What was the first concert you ever saw?
Van Halen, 1984 Tour, Hollywood Sportatorium, in Florida, on the edge of the Everglades. I remember the cops were chasing alligators out of the parking lot that night with long bamboo sticks.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
Just one: Shane Alexander, Stargazer. I don't have a changer.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks)?
I have 37 CDs of my favorite artists tightly snug in a Merrell Performance Footwear shoebox.
Do you download music, and if you do, legally or illegally?
I don't download anything. I enjoy buying CDs that I know I'll really like.
What was the first album you owned?
I can't recall. But I do remember buying Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland when I was 14 and playing it over and over again for weeks, savoring its sounds.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Bob Dylan's "Let Me Die in My Footsteps."
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don't know about? What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
I love Madonna's "Live to Tell" from the At Close Range soundtrack. It's a great song. My favorite guilty pleasure is blasting Journey and Def Leppard when they come over the radio.
What band or artist changed your life and how?
Neil Young. I was just discovering him when a friend took me to see (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) for the first time. When he performed "Old Man," more than 20,000 people fell silent and were spellbound. I was amazed. Young's melancholic nasally whine was the coolest voice I'd ever heard. That's when I knew what kind of singer-songwriter I wanted to become, (and that) I needed to get the hell out of Atlanta and move out West.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Michael Hedges, Breakfast in the Field.
