What's new
(links open in new window)

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 Aug 23.07
 Added Shit Howdy to other bands page.
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 Aug 15.07
 Too many things to list, but nothing here - mostly MySpace and Wikipedia.
 A Kevin Staydohar Memorial MySpace page here (Kevin played in True West and Thin White Rope, the page created in with support from Kevin's family and friends.
 A Game Theory MySpace page here.
 Lots more cool photos, and a few of new blogs) on the the Davis80smusic MySpace page.
 A rough starter article about the Davis, California music scene is on Wikipedia; my direct experience was ~1979-84,and mainly focused on one band (Game Theory), partying and taking photographs. If you were, or are, involved in any aspect of the Davis music scene - Entertainment Council, KDVS, late 80s-90s bands, rehearsal spaces - please adding to and/or editing the Wikipedia article - this could be a truly amazing community project that defines what it takes to create and support subcultures.
 Plus you may meet old friends! :-)
 So, it's mostly been about MySpace, but I hope the Wikipedia pages becomes a central spot that other davis80smusic resources grow from - the Yahoo Group, the YouTube clips, etc.
 As the weather coold off and there are more long winter evenings, I will get back to this page, and upload more Aggie articles to the Yahoo group (and maybe even obtain some rumored, long lost live Suspects photos.
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 May 27.07
 Sean O'Brien (List, Meantime, True West) and his Dirty Hands on YouTube.
 SHAKE SOME ACTION Pt III, Jerry Drawhorn's Davis music scene history is up in MySpace.
 Thin White Rope/True West bassist Kevin Staydohar memorial site on MySpace (created with support from his family). Please contact me if you have photos or stories you want to share, or leave a comment on the site. Kevin's family will deeply appreciate it.
 Hidden Desert, a MySpace Tribute to Thin White Rope. Impressive music and site design! Not a davis80smusic-related project, except subject matter.
 Last two Thin White Rope clips from 1988 Olive pit show on YouTube. Anyone know name of this song?
 Don Marquez from the Twinkeys is illustrating Alien Pig Farm 3000. Issue #1 is out and, if you like humorous science fiction comics, you should check it out.
 
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 May 11.07
 Part 2 of Jerry Drawhorn's Shake Some Action.
 Game Theory 'slide show' of Photo Robert's photos set to GT's song '24' live in Detroit, 1985. Also a collage of Thin White Rope live clips and Disneyland photos.
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 May 7.07
 Part I of Shake Some Action, Jerry Drawhorn's comprehensive, detailed telling of the birth of the Davis 80s music scene (turns out it started ~1976) - which tells the tale in far more detail than I ever thought possible. There's lot more to come and I will add posters/photos/links as time allows. If you are interested in what makes a music scene - not just Davis's, but any music scene - then this is an entertaining read. I am indebted to Jerry's generosity and hard work - he sweated blood into this thing.
 Page three of email excerpts re davis80smusic.
 More pics on the MySpace page (including Aggie ad that led to The Suspects - thanks Steve Suschil). MySpace has quieted down, so I will have more time to update this somewhat neglected site.
 More Thin White Rope and game Theory videos on YouTube.
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 Apr 28.07
 First installment of Jerry Drawhorn's history of the Davis 80s music scene on MySpace blog, starting with the mid-late 70s - Jerry gets into the whole scene, not just band timelines and line-ups. This history is detailed and comprehensive. You want to know what really happened and why? Jerry serves it up. I'm blown away. Will get much more of it up here soon as I get the layout/illustrations etc together - to present it in the manner it deserves. Jerry has done an amazing service to the project and to Davis music history. Very cool. Many thanks.
 From Jerry's MySpace bio: "I was a DJ on KDVS, the College Radio Station at UC Davis for well on 10 years, and worked as a buyer at Barneys and Tower Records for a few years after that."
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 April 23.07
 51 (total) photographs in photo section of davis80smusic on MySpace, includes Thin White Rope poster from KDVS ceiling, Slatter's Court, KDVS and UC Davis Art Department.
 Suspects bass player, Steve Suchil, sent Suspect's publicity photo, button, flyer for "reunion" Coffee House show, Kendra Smith's Suspect's set list, ad for The Mumbles (Frank French/Richard McGrath's Sacramento pre-True West band), and also wrote a few paragraphs for the blog; most are on davis80smusic MySpace page. Big thanks to Steve for helping fill he Suspect's gap in this project.
 All the Suspects stuff is also on Suspects MySpace page (along with audio clips mfrom their last reunion show).
 On YouTube, Game Theory 1987 One More for Saint Michael, Too Closely; Thin White Rope Some Velvet Morning/Mr. Limpet. I thought about creating a new davis80smusic YouTube page, but will continue to upload Davis80-related music to my personal YouTube page.
 Davis80smusic Yahoo group has 4 Aggie articles sent by Jerry Drawhorn.  In 'Interviews folder under 'Files.'
 Other blog stuff; Go, Dog. Go (by Skid Jones) and The Genius of Pete Loshstroh (by Chad Wilson) both on davis80smusic MySpace.
 Currently, on Wikipedia, the Iggy Pop article is illustrated with a photo from his 1978 appearance at the U.C. Davis Coffee House.
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 Wed Mar 28.07
 Uploaded two Thin White Rope videos to YouTube: Valley of the Bones (thanks to MLCompton), and the official Frontier Record Hidden Lands release (thanks to Gerrell Drawhorn).
 Joe Becker (drummed for Alternate Learning (which became Game Theory), True West and Thin White Rope) took time from his busy schedule to write down his unique perspective of the formation of Thin White Rope. Can't thank him enough for that. Joe has just joined MySpace.
 Lots to come - notably a pile of wonderful stuff from Mr. Drawhorn.
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 Tues Mar 27.07
 Okay - uploaded a bunch of stuff to the davis80smusic Yahoo group:
 In Photo albums: 
 Seven Thin White Rope posters (thanks to TWR friend and road manager MLCompton, who is also blogging TWR tour stories on his MySpace page)
 X-Men publicity and rehearsal photos (color Hex poster & Veil flyer both in X-Men album)
 Antique Bizarre newspaper photo
 Out Among the Cows & Acres for Cents covers and LP song list
 Alternate Learning's Painted Windows album cover
 Alternate Learning and Game Theory fan club newsletters
 Game Theory/X-Men Brewery gig flyer
 PopeAlopes article from Bucketful of Brains
 Ten late 80s party/gig flyers
 Kevin Staydohar club photo 1982 (in True West album)
 Under Files:
 Steve Wynn article from Wall Street Journal (PDF)
 (along with Joe Becker's TWR formation)
 Thanks to Morgan Young, Jane Smith, Sean O'Brien, Michael Geminder, Peter Fraser, Jeff Clark, Tina Cannon, MLMompton and everyone else for taking the time to send this stuff - it's merging into a big picture - fun stuff. Special thanks to Gerrell Drawhorn who sent a bunch of xerox's of Aggie articles/photos, and two Davis80smusic-related videos - which I am digitizing for YouTube.
 I will have FrontPage again next week and will do more work on this site; for now most of the energy will be going into the Yahoo group and the davis80smusic MySpace page. Joe Becker's early history Thin White Rope is up as a blog, and Skid Jones' history of Go Dog Go is waiting in the wings, along with several other written contributions.
 Donnie (Jupiter) Marquez of the Twinkeys has created his own MySpace page (featuring his sci-fi/fantasy paintings); please visit and make him feel welcome - The Twinkeys were a huge inspiration to the late-70's/early 80's music scene. If you've never heard the Twinkey's Aliens In Our Midst, you're in for a treat!
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 Mar 23.07
 Okay - turns out my computer had 15,000 viruses (seriously), so won't be up and running till next week - once it's fixed I'll upload a scan of an early Olive Pit show t-shirt featuring True West and Thin White Rope (it's already on the yahoo group - big thanks to Tina Roberts Cannon!), also Davis 80s memories from Joe Becker who played in, among others, Lazy Boys, Alternate Learning, Thin White Rope, True West and Game Theory; good shit, for which I am especially grateful because Joe's a busy guy and still took the time to write it up.
 Will also most likely doing a Kevin Staydohar MySpace memorial site, with support from some of his relatives, and we will be asking for photos and memories from those who knew him and played in bands with him.
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 Mar 16.07
 I have received so much cool stuff - thanks to everyone who has sent memories, posters, newspaper articles, LPs, videos, etc - the way I work is to let things gel, slowly organize it into piles: what goes on this site (and in what form: jpg? PDF? Re-typed?), what goes on the yahoo group, or even the MySpace? I have lots of scanned pages & photos, and a lot still to be scanned. Gonna bring my scanner home from work. In a week or two there'll be a burst of activity. Eventually I hope to have this project in shape, like a garden, that it will mostly require occasional weeding, because it's Spring - the days are longer  and warmer - so it's harder to dedicate entire evenings to it.
 I have uploaded quite a few photos to the yahoo group photo galleries that are not on this site.
