C is for Camper Van Beethoven

The best thing ever to come out of Redlands, California.   Redlands is situated in the Inland Empire of  Southern California.  Right next to San Bernardino and Riverside.  The 909.   Not the cultural hub of the Southland by any means, but the region is notable as the first place The Rolling Stones ever played in the USA.   The venue, The Swing Auditorium, met its demise when a plane crashed into it many years later.

Redlands is the home of the University of Redlands, a small liberal arts school.  Rather than become a stereotype for letters to Penthouse, our heroes started a band,

Later they went on to the University of California at Santa Cruz, then known as the UC Hippie School.  There they expanded the line up and took their name an identifying tag on some furniture in the dorm.  College 5 B Dorm had CVB stenciled on the furniture.  Naturally this stood for Camper Van Beethoven,

This is their first album Telephone Free Landslide Victory

The album contains their first 'hit'  Take the Skinheads Bowling.  A cover of Black Flag's Wasted.   Their sound is a combination of punk, jazz and world music.   Many of the instrumentals sound like their titles - combining two or more styles in the same track.   Border Ska (mariachi ska music) and Balaika Gap (a kind of Russian surf music track) are some prime examples,