WEBVTT - Jim Guerinot 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.840 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. You're listening to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.400 My guest this week he's Jim Garno. There's a lot 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.840 of parapatetic career in music business. He's been a fan, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.200 he's been a punker, he's been a promoter, he's been 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.079 a label executive, he's been a manager. He's done it all. Jim, 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.560 Welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Bob. Nice to be here. Now. 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.639 You grew up in upstate New York. Right. I was 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.240 raised in Rochester, New York. Yeah, My both my mother 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.760 and father each had one job and they were worked 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.240 for Eastman Kodak. Really did they move there for the job? 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.920 They were raised in Rochester, New York. We moved out 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.960 here in seventy two for eighth grade. When I was 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.200 in eighth grade, my dad got a transfer. He sold 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.640 X ray film for Eastman Kodak. I often think of 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.320 Eastman Kodek as the original, you know, company that was 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.000 digitally disrupted. You know, of course that's a story, but 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.600 a while you're from Rochester. And but the reason I 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.240 mentioned that is whenever we talk, you talk about your 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.880 sister turning you onto records. That's true, It's true, I'm 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.320 and I uh. I don't remember watching the Beatles. I 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.720 remember the reaction of my parents watching the Beatle, which 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.720 was what they just stood. They stood and watched from 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.040 over in the corner and they did not like it 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:13.880 at all. I know they didn't like it, and they 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.199 complained about the hair um. And I remember my sisters 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:18.840 records and I still have some of them. I just 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.760 showed my eleven year old an old Herman's Hermit's record 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.200 and an old Holly's record that that has my sister's 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.399 name on it, that that I still have. I retained somehow. Well, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.240 it's funny because somebody sent me a turntable replace the 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:32.720 one that I had was kind of sketchy, and I 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:34.639 whipped out some of those old records and you always 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.360 wrote your name on it, even had Dimo tape and 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.640 you stuck it right on. They couldn't believe what was 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.000 written on the back. You know, whoever wrote those bios, 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.399 you know, because they are so corny and say you know, 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:46.240 but there's a charm to it. You know. It was 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.200 of the era. Since we're talking about the Beatles. I 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.560 just remember my mother left in November six to go 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.720 out on a Friday night, she said, you have to 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.720 watch this band on Jack Part Jack Part, the Nightly Show, 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.560 the Tonight Show. But now he had a Friday night 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:02.640 show that I have this band from England, the Beatles, 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.280 And what it was was a video shot from the 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.120 back of the theater of them doing she Loves You, 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:10.480 which of course we couldn't understand because there was so 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.600 much yelling. It was we I thought it was we 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:17.960 loved too, and of course we laughed. And then in January, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:19.440 all of a sudden, I want to hold your hand 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.480 hit and it was mega. And I remember watching on 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.520 Ed Sullivan where we took out our brownie cameras and 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.480 we shot pictures of the television. People may not know, 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.280 but what you get is a blank screen. I didn't 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.760 know that, no, because the reflection from the flash you 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.280 get nothing on screen. I mean, everything is much more 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.600 sophisticated now. But did you know you were a music fan? No? No, no. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:42.400 But one of the little anecdote about my sister in 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.440 the Beatles, she bought me a black light poster Sergeant 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.720 Pepper right on Sergeant Pepper came out and they hung 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:50.360 it in my room. She hung it up in my 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.160 room and at the same time. I was always a 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.560 newspaper reader. I read the paper every morning. I always 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.519 read the because of the sports scores, probably the sports scores, 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:01.560 but I remember, you know, we had snow days, and 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.080 I remember I would go downstairs and and and the 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.800 heating events were on the floor, and I'd sit in 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:08.840 front of the heating bed and i'd I'd read the 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.519 comics probably first, and then kind of venture into sports 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.080 in order. But I read an article about LSD and 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.000 it talked about I couldn't have been more than nine, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.120 but i'd read and it talked about a guy. It 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.400 showed a picture of his face kind of haywire like 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.200 you'd be tripping, and that he jumped off a building. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.799 And I remember I went to bed and I had 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.760 read about the Beatles and drugs, and you know, I 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:36.680 knew what was I had some idea what was going on, 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.560 and I'm not sure exactly how I knew, but I 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.560 woke up having nightmares and my dad had to come 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.680 in and take the black light poster of Sergeant Pepper 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:48.080 down was terrible. Did you have a drug career yourself 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:54.240 a career? Did you, I think? Did you ultimately take LSD? 