Kendra Rutledge, 18, is a senior at Mountain View High School. Rutledge first picked up a camera when she was 14. After stumbling onto her Flickr page, Brooklyn indie-pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who are performing in town this week (see the feature article), contacted Rutledge about using one of her photos for an album cover. The band has used other Rutledge photos since, including one on the cover of a new EP. "It's all a bit bizarre, really," she says.
What was the first concert you ever saw?
Ladytron, on their Witching Hour tour, at the Clubhouse in Phoenix, when I was around 14.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
Florence and the Machine, Lungs; Imogen Heap, Ellipse; Phantogram, Eyelid Movies; Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion.
How many total albums do you own (MP3s, CDs, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks)?
In terms of MP3s, around 2,700.
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
I generally use iTunes for just about everything.
What was the first album you owned?
It was a series of Broadway songs for kids. I listened to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat so much that I had it memorized.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Eva Cassidy's cover of Sting's "Fields of Gold." It always makes me tear up.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don't know about? What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
I have an avid love for Kanye West, even if he is utterly narcissistic.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
If I had to choose, I would say Regina Spektor. She thinks completely outside of the box in terms of lyrics and the way she uses her voice, and it made me delve into an entirely new branch of music. I would love to give her a huge hug if I ever met her.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
I suppose it would be Regina Spektor's Soviet Kitsch. I could listen to that for the rest of my life and still love it to death.
