English Pronunciation Audio

"Montiel tells his entertaining, sad tales with a combination of affection, glee and
nostalgia. He's managed to escape the dismal fate of many of his childhood cohorts, while still
cherishing and embracing their humanity."Publishers Weekly

"It's gritty, it's sexy . . . "New York Post

He howls, "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" at a moon that is inside all of us."
Vanity Fair

Orlandito "Dito" Montiel grew up wild in the streets of Astoria, Queens: pulling pranks for Greek
and Italian gangsters and confessing at the church of the Immaculate Conception, gobbling hits
of purple mescaline and Old English, sneaking into Times Square whore houses, and at times
getting near much graver trouble. Entering adulthood in the eighties, he escapes into the
underground and punk cultures of Manhattan.

This is the story of a young man's hunger for experience, his dawning awareness of the bigger world
across the bridge, and the loyalties that bind him to the flawed and desperate Saints that have guided
his life: Bob Semen; Frank the dog walker; Jimmy Mullen; Cherry Vanilla; Allen Ginsberg; and all the
junkies and insaniacs like Santos Antonios who said, "Now Dito remember, in life you gotta be crazy."


Dito Montiel grew up a Punk Rock skinhead boxer in Astoria, Queens, was a model for Gianni Versace, signed the first $1 million record deal ever for an underground band with Gutterboy, got KO'd in the Golden Gloves, and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Interview, Details, and numerous other magazines as a writer, musician, and New York personality.

Jason Collins has been seen on numerous stages in the northwest, including the Seattle Repertory Theatre. He received three prestigious Footlight Awards for his work as Huck Finn in Big River and Valentine LaMar in Babes in Arms, both with Village Theatre, and Finn in Into the West for Seattle Children's Theatre.