Cuckoo's Nest Club Punk Shows (Part 2 of 6)
1980
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 11/11/2023)
This article is the 2nd Part of a Six part series and details the chronological history of shows that occurred at the Cuckoo's Nest during the year 1980.
JANUARY
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for Dec 79/ Jan 80 |
January 4, 1980: Shake
January 5, 1980: Movies, Orphan
January 7, 1980: Mnemonic Devices.
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| January 7, 1980. Flyer for Mnemonic Devices. |
January 8, 1980: Dreamer played at the Nest. No Flyer or Poster, only the Ticket shown here.
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| January 8, 1980. Ticket for Dreamer at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad ran on Jan 6th |
January 13, 1980: Suburban Lawns, Neo-Paris and Futures, The Islanders. The Islanders appear in the ad for this date, but were not on the flyer.
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| January 13, 1980 flyer for the Suburban Lawns, Neo-Paris and the Futures |
January 15, 1980: Metro Scoffers.
January 17, 1980: Xeron
January 18, 1980: The Blame with Hi Fi
January 19, 1980: Paul Warren, Justus
January 21, 1980: Mnemonic Devices, Nu-Beams. An
audio recording of this show was made by David L. Benowitz and I will
see if we can upload and provide a link to it at a later time.
January 24, 1980: Dreamer. Ticket Cost $0.00 / Guest Pass at the Door.
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| January 24, 1980. Flyer for Dreamer performing at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
January 27, 1980: Black Flag, Alley Cats, Middle Class. Ticket Cost $3.00 / $1.00 with discount ticket.
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| January 27, 1980 discount ticket for Black Flag, Alley Cats and Middle Class. |
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| Black Flag flyer for multiple shows including the Cuckoo's Nest |
January 28, 1980: Mnemonic Devices, the Nu Beams. Ticket Cost $3.00 / $2.00 with discount on flyer.
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| January 28, 1980. Mnemonic Devices and Nu Beams flyer. |
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| Early Nu-Beams show at the Cuckoo's Nest |
FEBRUARY
Newspaper Ads from February 10th, 1980
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| February 1980 Cuckoo's Nest Newspaper Ad. |
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| February 1980 Cuckoo's Nest Newspaper Ad. Error: Monday Feb 17, should be "Sunday" Feb 17. |
February 15, 1980: Plimsouls, King Bees. No Flyer or Poster, only the Cuckoo's Nest Ad above. An
audio recording of this show was made by David L. Benowitz and I will
see if we can upload and provide a link to it at a later time.
February 16, 1980: Rubber City Rebels. No Flyer or Poster, only the Cuckoo's Nest Ad above.
Newspaper Ad from February 17, 1980
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| February 1980 Cuckoo's Nest Newspaper Ad. |
February 17, 1980: Fingerprintz, Suburban Lawns, the Nu Beams. Shown on Flyer below and the Cuckoo's Nest Ad above.
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| February 17, 1980. Flyer for Fingerprintz, Suburban Lawns, Nu-Beams at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| February 17, 1980. Flyer for Suburban Lawns at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
February 20, 1980: XTC. No Flyer or Poster, only the Cuckoo's Nest Ad above. The show was recorded by local college radio station KUCI at UC Irvine. The article and link to the recording can be found here: XTC Live Recording at Cuckoo's Nest by KUCI
February 22, 1980: The Zippers, Hot Tip
February 23, 1980: Levi and the Rockets
MARCH
Abt March 1980: The Plugz, Jimmy & the Mustangs, Middle Class. Ticket cost $4.00. No Flyer or Poster from this show so exact show date is unknown. Punk blogger, Weirdotronix, wrote this review of the show: "There was a small audience that night, but the Middle
Class put on a great show none the less. The Middle Class were a
Fullerton band who never got the attention they deserved. They released one
of Orange County's first punk singles ("Out of Vogue") and were
constantly playing gigs in L.A. and O.C. Their early sound featured
sarcastic lyrics shouted over jackhammer guitar rhythms, but by this show
they had developed a slower, disonate (sic) sound that was almost
psychedelic.
It was not uncommon to see punk gigs that also included non-punk bands like
rockabilly or reggae acts. Jimmy & the
Mustangs were the token rockabilly act that night. They played
revved-up covers of fifties music like Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent, along
with a few of their own original tunes.
