Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Dana Spiardi 
If Halloween is about taking a little trip to the dark, spooky, loony side of life, then every day is Halloween for me. Always has been. I was born in the Season of the Witch, and the mysterious and the macabre are my muses. For me, thrills and chills don’t come in the form of … Read more
I generally consider someone a true artist if he or she has the courage to produce straight-from-the-soul work that is so provocative it’s likely to offend the masses, incite controversy, and, ideally, inspire people to open their minds and question long-held beliefs. When you think of such artists, Puerto Rican singer/songwriter José Feliciano doesn’t immediately … Read more
When I was 6 years old, the lady who lived in the apartment above ours gave me a stack of old 45s she no longer wanted. One of my favorites from the bunch was, and still is, Marv Johnson’s “Merry Go Round.” Ever heard of him? Well, you should have, because he was the first … Read more
It’s ironic that a tireless war protester like John Lennon would have ever accepted a film role as a soldier. But that’s just what he did back in 1966 when he appeared as Private Gripweed in Richard Lester’s movie “How I Won the War.” The film was an absurd black comedy about the misadventures of … Read more
“Hang on, Snoopy, Snoopy hang on.” At least that’s what I thought the band was singing until I bought that seminal 1965 single by The McCoys, and realized that Snoopy was actually Sloopy. But who the heck was THAT? Obviously not a beagle who sat on a doghouse wearing a WWI flying helmet. Legend has … Read more