Originally published 1/13/14 on nygamecritics.com
Presenter Alert! The Dictators’ Handsome Dick Manitoba
I’m happy to announce a new presenter for the 3rd Annual New York Videogame Critics Circle Awards on February 11 at 7:30 p.m.
It’s a lame-ass fact to say Handsome Dick Manitoba is a New York City punk rock legend. Above, you’ll find Manitoba (and The Dictators) belting his heart out with the terrific Joey Ramone at CBGB’s. It is an awesome, dance-worthy performance. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more spirited punk version of The Dave Clark Five’s “Glad All Over” than this performance (sung about halfway in). If the roots of rock ‘n roll don’t vibrate through your very genes when you hear this, you are most certainly expired.
I have many Manitoba memories. He was the one to introduce me to the reclusive Nick Tosches, and we put together a reading for a Tosches novel at some long-shuttered bar on Avenue A that I can barely even remember. Might have happened in the depths of the No-Tell Motel.
Back in the day when Manitoba was bartending on St. Mark’s Place, the late Jeff Buckley came in one night to hang. The place was utterly dead and before Buckley came in, there was nothing to do but smell the heavy essence of beery mold in the place. It was just me, Manitoba and Jeff Buckley, maybe singer Tom Clark. Somehow, we got to singing Elton John songs. It was magical.
The versatile Manitoba hosts a program on Little Steven’s Underground Garage on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. It’s the most essential listening on the station (with perhaps the exception Little Steven’s show).
Manitoba’s, his bar on Avenue B, is a punk rock paradise, one of the great, easy hangs in New York City, a place where among the patrons, you might spot game fan Jimmy Fallon.
Not many expected Manitoba’s to last when it opened in 1999.
But that’s a testament to its owner. Among many other things, he, like his bar, is a survivor.
So I’m honored to have the energetic Handsome Dick Manitoba present the Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Videogame.
With Future Folk opening the show and Handsome Dick Manitoba presenting, the 3rd Annual New York Videogame Critics Circle Awards will surely rock the videogame world this year.
– Harold Goldberg, Founder
