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Hot Dog Death
By Lou DiGiorno’ 88
And so, gentlemen and ladies, from the decade that brought you flannels, flattops and five-disc changers, it is my pleasure to present what has been called“ as pure a‘ 90s Fordham Prep experience as one can imagine”— Hot Dog Death.
The iconic HDD logo.
Just after Midwinter Break, I walked into the staff room to find Mr. Craig Dwyer’ 98 regaling a tableful of our colleagues with tales of his own Prep days.
It was a classic Dwyer routine: the one with a Milanese clown in a Mussolini mask swinging from a trapeze in his nonna’ s basement, a peregrine falcon carrying off a Yorkshire terrier during a Metropolitan Day outing, and a crazy lady on the corner of Van Nest Avenue whose’ 46 Nash had sat unmoved in her driveway since the Carter Administration.
The assembled audience for Mr. Dwyer’ s shtick included principal Joe Petriello’ 98, Mr. Brian Sullivan’ 96, Mr. T J O’ Sullivan’ 98 and Mr. Anthony DiFato’ 99. Messrs. Verlezza and Ward of the Math Department were on hand— Classes of 1994 and 1992 respectively. Mr. Jeff Butkowski’ 99 was at the coffeemaker and Admissions Director Brad Serton’ 95 was leaning up against the fridge. Newcomer to the Engagement Office, Mr. Mike Balestra’ 94, strolled in mid-story. And sitting away from the crowd down at the far of the lounge, Mr. Nelson Ritter’ 96 was quietly poring over Biblical commentaries and / or golf scoresheets.
“ Hey, school historian,” Mr. Dwyer addressed me, wrapping up his monologue.“ Why don’ t you ever write about the’ 90s?”
“ What do you mean?” I came back at him,“ I wrote that article on the 1890 construction of Hughes Hall only a few months ago!”
Ten pairs of eyes— including my boss’— narrowed and fixed their gaze. [ Yes, I know there were 11 of them, but Mr. Ritter never looked up; he just faux-cleared his throat in disapproval.]
Point taken.
The idea that would become the most notable, quasi-ironic, bilingual, rock and( thrash / death) metal band in school history was conceived in the Commons in the fall of 1991, at a table under the no-longer-existent back windows that looked out over the pit and girders that would soon be the Leonard Theatre. It was the regular lunch spot for a group of friends who shared both a good sense of humor and a great love of music. More than just rock and metal enthusiasts, these boys from the Class of 1992 had some fairly refined musical skills: Rob Cramer on guitar; Thom Cavuto onbass and Albert Tria on drums. Under Cramer’ s leadership, the trio of instrumentalists would add a fourth, and with the addition of the over-the-top, metal-inspired vocal stylings of Dave Varenne, HDD was born.
The name? Well when your main goal is to form a band that takes itself far less seriously than— let’ s say— Spinal Tap, it’ s easy to see how Hot Dog Death just rolls off the tongue. Publicity? An artist as well as musician, Cavuto handled the promotional imagery— including the iconic HDD logo— that in the words of a one long-time devotee,“ would come to define the decade.” [ Well, not really. But it did make the flyer.] Roadies? There never were any, but there was a mocumentary of sorts shot by none other than the original( Friend of Hot Dog Death) fellow member of the Class of’ 92, Steve Iervolino. Interestingly, Iervolino has made a career of covering, editing and producing entertainment news. One wonders if his timeless teenage work on HDD: Behind the Music made it onto his CV.
Practices continued throughout the fall of their senior year— mostly at Cramer’ s house in Tuckahoe— in preparation for their big Commons première [ is there even such a thing as a heavy metal accent grave?] on the evening of November 8th at the FP Battle of the Bands. Also performing that night were the alt-rock Bad Yams and the lyrically acrobatic rap of Sam Walker’ 92.
HDD was loud. With their unrelenting percussion, aggressive riffs and artfully growled vocals, the boys were an immediate hit. Their set included a metallicafied version of the Troggs’“ Wild Thing,” a couple of
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