Art, Fashion, Design 4 - The Hip Quotient

My Queen-Size Crush on Freddie Mercury

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Art, Fashion, Design Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones
Post comments:7 Comments
Post published:September 5, 2014

When I was 16 years old, Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury was the man I most wanted to meet. I didn't want to sleep with him, mind you. I wanted to BE him. Or at least go shopping with him. Seriously, he was one of the people who inspired me to get out of my tiny Pennsyltucky hometown. I figured that if I studied hard enough, I could go to college, get a good job, and afford to move to London and hobnob with him and my other Brit rock idols. As it turned out, I went to college, got a job, moved to Monroeville, and got to hobnob with Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Harold Denton in the backroom of Tivoli's Restaurant in Penn Hills. But that's another story.

The British Rock Olympics: The Style Icon Competition, Part One – The ’60s

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Art, Fashion, Design Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones
Post comments:7 Comments
Post published:August 5, 2012

When it comes to music, I've waved the U.K. Rock Team flag my entire life. Okay, I realize those skinny boys stole a lot of riffs and rhythms from their American R&B heroes of the '50s. But there was something about their electric British sound and haughty, mod style that turned me into a Union Jack junkie from my earliest Beatle-loving days. So, in honor of London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, here is Part One of my series on British rock medal winners: The 1960s Style Icon Competition.

The British Rock Olympics: The Style Icon Competition, Part Two – The ’70s

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Art, Fashion, Design Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones Glam & Punk Rock: All the Young Dudes
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:August 4, 2012

Ask me where I would love to have lived in the 1960s, and I'll say LONDON in a Big Ben minute. The fashions, the music, the clubs! Imagine the chance to sit in on the drug trials of Mick and Keith! Or being able to crawl through Paul McCartney's bathroom window, as fans once did. Blimey, the bobbies didn't even carry guns (and still don't, except for special circumstances). Alas, the swinging times came to an end in the 1970s, as inflation, unemployment, high taxes and strikes eventually made for a very unmerry old England. But when times get rocky, rockers liven things up. And nowhere was this more evident than in London, where artists helped quell the chaos with new sounds and provocative fashion. Here, then, is Part Two of my take on London's 2012 Olympic games: The 1970s' British Style Icon Competition.