44 Comments
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Mark Tomasik's avatar

You are on quite a roll, Gary. Your last 3 or 4 posts in particular have been exceptional. I am glad you have expanded your topics beyond sports. Keep going. You have a lot to say - and you express it compellingly.

This line: “Despite our best efforts the ivory tower did not collapse - and some of us even moved in” - really wowed me.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Thanks, Mark. That warms me more than you could know.

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Elbert's avatar

That Behead the Prophet/MRP show looks like a total rager. I wonder if I've been to your/that house?

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Possibly. You ever been to Sacramento?

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Elbert's avatar

i've been to and played a few shows around Davis and Sacramento, but I'm struggling to think of names and addresses (early 2000s)

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

This particular house was on 19th and "O"

There was a bar called The Zebra Club about half a block away.

I've also been to a few house shows in Davis but I couldn't remember where they were if my life depended on it.

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Elbert's avatar

Mike (Mick?) Mucus? Guy in a ridiculous costume? That might have been Davis! I really liked the Bananas from sac and saw them a bunch of times

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Haha…yeah I know MIck although I haven’t spoken to the dude in like 20 years. I believe the Bananas are still around, but I could be wrong.

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Obsidian Blackbird.'s avatar

Bro... I lived in oak Park from 2004-2021.

I went to that goth club four or five times early on before I stopped partying.

Where was that house?

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

19th and “O” in midtown

I lived in Oak Park as well in like 2008 and again in 2016. Small world.

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Obsidian Blackbird.'s avatar

Wow- I was on 1st ave up from the Starbucks

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nadav's avatar

seeing that slowdive song at the end really knit the whole essay into something greater and it all really clicked, maybe because the writing is so potent or maybe because that's my favorite slowdive album. doesn't really matter to me. loved this piece

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

thank you….that means a lot to me.

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"Tupelo" Honey Steele's avatar

Too many gone at this point. Drugs and alcohol, suicide, and now dying in their sleep for no apparent reason. But there were 10 good years when it seemed like we might live forever doing exactly what we wanted to do.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

I'm old 😵😂

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"Tupelo" Honey Steele's avatar

oh, god, me too.

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The Life Lessons's avatar

Wow. I remember these. I lived in a college town in the Midwest and I started hanging out in one in 1988 during high school when a friend was renting a room. I was black, female punk so that made a lot of folks and kids in school give me the side eye, but not at the Punk House. I was accepted on day one.There were always people hanging out, coming in and out. Moving in and out or getting kicked out. Punk was community. The music brought a variety of individuals together. We were a combination of writers, artists, spoken word poets, skateboarders, musicians and any other Creatives who were saying no to the establishment of nine to five's with manicured lawns. We all knew each other and mostly worked in restaurants (because you would always get a cheap or free meal and close the place down while drinking and playing Euchre). The parties/shows at these homes were epic. Some of the best years of my life were spent inside multiple punk homes that were definitely questionable for human habitation. Now, many have been torn down and are posh condos and apartments that have crazy high rent. Thank you for writing this. I loved everything about this story.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Thank you...I loved your story, and it's so rad that you found your people. You summed it up so succinctly! Thanks a million for sharing. ❤️⚡💥

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…i lived in a haunted two story version of one of these, then a squatter noisenik junkie model with five plywood built stories and a shrine to a dead rat, and then finally a hippy tabla woodshop surf shack before I went normal and rented an old hooker duplex from a racist norwegian with opioid eyes who wanted me to watch her horse for her instead of having a puppy…i’d say its good to experience but that feels like trauma romance…fuck it…i miss those shake shacks…

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Sounds like an insane essay is in the works. 😉

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Baseball Buddha's avatar

Great heart, I felt it, and intimate with this feeling. Thanks Gary.

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Ginjure's avatar

Truly love this, and your blog in general. I've had a similar life trajectory, I think, and you're an inspiration to me when it comes to just telling these stories when the mood strikes!

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

That’s so awesome….thanks Ginger. I believe we’ve hung out in similar music scenes as well. Keep on writing!

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Bob Martinez's avatar

Great intro into a world I know nothing about.

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C.S. Mee's avatar

lots of really great lines in this. i absolutely know these people and i see you. “I had to put pen to paper for it to feel tangible instead of like a hazy dream hiding on the periphery of my mind” <3333

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

thank you. :)

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Aron Blue's avatar

Fuck heroin. It's so unforgiving.

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Brendan Dentino's avatar

Your writing is forceful and economical. The voice is urgent. I’m glad to have subscribed.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Oh wow. I’ve never heard that before. That’s very cool and gives me something to ponder. Thanks for reading, Brendan. I appreciate it.

btw...The person who edited it said it was “morose.”

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murphy gray's avatar

I was going to say the same thing as nadav… the slowdive song was the cherry on top of a great read. New sub

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

That’s rad, Murphy. i’m a new subscriber to you as well. Thanks a million for stopping by.

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Adam Lujan's avatar

Man, there was a house just like this in Tucson. I saw one of my favorite shows there with an ex girlfriend. I haven’t thought of that place for years. Thank you for sharing. It was a great piece.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Thanks, Adam. I'm glad I could jolt a memory.

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Steve Myers's avatar

I had never heard Slowdive before and never heard of a punk house which makes me a square, but god damn, I enjoyed reading this as well as the song. I took an extra interest in the part where you say you don't sit down when you write with a "single-minded monastic purpose." It's more like detective work, no? To tap into what the hell has happened in our lives, so much of it forgotten, buried somewhere in our subconscious. You were able to bring to the surface wonderful memories here. Great job.

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Thanks, Steve. Who the hell knows, maybe we’re both squares but you’re still one of my favorite people and I appreciate ya.

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Steve Myers's avatar

It gets to be something pretty kick ass special when you get to comment back and forth to someone at least once a week and that's how it is and has been with you and I for many years. It keeps me from getting too much anti-technology.

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Yolanda D.'s avatar

What a story! I know the punk scene. It's sad the way your friend died. At least you got out in one piece. Thanks for sharing!

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Yolanda D.'s avatar

I'm sure you did….Nice chat!

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Gary Trujillo's avatar

Thanks, Yolanda. I’m sure I made it through the hair of my skinny skin skin.

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