Punk Presents: Santa Monica Civic and the bands ready to hit the stage this Xmas

By Cat and Andy

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: This place brings back a lot of memories for us and we are just missing these shows by a week (as we always fly down to LA for Christmas). So here are a few thoughts and some of our memories of the place and bands:

Andy: First time at the Civic in the summer of 1981 for the mammoth Black Flag, Adolescents, DOA and Minutemen gig. Highlights for a 14-year-old me included running into Mike Ness from Social D backstage, watching Flag and Adolescents from side stage and seeing Flag rehearse backstage.
A few years later, the Misfits tore it up and broke a guitar in pieces before Flag's June 11, 1983 set, featuring Rollins, Cadena and Reyes on vocals. (Minor Threat "were going to fly to LA for (this gig), but we have to play on the 12th in Boston -- but we'll be back -- I promise," according to a letter from guitarist Lyle Preslar to me. They never made it back.) Further down the road, SLF and Social D turned in memorable performances on a powerhouse double bill.

Cat: My memory is not as good as Andy's in regards to all the shows I have seen at the Civic, but one that I remember the best is Soundgarden and Danzig in 1990. I have had some other experiences there including my metal friend bringing me to a show there of a band that cannot be named in this blog. That show ended with me pouring my beer atop the head of a chick wearing white pumps. Needless to say, I did not belong at that show, but did love the place.

Social D:

A: "Mainliner" burst out of the speakers during a Rodney on the Roq radio show --- I was hooked.

C: Saw them once only at the Hollywood Palladium, but they will always remind me of the group of friends that I hung out with when the self-titled album from 1990 came out. "Story of My Life", "So Far Away" and She's a Knockout" were our theme songs.

A: Speaking of that album, when I worked as a messenger in LA in 1990, one of our guys delivered the master tapes to Epic Records. Lucky guy --- who knows where those would be now if I handled them.

X:

A: It's all about the "Decline of Western Civilization" ... and seeing them at Disneyland's Grad Nite 1985.

C: I think I have said enough about X in past entries--(Andy happened to be at my Grad Nite for my high-school graduation)--my favorite band, 'nuff said.

Adolescents:

A: Watching my uncle check out the "blue" album's lyric sheet and proceed to read some of the lyrics out loud. Funny.

C: I did not get to see them until the "Hey Punk!" festival in Seattle in 2002. Quite a festival -- in fact, lost my phone at the gig: when we arrived home, the Adolescents were in the background on the voice mail we received from the security guy who found it.
Saw them again at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in 2008. Always loved the "blue" album also and bummed I never got to see them before that.

Bad Religion:

A: Grabbing the first EP at Zed Records in Long Beach, and then finally seeing them play at Godzilla's in the valley. I had a major stomach ache that night (food poisoning, I think), but I made it through, and then rode home lying down in the back of a friend's pickup truck.

C: "Suffer."

Youth Brigade:

A & C: Not big fans ... but the Washington, DC, Youth Brigade's EP on Dischord is always a pleasure to listen to.

TSOL:

A: TSOL, 45 Grave and the Dead Kennedys at Florentine Gardens ... Jack sporting a skinhead and white-painted face, just raging to the beat. With a couple of malt-liquor tall boys in me, things were good.

C: Had a huge crush on Jack, just as every other young punk lass. Also saw him later at Scream when he was with Tender Fury (when he sported the long locks).

A: Saw Jack in Cathedral of Tears ... ughhh.

Descendents:

A: Pop punk at its finest -- not the crap that passes for that genre nowadays. Saw them play at the beach, a house party and everywhere in between. They've definitely sold out a telephone booth by now by playing massive shows.

C: As I have said before, "Milo Goes to College" was my soundtrack for junior and senior years of high school.

The Vandals:

A: Don't know much about these guys other than the "Peace Through Vandalism" record. But if our friend, Jaguar Bullet, and his daughter dig them ... then they get the nod.

C: Besides the Descendents, The Vandals were a close second as far as soundtrack songs in high school. Many a pre-party in the car involved us drinking our favorite California Coolers, as always, and singing along to "Urban Struggle" --we definitely wanted to be cowboys. In fact, we would run down the halls of our high school and just yell "aaww -- a -- aaww" at each other in between classes.

Dickies:

A: "If Stuart Could Talk" ... he'd say the Dickies are one of the most fun and energetic bands on earth. And that cover of "Paranoid" is top notch... hearing it blasting in my friend's pickup in high school was an eye opener.

C: Fuck those puppets on Mr. Rogers, a singing penis puppet kicks their ass any day.