Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Dana Spiardi 
Three diminutive stars of the rock world began their musical careers as Artful Dodgers on the London stage. They include Phil Collins and Steve Marriott, both 5’5″, and Davy Jones, 5’3″. Marriott, born January 30, 1947, was a singer, songwriter and musician who fronted two influential groups: the definitive 1960s “mod rock” band Small Faces … Read more
Forty-five years ago today, The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” was the number one song in America. For me, the best part of the tune is the sing-along ending coda, “hela, heba helloa.” I just love the way it chug-chugs along. (Those words, written by Paul McCartney, mean absolutely nothing in any any foreign language, by the … Read more
Today would have been the 70th birthday of Rick Danko, the Canadian musician and singer best known as the bassist and fiddle-player for The Band. Did you know that he was the one who found and rented the famous pink house, where so much musical history was made in the late 1960s? The house, known … Read more
“Some girls give me brown sugar, I never get my fill. Some girls sell my love letters To pay their electric bill. ” My parody of Mick Jagger’s much criticized put-down song, “Some Girls,” refers to his one-time lover (and reputedly the inspiration for the song “Brown Sugar”) Marsha Hunt. On this date in 2012, … Read more
With the publication of Willie Nelson’s new memoir – Roll Me up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From the Road, I present some of my favorite past quotes from the great, grizzled 79-year-old singer/songwriter/picker…and tireless marijuana legalization promoter. “We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we … Read more