The Plugz always put on an entertaining show. I
must have seen them play at twenty different gigs, but I never got tired of
them. They usually played more or less the same material each show, but
they always played with such conviction that the songs didn't get old." This and other reviews about shows in the Southland around this time period can be found at 1979 Punk Show Reviews.
March 2, 1980: The Beat, Jack Lee
March 6, 1980: 999 performed. Ticket Cost $9.00.
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| March 6, 1980. Ticket for 999 at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| March 6, 1980. Flyer for 999 at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| 999 on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| Nick Cash of 999 on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
March 16, 1980: Black Flag, Arthur J. & the Goldcups. Ticket Cost $4.00 / $2.00 with discount ticket.
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| March 16, 1980. Black Flag flyer for the Cuckoo's Nest. |
Abt March 28, 1980: John Cale performed. This date is a guesstimate based on the fact that the above February 10th newspaper ad showed that John Cale was going to be performing soon at the Cuckoo's Nest. John Cale was on a national tour at this time and played one show at the Whisky on March 29th. Jerry always booked shows within a day or two of when national touring groups played at the Whisky or similar clubs in Los Angeles.
APRIL
MAY
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| LA Times Ad on May 4, 1980 |
May 4, 1980 (Sunday): Neo-Paris played
May 9, 1980 (Friday): Carmine Appice, Hot Tip, Sno Horse
May 10, 1980 (Saturday): Reggae Night with the Babylon Warriors
May 12, 1980 (Monday): The Cramps performed this night during their "Songs The Lord Taught Us Tour". Jerry Roach said that he usually tried to book bands that were known nationally around their other tour dates in Southern California. The Cramps had just played at the Whisky in Hollywood two nights before and were leaving the next day to do a show at The Stone in San Francisco, so Jerry was able to sandwiched them in. For the other dates the Cramps played on this tour, go to: The Cramps Tour Dates. An audio recording of this show was made by David L. Benowitz and I will see if we can upload and provide a link to it at a later time.
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| Lux Interior & Poison Ivy on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior & Bryan Gregory on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior & Poison Ivy on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior & the crowd around the stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Lux Interior & Bryan Gregory on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
May 16, 1980 (Wednesday): The Plimsouls, The Blasters, Nu-Beams
JUNE
JULY
July 10, 1980: Trix performed. Free tickets at the door.
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| July 10, 1980. Trix flyer for show at the Cuckoo's Nest... Leather at the Laundromat. |
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| July 10, 1980. Ticket for Trix at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
July 12, 1980: The Go-Go's (cited from Go-Go's Tour History)
July 23, 1980: Stingers, Agent Orange, the Tiki Gods.
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| July 23, 1980. Flyer and discount ticket for Stingers, Agent Orange and Tiki Gods. |
July 30, 1980: The Descendents. Ticket Cost $3.00 / $2.00 with discount ticket.
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| July 30, 1980. Descendents flyer for Cuckoo's Nest. |
AUGUST
August 3, 1980: The Crowd, The Screws and China White. The person who made the flyer spelled the Screws wrong on the second flyer.
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| August 3, 1980. The Crowd, Screwz and China White flyer for Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| August 3, 1980. The Crowd, Screws and China White alternate flyer for Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| The Screws on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Screws on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
August 9, 1980: Agent Orange, The Weirdos and the Adolescents.
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| August 9, 1980. The Adolescents, Weirdos and Agent Orange flyer for Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| August 9, 1980. Agent Orange and Weirdos flyer at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
August 20, 1980: Middle Class, the Adolescents and the Rayons.
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| August 20, 1980. Middle Class, the Adolescents and the Rayons flyer at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| August 20, 1980. Middle Class, the Adolescents and the Rayons flyer at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
August 29, 1980: Rik L Rik from the band Negative Trend.
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| August 29, 1980. Rik L Rik at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
SEPTEMBER
September 1, 1980: The Descendents.
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| September 1, 1980. The Descendents at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| September 1, 1980. The Descendents at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
September 3, 1980: The Descendents, TSOL, Dischords, The Bible Burners. This was possibly TSOL's first show under this name.
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| September 3, 1980: Flyer for Descendents, TSOL, Dischords, the Bible Burners at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| A Very Young TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest |
September 12, 1980: The Crowd played with the Blasters and Murder.
