Tune in to KALX Live! 9pm to midnight on Saturday June 17th to hear Dick Stusso hosted by Sly Ida.
Hi, Bay Area local Nic Russo here. Longtime KALX listener, sometimes caller talking about Dick Stusso. Dick Stusso is a joke that got out of hand. Not really a pun. Dumber. More dumb? Richard Russo is an author of no relation. Dick Stusso is dying to give you musical satisfaction. Dying and crying. And loving. Thank you.
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Dick Stusso is a mess. The third album from everyone’s favorite increasingly unhinged rock phenom is a document of slow, full mental unraveling in a money-chasing saga set with a world in perpetual decay as its backdrop. With S.P., the man behind the Dick Stusso persona (specifically, California-based singer and songwriter Nic Russo, who is doing much better than his fictional counterpart) has created his most out-there and toothsome record to date, plunging his listeners into a world that might seem strange—that is, until they take a look at what’s actually around them too.
S.P. is the first Dick Stusso record in four years, following his stellar Hardly Art debut In Heaven from 2018—but this latest missive is more of an indirect sequel to the buzz-building 2015 release Nashville Dreams / Sings the Blues, diving deeper into Dick Stusso’s crumbling psyche and dystopian surroundings. If our introduction to Dick was someone trying to pursue their dreams and turning into a failure as a result, S.P. reflects the moment where, in Russo’s words, “The character is becoming unlikable. He’s succumbing to what is taking place around him.”
