Author Archives: Salvi C.

by | August 22, 2012 · 3:26 pm

Fantastisk Omgang af Fed Musik!

The Master Plan kicks off their summer vacation/European tour this coming Saturday, Aug. 25. They are a featured act at the annual Gutter Island Garage Rock Festival in Denmark. Here’s what we think is the promo info. Hell, it could be instructions on how to build a patio deck for all we know.

Gutter Island Garagerock Festival er en vigtig og uundværlig del af dansk festival tradition.

Det er den eneste festival, der udelukkende fokuserer på garagerocken og beslægtede genrer.
Festivalen har eksisteret siden 2000 og afholdes hvert andet år, næste gang i august 2012.

Læs videre, hvis du vil vide hvad nogle af dens trofaste fans har at sige om den.
Gutter Island er en drømme festival. Slet og ret. Skabt af lyst til rock, fællesskab og oplevelser i øjenhøjde.

Her kan publikum møde vandbærere, stjerner og legender – og musikere kan møde fans, festivalgæster og andre feriebørn fra storbyernes rockhuler.

På Gutter Island er der stort set lige så mange “ydende” som “nydende” deltagere. En festival der med afsæt i en sjælden ren blanding af entusiasme, knofedt og viljestyrke.

Et fremragende arbejde båret af stærke, dynamiske musikmiljøer – nu ikke bare i Danmark, men også i resten af Skandinavien
Givet er det at arrangementet er den største fuldtræffer, der endnu har ramt øens fort”.

Yderligere bands vil blive annonceret lidt senere og vil gøre årets program til en sand lækkerbidsken af rå, hæsblæsende og helt fantastisk omgang af fed musik!

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Adny, Live

by | August 17, 2012 · 6:13 am

“Are You Talkin’ to ME?”

Today is Robert De Niro’s birthday, and what better way to pay a little respect to the man than by watching 3 minutes of his best work set to the sounds of 3 minutes of our guys’ best work?

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Dictators Assembled, Video

by | August 8, 2012 · 4:45 pm

400 Saturdays

We all get misty when we tell the “back in the day” stories about music. Maybe it’s a generational thing, or maybe it’s a natural reflection on how music is packaged and purchased now as opposed to 25 years ago, but it does seem like the whole buying experience was a lot more FUN back when it was a tactile event, as opposed to today’s purchases always being one click away. “400 Saturdays” is a new book, wonderfully compiled by Kim Johnson-Bair, that chronicles the lifelong quests and obsessions of 58 music fanatics.  

While those interviewed come from various backgrounds, there are many common threads that repeat when reading their stories. Music was an active part of their growing up years, so the passion was as much inbred as it was genetically passed on. More importantly, almost everyone interviewed makes mention of how the search was almost as import as the find, how buying and interacting with other musicaholics was just as cool as the actual listening to the records was.

The Dictators get many mentions as influences, which shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering that two of this site’s regular contributors are amongst the interviewees. The whole thing is a fun read, and has assumed a position of honor in my reading room. It’s available at 400saturdays.com.

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Dictators Assembled, Vinyl

by | July 27, 2012 · 2:26 pm

No Monitors? No Soundcheck? No Problem!

Photo courtesy of Natalie Bradt

“Monitors are for pu**ies!” declared the too-sexy-for-his-white-jeans HDM, as Manitoba blazed their way through a 40-minute greatest hits set at Wavestomp this past Sunday. This was the debut of Wavestomp, and judging from the size of the crowd and the level of good vibes, it’s destined to become an annual event.

The gig took place in the “ballroom” of Rocks Off concert cruise’s largest ship, The Princess, as it did laps around the Statue of Liberty. While the ship initially seemed like an odd venue, the unique layout — with the stairs serving as tiered seating and the upper deck doubling as a wrap-around balcony — actually made for a nice and compact auditorium feel.



This show was as close to a Dictators convention as we’ve had thus far, and the competition was intense for the coveted “who traveled the farthest” award. “Boston? Feh, plus your team sux. North Carolina? Now we’re talking! Wisconsin? Who has Google Maps, which one’s father away? Wait, Minneapolis?? I think we have a winner!”



I’m running out of adjectives with which to describe just how great this band sounds, and how much F-U-N fun these gigs are.