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| September 12, 1980. The Crowd played with the Blasters and Murder at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
September 20, 1980: The Go-Go's played at the Nest.
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| September 20, 1980. The Go-Go's played at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Sep 25, 1980 Cuckoo's Nest Newspaper Ad for end of September and beginning of October, 1980 |
September 25, 1980: The Boxboys, The Resistors, Andy & the Rattlesnakes performed as shown in the ad above. The Boxboys were one of the first LA born Ska Bands and were fronted by Betsy Weiss who later became the lead singer for the Metal band "Bitch".
September 26, 1980: The Zippers, Bill Bald, the Automatics and Film at 11 performed as shown in the ad above.
September 27, 1980: Michael Des Barres and Danny Johnson & the Bandits performed as shown in the ad above.
September 28, 1980: The Mo-Dettes and The Crowd performed as shown in the ad above.
The Mo-Dettes were an all-female post-punk band from London who formed in 1979. Founder member Kate Korris was an original member of The Slits and briefly a member of The Raincoats. Swiss-born lead singer Ramona Carlier's heavily-accented vocals were a feature of the band.
OCTOBER
October 4, 1980: The Gears and Agent Orange played as shown in the ad above.
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| The Gears on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Agent Orange on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Agent Orange on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad ran on Oct 5th |
October 7, 1980: The Screws, China White, Music 180
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| October 7, 1980. Flyer for The Screws, China White, Music 180 at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
October 8, 1980: Bill Bald, The Corvairs as shown in the above ad.
October 9, 1980: Suburban Lawns, Nu-Beams, Shake Shake, The Diversions.
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| October 9, 1980. Flyer for Suburban Lawns, Nu-Beams, The Diversions at the Cuckoo's Nest.
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October 10, 1980: The Plugz, Middle Class, Jimmy & The Mustangs played as shown in the ads above.
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| October 10, 1980: The Plugz on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Plugz Setlist from the Cuckoo's Nest (Courtesy Bruce R Kilgour) |
October 11, 1980: The Plimsouls, The Barbies, The End played as shown in the ad above.
October 14, 1980: Black Flag, the Hated, Unit Q and War Criminals played.
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| October 14, 1980. Black Flag, Hated and War Criminals at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| October 14, 1980 flyer for Unit Q at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Hated on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Newspaper Ad for mid October, 1980 |
October 17, 1980: The Automatics, Wild Cards and the Status Seekers played as shown in the ad above.
October 18, 1980: The Blasters, The Chills and Agent Orange performed as shown in the ad above and the flyer below.
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| October 18, 1980. Agent Orange, the Blasters and the Chills at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
October 22, 1980: UXA and China White performed as shown in the ad above and the flyers below. There are two flyers for this show. Apparently lead singer, De De Troit, was in the middle of changing the band's name to UXA and there are two versions of the flyer that show this change happening. An audio recording of China White performing at this show was made by David L. Benowitz and I will see if we can upload and provide a link to it at a later time.
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| October 22, 1980. UXA and China White at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| October 22, 1980. UXA (De De Troit Band) and China White at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| DeDe Troit of UXA on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| DeDe Troit of UXA on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
October 25, 1980: The Adolescents performed as shown in the ad above.
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| The Adolescents on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
October 29, 1980: The Screws, The Chiefs and the Hated performed as shown in the flyer below. Ticket price: $4.00
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| October 29, 1980. Screws, The Chiefs and The Hated at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
NOVEMBER
November 4, 1980: The Klan and China White performed as shown in the flyer below.
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| November 4, 1980. The Klan and China White at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| Ticket for the Klan on at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Klan on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Klan on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Klan on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
November 11, 1980: The Negotivz performed as shown in the flyer below.
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| November 11, 1980. The Negotivz at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
November 14, 1980: Middle Class and UXA performed as shown in the flyer below.
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| November 14, 1980. Middle Class and UXA at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| November 14, 1980. Middle Class and UXA at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
November 18, 1980: The Screws, TSOL, The Aristacrats
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| November 18, 1980 Flyer for TSOL, The Screws, the Aristacrats at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| Jack from TSOL on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
November 22, 1980: The Adolescents, Eddie & the Subtitles and No Alternative (from San Francisco) performed as shown in the flyer below.
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| November 22, 1980. Adolescents, Eddie Subtitle and No Alternative at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
November 30, 1980: China White. An
audio recording of this show was made by David L. Benowitz and I will
see if we can upload and provide a link to it at a later time.
