I Didn't Always Have Cancer

I was born in the 1960's - "never trust a fuckin' hippy" - adopted by two very nice people. I was raised in Taft,CA, where my father was a small town doctor. He would go out on house calls and shit. He had this bad ass black leather doctors bag that was filled with all kinds of shit. My mother ended up getting her degree in psychology. See folks, it doesn't matter your upbringing. You can have two caring, intelligent people for parents, and still end up a degenerate punk. Life was normal kid life until 1983. In '83 I took a job working the lift crew at Mammoth Mountain, CA (ski resort).

See, one day I had the day off and a roommate handed me Mommy's Little Monster by Social Distortion and Green Album by The Clash. I got stoned and listened to that shit over and over, particularly Social D. I cut my hair off with a pair of safety scissors, went to work the next day and quit, scammed a ride to San Diego where I proceeded to immerse myself in the 1980's punk rock scene. I moved into a thrashed house in Valley Center. It was owned by a group of deviant punks who let me use their couch.

We proceeded to do all kinds of fucked up shit that only 'give a fuck' 20 year old's with absolutely no ambition other than to drink, do drugs, chase girls, go to shows, and cause havoc can pull off. I'm not going into that shit because that's not why I'm here, and I'm not sure about the statute of limitations on some of the stuff we did and don't want to get anyone else in trouble. Besides, I could be lying or this could all be a dream, you never really know.

Anyway, when I wasn't doing stupid shit with Lalo or Ron or hitting on Gary's little sister, LeeAnn, I was going to shows, mostly at Adams Ave Theater in San Diego. I just checked and they fixed it all up:

There's a line in the song 'Telling Them' (Social Distortion) : "I love that sound when I smash the glass, if I get caught they're gonna kick my ass", that I'm pretty sure Ness was talking about Adams Ave. At the end of last year Micheal Ness announced he had tonsil cancer, and the treatment he was to receive was almost the exact deal I had done. I have no idea how it went but I hope things went well. When Social Distortion went with the cowpunk stuff, I bailed, Mommy's Little Monster is fucking great though. I know punk music has nothing to do with cancer, but that shit was and still is a very important part of my life. Listening to those two albums on a day off caused a true epiphany, it took place over a few hours, my whole outlook on life changed, for better or worse. Either way it's who I am now, so I give a fuck.

"So go ahead and label me an asshole
'cause I can accept responsibility for what I've done
But not for who I am"

-Fat Mike

That was the '80s , in the '90s I pretended to go to college and just partied instead, not really going to shows but just lots of drugs. One show I did go to, in about '92 in Fresno CA, at The Wilson Theater, we saw Anthrax, Public Enemy and Primus. The reason I bring this up is cause Anthrax drummer, Charlie Benante , tossed me a stick. Thanks again Loaf, for getting me into that show. I had never heard of Primus prior to that. Shit blew me away. So now you have a pretty good preview of the way I lived my life. Fun as fuck, stupid as fuck, but I got out alive.