Disclaimer: Memory is a funny thing, and an elusive one. Meaning; I might have some of this wrong, as 1. my memory is not always accurate, like anyone and 2. it is from my perspective only. Any friends who were there, feel free to correct me or add things I have missed. It helps! Also, no gossip on anyone here, it ain't about that. Personal details are on a surface level, and friends, girlfriends and others are re-named to respect their privacy. People in bands generally put their names out there on albums and in interviews anyway, and are not in the habit of staying anonymous, and therefore are named here. That said, anyone who is in the blog that wishes me not to use their name has only to ask.
All Apologies and Apologies All,
Apologies for the massive gap in entries since my last Music History blog entry. I was gearing up for the 3,000 mile move I just completed. After quitting my job, I towed my belongings and my car, with an 18 year old cat as a co-pilot (God rest him; he passed just after arriving). I also have to apologize for 'false advertising' end of the last entry, as, once I read more of the journal, I realized that I had far more to cover before what I listed. This blog has become a monster! Now that the momentum has begun…it cannot be stopped! I also realized I need to publish these in more digestible chunks, based on feedback from friends and family.
Me and my dear departed boy Noose, making a 3,000 plus mile journey across the country from Boston to Portland, my new home (for 3 years as of this blog transfer) Photo taken in 2008
The Cruel Desert That Spawned Us Calls Us Home - SOC's 1987 Tour; A perilous journey, Part II: California.Pit stop in Spud Town before the 'Boise Hillbillies' head to La La Land
I suppose the first bad sign that things were 'going South', (either literally or figuratively, take your pick) on this tour was that when we passed through Boise on our way to California, I discovered that my roommate was moving out on me while I was away. I had no idea.
I arrived at my apartment to the roomie's packed boxes, her crazed white kitten (he comes back into the story later on, one 'Skully the Cat') and her frickin' iguana, chillin' on the window sill. Yep. WTF? What the hell was I supposed to do? I would have to figure it out later, that was sure.
I arrived at my apartment to the roomie's packed boxes, her crazed white kitten (he comes back into the story later on, one 'Skully the Cat') and her frickin' iguana, chillin' on the window sill. Yep. WTF? What the hell was I supposed to do? I would have to figure it out later, that was sure.
One of my room mates' pals who awaited me when SOC made a pit stop in Boise on tour was an iguana (not this one). My room mate, however, was moving out, to my surprise
We re-stocked on merchandise and hit the trail to CaleefornIA, yeeee-haw!! Before going to SF to play at the famous venue, 'The Farm' (which, if memory serves me, and it rarely does, was run by the same folks who did Maximum Rock n' Roll magazine) [actually, current research I have done says that The Farm was a community center, so more likely what happened was that Maximum R&R simply ran the show at the center] we were heading back to Salt Lake to play a show at a joint called 'Alice's', a punk/artist arcade/café downtown that hosted many cool shows. On the way there, we played a show with the Twin Falls band we had just played with in Boise, the aforementioned Farm Days (and no, I didn't plan the double farm reference in one paragraph, here…S'one a them whattyacallits, coinkydinks).
The Twin Falls show stands out in my memory, we played in this park right by the falls. When we arrived, the Dehumanizers were playing a 'blues fusion' set, and I was again very impressed with the guitarist, Lonnie King (whom I have mentioned, and who comes back into the story years later).
There were only about 15 people there, but it was a cool setting to play punk rock in, for sure. However, our set was short-lived as, per my journal, "…we played for about 10 minutes when the park officials stopped us. So we headed to the old drummer for Farm Days' house (Andy) and hung out. It was a ragin' party. We were trying to go to some hot springs but were stopped by the Twin Pigs who sent us away. Later, everyone went to a hotel swimming pool [a common Idahoan activity, at the time, amongst the broke young punks and such]…The next day we headed for Salt Lake…"
Next up in the record is stopping by Raunch Records then we went to a coffee house where the bass player for the Potato Heads worked and '…drank cappuccino & rapped with this derelict bum. He was a big old dude with a grisly beard & a backpack & sleepin' bag with a plastic bottle tied to it [at the time, I had not been exposed to many homeless people, thus my bothering even noting this obvious detail]. He was fucking weird, lemmie tell ya. He came up to us and started telling us that Communism would never survive in this country & shit. Later he was saying how rock n' roll would never die-that Woody Guthry [Guthrie] showed him how to play guitar, later that Joan Baez & Momma [Cass] showed him…[never finished this thought, I assume, it was 'how to play guitar as well?]' that he was in CCR and every other fucking 60's band in the world…' Young Wayne also noted that "…Everyone that was there [Alice's] in the late afternoon was lost in the 70's…[and] "…the owner looked like a brown-haired Howard Hughes…"
The Twin Falls show stands out in my memory, we played in this park right by the falls. When we arrived, the Dehumanizers were playing a 'blues fusion' set, and I was again very impressed with the guitarist, Lonnie King (whom I have mentioned, and who comes back into the story years later).
