Listen to Looch: getting to know 'Dennis and Lois'
by Mary Lucia
May 07, 2019
Maybe over a year ago, I saw something on social media that was intriguing enough for me to start digging into what it was. It was a documentary; it's called Dennis and Lois.
What's that about?
It's about Dennis and Lois.
Who are they?
They're two ordinary, extraordinary music fans that basically live a life that probably we all wish we could, which is doing exactly what they want: They go to shows.
Dennis and Lois met in the 1970s at a Ramones show at CBGB. That night, Arturo Vega, who did all of the design work for the Ramones' logos and T-shirts, was running lights and then running back to the merch table, and back and forth, so Dennis and Lois just said, "We'll sell your merch. I mean, we're here. It's kind of our way to say 'thanks' and to pay back the band." Since then, it's become legendary now that they sell the merch at all of their favorite bands' gigs.
At one time, Dennis and Lois had Ramones vanity plates on their minivan, and when they would park it on the Lower East Side, the plates got stolen five or six times. They finally thought, "Well, this is crazy; let's just get Mekons plates," after another favorite band — and as the Mekons' Jon Langford says, "Those have never been stolen."
Langford is a big part of this documentary, as are so many musicians. And the documentary is not specific to New York; certainly Dennis and Lois were there at that birth of punk, but at the same time, they have a spiritual connection to Manchester in England, and they go there several times a year.
Dennis and Lois have developed friendships with these bands, but it raises the question: how does a fan do that? Even Craig Finn of the Hold Steady asks that question: How do fans become friends and family of these bands?
It's a gift. I think it's because Dennis and Lois are so authentic and genuine; they're not trying to get anything from the band; they just want to talk to them and tell them how much they appreciate their music.
The Happy Mondays, for example, were one of those bands. Dennis and Lois went to a bunch of their shows in Manchester, and then when the band came to Los Angeles to record, Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays called up Dennis, "We need weed, and we don't know where to get it." Long story short, Dennis came through, and the Happy Mondays wrote a song about Dennis and Lois in appreciation of their contribution to that record. It's very funny.
But the story is really about these two people who have an extraordinary life. Dennis and Lois are not married, but they're together, and the friendship and the way they share the experience is almost as if they're one person. They've allowed filmmaker Chris Cassidy this incredible access to into their lives, the lives of these two people who, like I said, are so ordinary — and so extraordinary.
The movie has not been released, but you can go to dennisandlois.com for updates or to follow where the film is going.
I'm telling you right now, this movie is going to blow minds. Dennis and Lois is going to make you cry; it's going to make you laugh; you're going to absolutely go on this journey with these two and want to know them. The whole documentary is about their pursuit of friendship with these bands … and after viewing this, I want to be friends with Dennis and Lois.
External Link
Dennis and Lois - official site
