No For An Answer at The Anthrax, photo: Boiling Point
Joe Nelson delivers yet again, and gives us the downlow on Dan O from way back when.
-DCXX
Well, Dan O' Mahoney was a blow hard mouthpiece before No For An Answer existed. He had a zine called S.I.C. Press, and came across as if he were a superior intellect compared to the rest of us. I learned to really love him later in life, we actually became great friends in the early 90s, but man he sure was tough to digest early on.
N.F.A.A. probably only succeeded at the very beginning because Gavin Oglesby and Casey Jones were so loved and respected throughout our little community. Dan on the other hand...not so much.
For a while, the guys I ran around with, who were called the O.C. Sloth Crew, would fire extinguish anybody in H.B. wearing an N.F.A.A. shirt. That pretty much sums up how we felt about them. We would also toilet paper Dan's townhouse from time to time, and leave little notes on his garage saying something like "How about clean up time for an answer? Love the O.C. Sloth Crew," or "OHHHHH NOOOOOMAHONEY"...stupid stuff like that. Dan was a tough guy too, but I don't think he really knew what to make of us back then, or else he would have retaliated.
We actually all bonded finally at the Anthrax in Norwalk, Connecticut one night. N.F.A.A played a show there with G.B. and Chain of Strength maybe? A couple of the Sloth Crew dudes, including me, were out in New York so we went to the show.
What happened was all the trains stopped running back to the city, so nobody from California, except for Chain, had a way back to N.Y.C. This was like in late November, and I remember it was snowing at the time. It really seemed like a pretty bleak situation at the time. None of us ever entertained the idea of pooling our money for a motel room of course. That would have made too much sense I suppose.
The owner of the Anthrax eventually said we could just crash inside the club, and then catch the morning train in. I remember Porcell's last words to me as he pulled out of the parking lot with Walter Schreifles, Lukey Luke, Alex Brown, and Nicole Straight Edge were "Hey guys I see a soda can over there you can curl up next too!" What a fucker.
Anyway, the Anthrax was pretty warm inside so it wasn't the worst thing in the world, or so we all thought. What we discovered in horror was it was only warm because of the body heat that had collected during the show. About 45 minutes into the...ummmm..."sleep over," it became FREEEEEEEEEZINNGG inside. It was unreal. People were running laps around the inside of the club in a feeble attempt to stay warm. Everybody was curled up next to one another on the stage trying to use our collective body heat to prevent what we all thought for sure would be a major hypothermia problem. A couple dudes even broke down and cried. I don't remember what he said exactly, but Dan said something that busted everyone up. I realized "Holy shit, Dan is actually pretty fucking funny", which at the time was my only real criteria for making a person "OK" in my book.
So from that point on we were friends. Obviously everyone survived that night as well. The next morning we ate breakfast together, took the train back into the city, and any beef between any of us and Dan was forever squashed.
We actually all bonded finally at the Anthrax in Norwalk, Connecticut one night. N.F.A.A played a show there with G.B. and Chain of Strength maybe? A couple of the Sloth Crew dudes, including me, were out in New York so we went to the show.
What happened was all the trains stopped running back to the city, so nobody from California, except for Chain, had a way back to N.Y.C. This was like in late November, and I remember it was snowing at the time. It really seemed like a pretty bleak situation at the time. None of us ever entertained the idea of pooling our money for a motel room of course. That would have made too much sense I suppose.
The owner of the Anthrax eventually said we could just crash inside the club, and then catch the morning train in. I remember Porcell's last words to me as he pulled out of the parking lot with Walter Schreifles, Lukey Luke, Alex Brown, and Nicole Straight Edge were "Hey guys I see a soda can over there you can curl up next too!" What a fucker.
Anyway, the Anthrax was pretty warm inside so it wasn't the worst thing in the world, or so we all thought. What we discovered in horror was it was only warm because of the body heat that had collected during the show. About 45 minutes into the...ummmm..."sleep over," it became FREEEEEEEEEZINNGG inside. It was unreal. People were running laps around the inside of the club in a feeble attempt to stay warm. Everybody was curled up next to one another on the stage trying to use our collective body heat to prevent what we all thought for sure would be a major hypothermia problem. A couple dudes even broke down and cried. I don't remember what he said exactly, but Dan said something that busted everyone up. I realized "Holy shit, Dan is actually pretty fucking funny", which at the time was my only real criteria for making a person "OK" in my book.
So from that point on we were friends. Obviously everyone survived that night as well. The next morning we ate breakfast together, took the train back into the city, and any beef between any of us and Dan was forever squashed.
11 comments:
Does anyone know what happened to Dan O'Mahoney? Is he still making music?
I'm in the middle of transcribing, finally, an interview I did with Dan back in 1998...
That show was Insted/NFAA/COS/GB. COS rearranged and played a couple Cirecle Storm songs. GB played "Drug Free Youth" and "Positive Outlook". That's my old friend Chris stage diving in that pic.
Last I head, which was a couple/few years ago, Dan owned a bar somewhere near Huntington Beach.
"A couple dudes even broke down and cried."
Great story, thanks for posting.
Dan sold the bar, and I believe is a weight/strength trainer now.
Pretty sure Dan O's bar is closed. Or atleast he sold it. It was called "10 Count"
The bar Dan owned is closed, but he currently manages another bar in O.C. At least that's what I remember Igby telling me.
I had all of NFAA in my car to drive them back to the city that night, but it was too much weight and my muffler was dragging. I told them I could take a few of them and they insisted on staying as a group. I talked about that night with STERLING (bass player) three years later when RORSCHACH stayed with him, and he was just like "Dude, I totally wanted to go with you and get back to NYC but Dan O Wouldn't let me!!, It was a hellish night"
Dan cuts a scary figure when you first meet him, he seems very.....'serious', but the intellect that makes him serious also gives him a sense of humor that is unparalleled. My first exchange with him was after some dick at a record store had overheard me saying I wasn't crazy about 411 but loved No For An Answer and Dan came up to me to follow up and maybe get some clarity. His sense of humor came out and the time he lived in Oakland I considered him (and still do) a great friend. He was always the guy that you would want to hear from opinion wise if something crazy was going on, good perspective. He has written a few books, I read his first one and it's amazing, Amazon carries them all. I am definitely a fan of Dan and all of his creative endeavors,
Andrew Champion, Oakland California
Infrastructure to support professional development is largely developed in and is one of the most important reasons for venture into the domain.
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