By day, native Tucsonan Mike Parker does case management with
homeless and near-homeless teens at Our Family Services. Every
Wednesday at 6 p.m., he transforms into DJ Don Miguel and plays
punk-rock tunes (requests are encouraged) for the weekly Punk Rock
Cocktail Hour at Hotel Congress. Parker started the happy hour, he
says, because, “After many nights of my friends and I complaining that
the music sucks at the bar … I decided it was time to get revenge on
other peoples’ eardrums.”
What was the first concert you ever saw?
The Offspring with the Vandals and Lunachicks at the Tucson
Convention Center in 1995.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound; Youth Brigade, Sink With
Kalifornija; Off With Their Heads, From the Bottom; Green
Day, 21st Century Breakdown; Dead to Me, Cuban Ballerina;
Dillinger Four, Civil War.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes,
8-tracks)?
About 700 purchased CDs, 100 records and 30 cassettes.
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
I usually download the album first. Then, if I like it, I go to the
store and buy it, because I like having the whole package and want to
support what I feel is good music.
What was the first album you owned?
The Simpsons, The Simpsons Sing the Blues, or The Monkees,
The Monkees.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
2Pac, “California Love.” I would definitely want my funeral to be a
drunken dance party.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don’t know
about? What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
I like power pop a lot.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
Descendents, because they did their own thing, and success came to
them. … They turned me on to punk-rock music on a larger scale, and
without punk-rock music, I probably wouldn’t be the person I am
today.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all
time?
Descendents, Liveage!
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.