The Brain Police: “My World of Wax”
Next stop for the Che Underground time machine: Nineteen sixty-eight, when the Brain Police was the hottest act in San Diego and opened for bands like the Who, Cream, the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. Like Ray Brandes’ recent homage to the Hitmakers, I hope a starter post here will attract some personal reminiscences of what appears to have been a very cool band indeed.
In the meantime, check out this San Diego Reader account of the Brain Police, which (according to the article) evolved from a junior-high band called the Man-Dells and came to include drummer Sid Smith from San Diego’s original Roosters. The article also describes the rediscovery (by Clark Faville) of an album recorded by the Brain Police in La Mesa in 1968 and its 2001 release on the Rockadelic label.
“‘The Brain Police had two lineups,’ ” local promoter Carey Driscoll told the Reader. “‘Their core was a five- to six-piece rock band, and for some shows they were supplemented by a black, mixed-gender group of singers — and maybe horns, I don’t recall for sure — called the Soul Patrol, with whom the repertoire expanded to include a lot of great soul and R&B stuff.’ ”
According to liner notes from the album, the band (which also included Rick and David Randle, Norman Lombardo, Ken Pernicano, Larry Grant, and Tony Johnson and Frank Mannix from a San Diego group called Sandi and the Accents) split up in a dramatic fashion: “When Steppenwolf returned to town, they insisted on having the Brain Police on the bill — an opportunity that the band used to announce their breakup. Nobody was prepared to hear that from the Brain Police and quite a scene followed, what with much of the audience wandering off in stunned silence, and Steppenwolf’s entourage being up in arms about being upstaged by this grandstanding.”
Here are a few more interesting online tidbits about the Brain Police: Some observations on the old Bomp message boards (I believe by our own Tony Sanchez); a site for original member Frank Mannix; and a page on the OB Rag Web site that discusses the birth of the underground press in San Diego and features a “Who are the brain police?” cartoon. (I believe this latter refers to the Frank Zappa song from which the San Diego band took its name, but it does set the scene in which the Brain Police were playing.)
Who are the Brain Police? Che Underground: The Blog wants more eyewitness accounts of our early ancestors!
The Brain Police play “My World of Wax: Listen now!
Tags: 1968, Buffalo Springfield, Carey Driscoll, Clark Faville, David Randle, Frank Mannix, Frank Zappa, Ken Pernicano, Larry Grant, Norman Lombardo, OB Rag, Rick Randle, San Diego music, San Diego psychedelia, Sandi and the Accents, Sid Smith, Steppenwolf, the Brain Police, the Byrds, the Man-Dells, the Roosters, the San Diego Reader, the Who, Tony Johnson, Tony Sanchez
November 14th, 2009 at 10:22 am
BTW, when I heard “World of Wax,” I immediately thought of Merry Tweeksters World Mutation Day” by Dave Fleminger & Co.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:22 am
I dig the Brian Police record, picked it up about 13 years ago.
I was looking through one of my step moms Point Loma High year books along time ago and came across photos of the band playing dances @ PLH. Cool photos, or I thought, when I asked my her about the band she laughed, said she did not take them serious, she called them a teen bopper band, I guess due to there corny outfits, she was a pretty hip OB gal back in the day. She followed a local band called Creations. She was also in the folk music and beat poerty club, so there is a good chance she took herself pretty serious.
Like I said, I think there record is pretty good.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:40 am
>>She was also in the folk music and beat poerty club, so there is a good chance she took herself pretty serious.
Dylan: I can’t find my copy of Jim DeRogatis’ Lester Bangs bio, “Let It Blurt,” which mentions a place called the Land of Odin as a hangout for young San Diego bohemians. Wonder if your stepmom made that scene?
Friend of Bangs Robert Houghton mentions it: “In La Mesa there was a coffee house named ‘Land of Odin,’ that catered to high school students. Lester read his avant garde poetry there. Lester made a lot of friends with local guitar players and drummers, some of whom went on to become good professional musicians and players in the rock and roll industry. There was Jerry Raney from The Beat Farmers, and Jack Butler from Private Domain. They both still live in the San Diego area, and played together in a band called Glory, which was featured at the cavernous Palace teen nightclub on Pacific Highway throughout the late 60’s and early 70’s.”
