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early 1979 I loaned my copy of the Pere Ubu album DUB HOUSING
to Scott and Paul of the Dissidents. They were still in high
school at the time. I heard of how they took it to a party,
put it on the turntable and less than a minute into it all the
girls in the room were going; OOOOHH! OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT!?
GET THAT THING OFF! I always loved that story.
Lenny
Hoffman
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One
of my favorite Dissident stories: I spent a lot of drunken nights
with Scott and Paul. One night after their band practice I volunteered
to drive one of their girlfriends home. In the car: was me (driving),
Scott (passenger seat), and Paul and the two girls in the backseat
The girl we were dropping off lived in Euclid on the north side
of Lakeshore. So we dropped off the two girls so one could say
goodnight to the other (or whatever girls do when they disappear
together in such situations). While we were waiting we decided
to drive around the block and dump off a couple cases worth
of empty beer cans that were in the car. When we got down to
a street that ran along the lake Paul & Scott rolled down their
windows and pitched all these cans into the street. They made
quite a racket as they spilled out to the curbs. Mission accomplished
we returned to pick up the other girl. While we were waiting
there all of a sudden the passenger door swung open and there
stood a very big, very pissed off guy who?d just witnessed our
disposal routine on his street. He grabbed Scott by his collar
and demanded we go back and pick up the cans. I said: "let
go of my friend and we'll go pick them up!" He was unwilling
to compromise and wouldn't let go of Scott. So I threw the car
in reverse and proceeded to drag him backwards with the open
car door down the street. During this he was repeatedly punching
Scott. He finally fell and then I threw the car and drive and
got the hell out of there. The other girl was standing on the
sidewalk watching so I yelled out the window "LISA! RUN!."
While I was driving however I was getting pissed that we were
running from this guy. Not to mention leaving Lisa behind. So
when I got around the corner I stopped,turned off the ignition
and went to the trunk to get a crow bar to "educate"
this fucker! While I was opening the trunk (Scott and Paul still
in the car) here he comes again! Running up the street! He had
chased the car around the block! I screamed! Like a little girl
in a bad horror movie (it still cracks me up that I screamed).
I ran and jumped back into the car. Scott and Paul were yelling
at me to get the hell out of there. The guy was punching the
windows and kicking the doors as I fumbled with the keys trying
to start the car (just like a movie). For some reason the window
never did break but he did kick my mirror off! I finally got
it started and we got out of there. Afterwards we did the only
thing good red blooded American youths would, we went and got
more beer, had a laugh about it. Then about an hour later we
went back and looked for my mirror.
(Norburt
Sanek) |
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second time we played Tucky's (downstairs),Scene magazine misspelled
Dissidents as "Desidents". So the following week there
was a band called Destitute (a power pop trio) playing upstairs
at Tucky's. But the Scene once again put "Desidents"
in their ad for that night. So Paul and I went down (ad in hand)
and told 'em we were supposed to be playing. Mr. Tucky did not
agree. After an hour or so of badgering old man Tucky he finally
said: "if you can get the other bands to agree to let you
play, then you can play." So we asked the other bands (Destitute
and House Of Usher). They said, "no problem." So me
and Paul called Tim and Nicky to come down with their gear.
We weren't going on until 1:00am so we had a 4 or 5 hours to
sit around and drink. Tim had already had too much to drink!
So me, Paul and Nicky helped Tim out to the car to sleep it
off for couple of hours. When we went out to get him about an
hour and a half later. We were horrified to find that he'd been
sitting in the car the whole time drinking the rest of the beer
we had brought. To make matters worse, Paul had just gotten
new strings on his bass and Tim being the most accomplished
musician of the group was in charge of tuning everything up.
We cleared the place! Our attitude was always: "FUCK 'EM!
IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT THEY CAN LEAVE!" That night they
did. (Scott Stemple) |
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| ONE
TIME LOIS AND I WENT UP TO CLEVELAND TO LAY DOWN SOME TRACKS.
WE PICKED UP A CAN OF PRINGLES. I'LL BE DAMNED IF DANNY DIDN'T
EAT ALL THEM MOTHERS. |
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Koz
was great drummer! He was the last ingredient we needed to have
a good, tight band. The problem was he was "shall we say"
careful with his money (and kind of insane). The song "The
Almighty Dollar" was written about Koz (though he never
knew that part). Johnny Korosec recently told me that he'd bet
what's left of his liver that Koz is probably a millionaire
now (just from drug deals and stinginess). I wouldn't doubt
it. I don't think he ever had a real job, but always had plenty
of cash. Paul's dad (Slim) had a bartending job in Wickliffe.
One time Slim needed to get to work so he asked Koz for a ride.
Koz after complaining about how much gas it would take to drive
from E. 200 St. to E. 305 St. and back (about 4 miles), finally
agreed to give him a ride. When he dropped him off, Slim slipped
Koz $10 and said "thanks, here buy yourself a beer."
So on the way home Koz stopped at a beverage store and bought
a case of Old Dutch "The Good Beer" (it said that
on the label, so it must be true). Koz had that case for about
3 months. Every now and then when we were practicing Paul and
I would help ourselves to a warm Old Dutch from Koz's closet.
He'd get really pissed that we had the nerve to drink some of
his beer (when we were actually doing him a favor). I don't
know where Koz is these days but I'd be willing to bet what's
left of Johnny's liver that he still has a few cans of Old Dutch
left.
(Scott Stemple) |
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