Artist description 1981. The music speaks for itself but I thought, since it has been several years; it would be nice to put it in perspective. The Latin Dogs were put together mostly with refugees from other local punk bands, reasonably successful in their own right. Joe had been in the Brain Police and The Itch, John from The Itch as well, and I had been in Funhouse and The Lips Are Back. It started out casually at first, but even after it got more serious, it was always fun. There was never an issue of creative control, and we used the best we all had to offer. John ‘Da Moose’ and Allen were imposing biker type figures, and in their presence I felt empowered to act out levels of offensive behavior I never knew existed within me, without any fear of reprisals. I am still hampered socially to this day, as a result of this kind of activity. A typical Latin Dog show would begin with local beatnik Pogo Rey, reading from Ginsburg, Burroughs, or Keroack, while we were setting up and tuning. Then, when we were ready, he would announce, “Ladies and Gentlepigs, please forgive, The Latin Dogs....” We hit the stage hard, fueled by booze, dope, and adrenaline. The songs were fast and loose, and the kids would mosh (or slam dance and skank, as we called it then). Many kids knew the words to the choruses and would crowd the front of the stage for the opportunity to vocalize when I would shove the mic out to them. The Latin Dogs were interactive. I could handily put away a half-pint of whiskey during a performance. Since I led a normally sedentary existence, the jumping around, swearing, growling, sweating, and delivering the gospel according to the LD’s, would push me to near heart attack or stroke experiences. I had episodes on stage with my life is passing before my eyes, while I am trying to deliver our radical extremist views through song manifestos. Sometimes I actually got sick on-stage, to the delight of the crowd. While being videotaped for Detroit TV, I turned vomiting on a Newspaper into an editorial comment! Invariably a string would break, and either myself or Pogo Rey would read highlighted passages from HOWL. Once in a review of a performance in Ann Arbor, as many column inches were devoted to the poetry offerings as to the musical performance itself. Later, I gave a copy of this to Allen Ginsburg. He was pleased and signed my dog eared copy of HOWL and dubbed it a ‘working copy’ At a gig in Grand Rapids, Michigan (we were big there) probably late 1981.... People were pogoing, and the neck of Allen’s guitar hit a fan on the head, drawing copious amounts of blood and breaking the guitar neck...Allen jumped off stage to see if the guy was all right and John ‘The Moose’, thought someone hit Allen, so he charged off stage, pulling his bass amp rig down in the process ...he went up to the bleeding guy and punched him so hard they both fell over... The guy wasn't mad and wore his stitches with pride.During a period of few jobs, we hatched the idea of “The Latin Dogs - Tour of Homes”, where we offered our services to play at your house party if it was OK with your folks and your neighbors! This made for many wild and interesting gigs, some of which were neither all right with their parents, or their neighbors, or the police, for that mater. We made ‘Tour of Homes’ T-shirts up and even had them in infant sizes. The Latin Dogs evaporated more than broke up. Geography prevented our continuing. Joe moved to San Francisco, Allen to L.A., I Moved to Windsor, Ontario, to finish my engineering degree in Detroit (Wayne State). John married Allen’s sister, started a small family and lives in a survivalist compound in rural Mich.

Music Style Alternative, Punk, Hardcore

Musical Influences Stooges, MC5

Similar Artists Hellacopters, MC5, Hydrosonics, Blue Cheer, Ramones, Stooges,Exploited

Group Members Allan Narmor:Guitar & corn nuts/ Jon -The Moose- Engle:Bass & security/ Joe Z (Joseph Zidarevich):Drums & giggling/ Rank Confusion (a.k.a. RAUK):Vocals & provocative squats

Location Battle Creek, Michigan - USA

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