Cuckoo's Nest Club Punk Shows (Part 3 of 6)
Jan - Mar 1981
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 4/15/2024)
This
article is the Third Part of a Six Part series and details the
chronological history of shows that occurred month by month at the Cuckoo's Nest in the First Quarter from January through March of 1981. The next section (Part 4) chronicles the shows from April through June 1981.
Cuckoo's Nest owner, Jerry Roach, allowed me to take photos of his booking calendar so that I could post them here and archive the exact order of shows during the 1981 calendar year. I have done my best to add the correct flyers and photos from the period.
JANUARY
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| Jerry Roach's Booking Calendar - January 1981 |
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Newspaper Ad for the Cuckoo's Nest ran on Dec 28, 1980
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January 1, 1981: The year of 1981 started off with "Rock Night". The Automatics, The End and The Badgers played.
January 2, 1981: This was the first of two nights that The Dickies played. China White and the Screws opened the show.
January 3, 1981: The Dickies, Eddie & the Subtitles, Wet Picnic, BPeople.
January 4, 1981: The Ristocrats, Insect Idol and Chaotic Stature played.
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| January 4, 1981. Flyer for Insect Idol |
January 6, 1981: The Stepping Tones and Wild Kingdom played for "New Wave Night".
January 7, 1981: More New Wave with The Rentz, The Lobsters and Hey Taxi.
January 8, 1981: Rock Night - Bumper, Hyp-R and Alice Cooperman (an Alice Cooper tribute band) played.
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for early/mid January 1981 |
January 9, 1981: The Adolescents, 45 Grave and the Wounds
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| January 9, 1981. Flyer for Adolescents and 45 Grave |
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45 Grave at the Cuckoo's Nest
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45 Grave at the Cuckoo's Nest
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45 Grave at the Cuckoo's Nest
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January 10, 1981:
Middle Class, Circle Jerks and the Wounds were originally billed and an
Ad ran in the local paper for this line up. Apparently a couple of
changes happened before the show and The Circle Jerks were replaced by
UXA (De De Troit). Mad Society also had a flyer out for this show, so
they may have played as well. Need to verify this though.
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| January 10, 1981. Flyer for Middle Class, Circle Jerks and the Wounds |
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| January 10, 1981. Revised Flyer for Middle Class, DeDeTroit (UXA) and the Wounds |
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| January 10, 1981. Mad Society's Flyer for the show with Middle Class and the Wounds |
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January 10, 1981. Middle Class drummer, Bruce Atta,
at the Cuckoo's Nest |
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| January 10, 1981. Middle Class' Mike Atta, Jeff Atta and Mike Patton at the Cuckoo's Nest |
January 11, 1981: Citizen Fear, Willard & the Rats and Youth Gone Mad played.
January 14, 1981: Jeffrey DARE and Claudet Balentine played for "New Wave" night.
January 15, 1981: Tux Dentist, Axcentric and Tabu played for "Rock" night.
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for mid January 1981 |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for mid/late January 1981 |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for mid/late January 1981
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January 16, 1981: A Rockabilly Friday night with the Blasters and Jimmy & the Mustangs. Agent Orange was on the bill early, but then cancelled.
January 17, 1981: The Suburban Lawns, the Nu-Beams and Mnemonic Devices.
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The Nu-Beams at the Cuckoo's Nest
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January 18, 1981: The Sub Humans from Canada headlined and Social Distortion and D.I. opened the show... each band was payed $50.
January 20, 1981: Bar Victom, Baby Knockers and the Badgers played.
January 21, 1981: The Stains, the Ionics and the Outlines played.
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| January 21, 1981. Flyer for The Stains, The Ionics and The Outlines |
January 22, 1981: Rock Night - Heavy Music, Cosmic Wave and Finesse played
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for late January 1981 |
January 23, 1981: The Crowd, TSOL and The Convenience played. The Convenience was replaced by the Screws or vice versa.
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| January 23, 1981. Flyer for The Crowd, TSOL and The Convenience |
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The Famous Photo of TSOL at the Cuckoo's Nest shot by Ed Colver for the Cover of their First Record
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January 24, 1981: The Adolescents, China White and the Chiefs played.
January 25, 1981: U.X.B., Red Cross cancelled and was replaced by Citizen Fear, and the Angry Samoans added to become the headliner.
January 27, 1981: The Frantic Ischnoids, Mike Knot's Rubber Band and the opener was supposed to be the Tweezers, but they cancelled.
January 28, 1981:
Rumor had it that Black Flag was going to play, but it didn't end up
happening... Rocker bands Tabu and Tux Dentist played instead.
January 29, 1981:
Rock Night - Headliner was Vengence, a Rolling Stones tribute band
called the "Rolling Clones" was supposed to play but they cancelled and
were replaced by L.A. Sleeper. The opening band was Future Gender. When
I was in Uniform Choice the following year in 1982, we were scheduled
to play at the Concert Factory but there was a time slot conflict. The
club had double booked us with the band Vengence. They demanded that
they play instead of us and the club folded and cancelled us and let
them play. I remember we stayed and mocked the band their entire set.
They were whiny, fat rockers that looked like a heavy version of Van
Halen with shiny pants so tight you could see the veins in their balls.
They mistook our mockery as being "Vengence Army" fans and gave us
stickers... I still have one today on my old guitar case from that gig.
