What was the first concert you ever saw?
Black Flag at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, R.I., 1983--although I tried to get tickets for Kiss when I was 8. My mom hung up the phone while I was on the line with Ticketmaster.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
I don't have a CD changer, as it's too easy to keep shuffling through the mix until you are permanently burned out on the albums. Califone, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lyre of Orpheus; and The Clientele, God Save the Clientele are in pretty heavy rotation.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks)?
Roughly 400 CDs and records, plus about a half-dozen 8-tracks in the bus.
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
I keep saying that I am going to, but never seem to get around to it. I like the physicality of a record, the cover art, the liner notes.
What was the first album you owned?
Pink Floyd, The Wall, at age 9. I had some pretty burnt baby sitters.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah," as the burning wooden boat sinks below the surface of the ocean.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don't know about?
What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
Duran Duran.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
The Pixies made me realize what I had missed in the '80s.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It is such a beautifully realized album, start to finish, that it seems a travesty to listen to any one track alone.
