The Deaf Club

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What began as a deaf person's club on Valencia Street in San Francisco in the 1930's, the Deaf Club became a notable music venue located in the same building and remained open for an 18 month period. It closed with a party hosted by the artist and filmmaker Bruce Conner. Robert Hanrahan, manager of the Offs, discovered the San Francisco Club for the Deaf and was able to rent it on a nightly basis. The first show as the Deaf Club on December 9th 1978 featured the Offs, The Mutants and On The Rag. Over 100 great bands from northern California that included the Zeros, Crime, Dils, Flipper and from southern California, the Bags, Alleycats, Germs, X and Dinettes would play this small underground club that was in a loft like space at the top of two long flights of stairs. The house DJs were Enrico Chandoha who worked on the editorial staff of the early Thrasher Magazine; Jack Fan an Offs road manager and chef at the Zuni; Johnnie Walker the BBC celebrity and Robert Hanrahan.

Given the unique nature of the venue and its location in the Mission District near 16th Street and the Roxie Theater it was enthusiastically supported by the punk and arts community, visited by film greats like John Waters and occasionally challenged by the officials of the San Francisco noise abatement patrol, the police, fire department, health department and the alcohol and beverage control until it closed.

About such venues, Brendan Earley of the Mutants comments, "The earthiness, I guess, of playing places like the Deaf Club seemed to have a lot more energy to them. You know the crowd that started coming to this music in '77, it was maybe a peak of their scene, or the scene at that time. They were not normal kinds of clubs, they weren't places like the Stone, or even the Mabuhay, really. They were neat places to play; often good audiences, and good energy going on." Quote cited from White Noise Records.

The four partners in Walking Dead Records developed a live compilation project that resulted in an album released by Optional Record distribution of Berkeley, CA on the Walking Dead label: "Can You Hear Me? Music From the Deaf Club" It was recorded on a mobile 8 track by Jim Keylor (also of Army Street Studios), DJ'ed by Johnnie Walker [1] produced by Robert Hanrahan who also managed and booked the Club and coordinated by Peter Worrall. The photos selected for the album were taken by Sue Brisk, the album art was by Diana Miami (aka Diana Stumbo) and the liner notes were written by V. Vale of RE/Search/Search & Destroy. It was recorded live at the club during early 1979 and is a testament to the authentic underground punk and "new wave" scene during that period in San Francisco's music history. The album featured The Mutants' "Tribute to Russ Meyer" and "Monster of Love" and performances from other first and second generation San Francisco Punk bands like:

Offs - "Hundred Dollar Limo", "Die Babylon", "I've Got the Handle" (Offs were: Don Vinyl, Billy Hawk, Bob Roberts now of Spotlight Tattoo in Los Angeles, Bob Steeler and Denny Boredom who also played with Hot Tuna)
Pink Section - "Jane Blank", Francine's List" & "Been In The Basement 30 Years"
Tuxedo Moon - "19th Nervous Brakdown" - courtesy of the Rolling Stones and "Heaven" from the film "Eraserhead"
KGB- "Dying in the USA" & "Picture Frame Seduction"
Dead Kennedys with "Police Truck", "Short Songs" & "Straight A's". Raymond Pepperell, Jr., better known as East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedy's used the original eight track safety masters from that live recording to release their recent 2004 "live at the Deaf Club" CD.

From the Deaf Club, Walking Dead also produced, with William Passerelli, Dirk Dirksen (Mabuhay Gardens), Paul Rat Bachavich (Temple Beautiful) & Goody Thompson: the Western Front Festival. The festival engaged the Deaf Club and every venue in the San Francisco Bay Area that embraced punk culture and music for a week long event.

In a conversation at the Deaf Club during a show during the Western Front by the Dinettes of Santa Barbara, Joel Selvin the music critic for the SF Chronicle who was attracted by the energy surrounding the punk scene promised to "put the scene on the map." Selvin authored an extensive article published in the San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 1979 on page 6 entitled "S.F. Goes Punk" It documented the scene during that time and included interviews with Dirk Dirksen, Joe Rees, Robert Hanrahan, Johnnie Walker and Paul Rat Bachavich. He also mentioned the Deaf Club in a subsequent publication: "San Francisco: The Musical History Tour : A Guide to over 200 of the Bay Area's Most Memorable Music Sites" where he disparages the Club as "one of the stranger scenes on the punk rock scene."

Tono Rondone, a member of the Frank Hymng Band, which featured Fritz Fox of The Mutants, remembers a humorous sideline to the history of The Deaf Club: "At one point, there was a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle which told of the temporary closing of The Deaf Club whose headline read -- 'Deaf Club Closed Due to Excessive Noise Levels.'"