Che Underground turns five!
Five years ago today, I posted the first entry to Che Underground: The Blog. I’d been talking to some old friends about a place where we could share sounds and images from our musical youth in San Diego, and this turned out to be the handiest solution.
Soon Rockin’ Dog Dave Ellison created our striking design, and contributors including Ray Brandes, Kristen Tobiason, Paul Kaufman, David Fleminger and so many others enriched the site beyond anything I could have hoped.
And my, how we grew! Hundreds of stories … Tens of thousands of comments and visitors. This little corner of the Web let so many revisit so much and introduced a whole new audience to the things we created back at the dawn of the ’80s.
The earth has made five solar revolutions since then, and most of us are still here on it. Looking back, I think we’ve moved in good directions, and I’m proud of any part this place played in bringing us back together.
Che Underground: The Blog has been a quieter spot nowadays — many of us are interacting now on Facebook or in person. Nevertheless, this digital door is always open to our big circle of friends, and I hope we have new chances to show what we can do when we put our minds to it!
Tags: Che Underground: The Blog, Dave Ellison, David Fleminger, Kristen Tobiason, Paul Kaufman, Ray Brandes, The Rockin' Dogs
February 16th, 2013 at 11:13 am
The Blog will rise again.
Facebook is too easy too transient.
February 16th, 2013 at 4:53 pm
Thanks, Mike — I think there are some things we can do that play to strengths different from Facebook’s. Let’s see!
February 16th, 2013 at 7:32 pm
I stop by from time to time. It’s good to hear from people, and see what they’re up to. I’ve got another video of Hair Theatre from the Che Games concert in 2009 to upload soon.
February 17th, 2013 at 12:38 am
We’ve got five years,
Stuck on my eyes
Five years,
What a surprise
We’ve got five years,
My brain hurts a lot
Five years,
That’s all we’ve got…
February 17th, 2013 at 5:34 pm
February 19th, 2013 at 6:25 am
One of my all-time favorite Bowie songs. What kind of synth is that in the wooden case?
February 19th, 2013 at 9:43 pm
What synth? Hard to say! That’s Mike (AladdinSane/Cracked Actor) Garson. He has a synth stacked on a grand piano here, and what looks to be a Hammond organ, facing the audience.
Stay. Man. Earl Slick can lay it out, with the Apollo Theater rhythm section.
Between the Young Americans and StationToStation records, there is the best funkin’ weird stuff. Don’t care it ain’t rockn’roll. Glad that it isn’t. I’ll play Stay, Fascination and Golden Years over and over and over and…
Hey! Their playing Nilsson in Starbucks!
February 19th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Do the BOOGALOO!
February 20th, 2013 at 11:36 pm
I wasn’t that familiar w/the Young Americans album, I guess. There’s some great funky stuff there. I had the Stage album, which has funky versions of songs from different albums.
February 24th, 2013 at 11:34 am
Yeah. Bowie did to Funk and Philly what he later did to Krautrock.
It gots somthin’. What I just don’t know…
February 26th, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Good analogy Jerry! Glad to see you’re still checking in here.
February 26th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
And congrats Matthew! This was the best idea for a blog ever!
April 5th, 2013 at 7:22 am
Facebook just isn’t the same as a normal blog.
Apart from anything you end up getting bombarded in all directions by messages. Hardly very relaxing!
Personally I preferred reading the posts…
April 7th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
>>Personally I preferred reading the posts…
Bill: Thanks for the endorsement! I think there is something significant about selecting some of the old stuff and showing it off in its best light and in some context.
It’s fun seeing flyers and photos go by on Facebook, but it’s a different experience … Certainly a more democratic one that a blog can’t ever match. I hope people still get pleasure from visiting the stuff we put here — and like I wrote, I’ll happily work with other materials people want to show off this way. (It surprises me how many visitors we still get!)
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:18 pm
I’m bothered that I can’t identify the string synth in the Bowie video. It looks a lot like the Arp/Solina String Ensemble, but not quite enough to actually be one.
May 16th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Hi I edit Blog Diego for the San Diego Reader. I know this blog is dormant, but it’s kind of a gold mine. Would you be interested in publishing an excerpt in the Reader? If so please contact me.
Thanks much.