There were only about 15 people there, but it was a cool setting to play punk rock in, for sure. However, our set was short-lived as, per my journal, "…we played for about 10 minutes when the park officials stopped us. So we headed to the old drummer for Farm Days' house (Andy) and hung out. It was a ragin' party. We were trying to go to some hot springs but were stopped by the Twin Pigs who sent us away. Later, everyone went to a hotel swimming pool [a common Idahoan activity, at the time, amongst the broke young punks and such]…The next day we headed for Salt Lake…"
Next up in the record is stopping by Raunch Records then we went to a coffee house where the bass player for the Potato Heads worked and '…drank cappuccino & rapped with this derelict bum. He was a big old dude with a grisly beard & a backpack & sleepin' bag with a plastic bottle tied to it [at the time, I had not been exposed to many homeless people, thus my bothering even noting this obvious detail]. He was fucking weird, lemmie tell ya. He came up to us and started telling us that Communism would never survive in this country & shit. Later he was saying how rock n' roll would never die-that Woody Guthry [Guthrie] showed him how to play guitar, later that Joan Baez & Momma [Cass] showed him…[never finished this thought, I assume, it was 'how to play guitar as well?]' that he was in CCR and every other fucking 60's band in the world…' Young Wayne also noted that "…Everyone that was there [Alice's] in the late afternoon was lost in the 70's…[and] "…the owner looked like a brown-haired Howard Hughes…"
We played with a band called 'Burial Benefit', and we apparently had the best slot (it's always third slot, aye?) and there were 'tons of kids' who got into it and we made $125 (good payment at the time), and were off to SF. We stopped in Reno (home to 'Skeeno Hardcore' started by the singer Kevin Seconds and his straight-edge band '7 Seconds') and got some cheap breakfast, played some slots.
Left and Right, the band 7 Seconds from Reno Nevada, led by the charismatic Kevin 'Seconds'
The 'Reno Transmission Tour'
After this, the first dark cloud; our transmission started acting funny and wouldn't shift right, so we hit 'Reno Transmission' (we later dubbed this part of the tour the 'Reno Transmission Tour' because of this). The mechanic said it would cost $500, which sucked, but we had to make a decision because we stood to miss possibly the biggest show on that leg of the tour in SF. We went ahead and it was $460. We were told that it was a '$600 job'. Young Wayne says "Yeah RIGHT!".
After this, the first dark cloud; our transmission started acting funny and wouldn't shift right, so we hit 'Reno Transmission' (we later dubbed this part of the tour the 'Reno Transmission Tour' because of this). The mechanic said it would cost $500, which sucked, but we had to make a decision because we stood to miss possibly the biggest show on that leg of the tour in SF. We went ahead and it was $460. We were told that it was a '$600 job'. Young Wayne says "Yeah RIGHT!".
We killed time in a pizza joint (that I list as 'Straw Hat Pizza') and called David Portnow (owner of our label, Sub Core) to hit him up for some money but he was '…in the shower or somethin'…'
Later, some 'dude at a skate shop' told us he knew a chick who knew all the punks in town, and since we were there anyway, we should try and play a party or something.
I headed to the mall to try and scare up some local punk kids and found some but "…the young uns were idiots…" I gave up on them and headed back, where there was a '…stocky black dude and a huge Eskimo-lookin guy. The black dude came up and asked 'Who are you?' (gee, did we stand out, or what?).
I told him who we were and he introduced himself as Daniel (and informed us that he used to roadie for the band Entropy) and his big Eskimo friend was 'Bear'. Daniel told us there was someone trying to set up something for us at the skate shop.
We went to a record store to meet the girl trying to set all this up and she told us that '…Skeeno HC [hardcore] was a 'Kevin Seconds dream'. That the scene was split. That everyone hated each other.' The girl gave us a phone number, got yelled at by her boss, so we left to wait for the transmission to be done.
Once it was fixed, we drove to Yosemite and camped there. '…We hung there, rolled cigarettes, played cards & read & shit until we got bored & skated down this hill tryin' to scam on this hot tub we'd seen. I fell on my knee, it sucked. No tub. We soaked our hair ['in what?', asks Older Wayne].We all slept in the van. It was tight. I guess I was thrashin' around kicking Scotty in the face. Oh well…'
La La Land, and seeing under the veil…
Strangely, there is no entry in my journal on the SF show, but it did happen, I remember it clearly. The scene was in sort of a downturn after a recent swell, so it was not heavily attended, but still fun to play. People were real cool.
