“The Decade: Images of Modern America,” a new book written by Gabby Means, the granddaughter of former owner Dom DiSilvio, documents the era from 1976 to 1995 when the Oakland club was the home of rock ‘n’ roll in Pittsburgh.
Timed to its release on Oct. 17, we asked for musicians, fans and industry folks to share their favorite moments there:
Billy Price: It was 1991, and Dom booked Otis Clay with his band from that time, Chicago Fire, to play with me at the Decade. Danny DeVito and Jack Nicholson, and probably some other actors I didn’t know about at that time, were in town filming “Hoffa.” I guess they had heard about the show and came over. I know that they stayed for at least one full set and seemed to be having a great time. They said hello to both me and Otis, and it was a great night all around. The one thing I remember most is being impressed with how short Danny DeVito was. That guy is REALLY short.
Norman Nardini: There was night that Albert Collins showed up late because of a huge snowstorm. The club was packed and it was snowing like [crazy]. We all heard a bang on the side door and when the door swung open, Albert was standing there with his whole band in the falling snow. They set up their gear real quick and just ripped it up: the finest in Texas blues live on the Decade stage.
Rico Gagliano (American Public Media’s “The Dinner Party”): Myself and Ron Strelecki, both under 21, desperately wanted to see Jonathan Richman play The Decade. This was 1989. No way we could get in to the over-21 show. ... So we showed up at 4 p.m. when they were an all-ages lunch joint, hoping they wouldn’t card us when they started the “nightclub” portion of the evening — and it worked! Of course, by the time Richman took the stage at 10 p.m. or so, it meant we’d been sitting there for six hours and had inhaled the equivalent of 10 packs of cigarettes in secondhand smoke. Richman was great, though (as was the opening act The Frampton Brothers), and afterwards we went up to his dingy dressing room and he signed Ron’s Fender Strat, which Ron had bought because Jonathan was playing one on his album cover.
Second moment: I was doing a DJ set on Pitt college station, WPTS. Frank Smigiel, the music director, comes in and goes, “Hey, a bunch of us are going down to The Decade to see this great show, you should come.” I’m like, “Who’s playing?” Frank says “Throwing Muses, with this band The Pixies opening. They’re amazing.” I’d never heard of the Pixies. I dig around in our record stacks to find their new album “Come On Pilgrim,” take one look at the dark, freaky cover art and say, “Enh, looks goth to me, I’ll pass.” I often tell this story and describe it as The Greatest Show I Never Saw.
Steve Morrison (The Optimists): Red Hot Chili Peppers (1985): About 12 people in the audience including me and my roommate Mike Fay, who edited the entertainment section of the Pitt News and had interviewed Flea earlier. Midway through the set, Flea shouted, “This goes out to my buddies from the Pitt Press!” and he turned around and mooned us.
Richard Parsakian (Eons Fashion Antique): I was one of those 12 people when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were there. I remember Flea whipping it out and Anthony pushing his bare butt in a girls face sitting in the table next to me. I knew then they were meant for stardom.
John Altdorfer (photographer): My first time was for the Houserockers. All I remember is the joyful noise and constantly watching the the parachute (or whatever was hanging from the ceiling) and waiting for it to ignite. I stood close to an exit door, not fully believing that it would open if needed.
Wayno (illustrator): On my birthday in 1986, I went with two pals to hear the Raunch Hands. During the set, a very loud heckler kept requesting their song, “Whap-a-Dang.” The heckler was Sam Kinison, who had performed nearby that evening at Graffiti. The band decided to take a break, and Kinison took the stage and did about a half hour of surprise comedy.
Dewey Gurall (music writer/musician): Here’s one about the ‘Voice of the Penguins’ Mike Lange, who wasn’t even there when it happened. The great blues guitarist Tom Principato was playing. It was about 12:30-1 a.m., and the phone rang. I saw [manager] Billy Pascale answer, and then hold the phone up in the air while Principato executed one of his beautiful emotive solos. About 5 minutes later, the song ends, and Billy says into the phone, “is that good? OK, see ya, Mike.” He then answered my quizzical stare with, “the Pens are on the road, and Lange is sitting in his hotel room, drinking bourbon, and he just wanted to hear some great blues from The Decade before he went to sleep.”
