Brad’s Cactus Shack Episode 20 – Secrets of the Little Blue Box

This is a story about phone phreaking in the early 1970’s, and it’s taken from the October 1971 issue of Esquire magazine. It tells the stories of a few phone phreaks of the era, including Joe Engressia (Joybubbles), Captain Crunch, Mark Bernay, and lots of other interesting weirdos. I broke up some of the chapters of this story with phone related music. Please let me know if those are too distracting or jarring and I will consider removing them. Also, if I made any mistakes, please point them out and maybe I’ll fix them while I still can. 00:00:00 Gotta Get to the Phone by Al Philipp and The Woo Team 00:00:22 A Quick Intro 00:01:47 The Story Begins 00:24:45 The song is Bell Odyssey by Rob T Firefly 00:38:20 The song is I Phreak Alone by Bonecage 00:52:25 MF Boogie 1 by Joe Engressia, performed via the telephone 01:02:09 Boxing by Redbox and the Chilipeppers 01:17:47 This pretend radio bit is by Joe Engressia from the end of his song MF Boogie 2 01:28:03 More Bell Odyssey by Rob T Firefly 01:29:55 Background music is Deeploop by MicroKORGI 01:38:38 The Phone Trips Song by Evan Doorbell Below are some related links. Here is the issue of Esquire from their official site, which wants you to register with them Here is the issue of Esquire that I read from where you don’t have to register to read Evan Doorbell’s Phone Trips site Learn more about Joe Engressia on his wikipedia entry Listen to Stories and Stuff by Joybubbles (Joe Engressia) Call the PLA phone line and listen to Stories and Stuff via your phone at 206-424-8422 Learn about Captain Crunch (John Draper) on his website or on his wikipedia entry. Live out your blue boxing fantasies by calling Project MF’s blue boxable telephone line at 630-485-2995