Welcome To Strangeland

Yes, that's me with the long brown hair back in the day. Next to me is Dee Snider with the fire engine red hair. This photo was taken many years ago in New York City at a Fangoria Convention. Dee was there promoting his horror movie "Strangeland." The film dealt with issues such as kidnapping, mutilation, torture and rehabilitation. By now, you could tell it wasn't a Hallmark movie. His character's name was ripped right out of "The Exorcist" movie, Captain Howdy. I had managed a band China White that had opened for Snider twice. He remembered those shows and decided to hang out for a few minutes before resuming his autograph session.

Dee Snider was calling his band Widowmaker the very first time I had China White open for him. The venue was Studio One in Newark, New Jersey. Once our set was done, the crowd had to wait over an hour before Dee took the stage. For some reason, the promoter was trying to renegotiate Widowmaker's contract before he went on. As I thought it would, the very next morning this unwise move by the promoter made it to the Howard Stern Show. When Dee was finally allowed to begin his set, it was amazing as usual.

The second time we opened for Dee was at The Stone Pony. This was where I heard from a member of his road crew that Dee had played shows with a few China Whites in other states. That didn't matter because we had a firm hold on the name. I was sitting at the bar during soundcheck, when the soundman was calling for Dee. All of a sudden, Dee comes running out of the back to the center microphone and yelled into it "Eat me." Everybody nodded in approval of his vocal check. This was rock 'n' roll Dee Snider style and you have to give him props for always doing things his way.