I’ve mentioned him here a couple of times (notably here and here), but I was quite surprised to recently discover that Handsome Dick Manitoba has started his own blog on Tumblr. Check it out by clicking right here.
For those who might not recognize the name, Handsome Dick Manitoba is the erstwhile lead singer of legendary NYC punk underdogs, The Dictators. Possibly too “metal’ to be mentioned in the same breath as luminaries like Television, Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones, the Dictators were nonetheless part of that same first class of New York bands who helped put CBGB on the map, leaving no shortage of wreckage in their endearingly messy, high-decibel wake.
I’d first heard the Dictators in high school after reading their name in several schlocky rock mags. I was intrigued that there was a band that had shared stages with both KISS and the Damned. As a lark, I picked up a copy of their live album on cassette-only indie ROIR, Fuck’em if They Can’t Take a Joke, and was instantly smitten, rushing out shortly thereafter to prize copies of studio LPs like Bloodbrothers and my favorite, Manifest Destiny. They were loud, mouthy and hilarious.
By this time, of course, the original line-up of the Dictators had parted ways, but I did manage to catch Handsome Dick’s post-Dictators band, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, opening for the Ramones at the Ritz around late 1987.
In any case, I’m a firm believer that the Dictators never got enough respect. Years and years later, I stumbled with some friends into a bar on Avenue A -- unimaginatively named 2A -- at some point in the mid-90s, and who should be pouring the drinks behind the bar but Handsome Dick himself. I immediately lapsed into a drunken testimony about how seismic the Dictators were, and he politely listened to me (later grabbing me by the lapel and yanking me over to the other end of the bar to tell some hellraiser how cool he legitimately was). A couple of years later, Handsome Dick (whose actual name, by the way, is Richard Blum) opened his own bar, Manitoba’s, which still stands over on Avenue B, just south of 7th Street. It's an amazing place that you should all go spend your money in. Moreover, I occasionally run into the man in some of our mutually local playgrounds, and he's always a completely stand-up, decent guy. Hats off to Handsome Dick.
Being a married father of two, my nights out on the tiles visiting places like 2A and Manitoba's are largely well behind me, but I'm periodically let off my leash. Just recently, a friend of mine from Germany was in town for a night, so he and I hit a few choice spots in the East Village, Manitoba's being foremost among them. Armed with a very expensive camera with a fancy fish-eye lens, Andy took a few shots of the interior. That's me looking like a deranged alkie, lounging in the back booths and abusing the juke box.
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