Baltimore native Patrick Kennedy is a respected music and travel writer, author, and musician. Having contributed to Alternative Press, CMJ, Details, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Magazine, Bizarre, Punk Planet, Big Brother (magazine), the Allmusic,[1] and many others, he has made his mark as a champion of often overlooked and maligned, sturdy, durable music, from hard rock to punk to the heaviest and most extreme metal, genres many critics routinely dismiss as beneath their alleged refined and sensitive ears. His critical point of view is influenced by the infamous and gutsy Joe Carducci and by his own decade plus of touring dive clubs all over America and Europe with his bands Ironboss and Taipan (who also includes Steve Austin of Today is the Day). As a musician, he has performed with (in addition to Ironboss and Taipan) Squatweiler, the Candysnatchers, the Glenmont Popes. He is currently at work on his first two novels.