Author Archives: Salvi C.

There Will Be No Banging on THIS Toy!!

If you’re searching for a gift idea for that certain special someone in the next holiday season, then there’s really no need to look any further than the upcoming Handsome Dick Manitoba bobble-head doll. Aggronautix Toys’ fall release of a limited edition 9-inch version of the Handsome One will immortalize him with other such glitterati as GG Allin, Milo from the Descendents, and Roky Erikson. All preserved forever via the art of bobble.

The news of this pending arrival sent the staff at DFFD Headquarters scurrying to find space on the tchotchke shelf. The BOC cowbell, the Spinal Tap codpiece, the Bun E. brand back truss, and the Maybe Elvis toenail have been rearranged to accommodate their new roomie.

With that job in the rear-view mirror, we can now turn our attention to the more important matter at hand, namely — just what is this thing gonna LOOK like? We’ve seen many different looks from HDM over the years: Jewfro, clean-cut, blues patch, do-rag, buff and not so buff. Those are probably too many options to choose from, so we’ve narrowed the possibilities down to what we think are the top 3 choices.

Here is one artist’s imagining of what the bobble-head will most likely resemble:

Option 1: An iconic look, first album-era Manitoba in his high school wrestling togs.

Option B: Another popular look, here we have wrestling jacket Manitoba. The sculptor may have to trim those guns down just a smidge.

Finally, we have Option 3: The buff HDM of the 90’s and 00’s.

Which one is YOUR fave??

— Salvi C.

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Filed under HDM, Tomfoolery

‘Life’s Rich Pageant’ Is Here!

The wait is over. “Life’s Rich Pageant,” JP “Thunderbolt” Patterson’s new smash summer single, is finally out. Back in the day, I would have been pacing the sidewalk in front of my local record store, with a fist full of ones, to grab a new release. Today, through the magic of the Interwebs, it’s available right here from Drug Front Records, for my favorite price — FREE.

— Salvi C.

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Didn’t McDonald’s Start This Way?

Let’s see now: We now have Faster and Louder in Boston, the Cancertators in Spain, the Handsome Dicz in Wisconsin, and now Manifest Destiny in California. 2 more, we can file for corporate status, and global domination will finally be ours!! Personally endorsed by our own Top Ten, Manifest Destiny plays their farewell gig on Tuesday July 26 at the Starline in Fresno.

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Cool covers, Live

Movie Review: ‘Mondo New York’

The summer of 1989 found a commercial in heavy rotation on the local “alternative” radio station. WFNX was playing the bejeezus out of a spot for a movie called “Mondo New York.” It started out as a backbeat-heavy thing, interspersed with quotes from the film, but then a very familiar riff came roaring out. “Holy Cow – is that the DICTATORS??” was my reaction the first time I heard it. Close enough, it was actually the debut recording on Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, with an un-credited RTB on lead, blasting their way through “New York, New York.”

The very cool radio spot played incessantly for 2 weeks, leading up to the movie’s debut weekend. Which, by the way, was also its closing weekend. The reviews for the film were uniformly savage, with “pointless, pretentious, and puerile” being my favorite, and pretty much chased the flick out of town and into oblivion, where it’s remained for the last 20 or so years. Rumors of the film containing some footage of our boys went unconfirmed.

I recently saw a VHS copy on Amazon, and thought to myself, “Well, the reviews were terrible, and the soundtrack LP was worthless.  But the commercial was great, so surely the film it came from has to have some small degree of merit, right? Right?” Well, $20 later, I’m here to tell you that MNY is every bit as putrid as the critics said it was.

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Filed under Movies, The Cincotta Archives

Ross RETAIL???

Until we hear back from the librarian at Prince George Community College, and we’re not waiting underwater for that to happen, we’re going to go with the assumption that this is the very first review our boys ever received. This beauty is from the Village Voice issue dated May 2, 1974, and it covers what looks to be gig #10 or 11 of the Dictators. “There’s no way for them to miss out on superstardom.” Sigh.

Thanks and a tip of the miner’s helmet to our friends at streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com, who did all the heavy archeological digging for us.

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Archive, Dictators Assembled, Live Review

Life’s Rich Pageant

It truly has been a long, cold, lonely winter.  Now that the overcoat and shovel are finally put away for the year, it’s time to start thinking about the summer.  As a sneak preview “must add” for this summer’s soundtrack, our favorite renaissance man, J.P. “Thunderbolt” Patterson, has sent along an early mix of his forthcoming single. The new tune is called “Life’s Rich Pageant,” and it is 2:40 of pure pop for now people.

Like just about every tune on his 2009 CD, “The LP is Dead,” which is still available from No Fun Records, LRP is right at the sweet spot where the Raspberries meet Thin Lizzy. A punchy intro, a soaring and ascending chorus, a ripper of a guitar solo, and the whole shebang is done before you have a chance to say “wow!” Multiple plays are obligatory.

The final format for Life’s Rich Pageant,” whether cyber-single or an actual 45, is still up in the air, but we’ll share those details once the dust settles. In the meantime, be sure reserve space for the tune on your next mix tape, so you’ll be able to blast it while cruising in your b*tchin’ Camaro with your main squeeze.

— Salvi C.

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More Hair Than a Barbershop Floor

Can we nominate Bill Graham for sainthood and be done with it? After years and years of having no live footage of the 6-man line-up available except for 1 tune from the Old Grey Whistle Test, Wolfgang’s Vault comes across with an entire 50-minute set, from Winterland in San Francisco on 7/30/77. Fantastic quality, multiple cameras, many Jewfros, arena stage moves by the galore. Grab a beer, and prepare to be amazed:

Wolfgang’s Vault: The Dictators

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Archive, Dictators Assembled, Internets, Live, Video

Where’s My 2 Dollars???

On this day in 1977, the Dictators took the Belt out to Lung Island for this gig at Ubies. I’d bet a bomb pop that the “Guest Attraction” was either the Good Rats or Twisted Sister, since Ubies was a regular spot for both bands. The rumor remains unconfirmed that Ritchie Teeter and Mark the Animal, both native LI’ers, had to translate for the evening.  

$2 cover!! That didn’t even cover the tolls to get there!

— Salvi C.

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Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live, The Cincotta Archives