What was the first concert you ever saw?
Tiffany, when I was in the third grade. Unfortunately, not in a mall.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver; Arcade Fire, Neon Bible; Of Montreal, The Sunlandic Twins; and The Shins, Wincing the Night Away.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks)?
324 on iTunes, plus a couple hundred CDs, 150 cassettes, 150 LPs and 23 45s (most of them Spoon).
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
Both. I had about 150 CDs stolen, so I've illegally downloaded some of those albums; I figure I've technically already paid for them.
What was the first album you owned?
When I was in the second grade, my mom gave me a little lavender boombox and three cassettes: The Jets (self-titled), The Bangles, Different Light, and Lionel Richie, Dancing on the Ceiling.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
I don't know about my funeral, but a couple of friends and I have sworn that the first one of us to get married will play "Another One Bites the Dust" as we walk down the aisle.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don't know about? What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
My love of late-'80s/early-'90s girl bands--everything from Bikini Kill and Red Aunts, to Salt-n-Pepa and J.J. Fad.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
I know this is probably cliché, but Nirvana really turned my musical world upside down. I was in seventh grade when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out. ... All my friends thought it was total crap, but by the beginning of the following school year, I had traded my Cross Colors ... for Doc Martens and Jane's Addiction T-shirts.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
