I put together my first show at Greenwich Village West; just a kid trying to make a party happen. On that level, not much has changed.

Crock Pot Carnitas

This recipe is frickin easy. A one‐pot, all‐purpose Mexican feast. This is for all the working musicians and all of us hacks who wish after 30+ years they could be satisfied with their musical prowess. Some play, others can simply cook your grandma under the table. — Mark

Download this recipe as a PDF!

Go to your local Latino Mercado. Do not buy this stuff from Safeway, etc. Ever.

Brine:
1/3c Kosher Salt
T Whole Peppercorns
2 cloves Garlic, smashed
8c Cold H2O
2.5‐3# PORK shoulder, Butt
2‐3 cups Chicken/Beef broth (make your own or not)
1 lg Yellow Onion, diced
2 Bay Leaves

Spice Rub:
2T Cumin, ground
2T Oregon, Ground
3 cloves, Garlic, minced
1tea Cinnamon, ground
1tea Epazote (optional)

Wash your Butt. Always. Mix brine ingredients together, put yer Butt in it, leave in fridge a minimum of 4 hrs, max of 8. Drain, pat dry, ditch brine.

Rub yer Butt with spice mix to coat well. Put yer Butt in the crock pot. Cover with Bay, Onion, Stock. Turn on.

Cook 4,5,6,7,8, overnight. Whatever. It will make your whole house smell amazing and will make you the envy of your neighbors and an honorary Mexican (not really).

Accoutrements: FRESH corn tortillas, Cotija Cheese, Red, Green, Habanero Salsas and Hot Sauces (if you don’t already have these in your fridge, you never have lived in SD and should not read this blog ever again), Avos, Cilantro, Crema, Beans, Rice, and an Horchata.

Here is a new song by Gary Heffern & Beautiful People with lyrics written by myself, music by Rustman, and arrangement by Beautiful People: Selinda Shirley, Oulujoe, Mad Mulligan and Rustman.

It also features Ray Brandes, Joe Piper and Dave Fleminger on backup vocals and Ray doing some great harmonica as well. I thought if you would want to feature it on Che, you can do so and have first grabs at featuring the song.

San Diego sets ‘Blood on Fire’

The CD of Beautiful People is still available through Glitterhouse. In June, I will also be recording a new album that I have written with Ed Pettersen in Norway.

Gary Heffern & Beautiful People play “Baby You Just Don’t Get It”: Listen now! 

— Gary Heffern

During the summer of 1982, the Answers recorded a series of homemade demos in bassist Tony Suarez’s garage. The “Green Cassette” session was played and sung live to cassette, two microphones, onto a grungy used cassette tape (“JSL” brand) that was chosen for its green stripes and because we probably ran out of new tapes.

The 15 songs are probably directly taken directly in order from an Iblend setlist. The lyrics of the first tune on the cassette, “Ideas,” read to me now like a time capsule left for an uncertain future:

Ideas that are sure to come
are nestled in my head for future reference
any that I get now
are just devices to tide me over
until I reach my full potential

Things that are on their way
are closer than you think
you are rambling on towards them
and you know they are there but you know not how to handle them

Later on they will seem dated
and normal to the world
later on they’ll shake the universe
and the next day they’ll be laughed at
like you’ll be

Ages to come are parts of our lives
we only have to expect them
and the stages will be changes
and not ends in themselves

— Ideas, The Answers 1982

The Answers play “Ideas”: Listen now!

For a band called optimistically called the Answers it sounds more like lots of questions … promises you make that you’re not really in control of bringing to fruition, expectations cancelled by a sense that the shapes of things to come need to remain unknown, a feeling that the present is forever a holding-pattern. … Thankfully it’s all got a good beat, and you can dance to it. And speaking of the beat, to this day I don’t understand how Dave Anderson was able to work in that cowbell pattern at around a minute into the song. That’s all him; it’s not like somebody suddenly added that percussion part — he simply grew a third arm and played the cowbell.

The Answers perform “Ideas” and other songs from their repertoire, along with the Sidewalk Scene and DJ Tony The Tyger, at Bar Pink in San Diego, Feb. 4, 9pm, no cover.

