DEAD SOUL SINGER SAVES DAY.

I was prepared to make ten kinds of fun of Goddo. The were a band from Canada back in the seventies. I happened on a live video featuring a bassist that looks like one of the Buggles and guitarist whose solo (scorching, if his guitar face can be believed) would require the talent of a high school-age aspiring metal head. It's ridiculous, a medley of two songs, "Tough Times/Cock On"", the titles of which would have you expecting this band to have something to back it up with. But it's just rock, shitty contrived clichéd rock. That got me to thinking. This live video was from 1979. I wanted to compare it to U.S. bands at the time to see if I was giving Canada a fair shake, but I couldn't think of what bands were massively popular in the U.S. in '79, not because there weren't any. It's just that I was ignoring mainstream shit. I was, and still am, in a bubble. Punk rock, rockabilly, reggae, soul, blues, surf, and so on. Very little mainstream shit seeps in.

Then I remembered; one band I was listening to in 1979 was the Crawdaddys. The Crawdaddys were from a completely different planet than Goddo's. They were an r&b band, in the vein of an early Stones. So, that got me to check out some Crawdaddys videos, one from around 1979, a shitty quality video of them doing "Cadillac", then a more recent live video of them doing "36-22-36" which was great. It prompted me to revisit Bobby Blue Bland's version. And once you realize how quickly you went from Goddo to Bobby Blue Bland you just keep moving forward and don't look back.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Bobby Blue Bland - Turn On Your Lovelight mp3 at Corey Barksdale (?)
Bobby Blue Bland - I Wouldn't Treat a Dog The Way You Treat Me mp3 at Crowell
Bobby Blue Bland - 36-22-36 (live) mp3 at LP Cover Lover
Video:
Goddo - Tough Times/Cock On! at YouTube
The Crawdaddys - Cadillac at YouTube 1979?
The Crawdaddys - 36-22-36 (live) at YouTube 2015

QUESTION OF THE DAY

When I was in my teens, most of my good friends were made at the beach. I could share a class with a person, even become friends, but they would rarely become a good friend if there wasn't some sort of shared time at the beach. Among these guys were three brothers, all slightly younger than me. I would end up in a band with the middle brother, but it was short lived for me. I never made it to playing out with them. I had a habit of getting a little too lubricated before practices and the final straw, unbeknownst to me when it happened, was when the youngest brother, who was in his early teens at the time, came back to the garage and asked if he could sing a few songs. He was messing around, playing with other guys his age, and he was to be their singer. So, yeah, sure kid, "show us what you got", right? Let's try "Louie, Louie". Everybody knows that, backward and forward. Then he whipped out a spiral bound notebook in which he had transcribed lyrics. He was going cheat sheet. On "Louie, Louie". The horror. That's what my lubricated mind was telling me. I yanked the notebook out of his hand, through it against the wall and said something to the effect of "If you don't know the lyrics to 'Louie, Louie', make 'em up." I was never called for another practice. A few months later, I was relieved when I saw them playing at a party. I won't say they sucked. Let's just say that my idea of "ready" and theirs were different.

A few years passed and the youngest brother was still playing with the same gang. They were called the Monsters. I never bothered to see how they had developed, I was on to other things. By the time they secured a weekly gig at a local watering hole, I had been told that their gigs were a good time, so I decided to check them out. I wasn't expecting much, but I'd forgotten that they'd been playing together for several years. They had better chops, they had the confidence that comes with going through high school as the band that played at all the keg parties, and now they were of drinking age. On this particular night, they were well lubricated.

