Getting To Know Our Correspondents

Ryan Brownlee
1. What was the first cassette/cd you remember buying?
We were all vinyl in my house for a long time. I do not have the musical accumen of the other guys on this website but I do know what I like listening to and I do have a wide variety of tastes when it comes to music, books and movies. Having children has a way of getting rid of some of your pretenses. I will admit to rocking out in my kitchen with my 7 and 4 year old to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, but that means they do have to suffer through rocking out to my old stuff with me.

My first vinyl album that was not my parents was The Chipmunks 'Urban Chipmunk'

My first cassette was Sugarhill Gang 'Rapper's Delight'

I do have to admit that I owned audio tapes until I went to college. I am dating myself here. But, the first cd I bought was Prince's greatest hits used from Coconuts in Evansville. Coconuts had a great inventory of used cd's. The thing I love about the people on this website is they still appreciate the artists and all of the songs on their albums. I Tunes has taken away a lot of finding the hidden gems on albums. I shutter to think about all the music I would have missed when I was growing up if there was I Tunes when I was growing up.


2. Who do you believe would best represent you in a movie?
A guy in my office says I look like Steve Nash so he would be an option even though he is not an actor. Personally, I would love it if Kevin Spacey played me.


3. Name an album, book, or movie that you feel you can judge a person with based on whether they like it or not.
Requiem for a Dream

4. What song would you have playing as you walk to the plate?
A tough question. I will admit that I have heard some terrible walk up songs over the last 13 years. But at this moment I would have to go with 'Fireflies' by Owl City

5. What is the best live show you have ever seen?

NIN in Evansville at Roberts Stadium. I loved NIN but what intrigued me about the concert was that little known Marilyn Manson was supposed to open up for NIN. Marilyn Manson was banned from a lot of shows on that tour and Evansville wa one of them because he was coming out in his Hitler attire and berating the crowd. The Jim Rose side show ended up opening up, which was probably the most obscene thing I had scene up to that point in my life. The NIN portion was surreal, Trent Reznor is truly a genius in his own right and I am sorry that they broke up because this generation needs to experience an NIN show live.

Grateful Dead at Soldier Field 1995, I am not an avid follower of the Dead. I love their music but the only reason I mention it is because it was the 2nd to last show before Jerry Garcia passed away. It left a void for a lot of people and Phish tried to pick up the slack as well as the remaining members of the Dead but it hasn't been the same since. I would assume that Dave Mathews has taken the torch as well as anybody in today's concert summer series.

I took my son, who was 5 at the time, to see Bob Dylan when he came to Iowa City a couple years ago. It was a magical evening because of my son going with me. Elvis Costello with only and accoustic guitar opened up. My son will probably never remember it but I wanted to take him to see a legend that has transcended generations. His lyrics are still mind blowing to me.

I drove last December to see the Black Crowes at the Vel Air ballroom in Des Moines. I have seen them more than any other band. It was my 6th time seeing them. The venue was small and the show reminded me of why I love concerts. The addition of the slide guitar to the lineup was awesome. The bonus was that they played 'Nonfiction' which lyrically is my favorite Crowes song. The show gave me a renewed faith that rock and roll will come back.

The last one is for The Gambler. I saw Wilco this fall in Iowa City. It was their first show in the US since the Spring. I am not an avid fan of Wilco, but again any chance you get to see someone in a small venue, you should jump on it. They played for 3 straight hours and the show was electric.

6. Hello sir what are you drinking this evening?
Sad to say that with the temps being so low I am sipping on coffee tonight. The weather has got me itching to mix up a batch of Glugg, but I am wise to what that might bring about.