High Five: Dead Rider (Todd Rittman) — Show TONIGHT!

1. If you were going on a cross country road trip and could bring a long any three people in the world, who would they be and why?

Todd Rittman: Uh, I guess I’ll go with Kristen Wiig, Hannibal Burress, and Reggie Watts. You gotta keep it light on a road trip.

2. What is one album that you feel has changed your life and how?

TR: Sly and The Family Stone “A Whole New Thing”. This is SATFS’s first record and gets totally overlooked my most fans and writers. Why? Because it is too far ahead of its time. Combining elements if funk, prog rock, psychedelia, and soul, “A Whole New Thing” messed me up when I finally heard it. It stands as manifesto for what was to come, even if they had to simplify the forms a little for the squares to even pay attention.

3. Who are a band that you feel should get more recognition that they do, and why?

TR: Cody Chesnutt put out an amazing record last year that fetched a collective “meh” from the taste-maker doucheblogs. Fuck that! I will testify that “Landing on a Hundred” is a damn near perfect record and his (and his band’s) live skills are legendary.  He is the real deal.

4. What is your favorite live music memory (performing or attending)?

TR: Butthole Surfers with Killdozer at the Rivera 1987. Long ago, before YouTube, waaaay back in the 20th century, you never knew what you were gonna get when you went to see a band the first time. Sure I’d read a paragraph or two about their shows, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. Shocking in every way, including beautifully! Nobody today is out for blood like both these bands in the late 80’s. The Surfers were just otherworldly and terrifying.

5. Finish this sentence: “Minneapolis is a great place to…

TR: Get a face tattoo.

See Dead Rider tonight, Thursday September 4th, at the Kitty Cat Klub with Seawhores and STNNNG. More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/697979533583716/