Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Dana Spiardi 
The protagonist in the movie “What About Bob” attributes his failed marriage to this time-tested rule: “There are two types of people in the world — those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.” Well, despite the fact that Neil Diamond is sometimes rebuked by rockers for his symphonic serenades, … Read more
Oh, Jimi Hendrix! Why did you have to swallow those 9 sleeping pills, suffocate in your own vomit, and deprive us of many more years of power-charged electric rock? You would have turned 73 years old today. We can only imagine what contributions you would have made had you not expired at age 27 in … Read more
On July 22, 2011, I had the pleasure of seeing two major pop/rock acts from the 1960s — The Young Rascals (now known as Felix Cavaliere and the Rascals) and Tommy James and The (new) Shondells — at the Chautauqua Institution, that venerable adult education center that began as a camp for Sunday school teachers … Read more
Every year when I watch the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s new inductees deliver their acceptance speeches, I’m moved to hear the titans of the music business thank their mothers – for buying them their first guitars, for putting up with their basement drum practice, for driving them to early gigs. Who could forget … Read more
I was 13 years old, gawky, zitty, unpopular, and academically mediocre. Unlike many of the girls in my class, I didn’t have a boyfriend. Mary Richards was 30-ish, beautiful, accomplished, and smart. And unlike many of the female characters on TV at that time, she didn’t have a boyfriend. And that made me feel SO … Read more