Music is like a time machine…
Isn't it amazing how hearing certain bands or songs bring back memories almost like you traveled back in time. Today I heard the Circle Jerks and thought of The GAFF.
When I hear The Circle Jerks I can't help but think of 9th grade through 11th grade spending crazy nights at "The GAFF". I'm sure theirs a few people reading this that remember "The GAFF". There was this guy Andy (the most punk person I've ever met) who would have every skater and punk in Bucks County, PA over just about every Friday & Saturday night.
Andy's parents had a nice house with some property and in the back end of the property sat a nice little spilt level barn. Well, Andy's parents let him use that space for whatever he wanted. Boy did he ever use it for everything we could imagine from a hang out to a skatepark. We all gathered up a bunch of couches & chairs and made that the hang out to be named "The GAFF", (name stolen from Clockwork Orange). Well, The Gaff became home to many wild times by many wild teenagers. There was always either bands playing, loud music, people skating, and anything & everything else you could ever imagine. Anyone who ever spent one crazy night there will tell you that it was probably the most fun we ever could have had in those days.
It's actually surprising that we were able to get away with half the stuff we did. There was two rooms to The GAFF. There was the Mosh room and the infamous "Parlor". The Parlor was more like an orgy room full of teenage lust. The day after a party was one the most disgusting places you could imagine. There was used condoms, dried cum spots, moist panties, and a bunch of other sexually related items. On any given evening there had to of been at least 10 couples going at it in that room at one time. There were plenty of times I'm sure that people didn't even realize who they were messing around with until someone told them the next day if they even found out at all.
The Mosh room was just what it sounds like; it was the room for performances. There would be bands playing with 10-50 people jammed in dancing around them. Sometimes there was people doing some heavy duty skating or jamming out to some cranked up tunes. Sometimes things got out of control like most places full of drunk and/or high teenagers can. These are the times that I saw some of the worst ass kickings I have ever seen. Once something started nobody was going to break it up until it was done. Yeah, it sounds simple, but teenagers have a lot of energy and guts sometimes. We must have really been hardcore because after about a year of heavy partying there, we had to have a benefit show to replace the floor because it was starting to cave in (I was told that because of how hard I landed tricks I broke the floor)
Out of all the different music to be played all I can remember for sure is that The Circle Jerks were the most played band (a close second was probably The Meatmen). To that the Mosh room (there was two rooms, The Parlor & The Mosh Room) of The GAFF had the infamous Circle Jerks Mosh guy painted life-sized on the floor. To this day whenever I hear The Circle Jerks I remember the great memories of The GAFF. It's just amazing how hearing a song or two can bring back memories almost as if they were last week.
Andy, The GAFFS owner ended up in and out of rehab numerous times by the time we reached 18. His parents realized that The GAFF had been the refuge for many of Andy's drug raged episodes. Andy, eventually confessed to them how The GAFF the "clubhouse" for al of his demons of his formative years. Soon after Andy's confessions they decided to have The GAFF torn down. I think they felt like they let him become an addict by allowing The GAFF to exist. It was a sad day when I had heard the news of the demise of our home away from home. When The GAFF was torn down I was there that day and a little piece of my youth went with it. So every time I hear a Circle Jerks song I think back to those crazy nights.
