In another exciting development for fans of San Diego’s musical history, the San Diego Union-Tribune has officially twigged to the long-pending documentary by veteran scenester Eric Rife.
Besides being a friend of many participants here, Eric was the primary videographer at our Che Games for May reunion … and an inspiration for the magical history tour embodied by this blog.
According to the article, the as-yet-untitled documentary stems from his enduring connection to the San Diego underground music scene and covers the 1970s through the mid-’90s.
Like many of our contributors, I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with Eric on this project, and I admire the scope and depth of his artistic vision. (The article includes his e-mail address; it’s not too late to add your memories to the movie.)
I also like his resistance to allowing the film to be defined by its geography. “The film will not be about San Diego per se,” he told the Union-Tribune.
“(Director) Robert Rodriguez said, ‘Make the movie you want to see,’ and that always stuck with me,” Rife said. “I would love to see films about the various music scenes in various cities. Because you know that Fort Lauderdale had a scene, St. Paul had a scene, Pittsburgh had a scene. …
“When the credits roll, I want people to do what I would do after seeing a film like this — rush home, jump on the Internet and find out as much as possible about the various bands, venues, etc.,” he said. “I want someone in Podunk, Iowa, to see my film and say ‘Hey, we had a pretty good scene here in 1981. Someone should make a film about that. And if this dork can do it, so can I.’ ”
Do it, Dork!
>>Do it, Dork!
Kevin: As Frank Sinatra sang, “It’s up to you, you dork, you dork!”
I’ll bet you have some great footage, Eric. I look forward to getting a glimpse of the scene before and after my time there.
Can’t wait Eric.
I hope all of my contributions helped.
Your pal
Mark
Hi Eric,
Gary suggested I get hold of you about my band the Executives?
Shoot me an email, I am in town from my home in Rio.
Mike
Eric, i can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with in your film! I still have quite a bit of unreleased material about everybodyn iolet, Morlocks and Go Go Impossible…let me know if I can feed you any goodies! I am both excited and nervous to see the footsage of The Che Underground peformances-but we were blessed to have you with us!
I meant…Everybody Violet, as in: http://www.everybodyviolet.com.
Thanks.
Nice promo for Eric’s movie! Rockin’ the B-roll!
Hey,Eric,thanks for squeezing my stuff into that flyer montage part,that’s awesome.
Awesome, Eric! Bobby, you never thanked me for squeezing your stuff.
And a much belated thank you to the Drum-King for squeezing my stuff!
You’re more than welcome, Mr. Lane. I always liked the flier you did for the GBH show with the aged punks. A self-fulfilling prophesy if ever I saw one. Oh, and, for the record, it’s Drum King, Esq. these days….
Back to the thread. When can we see the movie, Eric?
Thanks for the plug Eric, we are selling Injections records for $99.99 !
That’s to touch it.
How much just to pet it,Lou?
your freaking me out man
Nice of Eric to mention INJECTIONS first in his list of highly collectible records!!
LOU didn’t we do a show where you charged 99 cents for admission?? I just remember us having a lot of change for some reason!!
Your Sister performed for Poor Productions at the Eagles Club in Santee, for $2.99. It was to undercut all the other shows which were $3.00. People ended up throwing pennies at the bands.
Yeah, but this was one of your stunts at Skeleton Club #2. I think you charged everyone 1 cent and we gave everybody 99 cents back??…remember??
we would have lost $2.97
Back to Eric Rife, the man is without equal
Lou, I grew up in Arlington and I love you