Among the Who, Kinks, surf and other cover band specials, they covered "Why Don't You Smile Now", a rather obscure choice. It's one of the first songs Lou Reed and John Cale wrote together, from the days when they were staff writers for Pickwick Records. The first recording of it was as a B-side by the All Night Workers (a band that included an ex-college roommate of Reed's). Sometime after that, the Downliners Sect covered it, and from that, somewhere around 1980, the Crawdaddys covered it. That's the version the Monsters probably picked up on, being that the Crawdaddys were a local band. The song's been covered by others as well, but I gotta say, all these years later, when I hear that song, any version of it, my memory is of the youngest brother singing that song, a drunk shitting eating grin on his face, with the looseness that only confidence, beer, and a "who gives a fuck" attitude can bring. I remember thinking on the way home, the kid did good.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen:
The Downliners Sect - Why Don't You Smile Now mp3 at Internet Archive
The Crawdaddys - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube
The All Night Workers - Why Don't You Smile Now mp3 at Roio
Donnie Burkes - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube
Thee Headcoat Sect - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube

BEST SHOW IN TOWN

It's heard to describe the sense of community and grassroots pipeline of information that was California punk rock in 1977-1978 to someone who wasn't there. At that point, there wasn't the plethora of bands that would come down the pike within the next couple of few years. There were just a handful of bands in each of the major cities, and even the biggest names would play venues with capacities of only a couple hundred or so. No one was making it rich, or necessarily trying to get signed. The labels were small DIY outfits, and many of the deals were done on a handshake (or less). When you wanted to book a band, you might get their phone number from another band, and call and ask that they tell you when they'd be in your area. So it was that a couple friends and I would book shows in a teen disco, rented out one night a week, for a run of Monday nights in the summer of 1978.

One particular night we had a bill that, in retrospect, was a decent representation of where things were at the time. The Avengers from San Francisco, the Last from L.A., and a very early Crawdaddys, from San Diego. It was a good show. And, thanks to a page of a old tour diary, in the booklet that comes with the Avengers' The American In Me posthumous compilation, I see that we paid them $150. I think the sound guy was about $50. Who the hell knows what the Last and the Crawdads were paid. Anyway you look at it, it was a damn bargain.

Just a month later, the Avengers would be in the studio with Steve Jones producing. Those sessions, long out of print, were just reissued in an expanded version today. You can read about it here. Their cuts below are from their first record, released either late '77 or early '78.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Avengers - We Are The One mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - I Believe In Me mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - Car Crash mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - Corpus Christi mp3 at Combat Music Radio
The Last - She Don't Know Why I'm Here mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Last - Bombing of London mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Last - Century City Rag mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Crawdaddys - Oh Baby Doll mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I'm Dissatisfied mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I Just Don't Understand mp3 at Che Underground

DOES THE YEAR MATTER?

~ UPDATE: LINKS TO VIDEOS OF RHINO IN-STORE BELOW ~

It's been a long time since I was in an high school art class with Ron Silva, but I remember one moment well. I had been painting a portrait of Johnny Winter, and I passed by his desk. He was painting the early Beatles. I was a bit bewildered, because the Beatles had lost any semblance of contemporary relevance, but here was this guy, who looked a little like Paul McCartney, painting their portrait. In the ensuing years, after I met him, I learned that his grandmother sewed buttons on his collars, because he was unable to find button downs. (Keep in mind that the style of the day was Hang Ten shirts, flannel shirts, and the odd Mexican wedding shirt. No one wore button down collars.) A few years later, when I worked in a ma and pa market, he'd come in to buy Cokes, because it was one of the few places that still sold Coke in six ounce bottles, which was part of completing the picture. And a picture it was. Walking down the street with his pal, Steve Potterf, both with Brian Jones cuts, looking like they were transported from 1965 London. I had to admire his dedication. He was a fiend.

A very early Crawdaddys clip, around '78-'79

We eventually became casual friends, when he was the guitarist for the Hitmakers. In 1978, the Hitmakers split up, and Silva started the Crawdaddys. I was putting on shows with some friends at the time and one bill found them opening for the Avengers and the Last (in a club with a capacity of less than a hundred, with the admission only two or three bucks!) That was a long time ago, and Silva has been playing in bands ever since; a bunch of bands, beginning with about half a dozen different incarnations of the Crawdaddys, each with a slightly different sound; followed by the Black Diamonds, the Monarchs, the Nashville Ramblers, and others. (Note: those are not in chronological order. I lost track long ago.)

