Despite all these weird things I am still going to have the “Ghost Hunters” come out to investigate. Doc ain’t afraid on no ghosts!
“Strange Tales From the Doc” #20 “Growing Up Strange” in the early 80’s…. Here are some personal pics of me and my buddies when we were young. Hey, aren’t you glad I took a lot of pictures? I suggest YOU do the same. Most of my friends and myself had a few things in common at the time; Our parents were divorced, we loved [punk rock] music, drinking and going to gigs. Typical stuff for the early teenager then and now. We also loved shaving each other eyebrows [and more as time went on….] when we got to drunk. I was one of the best at it. Why? Because I never passed out and I was able to convince my other friends to do the “dirty work” for me. Thus leaving me “not guilty” when the victim yelled, “Who the fuck did this to me?!” While pointing at a bald spot, missing eyebrow(s) or colored hair when they woke up.
My personal favorite shaving? There are so many but one, the first one, was a great one because it started a the trend. During the summer of ’83 the “gang” always went to my Dad’s house for beer and lasagna. Our group was about 8 to 10 people or so on average and we ranged in age from 15 to 18 so free food and beer was a no brainer. (Hey, we would show up to a Pat Boone concert for that!) Plus it was always a lot of fun. That night a friend, Jay, got hammered like he always did. Little did he know what fate had in store for him.
We left my dad’s condo in Diamond Bar and drove to one of our usual hang-outs [Gary & Rob’s] in Upland. As soon as we got there Jay stumbled through the door and immediately passed out on the couch like always. My friend Ting and I were screwing with him a little while he slept. Nothing big, just sticking our fingers in his ears etc….Then I got the GREAT idea, “Wouldn’t it be funning to shave his eyebrow?” Ting was instantly into it 100%! And of course I was the one who got HIM to do it. When we finished we realized we couldn’t stop at just one eyebrow so Ting used his new razor skills to shave a “patch” of hair above his nose right along the hairline. Just a weird “square” of missing hair about an inch by inch big.
You may be thinking, “Yeah, that’s great, that’s funny” and you’d be right but the REALLY great thing about it is that on that following Monday [just two days later] Jay had to take high school graduation pictures! His mom flipped out! There was no postponing it, Jay had this one and only chance to take his photos. His mom penciled in the missing eyebrow and combed his hair “down” in some crazy fucked up looking way for his high school pictures! AWESOME! After that night we were hooked and the gang and I always carried a Bic disposable razor with us (which I still have in my old leather jacket 30+ years later by the way). Oh, and although these pictures with Jay show him with his twin-Fin Mohwak, he did NOT have that on this night trust me! Jay was actually a “good” kid at the time. I feel a little bad for setting him on the patch for personal destruction! I mean, Ting did that……
Face it, much like my dick, life is short, but you should at least try to die with a decent record collection, and these bitchin’ rare punk new arrivals should be a part of it…. UK/DK- The Original Video Soundtrack- v/a comp (The Adicts,Vice Squad, The Exploited….) Rodney on the Roc vol.3- v/a comp (Ill Repute, JFA, Red Scare) Discharge– Warning: Her Majesty’s… Generation X- Valley of The Dolls…..
“Strange Tales From The Doc” #19… September 1988 Stiff Little Fingers at The Variety Arts Center Los Angeles, Ca
This was the gig that me and ALL my buddies couldn’t wait for! We all loved SLF and it was the first time since 1981 [I think?] that they came back to the U.S. All original members with the exception of the drummer who at that time had quit the band to join the Red Rockers. Actually Stiff Little Fingers song “Wait and See” was about his departure from the band to join the Red Rockers.
Anyway, back to the gig. They played with some “metal/hard rock” type of a band called Lifeline (no, that’s not it…) I can’t remember. Although I, and the majority of the crowd, didn’t like them at least they were so excited to open up for SLF. They kept going on and on while playing what an honor it was to be there so I cut them some slack. (and no one hunted them down and shaved their heads either)
I’ve seen SLF many times and they are always a great band to see. Imagine a sold out crowd of hundreds of people all singing along to their songs. The air was electric. Even just the way they came onto stage was a pre-mediated plan of energy. Before coming on stage they played one of their songs (I forget which) and got the crowd all amped up. Then they hit the stage and killed it! The crowd went nuts with slammin’, stage diving and singing!
My only regret? Not catching a drum stick the drummer threw out on their last song. It flew inches over my head but I was a little to slow. Would have made a great souvenir if I caught it but at least I have my memories of an amazing gig. Stiff Little Fingers are currently working on an all new full length as I type this. It may ONLY be available from the band so be sure to see this link for more info:
