Eduardo Rivadavia (aka Ed Rivadavia) was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and by his late teens had already toured the world (and elsewhere), learning four languages on three continents. Having also accepted the holy gospel of rock & roll as his lord and savior, Eduardo became infatuated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and all things heavy, crude, and obnoxious while living in Milan, Italy, during the mid-1980s. At this time, he also made his journalistic debut as sole writer, editor, publisher, and, some would claim, reader of his high school's heavy metal fanzine, earning the scorn of jocks and nerds alike, but uniting the small hardcore music-loving contingent into a frenzied mob that spent countless hours exchanging tapes, talking shop, and getting beat up at concerts. Upon returning home to Brazil, Eduardo resumed a semi-normal existence, sporadically contributing music articles to local papers and magazines while earning his business degree. Finally, after years of obsessive musical fandom and at peace with his distinct lack of musical talent, Eduardo decided the time had come to infiltrate the music industry by the fire escape. He quit his boring corporate job, relocated to America, earned his master's degree while suffering the iniquities of interning for free (anything for rock & roll!), and eventually began working for various record labels, accumulating mountains of records and (seemingly) useless rock trivia in the process. This eventually led him back to writing, and he has regularly contributed articles to multiple websites since 1999, working with many different rock genres but specializing, as always, in his personal hobby: hard rock and heavy metal. To quote from the insightful 'This Is Spinal Tap': "People should be jealous of me...I'm jealous of me...." Eduardo currently resides in Austin, TX, with his wife, two daughters, and far more records, CDs and MP3s than he'll ever have time to listen to.
Eduardo Rivadavia
18 Years Ago: AC/DC’s ‘Ballbreaker’ Released
The 13th AC/DC album turned out to be lucky for the Australian hard rock legends, which is why we're celebrating the Sept. 26, 1995 release of 'Ballbreaker.' The album continued their return to form after 1990's 'The Razor's Edge.'
25 Years Ago: Dire Straits Break Up
Classic rock history is littered with unexpected tragedies and surprising reversals of fate, but other events can be seen coming from a mile away – case in point, the official break up of Dire Straits, which was announced by band leader, Mark Knopfler, precisely 25 years ago today...
35 Years Ago: Frank Zappa Releases ‘Studio Tan’
If Frank Zappa was still alive, you can bet he'd be the last person who'd want to celebrate the anniversary of 'Studio Tan,' an album he didn't sanction, sequence, or even approve cover art for. He was caught in a legal battle with Warner Bros. Records and former manager Herb Cohen at the time. On top of that, none of the songs included on 'Studio Tan' were even recorded in 1978; most of the track
45 Years Ago: ‘Weekend Warriors’ Becomes Ted Nugent’s Last Platinum Hurrah
He'd pushed out Derek St. Holmes, who contributed a lot during their inexorable rise to greatness.
35 Years Ago: Blue Oyster Cult Release ‘Some Enchanted Evening’
Blue Oyster Cult released their second live album, the aptly named ‘Some Enchanted Evening,’ in September 1978 and proceeded to rack up the biggest record sales of their storied career. Not bad for a band that had spent much of their career to that point intentionally cloaking themselves in mystery while challenging listeners with oftentimes obscure or downright controversial lyrics.
40 Years Ago: Buffalo’s ‘Volcanic Rock’ Album Released
One of the '70s' greatest hard-rock obscurities turns 40 today. And if you missed out on it back then, prepare to have your mind blown by the sheer, seismic power of the aptly named 'Volcanic Rock' by the Australian quartet Buffalo.
How ‘Truth’ Became Jeff Beck’s Definitive Studio Effort
This era-defining debut followed his brief but historic 18-month tenure with the Yardbirds.
35 Years Ago: Peter Frampton Almost Killed in Car Wreck
You know that old adage about bad things always happen in threes? Well you could say it victimized rocker Peter Frampton 35 years ago today, when the platinum-selling '70s superstar was nearly killed in a car crash while in the Bahamas.
How Texxas Jam ’78 Rocked Out Despite Staunch Opposition
What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, this being Texas, it all naturally came down to football.
30 Years Ago: U2’s ‘Under A Blood Red Sky’ Red Rocks Show Takes Place
30 years ago, on the night of June 5, 1983, a half-capacity crowd risked inclement weather to congregate at scenic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, situated outside Denver, Colorado, and witness, unbeknownst to them, one of the critical events in the inexorable rise to stardom undertaken by Irish rockers U2. The event was later immortalized on the seminal live album, ‘Under a Blood Red Sky.’