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    The Decade
    The Decade
    The Decade
    Ebook163 pages53 minutes

    The Decade

    By Gabby Means and Dom DiSilvio

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    About this ebook

    The Decade was the birthplace of rock "n" roll in Pittsburgh, at the corner of Atwood and Sennott. The eclectic bar with parachutes covering the ceiling was home base for local bands such as the Iron City Houserockers, but it also served as a showcase for rising international recording acts, including the Police, U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Ramones. Under the shadow of the University of Pittsburgh, The Decade was an oasis of live rock and blues music in the 1970s to the early 1990s. The small venue had wide appeal to bands who felt they could intimately connect with their audience. Owned and operated by Dom DiSilvio, The Decade will forever be a home to many Pittsburghers, and Images of Modern America: The Decade is a home for their stories.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 17, 2016
    ISBN9781439658017
    The Decade
    Author

    Gabby Means

    Gabby Means, eldest grandchild of Dom DiSilvio, currently attends NYU. Dom is retired and resides in downtown Pittsburgh amongst his enormous family. Both he and Gabby maintain a great passion for music, especially the Pittsburgh music scene. Most images in The Decade are from Dom's personal collection, while others have been provided by fans.

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      Book preview

      The Decade - Gabby Means

      DiSilvio

      INTRODUCTION

      Dominic Nicholas DiSilvio (henceforth referred to as Dom) was born on May 18, 1939, in Pittsburgh to surgeon Dr. Dominic and teacher and writer Zarelda (Mazza) DiSilvio. Selectively mute until the age of four, he did not speak a word until the day he definitively stated, I want a cookie. Dom was a character from day one, and he always knew exactly what he wanted. Through his mother’s teaching, Dom’s skills on the piano reached prodigious levels by age 11; however, after her premature death, he refused to ever play the piano again. Despite clear association to his mother, he cultivated his love for music and retained a deep appreciation for it throughout his entire life.

      Dom recalls that the Pittsburgh radio persona Porky Chedwick—known in Pittsburgh as Daddio of the Raddio and the Boss Man—had a huge influence on his musical interest. Driving around in convertibles with the top down, Dom listened to Chedwick’s vibrant personality and distinctive voice call out, This is Pork the Tork, your platter-pushin’ papa. Additionally, annual summer vacations in southern New Jersey landed Dom in a rock ‘n’ roll mecca. Time spent in bars like Bay Shores, Tony Marts, The Attic, Dunes Til Dawn, and Mothers left him with an insatiable thirst for the live music scene.

      During college, Dom studied at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Around this time, he hosted what he referred to as picnics, but what are today known as keg parties that usually featured a local band. Naturally, being the entrepreneur Dom was, and still is, he instituted a cover charge at said picnics. During his sophomore year he joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity—informally known as Pike—and as the social chairman, Dom not only gained more freedom with which to host events, but also the financial means to do so.

      After college, Dom spent some time in graduate school, but much to his parents’ dismay, he opted to drop out and open a bar. As a fresh college graduate, Dom, along with his partners Paul Turbavich and Johnny DePhillips, opened Fat Daddy’s on Baum Boulevard; a bar that, per Dom’s request, would highlight live musical acts. Fat Daddy’s helped start the trend of live music before a majority of its peers in the Pittsburgh bar scene. Owning a bar located between Shadyside and Oakland at such a young age, Dom’s clientele at Fat Daddy’s was comprised of friends from his fraternity, college students, and regulars from other local bars. Being the youngest, not the most intelligent or sophisticated, Dom explains, after a Saturday night, we would spend all of the money we earned at an after-hours club on Walnut Street called The Hollywood Social Club.

      This period in his life proved monumental for other reasons when Dom went on a blind date with the woman who would later become his wife, the mother of five of his children, and his esteemed business partner, Janet Chepes. Born in Smithfield, Pennsylvania, Janet was strong and sensible yet gentle and selfless, and instantly stole Dom’s heart.

      Before Fat Daddy’s closed and Dom and his partners went their separate ways, they began hosting a few national acts; this foreshadowed some of the acts that would play The Decade several years in the future. The small venue hosted big names such as Richard Otto, Sarah McLawler, and Cozy Cole (known for the 1958 hits Topsy 1 and Topsy 2).

      After Dom realized he was not yet the businessman he thought he was, having five children over a span of six years affirmed his decision to put rock ‘n’ roll emporiums on hold.

      One

      FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

      In 1972, after the birth of their children Gina (1964), Caesar (1965), Domenique (1966), Dante (1968), and Juliet (1969), Janet and Dom DiSilvio finally found a new opportunity to accomplish their mutual goal when, with the help of real estate partner Mario Noce, they bought the property at 223 Atwood Street in Oakland. The building was previously the Oaklander Hotel, which once hosted Honus Wagner along with other early Pittsburgh Pirates baseball players. This hotel, located in the shadow of Forbes Field, had also been a bar with apartments on the second, third, and fourth floor, a restaurant called Atwood Gardens, and a pizza joint uniquely named The Pizza Pub before Dom and Jan laid claim.

      Due to internal problems, Dom and Jan signed a liquor license under the name Samuel Noce. As Dom tells the story, the infamous and benevolent Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board cost Dom and Jan the opportunity to sell alcohol during an entire Pitt football season, and because of these scoundrels, the young couple did not acquire a liquor license until December 1973. They opened officially as a restaurant, but despite Jan’s wariness, Dom knew that he wanted it to become a bar where he could take another shot at hosting live musical acts. The name of the bar was derived from Dom and Jan’s love of the 1950s, which they believed to be the decade of true rock ‘n’ roll. This, combined with the 10 years of marital bliss they had shared up to that point, led to the

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