Ron Silva & the Monarchs, 2010

The Crawdaddys' 1981 line-up has recently reconvened, and are preparing for a tour of Spain. As a warm-up gig, they're playing at Rhino Records in L.A. this Sunday, May 29 (6/1/11 update: video links added below). Admission is free. If you're in the general, or not so general, vicinity, just go. I've never seen a bad show, or heard a bad record, with Silva stink on it. His track record is pretty spotless. Taken as a whole, he's got just about every shade of 60's R & B covered, from the early Stones, to Stax sounding stuff, and on top of that, Merseybeat type pop harmonies (in the Nashville Ramblers). As different as all the sounds are, they're all Silva. The guy has always been inseparable from his music. That's not to say his band mates over the years should go without praise. Silva has surrounded himself with like minded, ridiculously good, musicians. His whole crowd is a fucking A-list.

The Nashville Ramblers, 80's

This is really just a small sampling of what's online. One thing: don't pass by the Nashville Ramblers' "The Trains," considered, by many informed folks, the best song to come out of San Diego ever. (I'm not exaggerating.) It's just been released for the first time on vinyl, as a 45 on Ugly Things. There were only 1000 pressed, so sleepers be warned. Get it here.

See the Crawdaddys LIVE (free!)
Sunday May 29, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Rhino Records
10952 Santa Monica Blvd.
(One door east of Veteran Ave.)
Los Angeles, CA 90025.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

ADDED 6/1/11:
Three videos from Rhino Records 5/29/11 In-Store:
The Crawdaddys - You Got What I Want at YouTube
The Crawdaddys -You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At the Cover & You Must Believe at YouTube
The Crawdaddys - I Can Never Tell at YouTube
Listen:
The Crawdaddys - Oh Baby Doll mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I'm Dissatisfied mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I Just Don't Understand mp3 at Che Underground
The Nashville Ramblers - The Trains mp3 at Che Underground
Watch:
The Nashville Ramblers - Ain't That Her (live) at YouTube
The Nashville Ramblers - Recent (2010/11) live clip at YouTube
Read:
The Crawdaddys profile by Ray Brandes at Che Underground
The Nashvilles Ramblers profile by Ray Brandes at Che Underground

LET'S PUT ON A SHOW!

The Zeros (1977)

Today I happened on a recent video of the Zero's playing "Pipeline" and it was 1977 all over again. Humor me here, because all of this shit came flooding back. This is gonna be long.

Remember when your city didn't really have a scene? Back in 1977, my brother had gone up to L.A. to visit a friend and returned with a fanzine called Backdoor Man, put out by Phast Phreddie Patterson. It had a little blurb in it about a band from Chula Vista (a suburb of San Diego), called the Zeros. It mentioned that they did a cover of "Pipeline," which piqued my interest, because I was into surf music.

The Dils (ca 1975-76)

Not long after that, along with a bunch of like minded music freaks that I hung out with, I went to the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, to see one of the "Kim Fowley Presents New Wave" nights. They were a couple consecutive nights showcasing bands, that basically allowed any band that said that they were new wave or punk to get up and show what they were made of. (This particular night had the Germs, in their second gig ever.) Up near the stage, I began chatting with a couple of guys that happened to be from the San Diego area, so I asked them if they had ever heard of this band called the Zeros. One of them happened to be Guy Lopez (RIP), the brother of Robert Lopez, one of the Zeros. I asked to be introduced to his brother, and after introductions we both lamented the lack of a scene in San Diego. We swapped contact info and made plans to talk more once back home.

The Hitmakers (1977)

Later that night, I ran into Ron Silva, a guitar playing Beatle freak I knew vaguely in high school. He was with a guy named Jeff Scott. Scott had been in a band called the Dils, and was now starting his own band with Silva, which would be called the Hitmakers. Again, contact info was swapped.

