Orlandito "Dito" Montiel grew up wild in the streets of Astoria, Queens, pulling pranks for Greek and Italian gangsters and confessing at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, gobbling hits of purple mescaline and Old English, sneaking into Times Square whore houses, and at times getting near much graver trouble. Entering adulthood in the eighties, he escapes into the underground and punk cultures of Manhattan. This is the story of a young man's hunger for experience, his dawning awareness of the bigger world across the bridge, and the loyalties that bind him to the flawed and desperate "Saints" that have guided his life: Bob Semen, Frank the dog walker, Jimmy Mullen, Cherry Vanilla, Allen Ginsberg, and all the junkies and insaniacs like Santos Antonios who said, "Now Dito remember, in life you gotta be crazy."
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Raised on the streets of Brooklyn in the late 1970s, Montiel followed in the footsteps of other neighborhood hooligans, committing various violent and criminal acts. In the 1980s, he fell in love with the music scene with his band, Gutterboy, while hanging out with a variety of celebrities, including Allen Ginsberg. This memoir about the different "saints" in his life ties all this together in an erratic but amusing manner. Jason Collins manages this directionless assortment of stories magnificently. He holds to a slight Brooklyn accent for Montiel but doesn't overdo it. Flawlessly, he transitions to other characters with their own vocal quirks and delivers the more emotional moments in a somber and reminiscent tone that enhances Montiel's words. L.E. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Dito Montiel grew up a Punk Rock skinhead boxer in Astoria, Queens, was a model for Gianni Versace, signed the first $1 million record deal ever for an underground band with Gutterboy, got KO’d in the Golden Gloves, and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Interview, Details, and numerous other magazines as a writer, musician, and New York personality.
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A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
by Dito Montiel