May 4th Challenge

Music nerd challenge day 4 – A song with Star or War in the title – I saw D.O.A. at a huge theatre in Staten Island NY in the early 1980s on the bill with a few bands and the Dead Kennedys headlining with a few of my pals and of course brother in rock and RFLer Lenny Sblendorio on a hot, steamy summer night. I’m completely lost as far as remembering some of the other bands that played but I know I was psyched to see D.O.A. For the first time. They hit the stage and a good sized pit started up and they sounded great as I was right up front getting into it.

In those days, I used to hand paint my own hardcore tshirts and I was proudly wearing my freshly painted D.O.A. T-shirt just like the cover of this here ep with the Neighborhood Watch dude and the No God No Country No Lies label. Guitar player Dave Gregg was on the left side of the stage and in between songs he came all the way over to the opposite side where I was standing and said he really liked my shirt and I was absolutely honored to hear that. The crowd was getting thicker as the Dead Kennedys were getting ready to hit the stage. I can’t remember what song they opened with but the pit was getting intense and there was a lot of stage diving happening. I saw Lenny climbing up on stage to do a stage dive and I was dead center stage in front of Jello Biafra when Lenny did the most perfect stage dive I had ever seen. He actually looked like Superman with his arms and hands out in front of him and it looked as though he was planking many years before it’s time. He was flying right in my direction and I had no choice but to duck so he flew right over me and lande a few feet back and he got up and said “shit,” as he was holding his tooth that got chipped upon landing.

Look for the Something Better Change documentary on D.O.A. coming out in 2022!