Social Distortion & Mike Ness Orange County Tour - Black Hole Punk House / Casbah Studios / 1st Show
Social Distortion Orange County Tour January 2021
Transcript
0:03
welcome everyone adam is the woo
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here today's adventure will consist
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mostly
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here in orange county california the
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city of
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fullerton where i'm gonna kind of
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step into the punk rock world there are
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a lot of bands who got their starts
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start in this neck of the woods
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social distortion is being the one i am
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featuring today and i'm going to go to
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some of their
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stomping grounds where they began
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and just kind of see what remains
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of those original spots i'm starting
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at troy high where the founder and
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singer
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mike ness met a couple friends who
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became social distortion right here
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at troy high all right i'm inviting you
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to join me as i go to some other places
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shall you and it's only about a mile
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from that spot to the black hole
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apartment
1:00
that the adolescents another socal
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band wrote a song about
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later on in the social d career
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mike ness went back and wrote another
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song about
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these accommodations called playpen
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so there were two two songs pinned
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about this about this apartment which
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you could
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condem a punk house in fact a lot of
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other punk houses
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name themselves the black hole just like
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just like this place was it was located
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right through this gate underneath that
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stairwell
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i apologize for the lawn maintenance
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that is happening right now
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but underneath that stairwell
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just underneath is a door
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that was the black hole
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as best as i can figure out that was
2:01
that was the spot
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unit two kind of a who's who of that
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of that scene back in the day
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adolescence
2:11
social d agent orange
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and uh quite quite a few others
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congregate inside that apartment not
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sure if they owned a vehicle at that
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time but
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if they did this would have been a
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parking spot this is around the back of
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the property
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number two right there
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the train tree could hear the train in
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the distance
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i did read some interviews that back
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then there was not a fence
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here around the pool there it is number
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two
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yeah you see the number
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right on the door
3:14
steve soto from the adolescence there
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used to be a video which i cannot find
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anywhere it's been deleted anywhere
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online
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but he stood here before his passing
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kind of gave a little tour of the
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property
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i had a little chat with the lawn
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maintenance
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guy he did not he did not know the
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history
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of what i was mentioning i'm going to
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walk over here to this fence
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i've also heard it's kind of a strong
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rumor that
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well there's a story about mike ness
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who knows if it's true or not but he was
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handcuffed
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to this very fence that's that's what
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this the stories say don't know what was
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happening with the handcuffs it was
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something of
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something of a nature that he was not
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under arrest
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it had to do with you know a party night
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you just picture a young mike ness right
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here handcuffed to this
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you have to kind of use your imagination
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just a few feet away from the infamous
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infamous infamous
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the black hole here in fullerton
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i've heard so many stories read so many
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interviews
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i've never been here before this is the
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first time i've ever kind of cruised by
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this area
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pretty neat to see pretty legendary
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in the punk world and i would imagine
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most the residents in this area
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might not even know the the backstory in
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the history
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it goes that way a lot of times that's
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kind of how it kind of how it goes
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and from here about four miles over to
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the recording studio where they
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recorded their first couple albums and
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their practice space for many years
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after
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it was right here along these very
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railroad tracks where
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two albums were recorded
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right over in this in this section here
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this unit
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number in well letter in i should say in
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fact which is a couple doors down
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mommy's little monster and prison bound
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took place right inside that door
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and then years later they continue to
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use it as a practice space
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there is there's some footage of mike
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ness here in front
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entering in being interviewed and he
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kind of gives like a little walk through
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tour
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and explains it this is way back in the
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day and from what i can tell the little
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awning there still looks the same and as
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he walked in
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kind of introduced some of the other
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people that were in there matt freeman
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one of my favorite bass players
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of all time was filling in for a show
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that was going to be the next night they
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were practicing for that
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and that all took place in here a lot of
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other musicians recorded
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albums but probably the most famous
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famous you know mommy's little monster
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which is one of my favorites of
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social d's right inside here which kind
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of kind of blows my mind a little bit
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when i think about it
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try looking through the window they have
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it they have it really tarped up pretty
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well with tint
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so you cannot even see in at all i don't
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believe anyone
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is occupying this particular establish
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maybe it's up for rent
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even tried opening it and it's locked
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18.95 in this kind of stuff fascinates
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me
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especially when it's a band that i've
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listened to for years
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where they got their start where those
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iconic albums that spawned many more
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and inspired a lot of other bands
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around this area and across the world
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it all began right here well a series of
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places but this is one of the key
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elements of where it began
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he goes on to mention in that interview
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that so many times he wrote about
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trains going by walking the tracks
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and it was all influenced by
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the railroad tracks that are here he
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also went on to state that on those
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early recordings
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if you listen closely you can faintly
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hear
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the railroad cars in the background
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and that would be these tracks right
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here
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located just adjacent to this side
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in fact if you kind of peek down it's
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about the fourth door
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down there well i'm actually as though
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it's the second possibly third door
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so pretty close to the tracks right here
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i wish there was a train going by that
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would create the proper ambiance there
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is a cactus
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however so elise is a cactus and
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my shadow you can see i'm kind of
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cupping the top
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of the camera because the wind is very
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strong out here
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hello driving around the back here
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here is what would be the load-in door
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so if you really think about it
