A New Wave Christmas?

(Editor's Note: With Trip Darvez the sole surviving member of the California Gold team, we present an article from long ago as he prepares his newest entry coming next week. This comes from the L.A. Reader, a since-defunct newspaper)

I don't feel like I'm alone in saying that already this Christmas season seems a lot more positive than the last. Maybe it was just bad timing that had things erupt within the same month, but by New Years, we found ourselves exhausted. It was a summer and fall with great music, culminating with X's fantastic set at the Whisky...and a handful of the crowd was Go-Go's fans. Did this mean there was going to be an actual combined scene? Moreover, did there have to be? The crowds are shifting night from night and I get a knowing happiness as I watch club owners look confused. The "riot" at the Troubadour included, it seemed to be the most physical (and costly) rebellion to the buy-in of new music.

As this was happening we were treated by the touring and expansion of whatever this "new wave" thing is. Seeing the Toasters at the Bla Bla Cafe (yes, we hit the valley) or Split Enz (their performance on Fridays was nothing short of perfection) provided an interesting alternative when it came to the tripe played on most radio stations. These two parallels co-existed in a way that confounded the author. It's happened - an owner booking a new wave and then punk act for the same night, and I'd rather not get into the results. We're not talking those get-togethers in Orange County: you know how that one ended.

But December of 1980 seemed like a boot to the head, from behind and out of nowhere. Darby's suicide, and John's murder...and we all have no energy. The BS report on "punkers" on Channel 5 was the kind of thing that, while good to know they included Chuck's viewpoint, doesn't help matters. How many want to guess the number of fathers of the valley saw that and made calls to the police right away? It's old, it got in the way of the music...it made you not want to go to these shows. Basically, it's what the LAPD wanted.

But now, a year later, some of the clubs have adjusted and fully embraced new wave (even if it means relegating punk a night or two). Missing Persons has completely taken off, even within the past 3-6 months, now headlining the Roxy. Funny how we saw them a year ago at the Topanga Corral in front of 30 others who also "knew." But they deserve everything, even if KROQ playing them to death doesn't hurt. Add to that The Motels and Josie Cotton (among a long list of others) and it's as if one of them in this line-up is usually playing somewhere. Don't think KROQ's DJ's don't know it either...but they have a hand in this and so as I watched two-unnamed complain of the lack of snacks backstage at the Whisky not long ago...well, that's California Gold. I didn't have the heart to remind them that, if someone hadn't dropped off that Missing Persons EP in 1980, who knows where they'd be...the band and the station for that matter.

Not everyone is getting this, but it's just as well. We're not getting the polarizing split from Fear's Christmas song, but when The Waitresses' Christmas song comes on, with equally nutty lyrics, everyone dances for joy. Perhaps that will end up the ultimate appeal of this music, or maybe I'm hanging with the wrong crowd. There's something amazing about both bands, but if you're going to survive in the 80s you'll have to appreciate both for what they are. Simply as a metaphor, of course...plug in Black Flag, Flipper, Sparks...the list is too long.

Anyway, The Fleshtones and Hunt Sales will be at Club Lingerie early next week...with Social Distortion in OC at the Old Vic. Next week - what will happen of the Starwood, and new clubs booking punk bands. Onward!