PUNK ROCK SUMMIT: IGGY MEETS HANDSOME DICK

Back in May, I attended the Road Recovery concert at the Nokia Theater in New York. The great Iggy Pop was a special guest performer, and he didn't seem too impressed with many of the artists on the bill. Except for Dictators frontman and Underground Garage DJ Handsome Dick Manitoba. As an employee of SIRIUS|XM, I sometimes see Handsome Dick, and got to talk to him about the show a few days later. He told me that having Iggy tip his imaginary hat to him onstage was one of the highlights of his career. So, I know getting the chance to interview him for the Underground Garage was a big deal for him too. The interview aired Friday night (hopefully they will replay it at some point), but the above clip was a good moment. The interview was to promote the book The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story by Robert Matheu. The book comes out just as The Stooges are up for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the eighth time, in their fifteenth year of eligibility.

WHO KNEW? PUNK ROCK IS JEWISH

Last week at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Underground Garage DJ and Dictators frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba, Chris Stein of Blondie, Tommy Ramone and Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group met for a conference on Jews in punk rock! (Read more at the New York Times). Interesting piece, but I don't buy into their excuses for allowing punk rockers the artistic licence to use nazi symbolism. Call me too politically correct, but I'm against that shit, straight up. With all due respect. I am a big fan of Handsome Dick as a frontman and as a DJ (and his bar is awesome), but I can't agree with that.

HANDSOME DICK MANITOBA AND OGNIR AND THE NIGHT PEOPLE

I've written about my love of Little Steven's Underground Garage channel before. There are some of the best, most interesting, most well-informed DJs that you'll ever hear there, including radio legend Kid Leo, Detroit garage rocker Ko Molina, former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Woggles frontman The Mighty Manfred and Dictators frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba. (Oh yeah, and Little Steven.)

Last night, Dick was talking about how, when he was a kid, what a huge part of his culture it was go buy records: LPs and 45s. They would take a bus to Alexander's department store to check out new music. I can relate: when I was a kid, it was all about riding bikes to the flea market on weekends to buy tapes, or getting a ride to the mall.

Anyway, Dick was talking about how, his bar recently hosted a record release party for The Fleshtones' new album. The band sent Dick a bunch of copies of their new album on vinyl. And his five year old was like, "What's that?" The generation gap gets ever wider these days, I guess.

After that, he was quiet for a second (pauses usually aren't allowed on radio stations, I think they're referred to as "dead air," but The Underground Garage keeps it real in a way that most stations can't). Then he sighed and said, "Well, where else are you going to hear Ognir & The Night People?" I'd never heard this band, and I'd never even heard of them. I sat in my car and listened to the entire song, "I Found A New Love," and then ran right inside and bought it on iTunes. OK, so it isn't a busride to Alexander's. But it's 2008, and it's still exciting for me to discover new (or not new) music. So thanks Handsome Dick, Kid Leo and Little Steven, for keeping the excitement in rock and roll radio.

(By the way, this picture was taken at Little Steven's Underground Garage Rock Festival a few summers back: a great show that featured The Dictators, The Stooges, The New York Dolls, Bo Diddley and a bunch of other legends. I'm sorry to say it's the only time I've ever seen The Dictators, but they were great).