November 15th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
From Mason Williams’ “Them Poems” (via Google books):
“Mason Williams recorded the poems on the Vee-Jay record label in 1964 on the album (VJ-1103) “Them poems and things: Mason Williams recorded live at the Land of Odin” (a folk club in El Cajon, California).”
November 15th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I’m still having a hard time envisioning El Cajon as a hotbed of bohemian versifying …
November 15th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Hi – I saw The Brain Police on at least a couple of occasions in 1968.
Unfortunately, the only distinct memory I have of them is from the 1st time, when they supported The Strawberry Alarm Clock (the wonderful poster for that show is reproduced in the booklet that accompanies the cd). That night they covered The Buffalo Springfield’s “Bluebird” and what caught my attention is that they played the “long version”. Undoubtedly they learned it when they opened for the Springfield a month earlier. I was/am a huge Buffalo Springfield fan.
I wasn’t too keen on The Strawberry Alarm Clock (I thought they were “plastic”), but a girl I was interested in was, so…
I’m fairly certain that one other time I saw the Brain Police was in Balboa Park with The Anonymous Artists of America.
Oh – I also saw Sandi & The Accents, the band that 2 members of The Brain Police came from.
Anyway, I’m not much of a blogster, but I thought I’d share that.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:05 am
One more note on the Land of Odin/Oden, from the Wikipedia entry of Ken Mansfield, San Diego State business grad, Waylon Jennings producer and U.S. manager of Apple Records (he was at the famous ‘69 Beatles rooftop performance):
“… Mansfield sang with a folk group called The Town Criers and opened a nightclub in San Diego’s suburb of La Mesa. The popular club, called The Land of Oden, was La Mesa’s former City Hall.”
November 16th, 2009 at 7:26 am
>>The popular club, called The Land of Oden, was La Mesa’s former City Hall.
… Not to be confused with the Land of Onan, which was on the other side of town (until the police raid).
November 16th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I found these descriptions of reissue albums by the Rockadelic label on the Freak Emporium Music Archive site. Apparently Rockadelic is a now-defunct Texas based label whose records are now all rare collector’s items. Shaddoks Music in Germany reissued the Framework LP but seems hard to get in the U.S. The Brain Police CD is available on Amazon in different versions.
Glory (San Diego) – On The Air. LP. (Rockadelic Records – RRLP 40)
Out on Rockadelic comes this previously unreleased album of heavy US late ’60’s/early ’70s’ rock by a US band formed in 1967 and based in San Diego. Powerful guitar led jamming long-hair rock in the tradition of Josefus, Demian and Blue Cheer. Limited to only 500 copies and housed in a full colour hard card sleeve.We only have 1 left.
Framework – Skeleton. LP. (Rockadelic Records – RRDLP31/32)
Rockadelic’s most lavish release to date. This band from San Diego gigged with The Brain Police in the late ’60s performing their brand of heavy psych hippy rock to suitably alternative audiences. Rescued from oblivion by collector Clarke Faville, this double LP collection of live material and studio recordings comes in a fabulous fold out sleeve with loads of info and a stack of inserts. Very Limited.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I wanna hear about Creations, the band Dylan’s stepmom thought was more hardcore than the Brain Police. What was seriously underground in San Diego 1968?
December 12th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Anybody here ever heard of Sign of the Sun?
“In the early 1960s, a bookstore near San Diego State University called the Sign of the Sun was a place for blues musicians to play, including Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Fred McDowell, and Rev Gary Davis. “
December 12th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Sign of the Sun:
http://www.folkartsrarerecords.com/library
December 18th, 2009 at 7:58 am
>>Oh – I also saw Sandi & The Accents, the band that 2 members of The Brain Police came from.
Joe & Co.: Are Sandi & the Accents any relation to Sandi & the Classics? The Reader’s list of 50 historic concerts says opened for Sonny and Cher at a place called the Power House in July 1965?
December 18th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
The Readers List of 50 Historic Concerts seemed to leave out a lot of great shows!!
Especially all the seminal punk shows between 77-80…it wasn’t just the Police and Elvis Costello.