The 1st record released by Laughing Sam's Records was Reviewed in: On The Trail, Record Round-Up, by: Bruce C. Pilato, in January 1983, right between Missing Persons and Ozzy Osbourne, here it is verbatim:

Ricky D / 3 Song EP  / I may be missing the point entirely, however, this is easily the best garage record I've heard in a long, long time. Recorded in his home studio and playing most of the instruments himself, Dias has put together a collection of songs that defy classification and are interestingly bizarre. Don't expect super slick production or fancy studio tricks, cause you won't find them here ... that stuff would just get in the way. It sounds a little like Phil Spector gone beserk. Approach with caution.   Bruce C. Pilato.

This record led to a dialog from EMI RECORDS (UK) Producer George Martin (The BEATLES producer) to get in touch with EMI America Records, which led to Ricky D being included on the A&R Artist development list at #6 (there were 10 in all). At that time David Bowie had just signed with EMI a 3 record deal contract that included a $5 million bonus. With funds being tight they pulled it from the development list, and Ricky D didn't get his contract.

In 1986 Ricky D formed the band: Positive Ground (Actually the 2nd version of the band, the first was 1979-1981) They Recorded 12 tracks at Harbor & Laughing Sam's Recording studios. Ricky D listened to rough tracks on a crappy cassette in an old crappy Toyota corolla with Todd Rundgren, he approved. In comes Director of A & R, Anna Statman of Slash Records. We opened shows with Slash recording artists and came close to signing. They wanted Ricky D to dump the singer (which was him and another fella, but the company didn't want to find one for us so we lost out, oh well). In the early 1990's Laughing Sam's Records released the 12 songs on the CD: On The Way Down, by: Positive Ground. There is some really cool stuff on it.

1987 release of the film: 'The Accidental Visit,' first shown in 16mm color film, later transferred to professional VHS with stereo sound track. Won first place in the SAMM (Sacramento Amateur Movie Makers), a member of the Northern California Council of Amateur Movie Makers, annual major film contest. Written, Produced, Directed & Music by: Ricky D.

Move forward to 1999, Ricky D & The Red Flames is born. In 2000, Laughing Sam's Records released: Believe It! The Red Flames are so hot their COOL. To show you how cool they really are a Boston, Punk/Metal Web Radio station debuted it (the whole record) and received so many death threats they were forced to never, never play it again. Banned in Boston, where have I heard that before? Ricky D & The Red Flames is an Internationally Registered Band.

Jump to the present (2006) The new release is coming from Laughing Sam's Records. Don't X Me Out, by The Red Flames. It was 2 years in the making and it will not disappoint. 14 new original songs (Well, except one by Willie Dixon). With Chris Jamison, composer/drummer (he plays guitar and bass as well) The band has a harder edge. The Internet will soon be buzzing about this, so dig into your pockets and start throwing money at us, this is gonna be BIG!