The first time I heard the Dandy Warhols was on a flight from Halifax to Toronto, some time in the late 90s. Alan Cross did a great radio show for Air Canada (which introduced me to a lot of great music over my travelling years, including Sunny Day Real Estate) that, this particular day, happened to feature a song called “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth”. I was in love. Later I picked up a copy of …Come Down (which, to this day, I consider one of the greatest albums I’ve ever heard) and two more would soon follow. Those first three Dandys discs were brilliant; now, after watching DiG!, I see where a lot of the genius came from: A brilliant and destructive spazpants named Anton Newcombe.

I’ve been dying to see DiG! (imdb | rotten tomatoes) since it screened at Sundance. Well worth the wait. It’s fascinating to watch a genius sabotage his own dreams, and more than a little gratifying to watch a narcissistic bastard make everyone despise him. I figure we got the best of both worlds; the megalomaniacal shithead got what he deserved, but not before his influence helped three Dandy Warhols become near-masterpieces.