The DFFD Blog

by Salvi C. | November 3, 2011 · 10:55 pm

Dorian’s Voice Benefit at JD’s Place

Did you have plans for this Saturday, November 5th? Well, cancel them. This is what you’re doing instead. You’re heading out to JD’s Place on Rte 109 in Farmingdale (L.I.) to see Ross the Boss perform as part of a benefit show to support 3-month-old Dorian, who suffered horrific injuries at the hands of his father. I can’t attach the picture because it makes me cry to see it. The music starts at 6 pm. There will be 50/50 raffles all night, excellent prizes, free food, and drink specials. Line up your designated driver, and make a night of it.

For those of us who are out of state and can’t make the gig, here’s the link to the fundraiser page:

Dorian’s Voice

Dig deep, people. Dig deep.

— Salvi C.

Leave a comment

Filed under Live, Ross the Boss

by Salvi C. | October 27, 2011 · 4:31 pm

It Ain’t Nothing But a House Party!

If you had your druthers, and could choose the parameters for the perfect party, what would those parameters be? If your criteria includes a wonderful venue, gracious hosts, amazing food in quantities that could feed a small army, guests who are fellow music fanatics, and last but not least, a kicka** band playing three feet from your face, then Chumley, you really should have been at the Del-Lords house concert this past w/e.

Saturday’s show at the Root Hoot concert house in Peace Dale, RI, was the third leg of the band’s World Domination Tour, after lesser stops at the Lakeside and in Spain. Some 75 lucky souls spent 2.5 hours being regaled by Scott, Roscoe, Frankie and Lucky. The band played two sets. The first set was very tight, and loaded with DLs classics. Then, after a 45-minute break, in which everyone attempted to put a dent in the mountain of food, they played a much more adventurous second set, in the classic “Do we even KNOW this one?? Ah Hell, let’s do it anyway” style. Three or four from the upcoming album were previewed and well received. It also seems that both Scott and Eric are frustrated comedians, as they told very funny stories about Stu-boy King, Screaming Jay Hawkins and “Sergio F**king Franchi.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Live Review, Top Ten

by Salvi C. | October 21, 2011 · 8:03 am

‘Tators Tracker: Herding Cats Edition

Where are the Dictators members these days? Where AREN’T they?

Personally, I’m having great difficulty keeping track of them and their many different projects. Here’s a quick snapshot of where to find who doing what when … if I missed something (and I probably did), please e-mail me or comment below!

In random order, because I love ALL my Dictators (separate but equal, yo!):

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under 'Tators Tracker, Adny, HDM, Ross the Boss, Thunderbolt, Top Ten

by Salvi C. | September 30, 2011 · 8:17 am

They Went to the Land of the Ice and Snow

October of 1996 found the Dictators on their first and only tour of Sweden. With the possible exception of Spain, there is no other European country that has a greater appreciation for rock and roll than Sweden, and our boys spent a whirlwind 10 days supplying both in the land of the lutefisk.

In between practical jokes pulled by their tour mates, the Hellacopters (“No kidding Manitoba, whale blubber behind your ears is a real-turn on to Oslo women!”) and participating in the Swedish National Pastime, which is making fun of the Finnish***, the band somehow found time to play 9 dates with the Northern Lights as a backdrop.

October 2, 1996, was the first date, at Geno’s in Stockholm. There’s an excellent video of this show that hasn’t shown up on YouTube yet, so you’ll have to take my word for it that our guys were firing on all cylinders.

— Salvi C.

  The 1996 Nordic Tour:  
10/2 Stockholm
 10/3 Linkoping
 10/4 Gavle 
10/5 Borlange 
10/6 Oslo 
10/8 Lund 
10/9 Gothenburg
 10/10 Malmo 
10/11 Copenhagen

  Set list from Oct. 2:
• 1. New York, New York
• 2. Haircut and Attitude
• 3. Master Race Rock
• 4. I Want You Tonight
• 5. Faster and Louder
• 6. Baby, Let’s Twist
• 7. I Am Right
• 8. Call Me Animal
• 9. The Party Starts Now
• 10. I Stand Tall
• 11. Science Gone Too Far!
• 12. You Had It Coming
• 13. Search and Destroy
• 14. The Next Big Thing
• 15. Stay With Me
• 16. Minnesota Strip
• 17. Two Tub Man

*** Q: Why do Finnish people never play hide and seek?
 A: Because nobody wants to look for them.

  Q: How many Finns does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Five. One to hold the bulb, and four to drink enough vodka until the room starts spinning.

Leave a comment

Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live, Tomfoolery

by DFFD123 | September 27, 2011 · 11:11 am

YouTube Tuesday: Manitoba Saves the Queen

Here’s Handsome Dick Manitoba fronting Guns ‘N Roses (!) performing “God Save the Queen” in front of a couple thousand lucky people at NYC’s Best Buy Theater during the Road Recovery Benefit on Sept. 13.

And, in case you missed it, here’s a link to video of HDM, GN’R and the MC5’s Wayne Kramer kicking out the jams from the same night!

— DFFD123

Leave a comment

Filed under HDM, Video, YouTube Tuesday

by Salvi C. | September 19, 2011 · 8:08 am

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.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live

by Guest Contributors | September 13, 2011 · 11:02 am

4 Down, 1 To Go!!

(Manitoba, Where You At?)

It all started with a post on The DFFD Blog about Top Ten and the Del Lords doing a “secret” gig at the Lakeside Lounge in NYC, as a warm up to their Spanish shows. Actually, no, it all started when my ex-boyfriend’s band did a co-headlining gig with RTB’s German band in Brooklyn in 2009 … but that’s a story for another day. I had already met 3 current Dictators (the aforementioned RTB, JP Patterson, and Andy Shernoff) and had only two to go. This was my chance to hopefully cross at least one more off my list!! Since I had already friended Scott on Facebook, I sent him a short note asking if the secret gig was still on, and explained that we had a mutual friend so he wouldn’t think I was a stalker. He was kind enough to write back a few hours later to confirm.

Flash forward to 7 o’clock that night, a friend and I are sitting at the bar when, in hushed tones, a gentleman to my right asked the bartender how things were going to work for the gig tonight, as the bar’s website mentioned a $20 “donation.” This sparked a conversation about how we were both huge Dictators fans and were psyched to see one of them in such an intimate venue. He had heard about the gig the same place I had, through Salvi and The DFFD Blog. A few more people trickled in, and we made our way over to the stage area in the back of the bar. My friend and I snagged primo seats, and as I was settling in, I looked over and there was Scott Kempner and his guitar, setting up. I quickly introduced myself to him, we shared an inside joke about someone’s extreme and baffling political views, and I let him mingle with his friends and family.

As I was patting myself on the back for appearing so calm and collected, I spotted a familiar looming figure. It was Andy Shernoff shaking hands with the crowd. Apparently the people at the next table from us were who he was there to meet, and the next thing I knew he was sitting next to me, and he remembered me. More back patting ensued. Andy’s friend introduced himself to me as one of his oldest friends, back from the days of New Paltz and the Teenage Wasteland fanzine, Bobby “the Brain.” He told me how they used to print the fanzine by hand on mimeograph paper. I was truly in awe of being surrounded by Dictators history.

Continue reading →