by | February 25, 2010 · 11:34 pm

Review: Return to Connecticut

Andy at Cafe Nine

Photo by Matt Friedlander

The Andy Shernoff road revue made a second visit to Café Nine in New Haven last night. The wet and foggy conditions made for a little smaller crowd, but what was lacking in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm of the lucky few.

Andy was in fine form. Very relaxed and cracking jokes all night, we got to see a goofy side that’s usually hidden. “Haircut and Attitude” got new lyrics of both “hairstyle” and then “mullet and attitude!” “Weekend” made its acoustic debut, as did a previously unheard collaboration between Joey Ramone and Andy, called either “The Island Song” or “You Make Me Tremble.”

The next gig on the dance card will be Friday, March 12, at The Record Collector in Bordentown, N.J.

Last night’s song list:

New York, New York
Weekend
Master Race Rock
Find Something Beautiful
Baby Let’s Twist
Stay With Me
Haircut and Attitude
Chinese B***h
Stop Thinking About It
Who Will Save Rock and Roll

— Salvi C.

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by | February 22, 2010 · 12:25 am

Manitoba Monday: Simply the Best

Start off your week in style, courtesy of the King of Men.

From a memorable, quote-filled (“How can you learn anything when you’re all talking?”) Dictators show 11 years ago this past weekend:

“Remember, I’m the best there is,
 I’m the best there ever was, 
and I’m the best there will ever be!!”

Handsome Dick Manitoba

Brighton Bar,
Long Branch, N.J.
Feb. 20, 1999

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by | February 15, 2010 · 11:33 pm

YouTube Tuesday: “These Guys Are the Sh*t”

That’s the Joey Ramone introduction to the boys’ performance of “Who Will Save Rock and Roll?” in the 1999 movie Final Rinse — “Part This Is Spinal Tap, part Dirty Harry, and all tongue in cheek.” Read more at FinalRinse.com. In the meantime, enjoy the high-quality video, multiple camera angles and Joey R. acting.

— DFFD123

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by | February 10, 2010 · 2:01 pm

Feb. 1981: 8 Days of Triumph and Mayhem

HDM at the Fast Lane

Photos courtesy of Mike Frigerio, nuclearjackalope.com

Mid-February marks the anniversary of a triumphant week the Dictators spent in 1981. This was the apex of their “reunion” era, and it was celebrated with 4 gigs in an 8-day span.

The run of shows kicked off at My Father’s Place on Lung Island on Feb. 3rd. It was a relaxed, loose gig. Mark the Animal was in the house, and much of HDM’s banter Andy at the Fast Lane
for the night centered on the entourage of beautiful women Mark brought with him. He of course joined the band for the encores of “Two Tub Man” and “Search and Destroy.” The public debut of “Loyola” also took place this night.

The week continued with a high-profile gig at Club 57 on St. Mark’s Place on Saturday, Feb. 7th. Huge crowd, total mayhem, a great night. A large chunk of this show made its way to a Manhattan cable TV show called Paul Tschinkel’s Inner Tube. Here’s a link to the first couple of tunes from the show:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-3yTsF1KeQ.

Gig #3 was on the following night at the Fast Lane in Asbury Park. These pics from that gig are courtesy of our good pal Mike Frigerio. Check out the rest of his great photos and toys at www.nuclearjackalope.com.

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by | February 6, 2010 · 12:21 am

Wishing Top Ten a Birthday Second to None!

Top Ten

Photo by Josh Lewis

The DFFD Blog wishes Scott “Top Ten” Kempner a first-class birthday celebration today (Feb. 6)!

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by | February 4, 2010 · 11:04 pm

If the Dictators Played the Super Bowl

Dictators at Super BowlThe staff of the DFFD Blog takes a moment from praying for a Saints victory (OK, that’s just DFFD123) to imagine the awesomeness that would occur if the Dics were the 1/2-time entertainment for this weekend’s Super Bowl, instead of 1/2 the Who:

  • There would be a bevy of dancers clad as White Castle boxes.
  • The stage would be designed to look like CBGB’s.
  • J.P.’s “One Beverage” would be background music for a beer commercial.
  • HDM would be ranting and raving about how he doesn’t give a f*ck about football, although he did win $200 betting on the Patriots in 2002.
  • He’d call the whole game a fraud, stating that it can’t be called “Super” if neither of the NY teams were representin’.
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by | February 3, 2010 · 12:18 am

Ffanzeen’s Dictators Double Take

Robert Barry Francos’ Ffanzeen blog features new goodies as well as archival treasures from his New York music magazine, which he published from 1977 to 1988.

A couple of weeks ago, he delivered a couple of oldies and goodies for Dics fans in a post called “The Dictators Can Sing! Two early pieces on the DFFD band.”

The first is a 1977 live report by Todd Abramson (now co-owner of Maxwell’s in Hoboken, N.J.) of an unannounced CBGB’s show, during which the band performed songs from the upcoming Bloodbrothers album:

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by | January 31, 2010 · 11:08 pm

Doing the Manitoba with Red Fox Motel

Red Fox MotelIt’s the dance sensation that’s sweeping the nation. Our favorite trio of Walpole High students, CJ Romeo, Pat Maloney and Casey McGuill, continue to garner good press for their recent tribute song about the King of Men.

We had hoped to scoop the world and run their first-ever interview a couple of weeks ago, but had to postpone due to time constraints on the band — they had to study for mid-terms. Since then, the accolades have been rolling in, and they have aced this interview with the Walpole Times, which suspiciously asks almost the exact same template of questions we were going to ask! (I’m not saying they stole our material, but there was a power outage at DFFD headquarters, and Tyler, the guard dog, did wake up the next morning with the scent of chloroform and Liva Snaps on his breath. I’m just sayin’.)

The song is available on iTunes, and you can catch the band on the last Friday of every month at Newbury Comics on Route 1 in Norwood, Mass.

Here’s a clip of them doing their “smash hit single” at the store last Friday night.

— Salvi C.

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