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.720 And what do you worry about jumping off a building. 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.120 I probably worried about it. Yeah, you know, I mean 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.520 that was heavy stuff. It really really was. That was 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.920 you know. I always used to kid with the guys 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.360 that we would do took a day to prepare, a 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.200 day to do it, and then a day to recover 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.760 from it. You know, we would we would find ourselves, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.680 you know, at Disneyland on Pirates of the Caribbean or 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.400 the or the mon Santo where it was shrinking, you know, 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:18.720 and things like that. That was kind of the Remember 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.080 going to the cable car Disneyland. That's we used to 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.279 smoke dope, okay, because you went from one end to 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.279 the other. Oh yeah, the people mover. So in any event, 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.520 you're in Rochester, you're reading the newspaper. What else. Yeah, 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.560 I am big sports basketball. I I had that that. 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.640 Uh you know, our block was here, Our church was 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.760 the next block. I went to a Catholic school, you know, 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.320 tie dress up. I served Mass in the morning, would 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.320 walk there, had a paper route in the morning, trudging 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.279 in the snow, doing all those kind of things. I 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.039 remember vividly going next door to Kevin dowt Our next 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.520 door neighbor's house and I would open the porch and 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.719 you'd smell the newsprint and you had to take the 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.040 wire cutters and pop and it would go bam and 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.400 it would explode. And I'm telling you, if you were 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.359 anywhere near, it would take your eye out. And you 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.680 had to fold the newspapers into thirds and put them 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.520 in your bag because you had to open the storm 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.359 door and throw the paper up and then get the 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.200 door shut, because that they didn't just throw him on 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.200 the driveway in the snow, you know, you had to 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.520 deliver it inside the storm door. And so he would 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.919 leave me three rows of numbers. The first row of 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.080 numbers my street, totally comfortable, no big deal. I know 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.039 that second street, Verena Drive, I kind of knew it 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:32.040 was okay. The third street, glenn Ellen Way, kind of terrifying. 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.479 It's still dark, I don't know the houses. You have 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.520 to kind of navigate to find the number, and it 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.320 was a little bit scary by the time I would 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.400 get there. But I would finish up on glenn Ellen 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.719 Way and it would end right near this bar, and 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.279 I remember the smell of the bar and that alcohol 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.680 on the ground and it's stunk and as I walked 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:50.760 behind it, I would cut and there would be an 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.359 opening in the alley and there was Dunkin Donuts, And 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.640 if I had a paper to left, I'd stand out 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.160 front Dunkin Donuts and I'd sell the paper and I 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:00.919 go sit at the count and have a hot chocolate. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.520 And I thought I was grown up. Did you get 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.039 a paper route because your parents told you to earn 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.640 money or you wanted money? I wanted money. I wanted money. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.520 They didn't. I never got an allowance as a kid. 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.919 You know, paper route you can actually make some decent money. 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.880 And so what did you do with the money? I 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.880 saved it. I remember I bought a Shwin ten speed 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.360 that it was a hundred five dollars. I said, saved 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.039 all that and bought a Shwin ten speed. My parents, 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:31.440 I never felt wanting for anything in terms of the necessities. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:33.440 But they were never going to give you the stereo 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.240 like the other kid got. There was no way, you 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.039 know what I mean? What about your own kids? You 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.440 make them work? No, no, they do chores and things. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.080 But I'll tell you the interesting thing. I've had this 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.159 conversation with quite a few people about raising kids who 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.800 have a lot of stuff. They want their money. You know, 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.800 where they will I think find their ambition and motivation 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.400 is they do not like to come to me to 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.480 ask for stuff, and they don't like being told no, 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.520 and they don't like they don't like my input. They 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.120 want their own, you know, And I can see it 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.279 where that will be the motivating factor for them. You know, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.039 you think that, well, gosh, if a kid got a 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:09.760 car when they were sixteen, how are they ever going 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.560 to be motivated to do anything in life? Why about 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:14.760 the car? When they want another one, they're gonna buy 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.080 the car. And they don't like coming to you and asking, 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.280 That's the thing, you know, they really don't. And I 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.440 see it with my two oldest ones nineteen ones almost seventeen. 