Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
All the Beatles smoked. But then, who didn’t have a ciggie ‘tween their fingers in those days? Keith Richards of The Stones was simply incapable of playing guitar without a cigarette dangling from his lips. But John Lennon obviously cursed his cigarette habit. In two of his Beatles’ songs he makes references to the evil cancer … Read more
I’m noting two things today: first, the 20-year anniversary of Ellen DeGeneres announcing, “Yep, I’m gay,” on her popular prime time TV series, thus ending weeks of speculation regarding a “coming out” announcement from the star. Second, it’s National Hairstylists Appreciation Day. Here’s how I relate the two events. On April 30, 1997, I was … Read more
Every family has its folk tales — those sometimes sweet, often cringe-inducing stories we’re forced to endure at every holiday gathering. Like the time my grandfather decided to forgo dental expenses by removing his own teeth with the help of Canadian Club whiskey and a pair of pliers. Or that day back in 1960, when … 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
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 … Read more