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| January 29, 1981. Flyer for LA Sleeper |
January 30, 1981:
The NuKats, The Barbies and Null & Void played. Jerry had issues
with bands for this nights as a lot of them cancelled including the Big
Boys, the Lobsters, Shane & the Haircuts and the Stepping Tones.
January 31, 1981:
Again, a lot of cancellations and changes for this night. The final
line up ended up being The Gears, TSOL and the Dischords. Bands that
cancelled or couldn't do the gig were Castration Squad, the Stains
and the Assassins. An interesting note about this night is that on
Jerry's calendar he has a note that says "Kid Shot". This is the night of the infamous "Pat Brown" incident. The details of what happened can be found at: Cuckoo's Nest Wikipedia
FEBRUARY
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| Jerry Roach's Booking Calendar - February 1981 |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for the beginning of February 1981 |
February 1, 1981: Minute Men, Toxic Era and 4th Reich played. D.I. was supposed to headline, but cancelled.
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| February 1, 1981. Flyer for D.I. but they cancelled and the Minutemen headlined the show |
February 1, 1981. Ticket for DI
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February 1, 1981. Ticket for Toxic Era
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February 3, 1981:
First Class, Pilot Ron and Octive played. I believe the local news
program "Two on the Town" came to do a story about the Cuckoo's Nest
this night and were scheduled to come by at 7:30 according to Jerry's
Calendar.
February 4, 1981: New Wave Night - The Waves, Nu Direction and The Victor Broadcasters played.
February 5, 1981: Rock Night - Jet Ace, Dash 501 and High Velocity played. Finesse was slated to play but was replaced by Dash 501.
February 6, 1981:
The Circle Jerks, The Crowd and Legal Weapon played. Originally China
White was on the bill but they couldn't make it and the Crowd took their
slot. Other bands Jerry considered for this show but couldn't do it
were TSOL and the Stains.
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| February 6, 1981. Flyer for Circle Jerks, China White (who cancelled) and Legal Weapon |
February 7, 1981:
The Suburban Lawns, Mnemonic Devices, Wet Picnic and Tux Dentist
played. This night started out to be a punk show, but the bands
cancelled and it turned into more of a main stream new wave night.
Originally booked were the Adolescents, Agent Orange and Middle Class.
February 8, 1981: The Bondage Boys, The Convenience and Movement played a Sunday punk show.
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| February 8, 1981. Ticket for the band Movement |
February 10, 1981: The Badgers, Innocent Bystander and the John Scott Band played.
February 11, 1981: Wednesday Rock Night - No Sugar, Axcentric and James Dean played.
February 12, 1981: Suburbia, The Greg Young Band, The Steve Bass Band and Automatic Pilot played.
February 13, 1981:
Not sure exactly which bands played this night. Five bands were listed
but usually only three bands actually play. The bands listed were
Frantic Technoids, the Stepping Tones, the Lobsters, The Pub Calsure and
the Naughty Sweeties.
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for mid/late February 1981 |
February 14, 1981:
Agent Orange, the Angry Samoans and the Hated played. The Dickies were
on the Calendar for this date but they were apparently not confirmed and
then replaced by Agent Orange.
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| February 14, 1981. Flyer for Agent Orange and the Angry Samoans |
Cuckoo's Nest License/Permit "SUSPENDED"
February 16, 1981:
Monday. The Cuckoo's Nest license/permit was "SUSPENDED" on this day
pending a review. None of the shows following this date actually
happened until the club reopened on May 1st... a total of two and a half
months. One week later on February 23rd, the club permit was actually
REVOKED. I'm listing the shows as they appear in the Booking Calendar
anyway as they would have happened. Some of the bands had already
printed flyers and distributed them.
February 17, 1981: The bands booked to play this date were M.I.A., Social Distortion?, the Diversions and Confederate. CANCELLED
February 18, 1981: New Wave - The I's and 4 o'Clock were booked to play. CANCELLED
February 19, 1981: Rock Night - The Thai Breakers and Bumper were booked. CANCELLED
February 20, 1981:
Adolescents, Eddie and the Subtitles and TSOL booked. China White and
the Hated were also on the Calendar this date but were crossed off. CANCELLED
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| February 13 - March 28, 1981 Show Listing. Cuckoo's Nest Listed Feb 20-21. |
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| Cuckoo's Nest Ad for Late February and Early March 1981. None of these shows happened due to Club Closure |
February 21, 1981:
Adolescents, 45 Grave and Legal Weapon were booked. Others on the
Calendar for this date but were crossed off were Middle Class and China
White. CANCELLED
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| February 21, 1981. Flyer for Adolescents, Legal Weapon and 45 Grave |
Cuckoo's Nest License/Permit "REVOKED" on Feb 23rd
February 23, 1981: Tazar, Charming Colors and High Velocity were booked. CANCELLED
February 24, 1981: The Lines, Jerico Shakes and Stage Fright were booked. CANCELLED
February 25, 1981: Metro Hotel, Heavy Music and Riff Raff were booked. CANCELLED
February 26, 1981: Naughty Sweeties, Nu-Beams and Nu Direction were booked. CANCELLED
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| February 26, 1981. Flyer for the Naughty Sweeties |
Februrary 27, 1981: Circle Jerks, Castration Squad and the Hated were booked. 