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.040 They want the autonomy and the independence of not having 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.840 to ask their parents for stuff. So we'll see that's 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:32.920 a big experiment parenting and we could right. So when 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.160 you hear that you're going to be moving to California, 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.120 is that a good I'm super excited. The Los Angeles 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.360 Lakers are my favorite basketball team. It's the Wilt Chamberlain 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.320 Jerry West seventy two season where they go sixty and 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.280 thirteen I'm a huge Wilt fan. I remember the game 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.800 he played against the Bucks with Louell Cinder and it 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.560 goes into overtime and he's got five fouls and he 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.760 blocks Kareem shot, and he has one of the greatest 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.280 records of all time. He's never felled out of game 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.200 in high school, college, or his professional career. And he's 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.400 still on the court and he blocks a shot, and 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.080 that's an incredible statistic. So I was a big fan 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.240 of his. He could rebound, he could do assists, he 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.520 could do anything. I loved Will And I'm coming to 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.720 the land of the Lakers. Did your father take you 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.600 to the game? Never? Never took me to a game. 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.840 Did he come to your sports when you were growing up? Occasionally, 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.360 my dad traveled. He spent about ten days a month 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.200 on the road. Later on, when I was at one 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.800 of my son's baseball games, he said, I really regret 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.440 not having done that. I said, Dad, you were born. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.959 He was born on his kitchen table. My father was 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.319 raised with two foster kids in his home. He had 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.520 two brothers, but his parents took in foster kids to 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.640 make ends meet. My mom was raised off and on 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.720 in Catholic orphanages and foster homes. So they had a 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:49.920 tough you know. And I said, Dad, your point of 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.640 view was not, Hey, how do I go hang out 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.440 and do all the contemporary parenting things. You're concerned? Am 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.160 I gonna have enough money? Get my kid to school? 0:08:58.280 --> 0:08:59.800 We're gonna have clothes? Are We're gonna That was a 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.960 legitimate concern for you. And because of that, I said 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.839 to him, I don't ever think about those things. I 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.000 always know I was gonna be Okay, that's a gift. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.800 You didn't have that gift. So you moved to southern California. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.800 Were exactly do you move? Fullerton, California. Now that's far 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.920 from the beach home of the electric guitar. It's a 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.880 straight shot down brook her Store Beach Boulevard on the O. C. 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.440 T D by the way, So it's not horrible that 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.760 gets you into Huntington Beach. Okay, So how did you 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.600 get into music? Really? My sister played a big, big part. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.120 I was really really a fan. I remember going to 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.640 singer you know, the sewing machine shop, and uh, I 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.560 want to say, Easy to Be Hard was my first 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.960 single that I bought, you know, And and I started 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.320 collecting singles, and she had her record player, and I 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.880 had a record player, and uh, I would connect multiple 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.880 speakers to it, so I'd have like eight speakers in 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.240 my room. I thought I was like creating some sort 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:48.480 of audio system, you know, but it was just I 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.199 just remember, you know, I really didn't know a much 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.600 about electronics, right, And I hooked up the external speaker 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.560 without an Apple fire and blew out the whole house. 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.600 Did you really? Absolutely? Oh, I have a photo I'll 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:00.920 show you when we take a a moment. You can 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.880 see basketball posters in my bedroom, and then you see 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.959 a David Bowie poster and Jimi Hendrix, and the transition 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.439 is coming, you know what I mean. You can see 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.520 the the sports stuff moving off the wall and the 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.080 rock stuff starting to happen. Okay, now, but you say 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:19.760 that you grew up with these people and you were 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.560 part of the punk rock scene. Well that's that's years later. Okay, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.520 So then a little bit slower, So you suddenly are 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.160 getting into music. You're in a high school, you're just 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.559 living a regular high school life. Or does music become 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.400 your passion? Music's everything? Music is? You know, when when 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.280 you want to say freshman year, was the first time 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.960 where all of a sudden, buddy of mine looked and goes, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:42.680 you want to try pot? Yeah, what do we do? 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.360 You know? In your fourteen your kid, let's talk to 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.680 this guy, you know, and you go and and you 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.120 get your little yellow zigzag papers and your four finger 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.040 bag of really bad you know, but I remember when 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.720 Bucks was the good stuff in You know, when you 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.320 talk about this a lot, and I've talked about this 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.120 with you a lot, all of a sudden, you're part 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.760 of a community. There's something going on. You're bonded to somebody. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:09.040 Because in three it's still a criminal offense. It's not 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.080 been decriminalized. This is a This is not an era 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.200 where people are saying, oh, I smoked, but I didn't 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.480 Inhale or multiple presidents have admitted to it. It's like 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.200 a problem. You're bound to that community and you find 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.600 that when you go to a concert, that whole community 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.320 is there. You're all together. Okay, So where did you 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.200 go to concerts? Oh? You go to Anaheim Convention Center. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.120 You know there. I remember seeing Crosby and Nash there 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:37.480 and James Taylor there and Peter Frampton before broke out, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:39.520 and it'd go to the Long Beach Arena. I remember 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.559 going to Long Beach Arena for the Forum, right, and 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:42.880 where did you get the money? And how did you 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.760 get there? There's always somebody that could drive, you know. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.840 I remember going to see Queen and Thin Lizzie at 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.240 the Forum and I had no ticket, and we walked 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:53.719 up and we thought we might be able to get 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.959 one because we've seen that happen. And there's a guy 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.679 standing on the corner with the tickets. It worked out 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.840 really well. I had many that did work out as well. 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:02.240 But I walk up and he's trying to sell the 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.120 tickets and a cop walks up and grabs the tickets 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.160 out of his hand and says, are you scalping these? No, sir, 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:09.840 And I said I was getting ready to buy them 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.440 at face value, officer. And the cop looks at me 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.560 and I'm a kid. I'm dealing with, you know, older kids, 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.520 so you know, I mean people in their twenties, you 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.199 know what I mean. I'm just a kid, and he goes, 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:21.679 do you have the money? I go right here a 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.080 game and we got like twenty throw seats to seek 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.760 Lizzie and Queen, and it was fantastic. I think that 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:32.000 time of my life was. Everything was just a brand 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.560 new experience. It was amazing. It was amazing to go 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:36.839 see the Who at Anaheim Stadium. It was amazing to 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.000 all of it. I just I couldn't get enough of 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.800 the live music thing. The live music thing was extraordinary 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.280 to me. How often did you go to shows? Don't remember? 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:45.920 You know what I mean? As often as I could. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:47.360 But I was a kid. I was in high school 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.240 and I could only only do so. Did you have 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.840 any lightbulb go off in your head say this is 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:53.560 something I want to make a career out of. I 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.320 never thought. And that's where punk rock comes in. I 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.079 would read the Sunday calendar section, of course, and you'd 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.360 get it was the tabloid it in the Los Angeles times. 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:03.400 You go to the Pacific Stereo ad in the middle, 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.280 of course, and then you'd turn and you'd start to read, 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.240 and it felt so distant, and uh, I didn't have 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.040 a great high school career. A little deeper. That means 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.360 what I was truant frequently. And then where I went 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:17.920 to school, you couldn't get away with that. How did 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.120 you get away with it? Well? I didn't. By the 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.160 halfway through my junior they wanted to send me to 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.960 the continuation school, and I dropped out and I took 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.240 the g E D. And at this point, I'm moving 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.600 out of my parents house. Okay, wait, wait, wait wait. 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.480 Your father comes from a background that's somewhat hard. He's 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.360 got a good job and he's on the road. How 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.040 are you getting along with your parents? Not well? And 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:42.120 the issue is what well they had? At one point, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.600 my mother moved my dresser and I would always take 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.839 out the bottom drawer and that's where I would keep 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.360 all my you know, hash pipe and my rolling papers 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.920 and everything. And she found it, and to someone in 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.760 my parents era, the difference between marijuana and heroin was 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.160 non existent. She thought I was a drug addict. And 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:02.920 my father approached me and said, we're going to the 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:07.000 police right now, or you're going into therapy. And I said, well, 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.920 this is an easy call. How old were you? And 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:15.120 I'd gotten in a couple of scrapes similar uh with 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:17.280 the law, but like what well, when I was fourteen, 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.960 I was learning to drive, but I hadn't taken driver 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.040 head yet. I just used my parents car and I 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.880 got caught and I got arrested doing that. And then 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.760 when I was sixteen, I was smoking some weed with 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.320 a buddy of mine and got caught doing that, and 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.680 it just turned out he had some cross tops and 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.280 emphetamines with them, and I was like, oh god, this 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.160 isn't good, you know. And so that was, you know, 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.520 high school was chaos for me. Okay, But these are 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.960 choices you made. Is that part of your personality? We say, 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.040 what are you a limit tester? Are you willing to 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.120 do the thing that other people might pooh pooh or 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.280 be too scared of. I don't know. I don't think 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:53.800 that was the reason I was doing it. I was 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.760 doing it because I was having fun. I mean, plain 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:58.440 and simple. I was just having fun. It was like, 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.240 let's let's smoke a point and go see altered states. 