Wallflowers Phase Two
And straight from the metal box, the next installment of the Wallflowers saga, courtesy of vocalist David Rinck. Here’s Mr. Rinck’s commentary on Phase Two of this seminal band:
“The second lineup of The Wallflowers was David Rinck on vocals, Todd Lahman on guitar, Paul Howland on bass, Armando on sax, Arturo Reyes on drums.
“More of the second Wallflowers in their studio in the basement at Greenwich Village West.
“An odd thing that nobody has flyers from the Studio 517 gigs? There were plenty of them, including a big bash one Halloween with simultaneous concerts at Greenwich Village and 517. This place was central to the SD bands (gigs and recording), yet the only remnant of 517 that seems to exist is our ode to Steve Epeneter, ‘Paradise on 4th Ave.’ ”
(In this thread about the legendary DaveFests, Rockin’ Dog Dave Ellison also recalls the Wallflowers at Studio 517: “I remember one show when Armando and Todd were still in the band at Studio 517 … People were sitting on the floor watching the band and some guy sitting by me yelled, ‘Lose the sax and turn up the guitar!’ … so Armando walked out into the crowd and walked around this guy in circles, blowing his sax in the guy’s face for a while.”)
Tags: Greenwich Village West, San Diego music, Studio 517, Wallflowers
March 16th, 2008 at 2:02 am
The Halloween with shows at both venues was great, since they were right around the corner from one another. People were walking back and forth watching bands and hanging out on the street. Was that ’84 or ’85?
The thing I loved most about the Wallflowers was their loose and spontaneous approach to playing music. Paul and Dave created a framework that allowed other musicians with very different styles from one another to play in the band at different times…and it always sounded like the Wallflowers.
March 16th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Dave, I think that had to be ’84. Maybe the flyer trail will tell, eventually. Keep identifying questions, and answers will arrive--meanwhile new chambers of memory will open through the process.
I recall Studio 517 having a pretty low ceiling, and being a total smokebox. People were not only smoking like fiends, but this was also the heyday of the clove cigarette fad. I remember an unbelievable haze inside Studio 517--not cloves particularly--but I’m sure it ran the gamut. Clothes (and hair) always carried the stench of smoke home, even if you only noticed the true dimensions of it the next day. I also remember it was hot as hell at a lot of these shows--from a combination of San Diego climate, numbers of people, and poor ventilation or insufficient air-conditioning. If you danced--and I always did if I liked the band--and even if you didn’t dance--you’d be drenched in sweat. I wore plenty of cotton dress shirts and thin wool ’60s suits or suit jackets; it sometimes looked as if I’d used them as swimming attire. Outside, after the show, you might be shivering from the cooling effect of evaporation, and a gust of wind (or a lift on someone’s scooter--or in the back of a pick-up truck--remember that?) could be a real bummer. You never thought about that, though, until the end of the night. It made no difference in the heat of the moment. You didn’t spare yourself or your clothes; you and they were expendable.
After these sweatbox shows, if you happened to wake up somewhere not your own, you’d be a bit bummed to be in last night’s threads, which would only grow more rank as the day wore on and the thermometer rose.
I’m looking forward to hearing “Paradise On 4th Ave.”
March 16th, 2008 at 10:52 am
The Halloween shows were indeed in 1984; here’s one of the Greenwich Village West flyers. (This event marked the last, rattling gasp of Noise 292.)
March 16th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I love the smell of cloves to this day…anytime someone around me is smoking one it’s instant nostalgia…some kinda Pavlovian response I have. I never smoked them myself though… thats probably why.
I remember those shows in the summer where the temperature outside was still hot when you went into the show…it was so hot inside, though, that when you came out if felt like winter.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Here’s an atmospheric shot of life at Greenwich Village West. Oh, and a nice photo of Kristi Maddocks and Todd Tomorrow!
March 20th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
He David, what happened to your foot in the second picture from the top? Broke it being a wild man no doubt.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Matthew, we need a post dedicated to Greenwich Village West…that shot of a party there was what every other room was like on weekend nights.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Dean, here’s what Mr. Rinck has to say about the cast: “Actually, if you look closely at those photos I sent, you’ll notice that my left foot is in a cast, as a result of being broken one night when Todd and I were spray painting [Taste the Fury (Babyface)] on the wall of a freeway overpass in North Park. The cops appeared at an unfortunate moment, and we had to jump a fence to get back to our getaway motorcycles.”
Dave Ellison: A Greenwich Village West post will be concocted very soon!
March 20th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I was thinking to write up GVW, too. Cos I lived there -- so did Todd Lehman.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I think there are a scarce few photos at Studio 517/517 4th street at Harold Gee’s flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haroldgee/sets/72157594202200370/
March 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Thats right Jerry I did live there. Those rooms were like 10′ by 10′ with a little sink off to the side and if your room was on the side of the hotel like mine you had this tiny window to look out of.I was told that at one time this was a very popular hotel at one time because of the bar which stretched from the front door to the back of the building. In fact if you walked in to the lobby you would notice that it had a false ceiling dropped in it. That would become more apparent if you walked up to tha first landing where the pay phone was and looked above the dropped ceiling through one of the nail holes in the wall facing the lobby. There you could see an untouched mural of Popeye and Brutus in chase along the high seas. I guessing that this was there when said bar was there. Also in the basement there was a small room to the right of the stairs. This room was covered in old newspaper clippings of boxing events from the ’30′s and ’40′s. That basement gave me the creeps! Hey Jerry do you recall the time you and Jack were being chased by cops though the building one day?