by Hanson Meyer (hansonmeyer@yahoo.com)
Please understand that this is a work in progress
as there is so much to add. So bear with me and check back regularly as
I'm constantly adding to this blog. (Last revision 3/14/2021)
This
article is the Fourth Part of a Six part series and details the
chronological history of shows that occurred month by month at the
Cuckoo's Nest from April through June of 1981. The rest of the
history is in the next article (Part 5) and chronicles the shows from July 1981 through September 1981.
This part starts with a very bleak month of April. The City had first Suspended Jerry Roach's entertainment license for the Cuckoo's Nest on February 16th, and then on February 23rd they Revoked it until further notice. Jerry fought the closure of his club all the way to the California State Supreme Court and won his case there. He was allowed to open on May 1, 1981.
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| Patrons wait outside the Cuckoo's Nest in Costa Mesa California |
APRIL
No shows were booked the entire month of April. Jerry had a court date on April 13th to see if he could reopen the club later in the month. At first he was hopeful to open on April 29th, but the date was pushed back to May 1st. |
| Jerry Roach's Booking Calendar - April 1981 |
Cuckoo's Nest License/Permit "REINSTATED" on May 1st
Jerry Roach won his battle in court and the Cuckoo's Nest was allowed to open again on May 1st. The first item entered into the uppermost left square of the Calendar was that the Club was closed a total of 73 days. He was upset over the whole ordeal, including the fact that the city had robbed him of two and a half months of income, and now that he had won, he vowed to "shove punk rock right up their asses". On the Calendar, he listed all the punk bands he wanted by "Headliner", "2nd Band" and then "Opener". He came out of the corner swinging with a healthy serving of punk rock that first night, but it appears by the number of bands written in and then crossed off that it was all happening last minute and rushed as bands he wanted already had prior commitments. Eventually, things stabilized as the captain of the ship sped things up to a insane pace and raced toward the edge of the world. He constantly tested the local law enforcement riding a fine with the city council and their rules and restrictions. He knew they wouldn't tolerate it for very long and he pushed it until it couldn't go any further later in the year. This is the time period in the life of the Club that Jerry said was the most intense.
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| Jerry Roach's Booking Calendar - May 1981
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May 1, 1981: Agent Orange, TSOL and The Hated played for the "Re-Opening" of the Cuckoo's Nest. The club was packed all night long. The Crowd and Social Distortion were on the calendar but then scratched off and didn't play.
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| May 1, 1981. Flyer for the Re-Opening of the Cuckoo's Nest with Agent Orange, TSOL and The Hated. |
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| May 1, 1981. Flyer for TSOL, Agent Orange and the Crowd |
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| May 2, 1981. Local Newspaper "The Daily Pilot" was quick to report on the re-opening of the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| May 1, 1981. Even though they didn't play, the Dischords were on hand at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| May 1, 1981. Agent Orange at Cuckoo's Nest (Photo: Ed Colver) |
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| May 1, 1981. TSOL at Cuckoo's Nest |
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| May 1, 1981. Jack from TSOL at Cuckoo's Nest (Photo: Ed Colver) |
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| May 1, 1981. The Hated at Cuckoo's Nest |
May 2, 1981:
Lobsters, Null & Void and the Box Boys. Videos by Beateo. This was
supposed to by a punk rock night, but with Jerry Roach not sure of the
exact date that the club would be open, he couldn't book things too far
in advance. All the punk bands he wanted for the night including Black
Flag, the Crowd and The Hated couldn't do it on short notice, so he was
relegated to putting on more of a "subdued" night.
May 7, 1981: Tuxedo Dentist, Axcentric, Dash 501.
May 8, 1981:
Friday night "Benefit for Flipside". China White was the headliner, the
Chiefs played second and the Asthetics opened the show.
May 9, 1981: Saturday
night show. The Adolescents headlined and Social Distortion opened the
show. Jerry tried to book the band "Dead Skin" as the first band, but
they couldn't do it. The Adolescents had just released their self-titled
album less than a month before this show. Rikk Agnew had just quit the
band and Pat Smear took the job for a three month stint. Pat ultimately
quit the next month because he didn't want to go on tour. Social
Distortion had just finished recording their first single, "Mainliner"
for Posh Boy records, but it hadn't been released yet.
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| Rare photo of Pat Smear playing Guitar with the Adolescents at the Cuckoo's Nest |
May 13, 1981: Wednesday night. The Vectors, the Lobsters and Incognito.
May 14, 1981: Thursday night in the order of headliner to opening band is Apple, P.O.W., Crystal Vision and Brian Beck.
May 15, 1981: The Weirdos, Agent Orange and the Hated
May 16, 1981: The Circle Jerks, Legal Weapon and Dead Skin
May 19, 1981:
Political Crap and Lost Cause were booked on this Tuesday night. Jerry
also tried to book the band Civil Disobedience as the opener, but they
couldn't do it.
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May 19, 1981. Ticket for the band "Political Crap" with Duane Peters
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May 20, 1981:
Rockabillly band "The Rockaholics" played with The Badgers. Jerry also
tried to book the Mnemonic Devices but the show was cancelled for some
reason.
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| May 20, 1981. Flyer for Mnemonic Devices at the Cuckoo's Nest (show cancelled) |
May 21, 1981: Finesse and the Bumpers.