DECEMBER
December 2, 1980: The Dischords, Ristocats, Victim
December 3, 1980: Bumper, Ball Road, Evidence
December 4, 1980: Ultra Egos. It looks like Missing Persons was supposed to play, but cancelled.
December 5, 1980: The Gears, Eddie & The Subtitles, The Screws
December 6, 1980: The Crowd, Agent Orange, TSOL
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| December 6, 1980. Flyer for The Crowd, Agent Orange, TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
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| December 6, 1980. Flyer for The Crowd, Agent Orange, TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest. |
Here are a couple of ads that ran in December.
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| Ad that ran on December 14, 1980 |
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| Ad that ran on December 7, 1980 |
December 12, 1980: Lobsters, Big Beat, Let's Eat
December 13, 1980: Middle Class, The Adolescents, The Hated
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| December 13, 1980: Flyer for Middle Class, Adolescents and the Hated at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| The Hated on stage at the Cuckoo's Nest |
December 14, 1980: Glass House, Mirror Image, Theis
December 16, 1980 (Tues): Dischords
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| December 16, 1980 flyer for the Dischords at the Cuckoo's Nest |
December 19, 1980: Alley Cats, UXA (DeDe Troit & the Cartunes), TSOL, Social Distortion
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| December 19, 1980: Flyer for Alley Cats, UXA, TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| December 19, 1980: Flyer for DeDe Troit & the Cartunes (UXA), the Alley Cats TSOL, Social Distortion at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| December 19, 1980: Flyer for Alley Cats, UXA, TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| December 19, 1980: Flyer for Alley Cats, UXA, TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest |
December 20, 1980: John Scott, Axentric, Wildcard
December 21, 1980: Joe Music, Threshold, Riff Raff
December 23, 1980 (Tues): Free Sex, Dead N Kids, Dead Skin, Asthetics
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| December 23, 1980 flyer for Free Sex, Dead N Kids, Dead Skin, Aesthetics at the Cuckoo's Nest |
December 26, 1980: Geza X, The Adolescents, The Omelas
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| December 26, 1980: Flyer for GEZA X at the Cuckoo's Nest
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December 27, 1980: The Crowd, Sex Sick, The Chiefs (China White & 45 Grave were supposed to play but cancelled)
December 28, 1980: Felony, 501, Sleeper. (Jerry's calendar shows that Felony didn't show)
Newspaper Ad from December 28, 1980
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| Ad that ran on December 28, 1980 |
December 29/30, 1980: Black Flag played and Social Distortion and The Hated opened both shows. No Flyer or Poster from this show. But the songs Black Flag played in their set list (in order) are: Revenge, White Minority, Room 13, I've Heard It Before, Depression, machine, I've Had It, Nervous Breakdown, Jealous Again, Rise Above, Spray Paint, Damaged I, Damaged II, No Values, Fix Me, Wasted, Police Story, Louie Louie.
December 31, 1980: New Year's Eve New Wave Bash... The Nu-Beams, Robert Stoddard, The Status Seekers, The Tweezers.
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| Nu-Beams at the Cuckoo's Nest in 1980 |
**************** OTHER SHOWS WITH UNKNOWN DATES *************************
The Vandals played their first show at the Cuckoo's Nest sometime at Near the end of 1980 with Shattered Faith and China White according to their Wikipedia Page. This was just before their original lineup including Stevo Jensen, Jan Nils Ackermann, Steve Gonzalez, and Vince Mesa changed with Gonzales and Mesa leaving the group being replaced by Steve "Human" Pfauter and Joe Escalante.
**************** OTHER PHOTOS WITH UNKNOWN SHOW DATES ******************
The Blades:
The Blades formed sometime in late 1979 or early 1980. It's believed that these photos of the Blades at the Cuckoo's Nest were taken sometime in the later part of 1980. Need to find a flyer, ad or the date...
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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.
Both the previous and following years for shows occurring at the Cuckoo's Nest can be found at these links:
PART 1: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows 1977-1979
PART 2: YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!
PART 3: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Jan-Mar 1981
PART 4: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Apr-Jun 1981
PART 5: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Jul-Sep 1981
PART 6: Cuckoo's Nest Club Shows Oct-Dec 1981
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