Teenage Wasteland 2 - The Hip Quotient

Tales of a Teenage Malcontent in the Wicked Winter of 1977

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Dylan's Boot Heels Wanderin'Rants, Reflections, Ruminations Teenage Wasteland
Post comments:6 Comments
Post published:January 20, 2017

Snow came down like course sea salt on a big ugly Tupperware bowl of pale popcorn. It was January 1977, the coldest month in Pittsburgh history. I was a pint-size high school senior living in a small town 40 miles east of the steel city, serving my time and awaiting the day in late May when I would "commence." I was, in the words of Paul Simon's "My Little Town," savin' my money, dreamin' of glory, twitchin' like a finger on a trigger of a gun. I look back on the stay-at-home snow days of that brutal January - sheltered, sans-siblings, in the bedroom of our four-room apartment - as one of the most beautifully sad, soul-expanding periods of my life. With no actual school work, I was free to feed my psyche with all kinds creative matter. I was free to ponder the meaning of life -- to dissect the mysterious beast of High School Land.

Roaring Down Thunder Road: Darlin’, You Know Just What I’m Here For

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:American Bands and Artists Bruce and the Boys Rants, Reflections, Ruminations Teenage Wasteland
Post comments:3 Comments
Post published:August 25, 2016

August 25, 2015: I took a road trip with "Born to Run" yesterday. It's the 40th anniversary of Bruce's groundbreaking album, and there's no better way to experience it than by blasting it in your car, with the windows open and the wind blowing back your hair. Cars and tunnels and backstreets and highways are just as central to the…

I A.M. What I Am: Breakfast of Champions with KDKA

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Rants, Reflections, Ruminations Teenage Wasteland
Post comments:1 Comment
Post published:November 2, 2015

As a kid I had breakfast every morning with the 50,000-watt Godzilla of all AM radio stations - KDKA 1020, Pittsburgh, PA. The first commercial radio station in the world, launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, turns 95 years old today. My dad always had our kitchen radio tuned to 1020 on the dial. There was no fighting him on…

The Gift of Anne Frank: Writing Till the Stoney End

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Teenage Wasteland Writers on the Storm: Books, Authors, Poets
Post comments:4 Comments
Post published:June 12, 2015

Anne Frank, the Jewish teen diarist who documented her experiences hiding from the Nazis during World War II, would have turned 86 today. Her work inspired me to purchase my first diary. We were soul mates; both of us dark-haired and dark-eyed, yearning to be free, wrapped up in our writing as a form of escape and self-therapy. Like Anne, I will continue to write till my stoney end.

Love Some Vinyl on Record Store Day

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Rants, Reflections, Ruminations Teenage Wasteland
Post comments:3 Comments
Post published:April 18, 2015

Give an old record a loving home! Today is the eighth annual Record Store Day, so visit one of your local independently owned shops, browse the bins, and pick up a platter full of sound that you can actually hold in your hands -- a shiny groooovy disc with a sleeve that doesn't require a magnifying glass to read! And even if you no longer have a way to spin the record, stop in anyway. You'll marvel at those old LP covers and find yourself saying, "I had that one...and that one...and OH, I forgot all about that one!" It's like taking a trip in a time machine.