Sam Matthews (The S/cks, formerly The Bats): We heard the Gun Club was coming to town on “Las Vegas Story” so Lee [Skirboll] and I went into the Decade to try and get the gig. We find Dom at the bar and tell him why we were the only band in Pittsburgh who should open for the Gun Club, and Dom goes “I have Kids After Dark opening,” so we start laughing and head for the door. Dom goes “Wait, I’ll hook you up with something else,” and to his everlasting credit, he did, several times...The best single thing that ever happen to me at the Decade was I has hanging out there drinking quarter drafts on a Tuesday night watching Warren King, and Robert Quine, sunglasses and all, comes walking in (Lou Reed had played at the Mosque that night). So I bought two more drafts, introduced myself, handed Quine a beer and we talked Big Muff Pi’s and other guitar geek stuff for the next hour. I bought our drinks. I think I spent $2.
Frank Czuri (The Silencers): The Silencers debut. [There was] big competition with Fat City Swissvale. Threats, etc. We rescheduled Swissvale and played for Dom. So much drama, but that’s all I can say.
John Mullennix (Professor of Psychology at Pitt-Johnstown): I remember seeing The Police there, March 1979. Sting was being super snotty. He complained about it being hot, he complained about how small the place was, he was being a royal diva. Despite that, they really rocked it out. I saw numerous Silencers shows there, with Warren King jumping on top of tables for the “Peter Gunn” theme. A lot of slogging through broken glass at their shows and people on tables. Tables and glass, a recurring Decade theme…
Chris Fletcher (WYEP DJ): It was the early ‘80s and armed with a barely passable fake ID I was able to get in to see the power-pop band The Beat. Dom looked at me like “there’s no way you’re 21,” but smiled and let it go. With frontman Paul Collins, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Nonstop hook-filled two- to three-minute Beatlesque songs. I went out and bought the album the next day. It’s still a fave.
Chris Koenigsberg (Carsickness): When we got the gig opening for U2 at the Decade in 1981, it was part of a package deal with DiCesare-Engler Productions. We could open for U2 if we also opened for Doug & the Slugs, The Rings and the Divinyls (some years before the Divinyls had their big hit single “I Touch Myself”). Me and Archie went down to one of the FM AOR stations — I forget if it was WDVE or WYDD — with a copy of our first album, “Shooting Above The Garbage,” and U2’s first album, “Boy.” We met with the program director and asked him to play the albums and promote the U2 show on the air (plus the other shows, with the Rings, Doug & The Slugs, and The Divinyls). Now, it’s been a long time and I’ve told this story many times and I’m probably misremembering some details but as far as I remember, the program director said basically, “Hmm, U2? Never heard of them. But the Rings! Hey, now they’re hot! We’re putting them on heavy rotation already, so we’ll definitely be playing the hell out of them and promoting that show with the Rings.”
Lee Skirboll (The Bats): Jonathan Richman was indeed a highlight. I didn’t know his music at the time and wondered if there wasn’t something “wrong” with him — the way he sang, and the childlike songs which grew on me. Then the Pixies show. Never was that close to them again. Kim Deal’s eyes were hypnotic and beautiful — I imagined she was looking at me.
Gina Matesic: All from the ‘80s: Violent Femmes, 1983, touring for the first LP — they were happily surprised when everyone sang along to “Blister in the Sun”; Rain Parade, 1985 maybe, with the Bats opening; the drunken Replacements, Meat Puppets. Del Fuegos from Boston played a great show for five people.
Ed Masley (The Frampton Brothers): I met Alex Chilton at The Decade. We were opening the show and I was really nervous, as you would be if you worshipped Alex Chilton like I worshipped Alex Chilton. So I’m sitting at the bar with Slim, my lead guitarist, enjoying my beverage of choice before the show. The doors have yet to open so there’s no one really in there. And Alex Chilton comes over and sits down beside me. Alex Freaking Chilton. And he leans in close and asks me, “Hey man, do you know where I can get any weeeeeeed?,” the last word lingering as though he was savoring every second of just saying it. And I had no idea. I was, like, the Wally Cleaver of the local music scene. And here’s this legendary icon, a personal hero, asking me for weed, and I can’t hook him up with anything. So I say, “Sorry. I have no idea.” And he nods his head and flashes me this very pained expression that I’m pretty sure was meant to be a smile and walks away. And that’s last I ever spoke to Alex Chilton, the end of a beautiful five-second friendship.
