ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: Gotta be Richie Quake. You pulled a me and threw this gem at the beginning so the others didn't stand a chance. First time I listened I was at work by myself, blasting music through my Marshall speaker. This song might have been on loop for longer than I'd like to admit.

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: Papa Bear and His Cubs. Just a great name and one that I wouldn't forget. Otherwise, all new!

AM: Name one club experience you had and could have done without. And another club experience that you never had and always wanted to?

SB: I mean does Sons of Hermann Hall count?? Haha. Let's see, a club experience I could do without. Lots of random things like clubs where you're breathing in smoke the entire time, or the dj doesn't have a clue how to read a room. But the one that sticks out was a charity event I went to one time in Kansas City. We were really excited to hear this local dj because some of the stuff he'd done in the past was great. We rallied so many people and ended up packing the place. Then he started playing. I don't know whether it was ego or just a swing and a miss, but he tried to be so different and innovative (if you can call it that) that his sounds were really weird animal and machine sounds and his beats didn't even line up. I guess if I were trying to get a suspect to talk in an interrogation room, I might play that stuff, but after about 15 minutes of us all trying to bounce along, we just gave up and left.

As far as the club experience I've yet to have but always wanted...well that's easy. My own. Some day, and it might be years from now, I've dreamed of owning a club that's filed with the coolest music, best drinks and most interesting experiences. After I got done walking around shaking hands with everyone there, I'd escape to my private room where I could watch the artists and the crowd from an Eames chair and a smooth drink in my hand. Laugh all you want now. It'll just make it harder for you to get into my club.

STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: I sort of hate it when you get me on the first song because I feel like such a cliché, but you got me with Magic/Abc Dialect. Can you at least put them in the middle of the playlist a *few* times so I can feel better?

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: I’ve heard other songs from White Reaper but not this one.

SB: Music is basically the original superhero. Even in the worst of moments, if the right song comes on, it can be uplifting and save the day/week/year? Name a time when music rescued you? Note, this doesn't need to get super emo if you don't want, it can be as simple as a welcomed pick-me-up to get you through a rough day.

AM: Great question. Funny, the moment that immediately came to mind was winter 2013, when I was fresh off the boat living in New York City. I was bartending on 57th and living in Brooklyn, so I took the train in and out every day. I distinctly remember standing in the subway station around 11PM one night, listening to Ra Ra Riot’s Beta Love (Syracuse!) and just jamming out by myself. Thinking: this is a great f——— album. Thinking: my life was small and scrappy but that I was exactly where I wanted to be, on the path I wanted to be on. Thinking: all great stories start scrappy. I still have a soft spot for that album when one of the songs comes on, because it made my life feel epic when ‘epic’ was but a distant glimmer.