Table Of ContentI am so glad this book got written. Take a beloved symptom of American
trash culture, add punk DIY and attitude, invite the zoo and it’s the
best party around. Like music and sex, wrestling is so much more fun
when it’s local, no-budget, and sleazy. How? Here’s how. Read it, dig
it, learn the ropes and go out and infect your town.
–JeLLo BIAfRA (Singer, spoken word flamethrower, and former
wrestling manager)
In this unforgettable insider’s account of the bygone era when punk rock
and wrestling ruled San francisco, Bob Calhoun (aka Count Dante)
proves that he’s still the fastest mouth in the business. You may
run, but you won’t be able to hide from this gleefully warped tale.
I couldn’t put it down.
–MATTHeW PoLLY, author of “American Shaolin”
Incredibly Strange Wrestling was the bastard offspring of post-punk garage rock and masked
Mexican lucha libre. Fielding a cast of crazed characters with names like El Homo Loco, Macho
Sasquatcho, and El Pollo Diablo, the show lived up to its billing. Christians fought lions, Ku Klux
Klowns squared off against Hasidic Jews, and Bigfoot mauled hapless hippies in some of the
most surreal grappling ever staged. And if that wasn’t enough, cult bands such as NOFX, The
Dickies, and The Donnas provided the rock and roll between the highflying mayhem. ISW emerged
from the back alleys and seedy clubs of San Francisco’s South of Market scene to headline the
historic Fillmore and barnstorm North America on the Vans Warped Tour.
At the height of its popularity, Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong and Metallica’s James Hetfield could
be seen tossing tortillas (which the promoters supplied) with the rest of the hell heads, booze-
hounds, and tattooed party girls who made up ISW’s rabid following. Bob Calhoun broke into ISW as
an untrained grappler and rose through the ranks to become one of the creative forces behind the
subversive carnival. In BEEr, BLOOD & COrNMEAL, he delves into ISW’s organized insanity with all
of the dark humor it deserves — even as the threat of real violence lurks at the fringes of the fake
fights and wrestlers disturbingly become their squared circle alter egos. A story of urban misfits
risking their necks for local celebrity — all told against the backdrop of the dot com boom and bust
and increasingly corporate entertainment — BEEr, BLOOD & COrNMEAL sets the big business of the
music industry on a collision course with the lowest rung of
the professional wrestling ladder.
When he’s not being hit by steel chairs or
HfCScliihaoesgrn-g ho aewtnfunoiirtdrncah kglno“ ecrJhS,i uaa”sodss cfo qSo ”aua m palBaGptoareecnytnah.-ierecaa esorlLd,me e ,aaBiB renoaftl Bnrsl“ de ’TC eashA“ln eLfada Hin uSolcHtaUmeoonNf lb ajlifixoyors.uwga ”rorna noac Hadpiel hs isycist,ostu .nt th e
“The Godfather of Grappling.”
ISBN-13: 978-1-55022-827-4
ISBN-10: 1-55022-827-7
ECW Press
$19.95
Distributed in the
USA by Independent
Publishers Group and
in Canada by Jaguar
Book Group
ecwpress.com
ECW
BeerBloodCornmealCover_FINAL.indd 1 2/20/08 8:28:18 AM
6x9 trim size spine measure is 0.8528”
I am so glad this book got written. Take a beloved symptom of American
trash culture, add punk DIY and attitude, invite the zoo and it’s the
best party around. Like music and sex, wrestling is so much more fun
when it’s local, no-budget, and sleazy. How? Here’s how. Read it, dig
it, learn the ropes and go out and infect your town.
–JeLLo BIAfRA (Singer, spoken word flamethrower, and former
wrestling manager)
In this unforgettable insider’s account of the bygone era when punk rock
and wrestling ruled San francisco, Bob Calhoun (aka Count Dante)
proves that he’s still the fastest mouth in the business. You may
run, but you won’t be able to hide from this gleefully warped tale.
I couldn’t put it down.
