Dave Rubinstein

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = David Rubinstein

| image = Dave_from_reagan_youth_2014-02-04_02-35.jpg

| caption =

| image_size =

| birth_name =

| alias = Dave Insurgent

| birth_place =

| birth_date = September 5, 1964

| death_place =

| death_date = July 3, 1993 (aged 28)

| origin = Forest Hills, Queens, New York, United States

| instrument = Vocals

| genre = Punk rock, hardcore punk

| occupation = Musician

| years_active = 1980–1990

| label =

| associated_acts = Reagan Youth, House of God

| website =

| current_members =

| past_members =

}}

David Rubinstein, also known as Dave Insurgent (September 5, 1964 – July 3, 1993), was an American singer and co-founder of the New York–based hardcore punk band Reagan Youth. Rubenstein founded the band with guitarist Paul Bakija when both were in Forest Hills High School in Forest Hills, Queens. The band played the punk clubs of Manhattan while the members were still in high school.

Reagan Youth

The band performed regularly at CBGB's and other venues on the United States' budding punk rock circuit. They never recorded a single, only some self-published tapes and an album that was turned into a seven-song EP. That EP sold more than 40,000 copies. The band also appeared on several compilations albums, including Live at CBGB's. They toured cross-country twice, in 1984 and 1987, sharing bills with punk bands such as Dead Kennedys, U.S. Chaos, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains and Beastie Boys. They were a mainstay at CBGB's Sunday matinee concerts and performed at Rock Against Racism concerts in the early 1980s.

Reagan Youth was a left-wing band, often using Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party imagery as political satire. In their original 1980s incarnation, they sought to address the parallels between the policies of president Ronald Reagan, the Christian Right and American conservatives and the beliefs of hate groups.{{cite web |url=http://www.newredarchives.com/bands/Reaganyouth/bio.htm |title=Reagan Youth : Biography |publisher=New Red Archives |date= |access-date=2016-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904232634/http://www.newredarchives.com/bands/Reaganyouth/bio.htm |archive-date=2016-09-04 |url-status=dead }} Their eponymous song, "Reagan Youth", drew parallels between Young Republicans and the Hitler Youth.

By the late 1980s, the Reagan Youth members were frustrated and worn out from years of touring, drug use and not making money in the music industry. When Reagan left office, the band officially disbanded. Rubinstein and several other band members continued to play music together, such as in the band House of God, which never achieved the same success as Reagan Youth.

Personal problems and suicide

By the time that Reagan Youth broke up, Rubinstein had developed a serious heroin addiction and was dealing drugs.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} An unknown assailant beat up Rubinstein with a baseball bat, leaving him in a coma.{{cite web|author=Paul "Cripple" Bakija |url=http://paulcripple.blogspot.com/ |title=I'm the Living Proof of Reagan's Lies |website=Paulcripple.blogspot.com |date=2014-06-04 |access-date=2016-05-27}}{{Verify source|date=June 2014}} While admitted at the hospital, Rubinstein received a lobotomy to relieve brain trauma and save his life.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/04/11/after-unspeakable-tragedies-reagan-youth-is-trying-again/ |title=After unspeakable tragedies, Reagan Youth is trying again |last=Stewart |first=Alison |date=11 April 2013 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=30 July 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170402034207/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-11/entertainment/ct-ott-0412-reagan-youth-20130411_1_band-hardcore-reagan-youth|archive-date=2 April 2017 |url-status=live }}{{Verify source|date=September 2022|reason=Unable to verify source; primary source is hearsay and counter to known facts about lobotomies in the USA (https://thejns.org/focus/view/journals/neurosurg-focus/43/3/article-pE6.xml)}} When he got out of the hospital, he returned to his parents' home. There, Rubinstein continued to use drugs, smoking cannabis in his bedroom as his parents tried to help him recover. Eventually, Rubinstein left his parents' home and moved back to the Lower East Side. By then, between the assault and his continued drug use, he was no longer as energetic, and had become dishevelled. Many of his friends from the punk scene no longer associated with him.

Rubinstein began dating Tiffany Bresciani, a prostitute who worked on Houston Street and danced in strip clubs around the city.Newton, Michael. [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/rifkin/7.html "Joel David Rifkin: New York's Most Prolific Serial Killer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110003949/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/rifkin/7.html |date=2014-01-10 }}. TruTV, accessed August 21, 2011 He had told his parents that she was a dancer. Bresciani financially supported the couple and their drug habit with prostitution. Rubinstein often waited for Bresciani while she serviced a customer, and then accompanied her to buy drugs.Simmonds, Jeremy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bMBf3TYZigQC&pg=PA301 "Dave Insurgent"]. The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches, p. 301, Chicago Review Press, 2008, accessed August 21, 2011 {{ISBN|1-55652-754-3}}

On June 24, 1993, Rubinstein and Bresciani were waiting on Allen Street when a familiar customer pulled up in a Mazda pickup truck. Bresciani got in, telling Rubinstein that she would return in 20 minutes. She never came back. Rubinstein called the police with a description of the truck. He went to the club where Bresciani danced, and all the hospital emergency rooms in the city, searching for her. A few days later, on June 28, two New York state troopers were patrolling Long Island's Southern State Parkway when they pulled over the truck after a low-speed chase, and found Bresciani's decaying body in the back. They arrested the driver, Joel Rifkin, one of Long Island's more infamous serial killers, who was linked to the murders of numerous women.Kasindorf, Jeanie Russell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yyYAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38 "The Bad Seed"], New York Magazine, pp. 38–40, August 9, 1993

On June 30, 1993, Rubinstein's mother died after being accidentally run over by a vehicle driven by his father.{{cite book |last1=Nadler |first1=Ben |title=Punk in NYC's Lower East Side 1981-1991: Scene History Series, Volume 1 |date=November 29, 2014 |publisher=Microcosm Publishing |isbn=9781621067238 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpnQCQAAQBAJ}}

Depressed and alone after the unexpected loss of his girlfriend and mother, Rubinstein headed into a downward spiral and, on July 3, 1993, he committed suicide by drug overdose.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20070627073938/http://www.newredarchives.com/bands/Reaganyouth/index.htm Reagan Youth page at New Red Archives site]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070621054423/http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/reaganyouth/from/evor Reagan Youth at CDBaby]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070625114548/http://www.lovecatmusic.com/releaseA.php?q=3673 Reagan Youth at LoveCatMusic]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070627072017/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/rifkin/1.html Joel Rifkin at Crime Library ]
[http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1992.html Dave Insurgent at The Dead Rock Stars Club]

Category:1964 births

Category:1993 suicides

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:Jewish American rock musicians

Category:American punk rock singers

Category:Anarcho-punk musicians

Category:Drug-related suicides in New York (state)

Category:Jews in punk rock

Category:Lobotomised people

Category:Musicians from Queens, New York

Category:Singers from New York City

Category:Reagan Youth members