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 Feb 26.07
 A new - second - page of davis80smusic-related correspondence: Greg Baxter's notes on mid-late 80s Davis recordings, and Tim O'Neill's observations about the early-80s Davis scene. Both here.
 New photo - Mitch Easter, Scott Miller & Nancy Becker - Game Theory Real Nighttime recording: Page, Photo.
 Added ML Compton to main links page; updated text on his MySpace link to highlight Thin White Rope tour stories he's sharing on his MySpace blog.
 On 'Misc bands' page, added links to Buick, PopeAlopes, Tim O'Neil and the Realities. Also added Toasted Sweeties - again - as it had somehow gone missing.
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 Feb 25.07
 Photo Robert and Donnette Thayer in the X-Men house, 1980. Photo. Page.
 Been sick. Apologies to those who have sent such marvelous and valuable stuff. It is much appreciated and will all be used.
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 Feb 21.07
 PopeAlope stuff on Yahoo group, will upload Meantime and True West publicity, KDVS Davis bands family tree, etc soon as time allows.
 Sean O'Brien (Meantime/True West) wrote up an excellent essay re his time in Davis and Davis bands - it's on the davis80smusic MySpace as a blog entry; also linked to davis80smusic homepage and here.
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 Feb 17.07
 Started a davis80smusic YahooGroup, to collect larger and redundant files and - who knows - to maybe serve as a place for people to connect and exchange stories.
 Based on what folks have sent, updated timeline again. This is a group project - please help by emailing me with corrections/additions/suggestions.
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 Feb 15.07
 Updated timeline.
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 Feb 14.07
 Let's see (TWR's Some Velvet Morning Live on YouTube blasting through my cheap headphones) - two new TWR photos - 1 live, 1 publicity, thanks to Arvid Krantz, on Photos page 4, new band names on 'other bands' page. Rough timeline will ultimately include KDVS managers, venues, etc.
 I've received a lot of cool stuff: Writings, photos, MP3s, albums, newspaper clippings, press releases, etc - my policy is not to mention specific stuff until it's up; and, as time allows, it will all eventually go up!
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 Feb 7.07
 John Nelson sent some great stuff, several PopeAlope live and publicity photos, including my fave: an Olive Pit rehearsal. Also PopeAlope flyers - including one for a Slatter's Court show, a location full of foul and wonderful Davis memories! He sent a photo of the Yolo County line sign (which I've placed on the davis80smusic homepage) and the actual 616 street address numbers! I love it!
 He sent more pics, newspaper clipping, etc - which will go up asap.
 Super big thanks to John for these eye-level images!
 Mummydogs link on links page. Will fix the ugly flyers linked-thumbs asap. Still dreaming of Suspects and Vox Humana pics.
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 Feb 5.07
 Exciting (to me anyway) stuff sent by former KDVS DJ Jane Smith:
 Several flyers for mid-late80s Davis house parties (including a PoleAlopes show), and a Davis compilation CD cover. Also seven color shots by Peter Fraser of 1978 Devo Coffee House gig. Huge thanks to Jane for making the time to scan and send these gems!
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 Feb 3.07
 Two Twinkeyz-related links on links page: Donnie Jupiter's Twinkeyz page and the Twinkeyz record label. Added Sean O'Brien's Denim TV shot and Michelle Lewis's Toasted Sweeties shot to photo flow on davis80smusic MySpace page.
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 Feb 2.07
 Sean O'Brien (Meantime/True West/Denim TV) sent a cool shot of Denim TV at 1986 Barn show (opening for Camper Van Beethoven), also an interview with Steve Wynn and review of Russ Tolman record, which will go up next week along with early Meantime/True West press materials.
 Uploaded quotes, links, and both live and studio Suspects songs to Suspects MySpace page.
 A couple of folks have sent more great memories, scene color - I hope to have them up this weekend and to organize the correspondence page into something like chronological order.
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 Jan 25.07
 A fourth photo page and new shots scattered throughout. Three Thin White Rope live shots from Arvid Krantz (who I think is Stockholm). Live Toasted Sweeties shot from Michelle Lewis. Several new shots of Donnette Thayer's Veil: live and in drunken celebration after being acquitted of breaking and entering (seriously). Boys Life studio shot. Two Game Theory shots: live in Berkeley and live in Davis.
 People have sent me a lot of great info which I've been trying to organize into some kind of essay, but that's gonna take a while - might be beyond my meager writing abilities. So I've put up a page of excerpts, edited - to the best of my ability - to protect the authors' privacy. Perhaps some of what they've written will stir up more memories and interest. If anyone knows of essays about the scene I could place here I'd love to have them.
