Category: Rants a.k.a. Commentary || By

First things first: In case you missed the item in Pat Cloonan's Daily News column, Terry Lee --- or someone who says he's Terry Lee --- has come partially out of retirement.

Four CDs of Terry Lee's legendary radio shows for WMCK and WIXZ (1360) are for sale right now on eBay. The cost is $15.99 each, plus shipping.

The name doesn't mean much to anyone who didn't grow up in the Mon Valley in the 1960s and '70s, or who isn't interested in Pittsburgh radio. But for those of us who dig the oldies, saying "Terry Lee is selling his CDs on eBay" is like saying "J.D. Salinger is out in the alley, signing autographed pictures."

Porky Chedwick was the radio pied-piper of Pittsburgh teens in the 1950s, and arguably Clark Race of KDKA and Jim Quinn, then on KQV, served that role in the 1960s. Terry Lee, working on McKeesport's 1360, was the more hip, less corporate alternative.

And he must have been made of caffeine and 9-volt batteries. While simultaneously hosting his nightly radio show, Lee also was hosting a teen dance show on WIIC-TV (11), operating a night club off of Lovedale Road in Elizabeth Township called "T.L.'s Nite Train," and working as a concert promoter.

I also have some of the bootleg recordings that have floated around over the years. He was a helluva radio talent who didn't have to be working in McKeesport.

As music faded from AM radio in the late 1970s, Terry worked for a while at several Mon Valley stations, including the old WESA in Charleroi, but then he abruptly vanished.

Why? Who knows. A lot of rumors were spread by people who may have been jealous of his success, or maybe who had been legitimately grieved. I've heard all of the rumors; most of them fall into the category of "a friend of a friend told me."

For what it's worth, I've been interviewing a lot of people who worked at WMCK and WIXZ with Terry. Universally, they tell me that they occasionally had disagreements, but genuinely liked him.

I suspect the rumors are mostly baloney (I'm not going to repeat them here), and that he simply got tired of the aggravation and blew the scene. The fact is, no one knows for sure, because Terry's been mostly incognito for the last 20 years.

Using my elite reporter skills, I did get a home address for him a few months ago, but I haven't written to him. I did order the CDs, though, and I did send him an email. If he wants to talk, man, do I have questions.

. . .

In Other Business: A group of protesters yesterday staged a demonstration against the company that developed the Waterfront shopping center in Munhall and Homestead.

They claim that the Waterfront destroyed the business district on Eighth Avenue in Homestead, and that Pittsburgh officials should cancel the developer's deal to build a similar entertainment and commercial complex on the North Side.

To which I say: Oh, bullflop.

First, I'll agree that the Waterfront hasn't generated any development on the "other side of the tracks" in the Steel Valley. As John Dindak, Betty Esper and others pointed out when the Waterfront was being planned, the complex largely turns its back on the boroughs.

The developers didn't want people from the Steel Valley shopping there. They wanted people from Pittsburgh --- notably Squirrel Hill, Oakland and Shadyside --- shopping there. That's why the entrances from Homestead and Munhall are congested and small, while the entrances from the Homestead Greys Bridge are wide and commodious. That's why they didn't --- at first --- want Port Authority buses running through the Waterfront.

You can call it racism or classism, and you'd have a good argument. Certainly people on the "other side of the tracks" in Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead are poorer and include more minorities than those in Squirrel Hill, Oakland and Shadyside.

But the idea that the Waterfront was responsible for Eighth Avenue's decline is a joke. Like most downtown business districts, Eighth Avenue has been in serious decline for 30 years. When the Waterfront opened, only a handful of businesses were still hanging on --- Levine Brothers Hardware, Harry's Clothes, and a few others. Their owners were elderly, and they've retired or died.

Why haven't new businesses taken their places? Eighth Avenue is full of older buildings that would require expensive renovations, and most of them don't have parking. Small business owners are not going to take risks on dilapidated old storefronts in Homestead when they can rent brand-new spaces in shopping centers in Forest Hills or North Versailles.

I don't like it, but it's reality, and it's not the developers' fault.

A lot of people bemoaned the demolition of Chiodo's Tavern, but the Walgreen's that replaced it is the first new construction on the avenue in years. It's also attractive and respectful to the surrounding buildings.

As for the protesters --- I've met many of them over the years. They are sincere and passionate about the Steel Valley. But some of them are professional protesters who protest everything; a few of them are still fighting battles from the early 1980s, when the mills went down.

God bless 'em. We need 'em to occasionally remind everyone that everything's not sweetness and light, and to hold the feet of the Waterfront's developers --- and others --- to the fire.

But the Steel Valley would be better off if they spent less time chanting slogans, and more time trying to clean up Eighth Avenue and tear down abandoned commercial buildings.

Ah, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.