times square, 1979

My brother Nick just sent me this video of one of our NYC favorite bands back in the day, The Laughing Dogs.

The Laughing Dogs played all the usual places—CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, Hurrah, Bottom Line. I hadn't heard them in a long time and was relieved that they sound every bit as good to me as I remember. They were power pop tunesters with chops. I went to every gig I could get to, and that was most of them. I saw them open for Patti Smith in New Jersey and back up the Monkees in a club on the ground floor of the Empire State Building, if I remember correctly.

I may have been in the crowd somewhere wearing a Joehead mask (you'll know what I mean when you see it). I can’t recall, but these guys were friends with Nick and I was a peripheral friend so it's possible/likely. (If you were a girl back then you had to be dating someone in order to be anything more than peripheral to the scene.) I'm still in touch with Carter Cathcart--the piano player--now and then. I had a big crush on the bass player, Ronny Carle (nee Altaville), the one doing most of the singing. He looks like Trouble, right? Yeah. I had great taste in men. My first big romance was a hard-drinkin’ gun lover. Yikes.

But enough about me. Ladies and gentlemen, The Laughing Dogs:

P.S. serious earworm potential here