Here’s a song that’s traveled with me since age 16 (when I first translated the words from the 1923 poem by Tristan Tzara) and got its definitive treatment when we formed Noise 292 in 1982.

I’ve played “Chanson Dada” in a lot of bands since (and even recently found my translation had been covered by some wacky Scandinavians!), but it’s probably the composition of mine I identify most closely with Noise 292. That made it a special pleasure to perform at our reunion May 31, 2009, when we presented Che Games for May at San Diego’s Casbah.

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I’ve written before on the blog about my oldest musical connection within our scene: with David (a k a Kavika) Rives, the fantastically talented lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for Noise 292. My musical association with Kavika began in eighth grade, ca. 1977, and was rekindled after a long separation when Noise 292 reunited to play Che Games for May 2009.

Here are two examples of Mr. Rives’ talent: his songs “Mr. Pumpkin” and “Talking in Circles.”

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(Injections, Noise 292 and Everybody Violet drummer Joey Miller makes a public-service announcement — with guitar!)

DISCLAIMER: This is not a project of either Matthew or me, and there will understandably be different perspectives on it. Great. Please feel free to make /post your thoughts here, but KNOW and UNDERSTAND we are only the messengers.

“Our Blow Out” was a compilation that was originally put together and released in 1983 by Cliff from Social Spit. It was an energetic and amazing accomplishment for its time, and (as many of us can attest) it was an amazing compilation.

Read more about “Our Blow Out”!

Curtis, the owner of TAANG Records, has expressed interest in re-releasing this compilation; he would like to make contact with as many band members as possible to set up a meeting. He is extremely interested in seeing this move forward, and it is our hope to put the word out to see how many originals that this information would reach.

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Multimedia goodness is beginning to trickle into the Che Underground YouTube channel from the Che Games for May, an event at San Diego’s Casbah that brought together musicians from the early-’80s “Che Underground” era in fantastic new forms.

Here’s the first edited video of Noise 292′s quarter-century reunion: a hypnotic version of “Stupid Future” by the electrifying Kristin Martin. I’m proud to say that the Casbah performance reunited the entire Noise 292 lineup as a sextet; percussionist Hobie Hodge and his successor, Wendell Kling, shared the stage for the first time ever during this set.

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(Joey Miller, a k a P Gargoyle, f k a Joanne Norris, drummer for the Injections as well as Noise 292 and Everybody Violet, explores the sexual cultures of the San Diego scene.)

In 1979, when I started playing drums in the Injections, I was just another white working-class kid who happened to be a sailor who had landed in San Diego.

The music that we were playing really had no particular label, but we did end up somehow landing in the punk genre, which was awesome. My friend recently saw the picture of us that is on the blog and commented that we all “looked like a middle-class kids.” We were not wearing leather, safety pins, ripped shirts, colored hair and spikes … There was none of that. I had 501s on and a lesbian baby butch mullet.

I was also in the Navy. and it was about the time that I had just come out of “the closet.” I was underage, so going to any clubs took some tricky business to accomplish. I could drink on the base (some watered-down beer with other underage sailors, which was as exciting as listening to a foghorn).

I felt isolated and alone and had a propensity toward off-the-wall music. I had been weaned on Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople and George Clinton, to name a few, but had just come from 18 months of subjection to the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network. I had just come to San Diego a few months before after being stationed in Puerto Rico for 18 months.

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(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes lays the table for May’s audio feast.)

The Che Underground Weekend Showcase:
Celebrating more than 25 years of San Diego’s underground music history

An incredible opportunity to reconnect, reminisce and rediscover will unfold as 25 years and thousands of miles of distance disappear in a single weekend — May 29 and 30 at the Casbah in San Diego.

The lineups have been set, the bands are rehearsing, and the drinks are on ice. Here’s what to expect:

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(Joey Miller, a k a P Gargoyle, f k a Joanne Norris, drummer extraordinaire for the Injections as well as Noise 292 and Everybody Violet, shares scans and recollections of the legendary punk band, which also featured Lou Skum on vocals, Bruce Perreault on guitar and Lisa Acid on bass and helped propel the San Diego scene at the turn of the ’80s.)

Like fine wine, we have all aged, and here we are almost 30 years later on Che Underground: The Blog. I had some old flyers and other things left over, and the ones that I did not discard I scanned. (I never thought they would get their just due, but I was wrong.)

Some of the things I had were easier to scan than others. Some of them I have seen in other places on the Web, like Lou’s Facebook page, but I haven’t seen them all together. Not yet.

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