— Dave Fleminger

More by Dave Fleminger:

• Back to the Blend
  
• A tribute to troubadors
  
• Wendy Pyro: Punk pioneer
• The Answers: “You Are There”
• Have you ‘zine me? Snare Issue #3
• “Merry Tweeksters World Mutation Day”/”Sufi Sales”
• Boo: “Hurricane Fighter Plane”

2012 still sounds to me like a year from the future (or perhaps a Rush album).  But here it is, and here we are, and 2012 will contain the 30th anniversaries of many happenings already chronicled on this blog.  In the spring of 1982 the North Park venue known as the International Blend was re-named The Kings Road Cafe.

Within an unassuming building on 30th St., an incredible stew of various musics were served up to an all-ages crowd.  There were even after-school shows that felt like a continuation of some grand afternoon dance-party tradition.

Whether it was the Iblend or the Kings Rd., the decor inside of the club was pretty much the same: bare-bones and all about the music.  The stage was immediately on your left as you walked in the door and in the back of the room was a pinball machine that would shout “The … Black … Knight … challenges …. you!” every couple minutes.

We have club manager and impresario Peter Verbrugge (who acquired the club from Ruben Seja) to thank for making the Intl Blend/Kings Rd the happening spot that it was. Along with the name change, the emphasis moved away from jazz coffeehouse to rock club, but the calender of events always remained diverse and varied.  People from different scenes could wander in on any given date and get exposed to something new … No wonder it was called “The ‘Blend.”

Read more: Opening Kings Road Cafe

Thankfully there was a cassette deck in the soundbooth, so some of the shows were recorded.

Manual Scan plays “Hanky Panky” at Kings Road: Listen now!

Manual Scan plays “Secret Agent Man” at Kings Road: Listen now!

Manual Scan played a lot of great shows there in 1982, sharing the stage with The Bangs (before they became better known as the Bangles), Salvation Army (later The Three O’Clock), The Crawdaddys, The Vertebrats and numerous other bands, so when the Reader wanted to do a photo shoot for a summer ’82 article about the  San Diego mod scene, what better place than to take a picture of ‘Scan than on the King’s Road stage?  Of course that meant hoisting Kevin Ring’s scooter up there so we could stand around it …

Not sure whose parka I borrowed for the shot, but I know it wasn’t mine.

Thanks to Bart Mendoza for music/video and Heather Vorwerck for image scanning/editing.

— Dave Fleminger

More by Dave Fleminger:

• A tribute to troubadors
  
• Wendy Pyro: Punk pioneer
• The Answers: “You Are There”
• Have you ‘zine me? Snare Issue #3
• “Merry Tweeksters World Mutation Day”/”Sufi Sales”
• Boo: “Hurricane Fighter Plane”

On Friday, Dec. 30, Wendy Bailey & True Stories will celebrate the release of their new album, “String Theory,” with an event at Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., in San Diego’s North Park.

For this special show, the band will perform two sets. In the first, the quartet will play the new album in its entirety, plus a few old favorites. In the second, Wendy Bailey & True Stories will be joined by special guest musicians for a run through of a dozen choice R&B and rock-‘n’-roll classics — a different guest for each song.

“String Theory” is the debut album from Wendy Bailey & True Stories, featuring lead guitarist and vocalist Wendy Bailey; bassist Billy Fritz; guitarist Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, the Shambles et al.); and drummer Danny Cress (the Coyote Problem, Skid Roper and more).

Produced by Mike Kamoo (the Stereotypes, the Loons), the album is indie rock by default, but actually covers a lot of stylistic ground. Songs were penned by both Bailey and Mendoza and feature lead vocals from both.

The album’s 10 tracks shift sound from hard rock to acoustic pop and in between. “String Theory”’s first single, “Nothing Left To Say,” is a Bailey-penned, pounding rocker with amps set on stun. Alternately, her tune “Denial,” is a slow moody number heavy on atmosphere and sonic rumble. Meanwhile, Mendoza’s contributions include Hammond organ driven R&B with “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine” and folk-rock ballad “You Still Take My Breath Away.”

The album will be available through all the usual online sources including I-Tunes and Amazon, with a limited edition CD available at shows and JAM Records.

The release party is open to spectators 21 and up and runs from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.

