What was the first concert you ever saw?
Half Japanese, the Breeders and Nirvana at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Penn., in 1993.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
Barely Bipedal, All Summer's Been Lightning; Harry Pussy, What Was Music?; The Deep, Psychedelic Moods; Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, The Doldrums; Steely Dan, Can't Buy a Thrill; Albert Ayler, Spirits Rejoice; Dr. Dog, Psychedelic Swamp; R. Stevie Moore, Delicate Tension; Jennifer Gentle, Funny Creatures Lane; and Impossible Shapes, The Current.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks)?
400 LPs, 150 45s, 300 CDs, 200 cassettes and 8,116 songs' worth of MP3s.
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
I do both.
What was the first album you owned?
Dr. John, Dr. John's Gumbo.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
If I die on land: "Hey" by Butthole Surfers (on 45 rpm); if I die at sea: "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don't know about? What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
No shame. Right now, it's Dan Friedman's "Ariel."
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
Meat Puppets' In a Car EP altered my understanding of music by introducing me to an immediacy and chaos that I had not experienced in music previously. ... It gave me the idea that I could play music, and didn't need to learn chords, tuning or even what 75 percent of a drum set did. Later on, I learned there was a lot more to it than I imagined ... but I'm very glad no one was there to tell me that.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Figurative Homicide by Reaganomics.
