San Diego Seen Report

So last weekend I went out to San Diego for a tattoo/hot rod convention. The first song I heard on the radio once I hopped in my rental vehicle (NOT a hot rod) was Let's Go by The Cars...not a bad omen; hell, at least the weather was decent. Featured at the show was Barris Custom - they had their Munster Koach there & were selling some great swag (I felt compelled to buy every mini tiki patch they had). There were plenty of other car customizers there, and a ton of really great tattooers as well. On Friday night I headed up to northern San Diego to catch The Weirdos and Duane Peters' Gunfight play in a pool hall. Does punk exist in San Diego anymore? I'm not sure... I had a great time & both bands were smokin', but the turnout was really frikkin crappy. In attendance: Mike Palm of Agent Orange, so I was in good company, but still felt bad for the bands. This kind of thing drives me nuts... a band I adore is playing, the show is underattended, so I get a great place near the stage that I don't have to get bloody for & get to talk to the band longer than I would because NO ONE ELSE IS THERE. It's the "My Band" or "everybody's band, including mine and I stand in the very back so my nose doesn't get broken.. again" syndrome, and I've suffered from it often. I get great stories to take home, but the band probably lost their shirt(s), and that sucks. I did get to have a conversation with John Denney, vocalist for the Weirdos about crop circles; that'll stand out in my mind for awhile - so I guess I will just deal with the ordeal of being torn on this front. This was a "My Band" night & I won't apologize for it, I mean, really, I flew across the country and then drove almost an hour; by the time the Weirdos went on I think it was 4am NY time, so yes, I earned that, even though I wish they could have sold more merch and didn't get tossed out of the club as soon as they were done playing! So much for respect & the San Diego scene.
Back at the convention on Saturday, sets by Go Fast, The Saddle Tramps & Honky all kept the crowd happy, but there wasn't a local band in sight. Now I know that San Diego is home to Cattle Decapitation and the Locust, but is that it? I'm not going to blubber about what I didn't see, and I was only there for a weekend, but when the east coast show queen comes to town, well, you'd better deliver! Sheesh. Basically, the convention was a success, the weather cooperated; people had a howling good time (sometimes too good), and that's all she wrote. For now.

Comments

[Rick Ele]

Diane, lest you thought San Diego was a scene of aging punks 20+ years past their prime and Romulan-haired cyber-edge grinders and Carcass-revisionists, check out the band Business Lady, a young quartet of freaks unaware of their resemblance to the most no-wave-sympathetic sounds from the LA Free Music Society in the 70's and early 80's. You can sample their sounds and manifesto at businesslady.org. This was an unsolicited testimonial.

[Roger Krueger]

San Diego can do better than this, whoever was promoting punk shows at the Longshot had no clue what they were doing. I not only got a Weirdos "my band" show, but saw the Dickies and Agent Orange (different nights) under similar conditions. But last month when Agent Orange played a couple of miles away at the Jumping Turtle they had a pretty good crowd, even though San Marcos is kinda the middle of nowhere.

The Longshot just barely made closing time that night--California law is 2:00am closing, but unlike other states, California actually demands you have everyone out the door by closing time, not just stop selling alcohol. I was amazed they cut it as close is they did--it was only a couple minutes before 2:00, that's why security was so rushed in shepherding us out. No responsible bar would run such a stupid risk with their license. I mean, I appreciate the extra songs and all, but it was still stupid.

It was especially sad as Dix had pnuemonia and was playing against doctors orders. To go to all that trouble for a dozen people...

Anyway, I was the long-haired guy taking pictures. I've got some up on my site www.punktures.com, but they're not great because I was still learning my new camera and the lighting in the Longshot was pretty grim. The Weirdos at Hogue Barmichael's in June came out much better.