–MATTHeW PoLLY, author of “American Shaolin”
Incredibly Strange Wrestling was the bastard offspring of post-punk garage rock and masked
Mexican lucha libre. Fielding a cast of crazed characters with names like El Homo Loco, Macho
Sasquatcho, and El Pollo Diablo, the show lived up to its billing. Christians fought lions, Ku Klux
Klowns squared off against Hasidic Jews, and Bigfoot mauled hapless hippies in some of the
most surreal grappling ever staged. And if that wasn’t enough, cult bands such as NOFX, The
Dickies, and The Donnas provided the rock and roll between the highflying mayhem. ISW emerged
from the back alleys and seedy clubs of San Francisco’s South of Market scene to headline the
historic Fillmore and barnstorm North America on the Vans Warped Tour.
At the height of its popularity, Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong and Metallica’s James Hetfield could
be seen tossing tortillas (which the promoters supplied) with the rest of the hell heads, booze-
hounds, and tattooed party girls who made up ISW’s rabid following. Bob Calhoun broke into ISW as
an untrained grappler and rose through the ranks to become one of the creative forces behind the
subversive carnival. In BEEr, BLOOD & COrNMEAL, he delves into ISW’s organized insanity with all
of the dark humor it deserves — even as the threat of real violence lurks at the fringes of the fake
fights and wrestlers disturbingly become their squared circle alter egos. A story of urban misfits
risking their necks for local celebrity — all told against the backdrop of the dot com boom and bust
and increasingly corporate entertainment — BEEr, BLOOD & COrNMEAL sets the big business of the
music industry on a collision course with the lowest rung of
the professional wrestling ladder.
When he’s not being hit by steel chairs or
HfCScliihaoesgrn-g ho aewtnfunoiirtdrncah kglno“ ecrJhS,i uaa”sodss cfo qSo ”aua m palBaGptoareecnytnah.-ierecaa esorlLd,me e ,aaBiB renoaftl Bnrsl“ de ’TC eashA“ln eLfada Hin uSolcHtaUmeoonNf lb ajlifixoyors.uwga ”rorna noac Hadpiel hs isycist,ostu .nt th e
“The Godfather of Grappling.”
ISBN-13: 978-1-55022-827-4
ISBN-10: 1-55022-827-7
ECW Press
$19.95
Distributed in the
USA by Independent
Publishers Group and
in Canada by Jaguar
Book Group
ecwpress.com
ECW
BeerBloodCornmealCover_FINAL.indd 1 2/20/08 8:28:18 AM
6x9 trim size spine measure is 0.8528”
Seven Years of Incredibly Strange Wrestling
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 1 2/14/08 9:59:23 AM
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 2 2/14/08 9:59:24 AM
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 3 2/14/08 9:59:26 AM
Copyright © Bob Calhoun, 2008
Published by ecw press
2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner and ecw press.
library and archives of canada cataloguing in publication
Calhoun, Bob
Beer, blood & cornmeal / Bob Calhoun.
isbn 978-1-55022-827-4
1. Incredibly Strange Wrestling. 2. Calhoun, Bob. 3. Punk rock music.
4. Garage rock music. 5. Wrestlers—California—San Francisco—Biography.
6. Journalists—California—Biography. i. Title.
gv1195.c34 2008 796.812092 c2007-907095-7
Editor: Michael Holmes
Cover Design: David Gee
Text Design and Typesetting: Melissa Kaita
Photos are by Roger Franklin unless otherwise noted.
Production and Photo Section: Rachel Brooks
Printing: Webcom
distribution
Canada: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Avenue, Georgetown, Ontario, l7g 5s4
United States: IPG, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610
printed and bound in canada
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 4 2/14/08 9:59:27 AM
To Jackie, my mother,
for picking me out of a lineup.
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 5 2/14/08 9:59:27 AM
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 6 2/14/08 9:59:27 AM
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 7 2/14/08 9:59:29 AM
BeerBloodCornmeal_FINAL.indb 8 2/14/08 9:59:30 AM
