STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: I hate this question and I hate this month’s list so much because I love this month’s list so much and it’s so hard to choose between all of these darlings. Jesus, how do you start a playlist off with Adrian Quesada’s One Woman Man and expect me to even get to the the other songs? Same with Airpark’s Under the Light? How dare you!! Also — I think we need to now have a “favorite playlist of the year” commentary as well. Oops, did I just spoil my Dec Dealer’s Choice Q?

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: Other than Cactus Channel, no. Damn you!

SB: Playing music for others can be stressful. Will they judge my music taste? Will they dig what I dig? Will they even care and do I waste time trying to put together a playlist for this party if nobody’s even going to notice anyway? Of course we do, because that’s what we do. That said, do you have some staple playlists you pull up when you’re in charge of the party playlist or do you build it from scratch depending on the people, the place and the vibe?

AM: Like everything in life, I feel like playlists and their resulting effect come down to TLC. If I’m short on time, or I’m just really feeling myself (lol) I’m going to just play the playlist I have made for myself most recently that has all the vibes I’ve been feeling and hope the audience digs it. I think you’re better about having “party playlists” locked and loaded than I am. I love to make them (just like I love to cook) but I don’t get the time to put them together in a leisurely way too often.

I spend more time making writing playlists and those are so dependent on the tone of the movie and what I’m creatively doing than an actual audience. It’s much more siloed off. Occasionally, I will knock one of those out of the park and then I will cross it over and put it on when friends are over. When I am playing something for friends, I usually factor in their music taste loosely and try to play something adjacent to what they like in the hopes that it’s not something they already have on heavy rotation. Then again — There’s also something to be said for *not* being the one driving when I’m out with friends, letting them DJ and hoping they’re going to expose me to some amazing new jams. : )

ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: I see you trying to hide that Donne moi back there! But just eclipsing that out is Westchester Lady. That’s just a vibe I’m really vibing with right now so yes, I want to live in that song for a while. And I also see you sneaking in the theme song to one of my favorite Bond films.

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: Sadly yes and once again I find myself kicking…myself because a few on here were ones I was stashing away but noooooo you had to go ruin them. RIP Osquello and Cactus Channel.

AM: Recently, I was delightfully surprised that actor Kaitlyn Dever is in a band called Beulahbelle with here sister, Mady. I was doubly surprised and delighted to see that one of their songs is a cover of the Bond classic ‘You Only Live Twice.’ Yes, you guessed it, your ears will be graced with this song on November’s playlist. But it made me think, do you have any stories about actors whose work you’ve loved, that you’ve only found out later on by happenstance are also incredible musicians?

SB: Wow great question. I feel like the opposite is usually true, which maybe says something about how hard it is to succeed in music. I definitely know of more musicians becoming actors (I’m looking at you Gaga and Ludacris). We definitely don’t have as many of those discoveries here (cut to your late-night club scene with Jeff Goldblum and his jazz band). Probably the most noteworthy examples for me were Zooey Deschanel, Jamie Foxx & Jack Black. That said, I feel like there’s a whole new wave of artists that have been doing both for so long and promoting both for so long that it will be tough to remember how you discovered them first. Also, Michael Shannon is in a band called Corporal that only has 189 monthly listeners?? Perhaps this is a new networking strategy for us. End up at the top of all of their unknown artists Wrapped Reports next year and win some sort of trip to meet the artists/actors.