Category Archives: Dictators Assembled

by Salvi C. | August 31, 2011 · 1:06 pm

More G’days From Down Under

As a follow-up to our previous post about the Australia tour, here’s a great shot from the 8/25/02 Sydney Harbour Cruise of the Handsome One exchanging a “good onya”’ with Bill Gibson of the Eastern Dark.

The Eastern Dark was a fantastic Australian band back in the 1980s, whose “Johnny and Dee-Dee” 45 belongs in every music library that’s worth a toss. They used to cover “Minnesota Strip” back in their early days, and were gobsmacked when the Master Plan returned the honor by covering “Walking” on their first lp.

Many thanks to Bill Gibson for the use of the photo, and for the Aussie spell check on “Harbour.”

— Salvi C.

The Thunder Down Under!!

This week in 2002 found our heroes entertaining the Blokes and Sheilas on their first, and to date, only tour of the world’s biggest prison colony. The 4-piece line-up (Scott was temporarily on the roof) roared through 9 dates over a 10-day period, culminating with a quick stop in New Zealand to placate the Sheepshaggers.

Way, way up there on the “list of gigs I wish I’d seen” would be their date from this tour when they played a Sydney Harbor Cruise. I can picture the Harbormaster having to haul the captain in on a littering violation because of the Fosters cans clogging the bay in the wake of the ship.

Pics are courtesy of the Barman at the I-94 site.

— Salvi C.

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by DFFD123 | June 28, 2011 · 10:41 am

YouTube Tuesday: Cleveland 2002

Is there any more beautiful sight than the four guys rocking out gathered together at the front of the stage?

(NB: This is a rhetorical question. Please don’t spam me with pix from Adriana Lima’s new Victoria’s Secret shoot. I’ve already seen them all.)

Thanks to Chip Zepp for the video!

— DFFD123

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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by Robbiecube | May 11, 2011 · 12:07 am

Blame It On the Burgoo (aka, It Was Atticus’ Fault)

The Dictators’ Kentucky Tour, May 10-11, 2002

Another year, another Dictators-related road trip, this time to the land of the Kentucky Derby, Muhammad Ali, mint juleps, Fort Knox and the Louisville Slugger.

As soon as Salvi arrived at Midway early Friday, we hit the road toward the glorious bluegrass of Kentucky, by way of Cincy, home of our future RTB friend, Dawnowar. Passing Riverfront Stadium (we shoulda caught a few innings), and it’s still-under-construction replacement, crossing the Ohio, into sleepy Newport, Kentucky, home of the Southgate House, site of the Dictators’ first-ever Kentucky gig.

The Southgate House is on my shortlist of cool rock venues. A huge mansion near the river, a bar & restaurant upstairs, and in the basement, a ballroom/concert hall that had served as the birthplace of the Thompson Submachine Gun (see Al Capone). Tables and chairs surrounded a dance floor, great sound, good sightlines and cold, cheap beer.

Cincinnati band Thee Shams opened with a tough set. The Dictators took the stage, clawing through a 19-song, 76-minute set — heavy on “D.F.F.D.” — with HDM proclaiming, “We can’t curse tomorrow night, so we’re gonna curse a lot tonight.” (He did). At one point a tipsy, short-shorts-wearing Kentucky woman hip-checked our table, sending my old film Kodak flying, never to take another picture. But like a bat broken delivering a game-winning hit, it died happy. The Dictators’ set flew by in a blur, it wasn’t until we later listened to Sal’s tape that we realized just how fierce that set was. The weekend was off to a kickazz start.

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by Salvi C. | May 3, 2011 · 4:18 pm

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

by Salvi C. | May 1, 2011 · 6:04 am

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.

‘The Best Live Band on That Given Day in the World’

April 12 marked the anniversary of 1997’s star-studded Tom Clark Benefit at Brownie’s in NYC. The DFFD Blog asked Dictators fan Adam Gerstein for his memories of the show.

So I get an email from Sal, who I have not heard from lately, asking me to remember the night that the Dictators played at the Tom Clark Benefit at Brownie’s in 1997. How can I forget that night — it was the night I rediscovered the band who probably has been my favorite band of the last 15 years … and that is saying a lot, as I go to a lot of live shows. Below is a review I did after the show for the Babel list (Patti Smith list) in 1997:

“Lenny Kaye was the first band that I saw last night. I used to see the Lenny Kaye Connection all over NYC and they were always fun. However, I always appreciated Lenny more of a backing musician with Patti rather than on his own due to the limited range of his voice. He put on an animated set and the interplay between J.D., Tony, and Lenny was great.

Jim Carroll surprised the hell out of me. I have seen him stumble on many stages since the seventies, but last night he looked fit (hard to imagine) and healthy. Then again he never played with a band as good as the guys last night. In addition to playing with J.D., Lenny, and Tony, he also played with Adam Roth, who added tasty slide leads. “Catholic Boy” and “People Who Died” were the standouts last night and Carroll definitely impressed the crowd.

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