Also, “What’s up Pittsburgh!!,” “How ya doin’ Detroit!!” and, finally, if the Dictators NYC find their way out of the basement in Cleveland, it all wraps up on Sunday with “Greetings Chicago!!”
This is your first opportunity to go under the Thunder since 2003, Midwest. Show the band the love they deserve.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Dictators NYC, Live
It seems that everyone who was anyone gets a retrospective DVD nowadays. Fifteen minutes of semi-fame BITD equals two hours of talking heads and grainy clips on DVD. While we wait for “$2 Per Diem and a Peanut Butter Sandwich — the E. Factor Saga,” let’s take a look at 2008’s “TV Party” (Brink Films), which answers the musical question “How can a documentary have so much footage of prime-era Debbie Harry and still be so hard to watch?”
In its original run from 1979 to 1982, “TV Party” was, well, a TV party! It literally was a weekly party that was televised. Every week, the hoi polloi of the Lower East Side got together for an hour of chemically enhanced conversation and hijinks. Filmed with zero money, zero script and zero technical know-how, it’s kinda what you would get if you let the art class kids loose in the AV room.
There’s a lot of self-conscious acting up, forced fun here. Do you really think your Uncle Vin always wore a lampshade on his head, just because he did it in all your birthday party videos? Sorry kid, he was pimping it for the cameras, and that’s what most of the on-camera party-goers here were doing. No one is that ON all the time. There’s no doubt that it was fun to be there, but it’s a headache to watch.
There’s a montage of the weekly musical guests, and most of the artists were equally tough to listen to. To quote Chris Stein, who was the co-host of the show, it was “weird f*cking stuff — noise rock!”
Continue reading
As if he wasn’t scary enough without the make-up!! This is overkill on his part — he could scare people in a Santa suit.
Filed under Mark the Animal, PSA
The scene: MCA marketing department, summer 1990.
Faceless Minion #1: “So, how are we going to push this Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom album? We need an animal-related theme.”
Faceless Minion #2: “Hey, how about if we have them play promo gigs at each major city’s zoo?”
FM #1: “Great idea, but it takes forever to get the smell of monkey poo out of their equipment.”
FM #2: “OK, how about if we do some licensing thing with an endorsement from Tony the Tiger, or maybe Toucan Sam?”
FM #1: “They’re both in rehab. Besides, we blew 99% of the budget on the video, we can’t afford big names. What can we do that costs practically nothing?”
Here’s what they came up with…
Continue reading
Filed under MWK, The Cincotta Archives
This nifty flier is from a weekend of gigs our boys did in Toronto, one of the final tune-up weekends before the June 25th release of “Bloodbrothers.”
I bet these were fun gigs. The pre-“What I Like About You” Romantics were a raw and rocking band, and we all know how lethal the 1978, stripped down to a five piece version of the Dictators were.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live
Photo credit: Mike Dewey
This date in 1991 found our guys on their second weekend road trip of 1991. After a couple of tentative shows in Providence and Boston the prior w/e, this show in Washington, DC, presented a confident and tight band, in one of their best shows of that year.
While we don’t condone bootlegs, we certainly do enjoy them, and this show is one of the very best. It’s from the Ross the Boss Megamix series, with his amp 3 times louder than anyone else on stage. Sometimes these things happen for a reason. This night’s reason was to make sure we could appreciate his Dharma-esque, extended and exciting solos in “Loyola” and “Stay With Me,” the likes of which were unheard before or since. Thrilling stuff.
Filed under Dictators Assembled, Live Review
The Dictators NYC, the band with more name changes than P. Diddy, hit the Bowery Electric this past Thursday for their first New York show of the year. As always, BE was packed with the sweaty faithful, wanting it fast and loud, and our boys did not disappoint.
Sometimes it’s big things (Oh my God, they’re actually playing? It’s been five years!) from shows that make for the memories, and sometimes it’s little things. Here are a few of the little gifts the show had to offer:
• A much-needed pitchfork was taken to the set list. “Savage Beat,” “I Stand Tall” and “Minnesota Strip” are in; “Haircut and Attitude,” “Pu**y and Money” and “American Beat” are on the bench. (The lobbying committee to add “Master Race Rock” and “Cars and Girls” meets on Wednesdays at DFFD HQ. All are welcome. Conference Room B, bring a snack.)
• Having Dean do the perverted whispering BV during “Minn Strip,” and never go near the mic for the rest of the show, is genius.
Continue reading
Filed under HDM, Live Review, Ross the Boss, Thunderbolt
May 27 marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of “Mondo New York.” This cinematic disaster was given more attention than deserved here.
So, if May 27th was the opening date, then the closing date was what, May 29th? Were you one of the unlucky few who wasted your shekles on this 83 minutes of misery? Was nothing else on your dance card? Anything this side of a colonoscopy would have been a more pleasurable way to spend your time.
— Salvi C.
Filed under Movies, The Cincotta Archives
See what you might have missed in The Dictators Holiday Gift Guide!
DFFD123
Guest Contributors
Robbiecube
Salvi C.
Thunderbolt Patterson
The DFFD Blog 