The Keka Collection

Cynthia Dagnal-Myron is an award-winning former reporter for both the Chicago Sun Times and Arizona Daily Star. She was also the first black woman to become a rock critic for a “major metropolitan daily,” and her articles appeared in Rolling Stone and Creem, under the tutelage of legendary rock critic Lester Bangs.

For five wild years she traveled with and interviewed Kiss, Cheap Trick, Peter Frampton, Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno and members of Queen, the Who, Aerosmith, Styx. She reviewed all of the top rockers of the 70s and 80s like Led Zeppelin, Traffic and Rod Stewart.

Standing in for friend and colleague Roger Ebert, she interviewed John Travolta, Kirk Douglas, Richard Pryor and the then unknown cast of Star Wars--and dated Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Once.

And then one day...she walked away from all of it.

And never looked back.

This is her story, as told via Keka’s Blog, at Open Salon