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Buck Owens: Bakersfield Boy #1

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Cool Country Cats & Fab Folkies
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:August 12, 2015

"People would say ‘You shouldn’t be sayin’ that. You should be talkin’ about country music.’ And I said, ‘Why not? It’s the truth! Why can’t I say I’m a Beatles fan?’ I used to get criticized for that." Those words are from country music great Buck Owens, who would have turned 86 today. He was responding to the country purists who accused him of selling out by adding rock elements to his repertoire in the mid-'60s. Most rock fans know that The Beatles recorded a version of Buck's 1964 hit "Act Naturally," which featured cowboy-loving Ringo on vocals. But few realize that Buck was a fan of The Beatles even before they chose his song as the B side of "Yesterday."

The Freshwoman

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Humor and Satire
Post comments:0 Comments
Post published:August 7, 2015

If someone had told me back in 1977 that young men barely past their Clearasil years would be saying “What’s your major” to me at age 40, I‘d have said “No way!” Well..."way!” It was all part of my experience as a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where I took some non-credit courses in the summer of 2000. Here's what I wrote at the end of my first day of classes.

Andy Warhol: Superstar Artist to the Superstar Artists

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Art, Fashion, Design
Post comments:0 Comments
Post published:August 6, 2015

Happy birthday, Andy Warhol! Pittsburgh's most famous native son would have been 86 today. He coined the word "superstar" - and within the art world, he was one of the silvery-shiniest. We've seen his iconic paintings of Marilyn, Elvis, Brillo boxes, and soup cans, but did you know he designed as many as 50 album covers, from spoken-word LPs to…

Happy Trails, Hippies!

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:American Bands and Artists Guitarists: The Axemen Cometh Psychedelia
Post comments:0 Comments
Post published:August 1, 2015

That's what Woodstock attendees might have heard at the end of the festival if Roy Rogers had agreed to close the show. Woodstock organizer Michael Lang wanted Roy to come on after Jimi Hendrix, the guitar phenomenon everyone had been dying to to see. Speaking to an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences panel on October 26, 2006, Mr.…

When Frampton Came Alive

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones Guitarists: The Axemen Cometh
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:July 23, 2015

In 1976 the U.S.A. was having a big birthday - its 200th. In the Land of the Free, American rock fans could have their cake and eat it, too. New flavors were popping out of the oven daily, from Punk Pecan to Disco Devil's Food to bland ol' Styx-Style White Cake. But the all-time favorite, Arena Deluxe, was still in big demand. Yes, The Ramones, Kansas, and The Bee Gees were poised to explode, but the electric guitar titans weren't going away any time soon. And Peter Frampton was living proof of that. By the middle of that festive bicentennial summer, nearly every rock fan I knew had a copy of "Frampton Comes Alive," the two-record set released by the very pretty British singer/guitarist/songwriter. It reached the #1 spot on the U.S. charts on April 10, 1976, and ended up being the biggest LP of the year, selling over 6 million copies and remaining on the American charts for 97 weeks!