Category Archives: Dictators Assembled

To continue with the 40th anniversary celebration of ‘Bloodbrothers,’ here’s a piece we ran a while back about my first time seeing the Dictators, which was 40 years ago today.

My First Time With the Dictators

(And They Were Not Gentle With Me)

Here’s HDM on 10/20/78, again sporting his Mr. Potato-Head shirt. Let’s hope it hit the laundry pile between 9/19 and 10/20.

September 19, 1978. A summer of scouring the Phoenix concert listings finally yielded the Holy Grail: The almighty Dictators were going to be making their debut at the Paradise on Sept. 19. Darest I go? I had chickened out earlier in the year, when the band made its Boston debut with a couple of stealth gigs at the Rat, but those were on Mondays and Tuesdays, which were no-gos for a working slob such as myself. No excuses this time — it was a Friday, and I was THERE!!

The Paradise at the time was still brand-spanking new, and had the cachet of being Boston’s premier new music venue. What a bummer to get inside, and find out that A. Dancing was not only discouraged but could get you tossed, and 2. The tables and chairs were actually nailed to the floor, so if you didn’t get a chair facing the stage, then you were in for an evening of neck-strain. It didn’t matter to me. These were the Dictators. I would have endured standing on my head if that’s what it took to see them.

After an OK opening set by Thundertrain, who were one part Dolls mixed with two parts Aerosmith, the boys hit the boards to thunderous applause and ripped into “What It Is.” My immediate thoughts were “THAT’S Manitoba?!? He’s so skinny and short!” and “How come Scott is louder than Ross?”

HDM wasted no time before he was dissing Boston fans and sports teams, proclaiming NYC’s superiority to Bostin in every category. Thank God the gig wasn’t two weeks later, after the Bucky Bleepin’ Dent debacle at Fenway, or else we would have never heard the end of it.

Manitoba also displayed excellent sartorial taste, as he sported a homemade T-shirt with a caricature of his head atop Mr. Potato-Head’s body. That was a shirt that they really should have marketed. Another missed opportunity.

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On November 30, 1973, the Dictators played their very first gig, in the gym at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland. They were the opening act for Blue Oyster Cult and Iggy + the Stooges. With the ink still wet on their freshly signed contract with Epic, Andy, Ross, Scott, and Stu-Boy, with pre-Handsome Dick Richie Blum in tow, drove the 4 hours south to what they thought would be stop one on the road to stardom.

It would be almost mythic if they had a fantastic gig, were overwhelmed by applause, got props from the other 2 bands, and were rewarded royally for their efforts. Unfortunately, not everyone can be Bobo Holloman and throw a no-hitter in his first start. With their musical chops still in the embryonic stage, they were sparsely rewarded with golf applause from the tolerant audience. Mostly, they were ignored. So, less than an hour later, with all the money from the gig going straight to their managers, they made the trip home. Much like a teenager’s first attempt at sex, it was over before they knew it, and they wondered what the hell just happened.




* Well, we think it was today. No one in the band remembers the exact date, and the librarians at Prince George’s CC, while enormously helpful, could only narrow it down to a Friday in November 1973. There were 5 Fridays that month — 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23, and 11/30. BOC had gigs in other cities on 11/9 and 11/16, so those dates are ruled out. 11/23 was the day after Thanksgiving. The campus would have been a ghost town, so it’s unlikely there was a concert scheduled that night. So, by process of elimination, our boys made their debut either 11/2/73, or 11/30/73. We’re going with 11/30 until proven wrong, and we’re not waiting underwater for that to happen.

— Salvi C.