“String Theory” will be available Jan. 6, 2011 from all online distributors or at a store near you.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/string-theory/id477324368

www.reverbnation.com/wendybailey1
www.myspace.com/blindspotrecordssd

— Bart Mendoza

More from Bart Mendoza:

• Pink Panther 25th anniversary!
• The British Invasion hits San Diego
• Kevin Donaker-Ring, center stage
• Flyers from the Mendoza Collection
• Bandmates/other friends 1982-1990 (+1)
• ‘I was a Shambles drummer’
• From Scan to the Shambles

Saturday, Dec. 17, The Casbah will be the site of the Pink Panther’s 25th anniversary party. Expect many familiar faces in attendance to celebrate the late bar’s brief existence. Founded by future Casbah proprietor Tim Mays, Peter “English” Verbrugge and Bob Bennett, the Pink Panther was the meeting spot for much of San Diego’s music scene during its run and fittingly, the night features an eclectic bill.

Tickets are $15 and available online.

Opening the night will be the soul and rock dance combo The Amandas. Fronted by Amanda Suter, the band includes the ace rhythm section of Tom Ward (bass) and David Klowden (drums), with guitarist Jon Erickson, saxophonist Aaron Rossi and keyboardist A.J. Croce.

Playing the middle spot will be Manual Scan. Featuring original members David Fleminger (keyboards); Kevin Donaker-Ring (guitar); and Bart Mendoza (vocals), the band now includes bassist Tim Blankenship (Creedle) and drummer Jarrod Lucas (The Dragons) for a truly powerhouse sound, taking in Mod, R&B and Garage influences. This is only the second time the band has played this year, with a couple of new covers in the mix.

The show closes with Deadbolt:

“There are few bands that can provide reverb and twang like the self professed ‘scariest band in the world.’ The leather-clad quartet, led by front man Harley Davidson, is inspired by the sounds of the rockabilly, instrumental surf and a touch of punk attitude. If you’re looking for virtuoso performances or guitar histronics, Deadbolt may not be your cup of tea, but if you like your rock ‘n’ roll gritty, loud and in your face, few do it better.” – Beach & Bay Press, 02/18/10

— Bart Mendoza

More from Bart Mendoza:

• The British Invasion hits San Diego
• Kevin Donaker-Ring, center stage
• Flyers from the Mendoza Collection
• Bandmates/other friends 1982-1990 (+1)
• ‘I was a Shambles drummer’
• From Scan to the Shambles

The ’80s?

I couldn’t imagine them without Scott Harper. His passing last week is another devastating blow to the San Diego community and yet another reminder how short and unfair life can be.

Scott was such a part of my life for most of the ’80s, he was like a brother. Adventures were legion, he rarely missed a Manual Scan show and was instrumental in helping with the New Sounds festivals.

My fondest memories, apart from some nights spent in discourse over a few drinks, is the way he always pitched in to help with crises big and small. At events, whenever there was static, or a question about something being done, he’d always be the first to jump in and say, “I’ll do it.” Worth his weight in gold.

It would be some understatement to say he was a huge music fan, with favorites in all genres, though mod-related tunes were a clear favorite. He had a fanzine, Voxxed In, and had a profile included in British modzine, In the Crowd. He was an integral part of the Risk’s San Diego stay. Tip of the iceberg, really.

Bottom line Scott was an integral part of what we called “the scene” back then, and though communication later on was more sporadic, he was always someone I considered a good friend. He’ll be missed.

— Bart Mendoza

More from Bart Mendoza:

• The British Invasion hits San Diego
• Kevin Donaker-Ring, center stage
• Flyers from the Mendoza Collection
• Bandmates/other friends 1982-1990 (+1)
• ‘I was a Shambles drummer’
• From Scan to the Shambles

It’s been said, ‘in oh so many ways’, that everybody loves the Beatles.

With that in mind, here’s a little salute, to the 100%:

And now, a little consolation for the injured parties in the last video. They can hum this little ditty to themselves at night, and muse that, at least George, once sympathised with their plight…

Oct. 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.

For those that weren’t able to reach the jump off of Geeked Dance, here for a limited time, in glorious 320 bit-rate audio, is Pure Boom Hi-Fi Live at Geeked Launch Night 10.09.11

Subscribe to the Geeked Podcast here.

More on P Man:

• Fused Forces to cover P Man show
• The return of the P Man
• Embrace the new fakeness
• The P Man live in San Diego
• Enter P Man