Set list from 7/22/12:
• 1. The Party Starts Now
• 2. Next Big Thing
• 3. Avenue A
• 4. Haircut and Attitude
• 5. Slow Death
• 6. Who Will Save Rock + Roll
• 7. New York, New York
• 8. Stay With Me

“Baby, Let’s Twist” and “American Beat” were cut at the line of scrimmage due to time constraints.

— Salvi C.

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by | July 17, 2012 · 4:07 pm

Warm Beer, Stale Bagels and Toothless Groupies — a Day in the Life of an Opening Band

There are a million tales from the road. For our 200th post, we thought we’d share this one with you.  

July 18, 1990, found Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom in Asbury Park, NJ, the 3rd and final night of a short stint supporting a band that we won’t name here, but it rhymes with Elle Mae’s Buns. Nights 1 and 2, in Harrisburg and Jim Thorpe, PA, both had the same results, with MWK completely blowing the headliners off the stage, in front of packed houses who had never heard of them.

Set time rolls around, MWK is ready to take the stage, when all of a sudden the roadies start breaking the stage down — before they play a note. The club manager explained to the angry devotees that the headliner refused to follow MWK! There were about 1,200 people there, all but about 30 of them to see Elle Mae’s Buns, so the manager had the proverbial gun to his head — he’d have a riot on his hands if Buns cancelled at that point. But the few, the loud, the Manitoba crowd was not giving up, and threatened to make the band play acoustic in the parking lot if need be. A compromise was struck, and MWK played AFTER the headliners. The Buns drum kit was actually still up when they played; JP had to set up off to the side. Even with the stage monitors already on the truck, they still knocked them dead in Asbury.

Set list from 7/18/90:
• 1. The Party Starts Now
• 2. You Had It Coming
• 3. Haircut and Attitude
• 4. Prototype
• 5. The Perfect High
• 6. Minnesota Strip
• 7. New York New York
• 8. Speedball
• 9. Fired Up

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Live, MWK

by | July 10, 2012 · 12:15 pm

A Three Hour Tour

“Hey, I heard that band you like is playing a boat show! Are they playing at the RV Expo too? How about the Home and Garden?”

Idiots. You see what I have to deal with over here? Morons! No, you knuckle-heads, on Sat. July 22, Manitoba is playing ON a boat, as part of the first ever Wavestomp. Tickets are flying, so get while the getting’s good. Here’s the link for tickets: http://rocksoff.com/shows/1966

While there is no truth to the rumor that there will be a Gilligan look-alike contest between sets, we do hope there is truth to the rumor that Dick Dale will join in on the cosmic surf jam portion of “California Sun.”

— Salvi C.  

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by | June 19, 2012 · 6:03 pm

The Great “Lost” VHF album

After his departure from the Dictators in late 1978, Richie Teeter was a co-founder of a New Wave-ish NYC quartet called VHF. The band gigged a lot around town from 1979 until 1983 or so, in pursuit of the elusive brass ring, but success seemed to elude them. To my knowledge, they never released a record, although they did do plenty of recording.

We here at DFFD combined forces our good pal Lindsay Hutton at the Next Big Thing blog (AKA The Only Other Guy In The World Besides Me Who Never Threw Anything Away) and managed to unearth 3 demo sessions and a live show. We’ve compiled the best songs and takes, and are proud to offer, for the first time, what we’re referring to as The Great “Lost” VHF album. We’ll send a CD copy to anyone who asks for one.

After hearing these songs a few times, I have to say that one reason why they may have missed out on a contract was because stylistically they were all over the place. I can hear bits and pieces of Foreigner, the Cars, Mott the Hoople, Hall + Oates. A lot of what other people sounded like, maybe at the expense of sounding like themselves. It’s good stuff, but it sounds like 5 or 6 bands crammed together.

Regardless of style, any opportunity to hear Rich Teeter sing a lead vocal is something that shouldn’t be passed on, and he’s front man for roughly half of the 10 songs here. That man had a set of pipes.

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Ritchie Teeter

by | May 30, 2012 · 10:19 pm

The Boston Massacre, Manitoba Style!!

Manitoba made their Baaahstin debut this past Thursday, 5/24, and ended a 9-year drought between gigs here. Boston has always been a 2nd home for HDM and company, and despite all the Yanks/Red Sox foolishness that permeates both sides, the love has consistently flowed both ways. Thursday’s gig may have been the best of the best, as Church was packed, and my peeps were going nuts from Note One. Our boys were greeted and treated like the rock gods that not enough people besides us know that they are.
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