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 Wed Jan 15.07
 Got the large flier scans from Michelle Lewis. Cool addition!
 Created Suspects MySpace page - davis80smusic story is incomplete without serious focal point for The Suspects; perhaps the page will attract photos/fliers/stories.
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 Sun Jan 14.07
 Catching up:
 ML Compton on MySpace links page: ML managed/toured with Thin White Rope and will be blogging about those years on his MySpace page. ML was good enough to send ~12 oversized TWR posters - first three linked thumbs are on new posters (as opposed to 'fliers') page - it seems better to distinguish between fliers (small, homemade) and posters (big, professional).
 Great stuff; and big thanks to ML Compton! I recommend reading his MySpace bio - quite a story!
 Michelle Lewis (guitarist in Davis's The Toasted Sweeties) sent five small flier scans (life-sized scans of same coming soon). One of the fliers Michelle sent may be for the Thin White Rope show which is posted in part on YouTube! Created a second fliers page to accommodate Michelle's scans.
 Thank you, Michelle!
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 Sat Jan 13 07
 Links to Twinkeyz, Donnette Thayer, davis80smusic MySpace pages.
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 Jan 11 07
 In New York, nothing new till next week - getting Thin White Rope and other Davis band flyers.
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 Dec 29.07
 Section of Iggy Pop at Coffee House proof sheet.
 True West opened for Violent Femmes at SF Fillmore last night. Sold out show - floor was full for TW's set. Honestly, they sounded and played great - Russ and Richard are exciting guitarists - better than ever - ; Gavin sang with conviction that comes with age and experience. After the set, exchanged greetings with Gavin for 1st time in 25 years. While hanging with my and Russ's friends, asked a few questions: Twinkeys influenced Suspects/early Davis scene by being non-mainstream alternative band with an independent record release; Suspects break-up was friendly; Russ has live Suspects photos which I may eventually get for this site(!); KDVS Gang of Five were Steve Wynn, Russ Tolman, Kendra Smith, Tom Gracyk and Peter Fraser; TW recorded at Dave Millington's/Dave Gill's Samurai Studio (a friend of Russ's hanging with us said he might be able to send me scans of recording notes from those sessions, and said he has an additional TW video from The I-BEAM from 1983 with better 'room' sound than what's already on YouTube.) Anyway, a very enjoyable night.

Didn't want to get thrown out, or have camera confiscated, so only grabbed this one shot at very beginning of the set.
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 Dec 28.06
 Graphic of main Davis bands 78-84. Art photo of Donnette Thayer (X-Men/Veil/Game Theory); art photo of Davis fields migrant building.
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 Dec 26.06
 Link to Italian TWR site, plus amusingly bad Babelfish translation of Guy Kyser interview from same site. A few date and name corrections.
 Trying for chronological order for photos. Reordered MySpace link page to reflect importance of KDVS. Currently links order is: KDVS/Wynn/Tolman/Blair/Miller/Kyser; then everything else. Not including pre-Suspects Sac bands like Twinkeys, unless/until I hear of direct influence on Suspects.
 MySpace 'friend' search for davis80smusic - positive responses, story filling out. MySpace davis80smusic can cover bigger picture, leaving this site's focus on 1978-83.
 Received KDVS promo clips for MP3s, will figure out how to edit/link. Reformatted homepage colors/background/added texture to guitar.
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 Dec 22.06
 Clean up, interconnect four links pages; copy-editing/link fixing throughout - photos should all open in own window. Russ Tolman interview. Davis-specific links.
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 Dec 21.06
 Photos: Go Dog Go, Skid and Lisa, The Veil publicity, early Thin White Rope proof (by Lindy Dunlap), Talking Heads live at the UC Rec Hall. Also replaced X-Men publicity with higher quality shot, and Thin White Rope publicity with non-watermarked shot.
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 Dec 20.06
 Lindy Dunlop's backstage and early True West pics (photos page 2). Combined Wikipedia/MySpace/YouTube/Internet links into one links page. Photos of peripheral/transitional moments: Fred Juhos moves from Boys Life to Game Theory, Gavin Blair moves from X-Men to True West; color snapshot of The Meantime opening for Gang of Four at the Coffee House.
 Added several links: Suspects MP3s, Paisley label, Sean O'Brien's homepage, Davis Wiki.
 Upcoming: Maps of Davis area, edited version of Steve Wynn interview, Talking Heads at campus Rec Hall, early Thin White Rope publicity shots from Lindy Dunlop proof sheet, recent shots of Davis locales.
 Need Suspects/True West live shots.
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