SHOUT AT THE DEVIL
Me, age twelve, running my CRUE shirt that I got from “GREY WOLF TRADING COMPANY” a head-shop located 2 doors down from my Dad’s barbershop in ORANGE, CA, circa 1982. I spent a lot of time at the head-shop… lot’s of heavy metal t-shirts, stickers, leather wristbands, coke mirrors, pipes and dildos along with employees, deep into metal who’d share their escapades with me. I’d just sit and listen. I was privy to a lot of information I had no business knowing at ten, twelve years old…
I guess so, I mean, I’m cool with it. It all shaped me into who I am today. I would walk the streets and alleys along Tustin Ave., headed North, from Chapman going towards the Mall. I’d walk, and walk, and walk. I’d stop in at my usual haunts, play a few video games, the stand ups, Asteroids, ASTEROIDS DELUXE, CENTIPEDE, TEMPEST and other’s lined the Avenue. In corners of liquor stores, supermarkets, and anywhere that wanted some extra coins, there they were, a quarter gets you three lives. More quarters more lives. They ruled. Shit was hot back in the day. I loved video games. I had a COLECOVISION console that was amazing. The off-market games for that thing were incredible. At I loved strolling up Tustin Avenue, looking in trash cans, coming up on shit or popping into Toy City to shoplift some action figures. I shoplifted a lot back then. A place called RECORD TRADING COMPANY, a record store that was on the next block, right next to VANS. I knew every alley and hidden crevice up the entire street, Chapman to the Mall. I remember SUNNY SMITH where I copped this killer QUIKSILVER jacket. I remember THE PAWN SHOP. FRANK’S HOBBY SHACK. I remember playing video games and stealing shit from STATER BROS. MC’DONALD’S was a staple back then, right next to Dad’s shop where throwing darts, drinking beer, and general mischief was the norm, all day long. I spent many years in the barber shop, I saw and learned a lot. The good and the bad. About people. About life. Dad lived in the shop after the divorce, for a long time. Every weekend I’d retire to my green cot and old pink blanket in the last un-rented stall, complete with barber chair and sink, along with my eight inch by eight inch TV. I loved that TV. At night it was “DUKE’S OF HAZZARD” or “CHiPS.” Saturday it was cartoons in the morning, then off down the street, get into some shit, head back to the shop and watch KTLA 5, Gilligan’s Island, F-Troop, Flipper, Gentle Ben, XXX Holidays it was THE TWILIGHT ZONE marathon, all day on holidays, it was rad. Me, the kid in the CRUE shirt, whose record collection at that point was JUDAS PRIEST, AC/DC, AEROSMITH, MOTLEY CRUE, DEF LEPPARD, SOFT CELL, XXX. Music was a huge part of my life, first show was a Festival, the US FESTIVAL, then it was THE SMITHS at Irvine Meadows. That was 1984. Good book.