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equipment could have been
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you know they could have parked here
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loaded the base amps drums
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right into there so if those walls could
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talk in there they could tell some
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some fun stories just like the black
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hole i assure you
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as well as this alleyway
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i should also mention the name of the
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studio was called the casbah which gives
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me some
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some clash feels could have been named
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could have been named after one of their
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songs perhaps
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maybe that was an influence on on the
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name of the studio
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and it's located here on commonwealth
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that's the name of the road
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oh dang there's a train going by now
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what if i can make it back down there in
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time wait for me train
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wait for me train let me get down there
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you can almost say i feel like i'm
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living in a another
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state of mind
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there's the tracks there's the train
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there's one eight nine five in with the
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soothing sounds of the railroad in the
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distance
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perfect
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nailed it all right off to the next spot
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backtracking now this direction to a
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former record store that
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shared the same name possibly named
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after that punk house
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black hole records it is windy
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take a look at that this is harbor
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boulevard still in fullerton
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oh check this out this is on the
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national register of historic places
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this barber shop right up here
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is the record store
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which i believe still exists it's been
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moved to in other locations but the
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the original spot which was here for a
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couple decades or more
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used to be right up here and they still
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have the signage there
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now i just i do not want to disturb
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there's a gentleman sleeping in there i
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don't want to disturb him so i don't
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want to
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i don't want to i don't want to get too
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close to let him have his
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his slumber but that was the spot
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instead i'll show you this photograph
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from the early 90s
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look at the window you know all of it
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looks the same
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they have moved all the products out and
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it's just abandoned now
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people are using that area for you know
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some shelter but there's social
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distortion
11:06
right there standing in that's that same
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spot back in the early 90s
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the lyrics to one of my favorite songs
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by them is reach for the sky
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because tomorrow may never come and that
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is it
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very true you have to kind of live each
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day
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as the best you can and it really goes
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because
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when it comes to that band they have had
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it's kind of a revolving door with
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members and they have they've lost
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quite a few over the years four maybe
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five in their existence
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it kind of makes you think about the
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lyrics of that song this wind is really
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gusty
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when i say lost i'm i'm meant to say
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passed on
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a lot of bands will have members you
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know they quit
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retire fired that was not what i was
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alluding to
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that sunburst is very beautiful to those
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trees
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leaving fullerton now heading about 20
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miles down to
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costa mesa to a couple other spots one
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of them being the very first
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concert very first gig that they ever
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played
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now it is a little confusing because i
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believe the original building has been
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removed but on the corner of 17th street
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and placentia right around this
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general vicinity possibly right here
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where
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hank's electric supply is used to be
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the cuckoo's nest where in 1979
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after being a band for just about
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a year they played their very first show
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right here off this road
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and they went on to play quite a few
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more here at this establishment
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that no longer exists the cuckoo's nest
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and check out some of the other bands
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that played around that time this is a
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flyer from 1981
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adolescence tsol goodness grace black
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flag go goes
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yeah this was a this was a happening
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spot here's another really good one
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with social d playing with the sub
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humans
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looks like the promoter during those
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times someone named
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jerry roach pigeon orange
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the crowd the blasters
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thinking it was right here this is where
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the ad address pin points me
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to this precise location this is all i
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can go off of
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what the exterior did look like you see
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the corner there in the marquee
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it could have been the very next
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property over
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or is it the same building just the mark
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he's been removed and re-bricked
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or did they bulldoze it and place this
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or was that it over there
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or was it here at this corner piece
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either way
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it was on that very block where they
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played their first show
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outside of you know house parties their
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first their first gig at
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a paying gig at a venue
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it's kind of interesting though the last
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spot is right here off of
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fullerton avenue which is not even in
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fullerton it's in costa mesa
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it's just the next little block over
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well might actually be on this block
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is a mural pertaining to the subject
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matter
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i just thought it was very interesting
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that it's right off of
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fullerton ave and they're from fullerton
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interesting okay that's a tiny bit of a
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stretch it's about 100 yards away from
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that cross street but take a look at
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this
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wow this mural here on the side of this
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barber shop is
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this is incredible it's a story of my
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life
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has the cuckoo's nest there's mike ness
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right there in the middle
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who is really into classic cars classic
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car alert
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and there are some lyrics life goes by
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so fast you only
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want to do what you think is right close
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your eyes
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and then it's past that's the lyrics
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the story of my life
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wow this is this is this is awesome
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the logo with the cocktail there
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a little cigarette or maybe a cigar or
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some other
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some other item
15:40
punk rockers
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it's interesting that it's here in costa
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mesa and not in fullerton however but i
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guess since this is where the first show
15:56
was
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not where they recorded the album or
16:00
resided the black hole
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nonetheless still orange county
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really great work
16:29
that's gonna do it for today if you're
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helps keep you in the loop
16:32
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16:34
channel a little bit of a different type
16:36
of episode
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but it's something i wanted something i
16:38
wanted to cover a subject matter that
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i've been wanting to kind of traverse
16:42
around to the spots of for quite some
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time and
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i did it if you enjoyed this particular
16:47
episode give it a big
16:48
thumbs up it lets me know you care i'll
16:50
see you in the next video
16:51
the vlog is the vlog
16:55
it's over yesterday is history
16:58
tomorrow's a mystery such good lyrics
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also this art piece was done by never
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1959
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it's written there on the side of the
17:08
curb