STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: Outlandish Poetica by Jonathan Something. 

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: No. I saw FRENSHIP open for someone once but I haven't heard that song. Thutmose I know a little. Denitia but only with Sene.

SB: You find yourself in a dream, or maybe it's real? You're not sure how you got here, but somehow you're sitting in the driver's seat of the red Subaru at the beginning of Baby Driver. Inside the bank, your crew is doing their thing. Suddenly they run out towards you. You look down at the old iPod you pre-loaded and scroll to what song before you hit the gas?

AM: If we're talking about a song from this playlist the answer is going to be Sunshine Baby / Ben Browning. There are some great songs on your list that I want to roll down my manual windows to and cruise along with a breeze in my face, but I feel like the slight disco homage Sunshine gives me is just enough to zone out and focus on being the best wheelman west of the Mississippi. If we're talking 'what song out of all the songs you've ever heard do you scroll to?' -- my God, that's just far too daunting. I'd probably let someone else I know really well who also knows my music taste very well pick me a song and I'd wait to listen to it until that exact moment. That way, the memory of the first listen would be fused with the memory of crossing "getaway driver" off of my bucket list. 

Speaking of memories fusing, I was in a weird mood this week and headed to a first date. My Uber driver's radio played Push by Matchbox Twenty right before I got there. Push in particular is a single of theirs I haven't heard since we were kids. That was the second I knew the date was going to be good.

ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: Maaaaan you're really trying to see me struggle with this one. So many good ones to choose from. Little Bit of Lovin and Restless Lover are two heavyweights vying for the crown, but alas, What I Need is what I need this month. 

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: The Vamps and Human Resources, otherwise, all noobs. 

AM: Club fashion of previous decades has always fascinated me. I love to see what people wear when they feel like they should dress up for something. Who  works the trend? Who goes against them? "Going out" fashion seems to be intermixed with the music of a specific decade or movement and at the exact same time not mixed up with the music in any way. If you're doing the damn thing right (dancing, that is), you're drenched in sweat by the end regardless of what you're wearing. In that sense, we may each start out at different levels of sophistication, but we're all the same by 2AM.

Here's my dealer's choice question this month: What outfit, style, fade, or item of clothing did you not partake in but wished you had? Was it one thing (ex. a great leather jacket) or was it a whole identity? 

SB: This one is really tricky. I have so many thoughts on this. I definitely agree with you that 2AM is the great equalizer. In terms of the fads/trends/styles, I kinda sorta like where things are going right now. For some reason, I equate well-fitting attire to sophistication. And as I look back through the years, I see a lot of baggy and unnecessary layers that detract from the individual.

That said, the direction I'd go would be in tribute to my favorite actor, Steve McQueen. Not just because his quirky yet mysterious personality is what I strive to be, but his fashion sense - especially casual classy - was incredible. At a time when other people were sporting suits of jeans with t-shirts, he obliterated boundaries, showing the versatility a simple pair of light slacks could enjoy. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/style-inspiration-how-steve-mcqueen-rocked-his-khakis/ 

From a simple t-shirt to a perfect fall cardigan to a motorcycle jacket, his casual classy look is what I'd love to roll into a club wearing (back then or today) and basically say, I don't give a shit, I'm comfortable but still sophisticated.