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.520 Let's go. You know, you know, what are you doing? 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:05.480 You know? After school? I don't know what do you 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:06.800 want to meet and go? You know? It was just 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.160 what I was the nineteen seventy three or seventy four. 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.600 It's just what you did, okay. So you felt like 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.640 you went to the therapist. What did the therapist saying 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.480 after why? I said, you seem like an okay kid, 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.280 you know, And and he met with my parents. He said, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.560 you seem you seem okay, you know, but but I 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:25.760 definitely was straining. There's no question that I was experiencing 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.040 the generation gap. Everything my parents stood for. Everything they 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.000 liked I didn't like. They didn't like long hair, they 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.040 didn't like the fact, you know. They just didn't like 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.360 how I addressed. They didn't like how I conducted. And 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:38.800 there was a point in our relationship where there was 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.200 a break, I mean a big break, particularly when it 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.080 came to curfews and things like that would be like 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.160 I'm going out. When we would be back, I don't know, 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.720 and that would be Friday night, it might be Saturday 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.240 afternoon I had come back. And it got to the 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.239 point where I think they would define it now is incorrigible, 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.320 where it was just like I wasn't going to be 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:57.840 told to do. And I moved out of my parents 0:15:57.840 --> 0:15:59.520 house once when I was sixteen, and then for good 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.040 when I was event where like an apartment with what 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.840 money I was working now I left school at that point. 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.360 I think I was a Mason's tender. Where's what It's 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.280 an awful job of something that that really no one 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.760 would want to do. But I moved all the stone 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.600 and brick off of trucks for the mason to set 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.400 around pools. And I made the cement and would bring 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.040 it to them, and it was backbreaking work. And I 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.880 was seventeen years old and a d thirty five pounds 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.080 and I'm dealing with grown men with beards. And I 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.040 eventually got the clue and said, this sucks. I need 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.160 to go back to school. I'm never going to meet 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.160 a girl any girls. I would finish work and I 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.400 would just have one beer in my apartment, go, oh, 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.400 this is wonderful. I have my own apartment, and I 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.040 would just fall asleep. I was so fatigued. Okay, so 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.920 the school said, hey, you're not going and you literally 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.600 dropped out and took the g ding And how long 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.480 before you went back to school? Within six months. I 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.880 went to junior college as a seventeen year old, and 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.240 you're still living in your own apartment and you're paying 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.560 for yourself because it's cheap. Then it was really cheap. 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.760 It wasn't bad at all. I mean it wasn't. It wasn't. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.639 And and college at this point, within college, within the 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.719 community college system, you paid a five dollar health fee 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.760 and your books and you're in and all those units. Uh, 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.000 you know, I transferred sixty units to U C Irvine 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.240 and got my degree from U C Irvine years later, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.400 many years later. So how many years later, Well as 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:24.720 it would have been if seventeen, that would have been 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.800 U seventy. So I didn't graduate college till eighty five. Okay, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.880 so you're still living in your own apartment, you're still 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.120 paying your own bills, and now you're going to community college. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.240 And what are you doing for work? Then? Just a 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.439 hodgepodge of different jobs. I went back to work at 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.840 a supermarket. I had worked at supermarkets. I had worked 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.880 at Ralph's when I was sixteen years old, and Fullerton 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.560 I went and started working for Vaughan's, you know, at 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.159 that point. And these were great jobs because it was 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.880 a union job, you had health benefits. Uh, they paid 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.320 time in half on Sundays, and and I could make 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.879 enough money working part time to pay my bills. But 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.800 nothing had really started to come together as it relates 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.280 to music yet at this point, I'm still going to 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.760 a lot of shows. Punk rock has hit and now 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.520 all of a sudden, I'm starting to go to clubs, 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.119 and that's a big shift. At least it was for 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.840 me when you've been going to concerts and concerts and 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.840 they're big, and then you find yourself in a club 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.600