Hey Peter - In that interview Jimmie Bengtsson did with you for his Swedish Scum Nation site you..re telling a little bit about a guy called Joe "Codori" Buck, some stuff he did at some GG shows, ect. But I would really like you to tell us a little bit more about this guy. Who was he, how did you start to know him from, ect. Hope you have a story for that one. Later and cheers, Lasze!!!
Sure thing Lasze!
Joe's story is one of a legendary nature. If anybody was in the so called Goon Squad it was Joe.
I met Joe through my pal Mick Horgun back in the early 80's. After attending his first GG Allin show at the first location of the infamous Living Room where GG and The Jabbers opened for Cheetah Chrome, Joe was with Mick and Jock Kabarian (not sure of spelling) who was the guy who threw the egg that hit GG perfect on the forehead with yolk intact dripping off his face. GG always thought it was special because so many people in attendance remembered it. Anyway Joe was there with a bottle of Log Cabin Maple Syrup which he was adding in to glasses of Milk or Cream and tossing them at opening acts. Once GG came out it was that and eggs. Jabbers bass player Al Chappelle has told me his amps are still stained from the eggs and the India ink eggs people were chucking.
Enough of that show as the question was about Joe. Joe was basically at almost every GG show and almost every show I attended back then. A show I recall was Joan Jett at Lupos where Joe and Mick spit on her and yelled out things like you slut, wretched whorebag, actually it got a lot worse. Joan was amused by the tauntings and would respond by introducing the next tune. What a night, I'm sure Joan remembers it I doubt she got abused more at any show.
Joe loved to abuse verbally and physically especially bands. One of the most infamous nights ever was the show in Boston at Mavericks where he uprooted 2 palm trees near the stage and best GG hard. The palms broke off as Joe whipped him and after 1st tree was only 8 inches long he grabbed the other one. Joe trashed the place along with his buddy Schwan and Schwan’s brother as well the infamous Prince Paully who we always said was a fountain of spit (he never ran dry). I have blogged on this show previously so let’s end it there. I could write lots of show stories about Joe but to end this let me go over Joe himself. I promise as I write more blogs I will be sure to mention Joe.
Joe had a nickname for everybody he met. As an example one night I was with my pal Tommy D and his good friend Steve who I knew thru Tom. Steve was a very soft spoken guy. So we run into Joe and Mick and Tom says Joe meet my friend Steve. Joe replied "you mean Gay Steve". Tom responded "no it's just Steve", Joe barked back "That's not what I've heard". Tom never liked Joe after that and just for the record Steve was not gay at least nothing ever led me to think that but soft spoken people out there probably know how this goes. I am not a homophobe nor do I care what someones preferences are. Back in the 80's it was not as acceptable and if you were called gay or whatever it was a typical insult and rarely involved ones real status. You probably asking yourself gee Peter what nickname did he have for you? What did he call GG? He called him SqueeGee or Geeeeeeg.
Joe worked in resturants as his day job. He was a chef at some points in some 4 star or better locations.
He owned his own Fish & Chips resturant and had 2 locations for the place before calling it quits.
I have some 8mm silent movie footage "Never Released" that has GG me and Joe lip synching "Live Fast Die Fast" before the real video was made. We filmed it at Joe's 2nd location and the nearby park accross the street. Maybe I'll get it transfered to video someday. I have not viewed it in years.
Joe was with me the day I filmed the B&W interview where GG and his girl are sitting on his bed getting interviewed by Linda Beaujolais. I should write a blog on that day but to be brief. The panties GG is sniffing came from this lady who lived in same building as GG. She saw Joe and tried to get him to come visit her by chucking him her panties. Joe brought them into the apartment and threw them towards GG. After when GG found out whose panties they were (and I know this may be hard to believe) even GG Allin was grossed out! TRUE!!!!!
One of Joe's resturant buddy's Chef Mike was a look alike for Rod Stewart (especially for drunken woman). Joe used to approach the women and tell them Rod could not speak too loud to preserve his voice. They used this to score strange for quite some time with this gag.
