Geoff Spencer was born to nomadic baby boomers in Chicago. He
attended high school in the Dominican Republic before finishing at
Nogales High School. Spencer currently manages a grant for the
Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women in Sells.
What was the first concert you ever saw?
Milli Vanilli at the Tucson Convention Center with Young MC. This
was obviously pre-lip-syncing fraud. I wonder if the taint from that
episode carried over to Young MC, because his career also went nowhere
after that.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
MSTRKRFT, Fist of God; Mates of State, Bring It Back;
Holy Fuck, Holy Fuck; Skank, Maquinarama; Pixies,
Surfer Rosa.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes,
8-tracks)?
Hundreds.
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
Well, I read an interesting quote about this years ago, when you
could only obtain MP3s via file-sharing programs, not the labels
themselves: If one person downloads music illegally, you have a
law-enforcement problem; when millions do it, you have a marketing
problem. But a lot has changed since then.
What was the first album you owned?
Michael Jackson, Thriller. I had to share it with my
siblings. First solely owned album would be The Cure,
Disintegration.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Jeff Buckley, “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.”
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don’t know
about? What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
There are probably many things I love that my friends don’t know
about, like early-’90s East Coast rap. Guilty pleasure? Syrupy female
crooners like Meiko, Ingrid Michaelson, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
The Violent Femmes. They helped me channel teenage angst and
alienation and learn that it’s OK to be vulnerable.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all
time?
Weezer’s “El Scorcho” single.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.