The next time you’re in Brooklyn, whether for business, pleasure, or just to dump a body into the water, be sure to stop by 2301 Emmons Ave. (between Ocean and E. 21st), to visit the shrine. It’s the former site of Popeye’s Spinach Factory. The engraving is worn from a combination of age and the touch of millions, but it’s still legible.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Dictators Assembled, HDM, Tomfoolery
The new Ross the Boss album, “Hailstorm,” has been out for a couple of months now, and if you’re like me, you’ve been eyeing it with much trepidation. Let’s face facts: Most Dictator fans have not had an easy time with Manowar. Liking both bands is like trying to be a Democrat and a Republican at the same time, much easier said than done. Ross’ current band is cut from the Manowar template, so the question of the day is, does “Hailstorm” have anything that your average beer-swilling Dictator fan can enjoy?
First things first. There are a few basics that have to be accepted. Like every project Ross has ever been associated with, he’s the best thing here by a factor of about a million. No surprises there. The bigger pill that has to be swallowed is the crush-kill-destroy Viking imagery that permeates the lyrics, vastly different from Shernoff’s smart-a** NYC-centric point of view. Much like your fat aunt, this is difficult to get your arms around, and is a reluctant embrace.
Filed under Music Review, Ross the Boss
This weekend marks the anniversary of the Dictators’ 1975 legendary road trip to Atlanta, GA, to open for Rush at Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom. Open from 1974 through 1979, the Electric Ballroom was a major touring destination of the time, hosting such names as Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent and Broooooce.
This was one of the earliest road trips for the Dictators, who were in the embryonic stages of the road from Complete Indifference through General Disdain, before settling down in Open Hostility. The guys only completed 2 nights of a scheduled 4-night stand before being sent home by Rush. The epic failure of the road trip has taken on mythical status, so much so that it’s recounted by band members with almost perverse glee. According to Shernoff, “It was right about here where they stopped ignoring us and started hating us.”
It’s hard to picture the Atlanta crowd digging Rush more than they dug our boys. Technically, it’s hard to picture ANY crowd digging Rush more than they would dig our boys, but that may be provincial thinking on my part.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Live, The Cincotta Archives
As part of Black History Month, DFFD salutes Mel “Starr” Anderson, the only African-American to serve as a member of the Dictators. Mel was with the band for their last 10 or so shows in 1978, replacing the then-departed Ritchie Teeter.
Brother of Al Anderson from Bob Marley and the Wailers, Mel came over to the Dictators in a complicated personnel swap with Twisted Sister, in return for Mark the Animal and a roadie to be named later. Although he only played a handful of shows with the Dictators, he manned the drums for one of their highest-profile gigs ever, the band’s very first farewell show at the Bottom Line on 10/20/78.
Here is an excerpt from a band interview following that show. This originally appeared in “Ffanzeen” in 1980.
FF: “How many drummers did you audition before you found Mel?”
Andy: “One.”
Top Ten: “I saw Mel play in his old band, Twisted Sister. He used to wear this big rainbow-colored afro wig and he used to twirl his sticks and all these cool things. Fred Heller, Mott the Hoople’s manager after Ian Hunter quit, wanted Mott to do ‘Sleeping With the TV On,’ so me and Andy, this other guy from Queens and Mel made a demo in a friend’s basement. Mel called Andy while Teeter was telling us he was leaving and asked if we knew any bands that needed a drummer and we said, ‘It just so happens we do.'”
FF: “Mel, how does it feel to be a Dictator?”
Mel: “Terrific.”
Mel found himself a ex-Dictator less than a month later, and returned to the cover band circuit on Long Island from whence he came.
HDM summed up the entire Mel era when he introduced him by saying, “Great public relations move, no?”
— Salvi C.
Filed under Interview, The Cincotta Archives
On this date in 1977, the Dictators opened for Kiss at McElroy Auditorium in Waterloo, Iowa. This was the first of 6 sporadic dates the guys did with Kiss between February and March of that year.
Manitoba used to tell the story of the 2 bands’ different perspectives as follows:
“We would show up at these shows, and say to ourselves, ‘Alright, we’re finally starting to get someplace, 10,000 people!’ and then we’d pass Simmons in the hallway, and he’d be complaining, ‘Why are we playing in this tiny 10,000 seat dump??’”
Rumor has it that there were significant problems with the backstage accommodations, as the Dictators got bumped from their dressing room into Auxiliary Electrical Closet B to make room for Kiss’ pyro crew and the crates of Paul Stanley’s emergency girdles.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live
And you thought today was gonna suck.
Here’s the Dictators’ full performance from Little Steven’s Underground Garage Festival!
Thanks much to MonkeyBeat!!!!
— DFFD123
Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live
Happy birthday (Jan. 29) to The World’s Greatest Entertainer — Handsome Dick Manitoba!
— DFFD123
See what you might have missed in The Dictators Holiday Gift Guide!
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