Marc Reisman (Iron City Houserockers): Highlights: Gilbert (Gil Snyder) taking a chainsaw to his standup piano. U2, Ramones and the Police shows. Dom not recognizing Meat Loaf and telling him to get the #!@! out of the kitchen. Riots when we played “Born to Be Wild” at the end of the night.
Angelo Amantea (Dirty Charms, Ultimatics): “I grew up there. It taught me to rock early. Norm, Joe G, Red Hot and Blue, etc., were my mentors. Was cool randomly seeing Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith there, just hangin in back bar. And being at the urinal and glancing over and seeing Bon Jovi [goin’] there — was not a real big fan but was surreal. He was like megastar then. Also, it was like 3:30 a.m.”
Harriet Stein (fan): [A friend] talked me into going to see U2 at the Decade. I, like most Americans, was not familiar with U2. They put on a stadium-style show to the packed house in a small club. Bono even did the butane lighter flicking routine. They were quite impressive.
David Rusnak (Former The Hell Band): The Hell Band opened for many of the touring bands in 1979 including Pat Benatar, David Johansen, 20/20 and Henry Paul. I also played there as a member of Lovesick, The Crackers, The Buzz and The Flashcats. Great times! I wandered in one evening and there was this amazing unknown British cat on stage and only a lightly filled house. It was Joe Jackson performing the “Look Sharp!” album.
Philip Harris (Hector in Paris): I played there on a number of occasions, but the first time was the best. I was still in college (’78 or ‘79) and we had a band called Woodstreet because we all went to Point Park University. Phil Smith, Ronny Moondog Esser, Tony Sanchez, Steve Haberman and I thought we had hit the big time after playing there on a Monday Night and filling up the place with enthusiastic drinkers. They said they would start booking us on a regular basis. We called and called. We didn’t play there a second time. Welcome to the music business!
Johnny Leitera (Low Water): I have no memories from The Decade. That was kinda the point.
Tom Breiding: I saw Norm Nardini and the Tigers there in '84. Norman opened his trench coat to reveal his boxers, which he then promptly removed to reveal another pair of boxers underneath. It was the rockin’-est, sweatiest, adrenaline-rush of a show I've ever seen in a bar. I remember thinking, “This guy should be on the cover of Rolling Stone, selling out arenas everywhere."
Ronny Moondog Esser (Moondogs): I used to sneak over when I managed Graffiti. Spent many a Sunday night drinking Iron City with Art Nardini. Sat next to Jack Nicholson and watched Otis Clay with Billy Price. He and Danny Devito were in town filming “Hoffa.”
Matthew Frank: When I was 13 I played in a punk band called The Slime Boys. This would have been ’78-’79. My dad was dying and Art Nardini took a liking to the band. Everyone else in the band was 18. He just felt bad for me but he knew I had turned to music as a way to cope. He snuck me in to see the Iron City Houserockers, his band. Told me I was the drum tech. “Carry stuff and stay quiet,” he told me. It was the start of a love affair with The Decade. It was rock ’n’ roll. It had soul.
James Spitznagel (Former Jim’s Records owner): I first started going to The Decade to hear a local band called Gravel. They were a lot like NRBQ, playing good-time rock ‘n’ roll. That was a very long time ago. Years later Jim’s Records had a good working relationship with Dom and we had the inside word on which national bands were offered and booked. Some of my favorites were The Ramones, U2, The Alley Cats, Gun Club, David Johansen and Richard Hell. The Ramones stand out among all others! It was a fantastic experience to see and hear artists like The Police, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Jackson and The Pretenders in the up-close and personal atmosphere of The Decade. I was lucky enough to play there many times with Eddie and The Otters and The Hornets...and once each with The Rumble Strips and The Rockadiles. The audience was always the best audience in the city. The staff was always hard-working and down-to-business. But it was Dom’s support of the local bands that kept it a happening joint every night of the week.
First Published: October 13, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
