This 70-year-old LI couple is punk rock royalty
Next time you’re at a rock show in New York and security opens the VIP section for incoming patrons, the chances are it’s probably not Taylor Swift or a member of the Strokes. It’s most likely for an elderly couple from Long Island.
Dennis Anderson and Lois Kahlert, both 70, have been going to concerts for so long that they’re treated like royalty by clubs, and as guests of honor by the bands themselves. “People come up to us now and say we’re an inspiration to them because we’re still doing it,” Lois tells The Post.
Their unending dedication to music, and the relationships they’ve built with bands such as the Ramones, New Order and Oasis, are the subject of the new Chris Cassidy-directed documentary “Dennis and Lois,” premiering Thursday at the DocNYC Festival.
The pair first met in May 1975, at a Fats Domino show in Manhattan. One of their earliest dates was at CBGB, where they watched Television play with Talking Heads, while Lou Reed shot pool.
Dennis and Lois rapidly made this kind of scene the rule instead of the exception. As punk rock blossomed, the duo became fans of the Ramones, following them from show to show and eventually offering to sell their T-shirts. The punk quartet from Queens may have looked like a tight-knit group, but they were often at war. “The best gigs they did were when they were mad at each other,” says Dennis. “If they had a fight that day, they would take it out on their instruments.” Dennis and Lois also had a front-row seat to the moment Joey Ramone’s girlfriend Linda decided to shift her romantic attention to guitarist Johnny, causing a rift that meant the pair barely spoke for years. “If someone had stolen Johnny’s girl, it would have been no big deal,” says Dennis. “But because Joey was a sensitive person, it really tore him up.”
Armed with stories about the Ramones, Dennis and Lois developed a close relationship with bands from Manchester, England. Between shifts as a customer service agent (Dennis) and working for architect James Polshek (Lois), they acted as drivers, offered beds to tired artists and gave homesick musicians a pair of friendly faces on tour.
Brit band Happy Mondays had a special reason to thank them. While recording their smash 1990 album “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches,” Dennis sent FedEx packages of weed from New York, and the band showed their gratitude by naming a song on the album “Dennis and Lois.”
“I first met them in Manchester with the Mondays,” says Noel Gallagher of Oasis — another band Dennis and Lois would grow close with. “They knew more about Manchester than me,” he tells The Post. “The thing that’s great about them is they’re loyal, intense fans. They turn up everywhere, but they never get annoying.”
Not all such friendships with Manchester bands turned out quite so well. In 1998, they organized a set of New York shows for the Fall, through their then-guitarist Steven Hanley. But the band had an onstage fight and the group’s notoriously cranky lead singer Mark E. Smith was arrested on a domestic violence charge for attacking his girlfriend and keyboard player Julia Nagle. But that negativity didn’t stop Dennis and Lois from continuing to follow the bands they loved.
The couple — who never married and have no kids — used to think nothing of seeing four shows a week, or getting time off to join bands on long tours. But failing health means Lois is now unable to walk. But with Dennis’ help, she still insists on venturing out to see their favorite bands and closest friends, even when it takes a huge physical toll.
“I figure I’m at the end of it now — I feel like I’ve got minutes left,” says Lois. “So I got to fit it all in. I’m not just gonna sit here and fade away.”