A friend from the Boise scene had moved to LA recently and we were staying with him and his wife, a woman from Boise, they had married and moved West to 'La La Land'. They lived in a modest one bedroom apartment in Torrance. It was very cool of them to allow us to stay (I am sure they did it begrudgingly…I would have!).
We showed up at their door and apparently our friend's wife hadn't been informed of our arrival, as I note that she was 'surprised to see us'. I remember this as being very awkward, but she was nice, considering.
We hung out at their apartment (while they worked) played video games, hit the beach, drank beer and relaxed. Pat made many calls, trying to get us a show, we hadn't been able to line one up and just went their assuming we could there (ah, the young!). We '…got a chance to get on this Descendents, Social Unrest, Capitol Punishment show [all top bands, at the time, in the genre] next week. This one band might cancel. We're awaiting word…'
I told him who we were and he introduced himself as Daniel (and informed us that he used to roadie for the band Entropy) and his big Eskimo friend was 'Bear'. Daniel told us there was someone trying to set up something for us at the skate shop.
We went to a record store to meet the girl trying to set all this up and she told us that '…Skeeno HC [hardcore] was a 'Kevin Seconds dream'. That the scene was split. That everyone hated each other.' The girl gave us a phone number, got yelled at by her boss, so we left to wait for the transmission to be done.
Once it was fixed, we drove to Yosemite and camped there. '…We hung there, rolled cigarettes, played cards & read & shit until we got bored & skated down this hill tryin' to scam on this hot tub we'd seen. I fell on my knee, it sucked. No tub. We soaked our hair ['in what?', asks Older Wayne].We all slept in the van. It was tight. I guess I was thrashin' around kicking Scotty in the face. Oh well…'
La La Land, and seeing under the veil…
Strangely, there is no entry in my journal on the SF show, but it did happen, I remember it clearly. The scene was in sort of a downturn after a recent swell, so it was not heavily attended, but still fun to play. People were real cool.
A friend from the Boise scene had moved to LA recently and we were staying with him and his wife, a woman from Boise, they had married and moved West to 'La La Land'. They lived in a modest one bedroom apartment in Torrance. It was very cool of them to allow us to stay (I am sure they did it begrudgingly…I would have!).
We showed up at their door and apparently our friend's wife hadn't been informed of our arrival, as I note that she was 'surprised to see us'. I remember this as being very awkward, but she was nice, considering.
We hung out at their apartment (while they worked) played video games, hit the beach, drank beer and relaxed. Pat made many calls, trying to get us a show, we hadn't been able to line one up and just went their assuming we could there (ah, the young!). We '…got a chance to get on this Descendents, Social Unrest, Capitol Punishment show [all top bands, at the time, in the genre] next week. This one band might cancel. We're awaiting word…'
Descendents show in LA (the first of a few 'final' shows) that we attended after failing to get on the bill last minute (there was a slight chance)
We were also hoping to get on a bill for a small show on Melrose Ave that the Dehumanizers said they were not going to play. We went down to where the club was early, skateboarded around the hood, ate hotdogs at Pinks.
This was my first view of the true nature, the underbelly, of glorious Hollywood, California; '…This part of town is fuckin' dirty – the air is thick. We found the Anti Club [where the show was to be] It was closed. All barred up like all the closed joints….and…'Some places even buzz for each customer. When you see the scum walking around you know why…' We went back to the club later and saw the Dehumanizers' van. Young Wayne jokes; '…FUCK! How DARE they show up at their own gig!'
It is fascinating for me to read my own words, as a young man seeing the world as it really is for the first time; '…We went cruising down Sunset & Hollywood [Sunset in Hollywood? More likely Hollywood Blvd.]It's weird seeing the places you always see on T.V. & see it as it really is dirty scummy with people floating above it on tons of money, & others swimming in their own shit. We saw a 6 wheeled limo. We saw leatherfaced bums. It was heavy, man…'
Stay tuned for more adventures of dirtbag punks away from home, next entry.
This was my first view of the true nature, the underbelly, of glorious Hollywood, California; '…This part of town is fuckin' dirty – the air is thick. We found the Anti Club [where the show was to be] It was closed. All barred up like all the closed joints….and…'Some places even buzz for each customer. When you see the scum walking around you know why…' We went back to the club later and saw the Dehumanizers' van. Young Wayne jokes; '…FUCK! How DARE they show up at their own gig!'
It is fascinating for me to read my own words, as a young man seeing the world as it really is for the first time; '…We went cruising down Sunset & Hollywood [Sunset in Hollywood? More likely Hollywood Blvd.]It's weird seeing the places you always see on T.V. & see it as it really is dirty scummy with people floating above it on tons of money, & others swimming in their own shit. We saw a 6 wheeled limo. We saw leatherfaced bums. It was heavy, man…'
Stay tuned for more adventures of dirtbag punks away from home, next entry.
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