Magical Musical Tour

Best musical influence from your mom:: Everything good. Jazz, Bluegrass, Folk, Rock, Blues, everything from Leadbelly to Joni Mitchell. New Orleans jazz. Stephen Grappelli, the Chieftains, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Doctor John, and anything on WORT weekend mornings. The woman has had a subscription to Rolling Stone since its inception. That's 40 years, folks...

Best musical influence from your dad:: Anything sing-a-long-able. Musicals & folk songs & mournful teen ballads from the 50s. He has a song for every situation. Also, he made us learn classical music over dinner & used to give us a quarter if we could name the artist and song on the radio.

Theme song to you closest sibling:: Froggy Jamboree, Teenage Suicide… Don't Do It, and "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from Little Mermaid

Theme song to your childhood:: "Stop in the Name of Love"

First album you ever purchased:: Debbie Gibson, Out of the Blue

Album cover that scared you as a kid:: I don't remember…

Song that scared you as a kid:: Hotel California… it still scares me. Also, "Summertime," from Porgy & Bess – the lines "one of these mornings / you're going to rise up singing / you're going to spread your wings / and take to the sky" – I did NOT want to take to the sky, goddammit.

What were you forbidden to listen to as a kid:: Literally, nothing, though my mom got a little nervous when I started listening to xtian rock in college.

Theme song from your junior high years:: Nirvana, "Heart Shaped Box," Duran Duran, "Come Undone," Metallica, "Enter Sandman," and Kriss Kross, "Jump" (which defined a generation of junior high dances)

Favorite album from your junior high years:: Shakespear's Sister, Hormonally Yours; Nirvana, In Utero; Belly, Star

Song that played when you were grounded at home:: Nine Inch Nails, "Something I Can Never Have"

First song you danced with the opposite sex to:: I don't remember. Probably "Come Undone," though it very well could have been "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard or "Achy Breaky Heart"… it was the early 90s.

Song that played when you thought you were about to get some:: Recently? Or in junior high?

Song that played when you got some:: that's between me and the givers

Theme song from your first high school breakup:: Indigo Girls, "Fare Thee Well" – still one of the greatest break-up songs ever.

Album that you stole from a friend:: The Best of the Doors

Favorite album that you think your friend stole:: Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See. And I still want it back, K.

Theme song from your worst relationship:: Simon & Garfunkel, "I Am a Rock" – it was my boyfriend's personal theme song… why didn't I see it coming?

Theme song from your best relationship:: Death Cab, "I Will Follow You into the Dark," Nickel Creek, "When You Come Back Down"

5 songs you'd put on a mixtape for a potential love:: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" (maybe cheesy, maybe overplayed… but still classic, and still a lovely song); Ani Difranco, "As Is"; The Beatles, "In My Life," Sheryl Crow, "Strong Enough"; The Cure, "High"

First concert:: I don't remember, but I bet it was nerdy (I vaguely remember a Pete Seeger concert in the late 80s)

Most magical concert you ever went to:: Possibly the Peter Mulvey concert when I got to talk to him afterward and HE REMEMBERED ME from meeting me in Boston years earlier. Any Bobby McFerrin concert, especially the one I had back-stage passes to so that after the concert I could make an utter fool of myself in front of my idol. The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra playing Shostakovitch at Popejoy in 1995. An Indigo Girls concert in Madison where everyone in the entire theater was happy, and the Indigo Girls in Taos in the rain, where we moved into the front rows. The Nields at Grinnell when I got to sit and talk to them afterward. Kris Delmhorst at Bobs the time Matt, Jamie, and I fell in love with her. Dar Williams in Madison with Ali and Cindy ("I'm wearing the coolest dress!"). Lots of Youngblood shows in 2000/2001. The Alaska in Winter show at the Launchpad last spring.

Worst concert you ever went to:: the assholes who opened for Cougar at the Launchpad. Doug and I were ready to stick burning cigarettes into our eardrums just to save ourselves from one last song.

Song That Has The Ability To Make You Cry:: Lifehouse, "Everything." There are more – Leonard and I used to have this discussion often.

The One Song That Has The Ability To Make You A Kid Again:: Anything I used to roller skate to – does that make me sound hopelessly old? The Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Blondie, Tiffany, apparently all songs popular in about 1986.

Song You Are Ashamed To Admit You Love:: um… Eminem, "Lose Yourself"… I'm not usually too apologetic about my taste in music… I'll defend my love of Prince & Journey to the end of time.

Song/Album That You Have To Gunpoint Others To: Depends on who the "others" is. I went through a period of trying to make Ali like country music, and then I couldn't get her to stop listening to the Dixie Chicks. I used to make people listen to Youngblood at Bobs… but not at gunpoint. I use gunpoint for more urgent matters, like making people give me their junior mints.

If You Were To Marry Now What Song Would Be Your Wedding Song?:: Rockapella, "Zombie Jamboree"


Favorite song as of now:: The Decemberists, "The Perfect Crime 2;" John Butler Trio, "Better Than;" Andrew Bird, "imitosis;" Peter, Bjorn, & John, "Young Folks;" Vienna Teng, "My Medea"

Favorite album as of now:: I don't listen to albums. Mix tapes, ipod shuffle, XRT and triple M.

Favorite artist as of now:: Once the Cure, always the Cure. I'm very excited to see Nickel Creek tomorrow.

Artist you hate:: Amy Winehouse. I actually like her songs a lot, I just don't like her.

Favorite type of music:: Depends on the mood, time of day, weather, season….

Type of music you hate:: Anything that promotes violence or ignorance.

Favorite singer:: There are so many. SO many. Dar Williams, Bobby McFerrin, Peter Gabriel, Kris Delmhorst, Peter Mulvey, Tracey Chapman, Robert Smith, Ani Difranco, Ben Gibbard….. ad infinitum…

Band that you liked but was ruined for you by somebody else:: Sparklehorse – I looooved them, but now they make me sad. Ditto for the Strokes, and much of what I listened to senior year of college. But I will NOT lose Journey.

Biggest musical disappointment:: Youngblood post Nat.

Biggest musical surprise:: High School Musical. WHY do I spend so much time with it stuck in my head?

Who killed music?:: No one's managed to quite yet.

Who keeps music alive for you?:: Terri Hemmert

Song playing right now?:: Modest Mouse, "Missed the Boat"