Thanks to documentarian Eric Rife, those of us far from Southern California can enjoy video of the Penetrators performing at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards at Humphrey’s by the Bay August 8, when the band received a lifetime achievement award for its contributions to local music. (Vocalist Gary Heffern in June shared his thoughts on the honor with Che Underground: The Blog.)

If these performances of “Walk the Beat” and “Sensitive Boy” put you in the mood for more stimulation, don’t forget: The Penetrators will hold another reunion performance at the Casbah August 13!

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(San Diego’s legendary Penetrators got together for a rare performance April 3, when lead singer Gary Heffern flew in from Finland for a short visit. Ace photographer Sean McMullen was in the audience and offers a wealth of images for us out-of-towners.)

It was a really good turnout with a true rogue’s gallery of old friends.

I made a joke about there not being much of a pit, and someone said it was more of a “hug pit.” Haha. I definitely participated in that. All three sets (including openers the Loons and Social Spit) were high energy and rocked the joint well. The level of passion and musicianship was an adrenaline rush all the way through.

Personally, The Penetrators were one of the first bands I saw live as a 13- or 14-year-old kid at Golden Hall. I became friends with Gary in the last decade through Casbah shows and Facebook, so it was a joy to have him back here and interacting with all of the people I grew up with from that early age.

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(An excerpt from Ray Brandes’ saga of San Diego guitar hero Jerry Raney and his band that shaped the ’70s. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)

In a 1978 Village Voice editorial, music journalist Lester Bangs proclaimed: “The music business today still must be recognized as by definition an enemy, if not the most crucial enemy, of music and the people who try to perform it honestly.”

By the mid-‘70s, multinational corporations had taken control of most of the industry, leaving independent record labels and local music scenes to fend for themselves. Longtime music fan and San Diego expatriate Harold Gee remembers the dismal state of affairs which would ultimately lead to the punk movement: “Everything, from the top down, from radio and all other media was total crap. The problem for me was the disconnect between the music that moved me, which mostly seemed to be either in the past or on jazz records, that only got played in a few people’s houses.”

Throughout the ‘70s, however, a few local underground acts had held firmly, David-like in their resistance to the corporate Goliaths. One such band was San Diego’s beloved hard-rock bad-asses Glory, who according to one critic, left “a big greasy mark (and a few stains) on Southern California’s rock & roll scene.”
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(Another key San Diego music artifact courtesy of Ray Brandes.)

I recently acquired a copy of the Hitmakers’ “It’s Only Sad” (1978), the A-side of their second record, which followed their 1977 EP “America’s Newest Hitmaker.” That’s Jeff Scott on vocals, Ron Silva and Josef Marc on guitars, Steve Potterf on bass and Joel Kmak on drums. Ron and Steve had left the band to start the Crawdaddys when the single was released, so they are not properly credited in the sleeve notes.

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(Excerpts from Ray Brandes’ definitive history of a band that shaped San Diego music. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)

On October 8, 1977, Santana and Journey played to a sold-out crowd at the San Diego Sports Arena. That same night, across town at the Adams Avenue Theater, a decrepit former cinema, the Zeros, Dils and Hitmakers were making history by playing what has since come to be considered a milestone San Diego concert: the first big punk show.

The audience was full of artists, musicians and poets, future movers and shakers who would go on to form bands, create fanzines, open independent record stores, and promote shows and galleries for decades to come. Among those in attendance were several young misfits who were drawn together by their love for early rock and roll and beat music and who would eventually change the local musical landscape as the Penetrators.

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(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles — San Diego music historian extraordinaire — shares some highlights from his stacks.)

Some call it being a pack rat; I prefer the tag “archivist”! The dream is to put together a DVD/book with the rooms full of stuff I’ve accumulated in 30 years of collecting San Diego music memorabilia.

But in the meantime, in honor of the recent Che Underground reunion shows, here are 20 relevant vintage photos from my archive. For this fifth picture post, I’ve included a little bit of everything: random photos from 1982-1990 (+1), including bandmates and other friends.

1) Dean Curtis at Club Zu. You know it’s a good show if Dean is in attendance.

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(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles counts off drummers he’s worked with.)

No doubt about it: Kevin Donaker-Ring and I have worked with a lot of drummers over the decades, keeping in mind that we first began our team-up in 1976.

Here are a few of the incredible musicians who have spent time behind a drum kit with Manual Scan or the Shambles over the past 30-plus years. Not pictured: Paul Brewin, Morgan Young, Terry Moore, Rob Wilson, Trace Smith, Brad Kiser. … There’s a future post there.

1) “I was a Shambles drummer” pin. People have sat in with the band for one song to obtain one of these.

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