Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Dana Spiardi 
“But it’s all right now, I’ve learned my lesson well. You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.” Those are lyrics from “Garden Party, a 1972 Top Ten single released by the late singer/actor Rick Nelson. The one-time teen idol who came to fame as “Ricky” in the popular 1950s TV … Read more
On May 4, 1991, the people of Plzen, Czechoslovakia, were celebrating “American Day” to mark the 46th anniversary of their city’s liberation from the Nazis by General George S. Patton’s U.S. Army at the end of World War II. It was a major event, and I was lucky to be there to take part in it. … Read more
On this 45th Earth Day I can’t think of a better tune to listen to than “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” a song written and performed by the great Marvin Gaye. I’ve always been moved by the song’s haunting melody and the vivid images expressed in its lyrics. Where did all the blue skies go? … Read more
In the early 1960s, in a foggy land far from the steamy Mississippi Delta, there lived a small band of missionaries who spread the gospel of American blues music to British artists seeking spiritual enlightenment beyond the pulpit of mindless pop and traditional jazz. Alexis Korner, born on this date in 1928, was among those … Read more
Once upon a time there were these cool retail shops called “record stores,” where we browsed through bins of lovely vinyl to our hearts’ content and discussed the latest releases with store owners and fellow shoppers. And even though we sneered at chains like Pittsburgh-based National Record Mart for prevailing over the small independently-owned stores … Read more