The Zeros (1978)

Once back in San Diego, calls were made, and dots began to get connected. Talk was made about having a show in San Diego. It was like something out of "Our Gang," as in "Hey, let's put on a show!" The Hitmakers included two ex-Dils, Scott and drummer Joseph Marc; and the Zeros had played in L.A. with the current Dils, which had become a three piece with the other two original Dils, Chip & Tony Kinman. So, there was another band that might play.

The Dils, who resided in Carlsbad (just north of San Diego), were contacted and, over the course of the next few months, the first punk show in San Diego was planned. The bill would be the Hitmakers, the Dils and the Zeros. (Fyer collectors: The Dils backed out just before the flyers were printed, and then changed their mind and agreed to play. So there were two versions of the flyers, one without the Dils, and one with their name hand written with a Magic Marker.) It was a great line up, and it was the first show in San Diego proper for all three bands.

Just thinking about all of the bands that members of those three bands would go on to play in is mind boggling. In no particular order, and not counting the three we've been talking about: Catholic Discipline, Rank and File, the Sacred Hearts, the Crawdaddys, the True Believers, the Nashville Ramblers, Blackbird, Flying Color, the Black Diamonds, Cowboy Nation, PCH, and, one I just found out about tonight, Los Trendy. And I know I've left out a lot of other bands, not to mention solo ventures, which still continue; the most recent, an excellent ('76 era Groovies-ish) solo album by the Zeros' Javier Escovedo.

The Dils (ca 1979)

Now, all of these guys would have continued doing music regardless of the San Diego gig, but that's not the point. What caused me to stop for a minute and think about it was that, back then, you wouldn't have imagined that any loosely affiliated group of musicians would continue in music for years, much less decades. Nobody did it back then, except rocks stars and shitty go-nowhere bar bands. Since then, bands have been slowly chinking away at the irrelevant rock star armor. Now, decades later, there is room for mid-tier bands to do it for a living, and the word indie is a permanent part of the music lexicon. That would probably not be the case if punk rock hadn't have happened.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Hitmakers - Grow Up With Me mp3 at the Che Underground
The Hitmakers - The One I Like mp3 at the Che Underground (Note: These are actually just Jeff Scott and Joseph Marc, pre-Ron Silva)
The Dils - I Hate the Rich mp3 at Killed By Death
The Zeros -Don't Push Me Around mp3 at Pop Zeus
The Dils - You're Not Blank mp3 at Killed By Death
The Zeros - Hand Grenade Heart (demo) mp3 at Pop Zeus
The Dils, - Class War mp3 at Killed By Death
The Zeros - Beat Your Heart Out mp3 at Last Days of Man on Earth
The Dils - Mr. Big mp3 at Killed By Death
The Zeros -Wild Weekend mp3 at Last Days of Man on Earth
The Crawdaddys - Oh Baby Doll mp3 at the Che Underground (Ron Silva's later band)
Rank & File - Rank & File mp3 at Lumberjack Thief (Chip & Tony Kinman's later band)
Rank & File - The Conductor Wore Black mp3 at The Rising Storm


The Zeros (2010)

Video:
The Zeros - Don't Push Me Around, Wimp, and short interview (Sun Up, 1977) video at YouTube
The Zeros - Pipeline (live, 2010) video at YouTube
The Dils - Class War (live, 1978) video at YouTube
The Dils - Red Rockers (live, Hurrahs, 1979) video at YouTube
The Crawdaddys - Cadillac (ca 1979) video at YouTube
Visit:
Interview with the Zero's Javier Escovedo (1/4/2011) at Punk Rock '77 Thru Today
The Zeros- Early history by Javier Escovedo at The Mod Pop Punk Archives
The Zeros at Wikipedia
Javier Escovedo at Facebook Recent music streaming
Chip Kinman and PCH at MySpace Recent music streaming
Tony Kinman interview (audio) at Revenge of the 80s Radio
Los Trendy/Tony Kinman at MySpace Recent music streaming
The Dils at Wikipedia