May 22, 1981: China White, the Chiefs and AKA
May 23, 1981:
Adolescents headlined this show. The Detours played the 2nd slot and
the opener may have been the Dead End Kids. Rikk Agnew had recently quit
the Adolescents and re-joined the Detours who he had played with
previously.
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| Gordon Cox of the Detours on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest (Photo by Lyn Weber Boodman) |
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| Rikk Agnew playing with the Detours at the Cuckoo's Nest. Photo by Lyn Weber Boodman. |
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May 26, 1981: The Suspects and Civil Disobedience from the "Public Service" Compilation record played together this night with a band called "The Start" headlining and "Confederate" was the opener.
May 27, 1981: Nu-Beams, Beat-E-O and Craig playing music videos. "Larry Laroo" is meant to be a cartoon caricature of Jerry Roach.
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May 27, 1981. Flyer for the "Debmutant Ball" with the Nu-Beams and Beat-E-O
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May 28, 1981: Mike Knott's Rubber Band played with Europa and The Slider.
May 29, 1981: T.S.O.L., The Hated and Lost Cause.
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May 29, 1981. Flyer for T.S.O.L. and the Hated
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May 30, 1981: This flyer for the show was made by the Stains when they opened for the headliner Circle Jerks. Other bands Jerry tried to get to be the first band included, Social Distortion and Wasted Youth, but neither of them could do it, so he settled on a lesser known band at the time to be the opener known as KAOS.
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May 30, 1981. Flyer for the Circle Jerks and the Stains
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JUNE
In June, Jerry continued to shove Punk Rock up the Costa Mesa City Council's ass. |
| Jerry Roach's Booking Calendar - June 1981 |
June 2, 1981: Channel 3, Shattered Faith and the Mercenaries.
June 5, 1981: Middle Class, 45 Grave and the Detours
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June 5, 1981. Flyer for Middle Class and 45 Grave
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June 6, 1981: Rik L Rik, Sacred Heart and Confederate
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| This is thought to be Rik L Rik of Negative Trend on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest (need to verify) |
June 9, 1981:
LA Cigarettes, The Squares, The Tweezers. Also on this day, Jerry Roach
had a meeting with the Costa Mesa City Council to fight them against
closing down the club.
June 10, 1981: The Means, Frantic Tech
June 11, 1981: The Rebel Rockers (Reggae Night)
June 12, 1981: Fear, Legal Weapon, Dead End Kids
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| Lee Ving of FEAR on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest. (Photo by Fer Youz) |
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June 13, 1981: The Chiefs, AKA, The Suspects
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June 13, 1981. Flyer for the Chiefs, AKA and the Suspects
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June 13, 1981. Flyer for the Chiefs, AKA and the Suspects
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June 16, 1981: The Vecters, Lost Cause, Red Brigade
June 17, 1981: Jimmy & The Mustangs, The Rockaholics (Rockabilly Night)
June 18, 1981: Dash 501, Crystal Vision, John Scott, Last Stand
June 19, 1981: Top Jimmy, The Rockaholics
June 20, 1981: TSOL, The Squares, Confederate
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| June 20, 1981. Flyer for TSOL and Confederate at the Cuckoo's Nest |
June 23, 1981:
The Vandals, Youth Gone Mad, Neuro Toxins, Shakey Jake. It is believed
that this is the show that the Vandals spray painted a large upside down
"V" on the back wall of the stage.
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June 23, 1981. Ticket for the Vandals
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| June 23, 1981. Vandals graffiti on the Stage Wall at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Vandals at the Cuckoo's Nest |
June 24, 1981: Red Alert, Soundtrack, LA Cigarettes
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| June 24, 1981 flyer for Red Alert at the Cuckoo's Nest |
June 25, 1981: LA Sleeper, Axcentric, Ampage
June 26, 1981:
Agent Orange, The Hated, CH3, Lost Cause. With exception of the opening
act, each band made their own flyer for the show). It looks like Lost
Cause was a late addition as they only appeared on one flyer and they
started early at 8:30.
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June 26, 1981. Flyer for Agent Orange, The Hated, Channel 3
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June 26, 1981. Flyer for Agent Orange, The Hated, Channel 3, Lost Cause
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June 26, 1981. Flyer for Agent Orange, The Hated, Channel 3
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June 27, 1981: The Adolescents, Social Distortion, Bad Religion
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| June 27, 1981. The Adolescents on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
June 30, 1981: The Dischords, The Shuttle Cocks, Ionics, Citizen Fear
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Click Here for the Next Part:
Thank
you in advance for any comments, stories or additions for this
historical archive of the shows at the Cuckoo's Nest. If you have any
flyers, photos or other types of attachments to add to this archive,
please email them to me directly at hansonmeyer@yahoo.com. If
you have photos or know of photos or other content appearing in this
blog without proper credit, please contact me at the email above so that
I can add or modify that information to ensure proper credit. Thank
You.
The other parts of the Cuckoo's Nest shows can be found at these links:
PART 1: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows 1977-1979
PART 2: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows 1980
PART 3: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Jan-Mar 1981
PART 4: YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!
PART 5: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Jul-Sep 1981
PART 6: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Oct-Dec 1981
