"We Didn't Put Out the Fire - Eulogy" by Benedict Arnold & The Traitors...

[GReedDiamond]

6. Back in the Cathay days, we played there quite a bit...

...but after '82, The Traitors evolved into The Hundredth Monkey and we were doing "psychedelic punk."

The Cathay always smelled like piss and stale beer (especially downstairs), so we bitched about the stink, and the fact that we were the only "punk" band hauling a Hammond organ around with us, but, in retrospect, it was fun playing there.

The late El Duce of the Mentors used to hang out there a lot, and since we were both playing 60s era Camco drum kits, we had some interesting drum talks.

Most often, the sound guy was Don Bolles (Germs, 45 Grave, Celebrity Skin, etc). The last time I ran into him, about a year ago, he actually remembered working with us when we were The Hundredth Monkey. He said we were doing stuff that he found interesting, so it left an impression on him. He may have been simply making conversation with me, but I think he actually did recall working the sound for us all those decades ago.

I wish now that the Cathay de Grande was still around, in all of its original "glory."