America's most unapologetic Jewish band is back - and ready to rock

The Dictators are back.

We're not talking about the nefarious, autocratic ones that rule too many of the world's countries - though they're back, too. But here, in the land of pop culture, we're talking about the New York rock band that childhood friends Andy Shernoff and Ross Friedman started in 1972. In the mid- '70s, when punk hit, the young Dictators became one of the key bands to play the CBGB scene on the Bowery. They didn't exist through most of the 1980s and '90s, and a 2020 return to the fray was derailed by the COVID-19 epidemic and lockdown.

The reconstituted band – still led by son...