STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: Magic in the Night by Work Drugs. Runner up goes to Salesman by Biographer. Both make me think about times when I'm out somewhere and something starts happening around me that takes the night in a totally different, weird direction. I'm talking about that split second transitional moment when you realize it and get excited to see what happens next. Two years ago I went to the Blue Whale Jazz Cub in Little Tokyo here in LA for jazz and there was this guy haphazardly tuning his guitar and strumming quietly but the place kept getting more and more packed. I couldn't figure out what I was missing. Then the Flamenco dancers came out -- a woman, then a couple, then the guy on his own -- and blew my mind. 

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: Sneakers, Shy Luv (me too this month!), I think you crushed me this month in the "first listens" category.

SB: It's snowing right now in Austin. Something that almost never happens. And while you grew up in Texas, you've spent some time in much colder climates. What's your favorite memory attached to snow and what song was (or should have been) playing during it?

AM: *throws on Red Line / Geordie Kieffer* 

This one is easy. It's a very vibrant memory for me. It was my freshman year at Syracuse. A weeknight. I was away to play St. John's in the city, our first Big East (RIP) game. Somehow we won (!!!) and we all flew back on our charter plane that night feeling untouchable. I got back to the dorms around 12-1AM. The campus was covered in snow, the first big snow that fall. I was on an adrenaline kick and most of the kids on my floor -- Bo5 -- were still up. Thirty minutes later we're having a massive snowball fight in the dorm courtyard, which I'll take full credit for. I remember it being a synthesis of so many things I loved about my life at that moment. I was studying something I loved. I was finally playing college basketball after years of working toward that goal. And above all, I was feeling like my dorm floor was my family, and that meant something really special to me. Even then, I knew this was the stuff dreams were made of. 

ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: Ok, this is a really tough one. I'm torn between Come Over by Vox Eagle which has a crazy Psych-Rock-Dance vibe that I'm digging and then there's I Better Love You by Will Heard. I think I'm going to have to give it to Will Heard. Just a great upbeat sound.

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: I've heard a few of these, which shows you have excellent taste in music :) ZZ Ward, Kyle Thornton and Ezra Jordan's jam (really solid artist). I've also heard Vox Eagle, but never that song, which I really like.

AM: What's one New Year's resolution that you know would be good for you but you're not going to make because you know you won't keep and why?

SB: Oh man, I don't think there's enough space on this page (or the Internet) for me to write all the resolutions that would be good for me but that I won't actually do. But the one that comes to mind right now is read books. I've never been a big reader and I know it would be really good for me. I think it's a combination of free time and effort (as lazy as that sounds). Since I don't read books for pleasure, it's really more about educating myself. I'm guessing the compromise for this year that could actually stick is podcasts. I spend a lot of time in the car and typically I reserve it for music, but every once in a while I could see myself listening to more podcasts. Done. 2018 is the year of podcasts for me.