Outside of music shows Joe was an interesting guy for sure. His mom remarried a successful man who really tried to bond with Joe and to some extent they did. Joe got his resturant financed that way. Thing is having access to money at a young age can cause issues/problems. Joe was a good looking guy or at least you would agree if you went to his funeral. All his ex's except his wife attended. It was sick at the service where I overheard some of his ex lovers discuss his member and cocksmanship. It was both funny and disgusting.
Joe always had a good looking woman in all the time I knew him and he would bang anything. He took a girl with him to Laconia biker thing one summer (I was told this, I was not there) and she spit his stuff on his pants leg and when Joe noticed it later he made her clean it off with her tongue. He supposedly gave her to some other guys there and left without her. Legend or Truth?
I introduced Joe to New York City and it was pre Giuliani so it was a lot sleazier then even in Manhattan. 42nd street had all the Live Sex Shows and other XXX places. Joe insisted we go to the Live Sex Show so we pay 5 bucks each and go in. We got 2 beer tickets and the prostitutes would bring them to you and separate you from who you came with. The sluts kept asking "you want to get a private show?". Well stupid me I paid the 10 bucks since the beer was warm and it turned out to be a private room to negotiate pricing on sex. I lost another 28 dollars getting blowed with a rubber on and said to myself "So this in New York". Not one of my brighter moments. Anyway I exit the room and go to the theater section where girls stripped on stage. Joe saw me and gave me shit saying where was I and he had been fighting off these whores for some time. We left. The next day Joe was pissed that he did not get any so this time I sat in the theater area sipping warm shitty beer while Joe was banging away. Sadly the bitch introduced him to heroin which I did not know about for 2 years. The reason I say sadly is Joe got hooked and it was his cause of death. Mick Horgun did not attend his funeral because as we all know Junkies Steal. I feel lucky as he never stole from me that I know about. Joe died somewhere in NYC and at his funeral his last girlfriend told me how Joe always talked about me, Larry and Black & Blue Records. It kind of took away a bit of the guilt I still feel today for bringing him to NYC.
Joe was partially responsible for the end of LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH. At a show at the second location of The Living Room Joe kept spitting on Stiv and Dave Tregunna(sp) the bass player hit him over the head with his guitar and almost killed Joe. Joe really got heavily intro the junk after that. The Lords never played again in USA as Joe told me Tregunna had a warrant waiting for him. At the last Dead Boys show ever at Boston's THE RAT Joe spoke with Stiv about the situation and stuff I guess.
When I was working with NJ Metal band Leviathan Joe Larry and I drove down to a show in Jersey and I never got to see the show as Joe got tossed by security for smoking clove cigarettes. Security said it was pot. Either way Joe was wasted and I never did reconnect with the band. I still did not know he was a junkie and neither did Larry. It was a long night of driving back and forth to NJ about 10 hours.
Joe's last GG show was at The Populous Pudding in CT. Joe is in that video kicking GG and fighting with him. While rolling on the floor GG told Joe please Joe not tonight I wan't to finish the set. The era of fans beating GG was over GG attacked his fans at that time. Before the show GG had us all in the dressing room (Me, Larry,Don Schlock, Peezo,and whoever else came in my or Larry's car. GG Pissed on my leg that night in the dressing room and was excited saying he now had pissed on all his record producers. He said I was lucky as Cosley got in in his hair. Oh that GG! I'll blog more on that show at another time it's a good one!
The end of Joe's life was sad. His step dad had to go to NYC to ID the body, it was a very sad wake.
I prefer to remember the night Billy Idol played The Living Room (2nd location) and Joe and I got tired of waiting for Billy to hit the stage. So we went to dressing room door kicking it and yelling "Get the Needle Out Of your arm and get on stage you junkie piece of crap" or something like that. Billy was not amused and when he finally did come out he said to the crowd "who was calling me a junkie?" and Joe responded by yelling at Billy. What a great night!
Thing is I still did not know Joe was the junkie, Billy I have no idea about as I never met him .
Life is complex and so are people. Joe was my friend, I miss him and wish he could of survived those crazy years that somehow I did. Joe was part of Black & Blue and it is his voice on Music To Make Your Ears Hurt "Looking For Larry" in a phone message he left on the BNB Answering machine. I'm sure Joe will be mentioned in future blogs
Long Live His Memory!
RIP Joe Buck!