Meet Our Contributors: Jim Hagerty

Where do you call home?
Rockford, Illinois, home of manufacturing companies, a thriving music scene and the hardest working band in rock history, Cheap Trick.

What was the first concert you attended?
My father took me to see Freddy Fender at the Dickinson County Fair in Norway, Michigan. I was about 8.

What was the first record you bought?
KISS ALIVE. I then got an uncle to give me the first three albums and I then proceeded to own every KISS record every made.

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?
1. Pogo Dancing- The Vibrators
2. Beat On The Brat – Ramones
3. 1st and Repair – Monte Montgomery

What new music are you currently listening to?
An wide array of local, regional and Indie stuff that comes across my desk. I just got done listening to Hot Tomato by The Snaggs.. the band is currently not really together but the album is cool…hear Holland Zander and company here.

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?
I turned the door and opened the key…..

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.
I once owned a bird named Willy.

 

Meet Our Contributors – Mary so fairly Contrary

Where do you call home?
Sunset Junction in Silver Lake, CA: _while home to a lot of hipsters, the cafes, bars, galleries, shops, “lost heart” posters hangin on the electrical poles, feeling like i live in mexico…the ambiance and friendliness and curiosity of people can NOT be beat

What was the first concert you attended?
No Doubt, Weezer opened _Gwen was my total idol then, we got down in the orchestra pit, and I sang/screamed along to every song (also when I found out what pot smelled like)

What was the first record you bought?
The Presidents of the United States self-titled _I still pop it in from time to time

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first_three songs you’d select?
Brestir Og Bak: Björk Gudmundsdóttir & Trió Gudmundar Ingólfssonar
Hard Row: The Black Keys
Summer in the City: The Lovin’ Spoonful

What new music are you currently listening to?
Jenny Lewis, Girl Talk, Anathallo, Archie Bronson Outfit

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?
Ain’t no time to hate, barely time to wait. – Grateful Dead, Uncle John’s Band
As soon as you’re born you start dying, so you might as well have a good time. – Cake, Sheep Go To Heaven
Can’t buy what I want because it’s free. Can’t be what you want because I’m me. – Pearl Jam, Corduroy
Come down off the cross, we could use the wood. – Tom Waits, Come On Up To The House

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.
I have bed sheets hanging on my windows as curtains.

 

Meet Our Contributors: Jesse Smith

Where do you call home?
Winnipeg, Manitoba

The music scene here is good! I love it, so many musicians and artists plague the streets of the Osborne Village. We cannot wait for summer to come around though.

What was the first concert you attended?
The first real show I went to was A Perfect Circle a few days before they launched their second record. Maynard is God.

What was the first record you bought?
Don’t laugh: Limp Bizkit’s 3 Dolla Bill Y’all
😡
I was 12, ok?

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?
1. The 101ers – Keys To Your Heart
Joe Strummer’s pre clash pop material. Interestingly catchy.
2. The Smiths – The Headmaster Ritual
This is by far my favorite Smiths tune.
3. Deerhunter – Cryptograms
This song is so weird, like the rest of the album. But the bass line is just too groovy.

What new music are you currently listening to?
Khan, Besnard Lakes, Sister Vanilla, Klaxons, Deerhunter I could update this list almost daily 😛

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.
– Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcomb called me a cunt on myspace when I accused him of spamming the bulletin board with crap.
– Im also a musician, in a trio called Con Cave Qu’on Vexe

 

Meet Our Contributors: Cecilia St Jude

Where do you call home?
That would be Sweden.

What was the first concert you attended?
To be honest – I’ve never attended a proper concert other than those at school, and the ones I’ve performed in myself. My sister was attacked by a smoke bomb at a concert when I was a kid, so that kind of put me off…

What was the first record you bought?
Oh God…I think it was the “Vogue” single by Madonna. My sister and I bought it together; she kept it while making me a taped copy since I didn’t have my own record player.

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?
The Fiery Furnaces – Waiting to Know You
Amanda Ghost – Silver Lining
Cocteau Twins – Pearly Dew-Drop’s Drop

What new music are you currently listening to?
Loto, Keith, Boy Kill Boy, Linda Sundblad, The Fiery Furnaces, Helen Love, Asobi Seksu, VHS or Beta, Apartment – too many to mention really!

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?
Woke up this morning with the world on my chest
What a silent world, what a silent world

– This Morning by Strip Music

I don’t wanna be like other people are
Don’t wanna own a key, don’t wanna wash my car
Don’t wanna have to work like other people do
I want it to be free, I want it to be true

– Turn My Way by New Order

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.
– I’m allergic to raw carrots and potatoes.
– I have a metallic heart valve.
– I hate shoe shopping.
– With age, my dad has morphed into looking like David Letterman. Which is quite scary.
– My dream is to become a published author. Oh, and rich. A rich published author. Yeah.

 

Meet Our Contributors: Gina Argentina

Where do you call home?
Langley, BC (45 mins east of Vancouver).

What was the first concert you attended?
Oh gosh, if I can remember.. I think it was Dayglo Abortions or Furnace Face. I went to a lot of punk shows as a teen.

What was the first record you bought?
I was really into stuff like Cameo, Pebbles, Michael Jackson & Slick Rick when I was 11. I think my first album was New Kids on the Block though. Sorry, memory is really bad.

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?
Bright Eyes – It’s Cool We Can Still Be Friends
The Decemberists – The Crane Wife 1 & 2
Pela – Cavalry

What new music are you currently listening to?
Well I used to hate Bright Eyes, so all his stuff is now new to me. I’m listening to a lot of him. Delta 5, which is not new, but I’ve recently discovered that old music can be new.. And also The Knife, Kings of Leon, Peter Bjorn & John – and a little bit of The Kooks.

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?
Success is so forbidding
But it makes me think I’m winning
Quiet
Dim the lights
Adopt another lifestyle
These are lyrics from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s song Over & Over Again (lost & Found)

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.
I’m a solitary person. I haven’t been to a concert in 10 years. My husband doesn’t think I’m the most couth person & I have become really cocky in my late 20’s. I see things how they would be in black & white. I also like taking photo’s of my food & one day hope to become a famous food photographer.

 

Meet Our Contributors: John Teeter

Where do you call home?

• London… The Canada one. It’s an hour and a bit from the small town where I was born and did my learnin’ years. But my family and friends are all right here so it’s a good place to hang my hat.

What was the first concert you attended?

• Helix with Kick Axe, Sarnia Arena circa the Long Way to Heaven for Helix and Welcome to the Club for Kick Axe. My guess is around 84 or 85…

What was the first record you bought?

• I think the first one I owned as my own was an Asia 45 that had “Heat of the Moment”. But my brothers had plenty of KISS albums that I would listen to long before that.

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?

1. Waiting Room – Fugazi
2. Everything in it’s Right Place – Radiohead
3. Jackson Cannery – Ben Folds Five

Honorable Mention
• Right Here Right Now – Beastie Boys
• Mineral – Buffalo Tom
• About You – Teenage Fanclub

What new music are you currently listening to?

• I am giving heavy rotation to: Two Hours Traffic – “Isolator EP”, Joel Plaskett – “La De Da”, Jon-Rae & The River – “Knows what you Need”, and Shout Out Out Out Out – “Not saying, just saying” (which is incredible for the gym!) I’ve gone all Canadian as of late thanks to CBC Radio 3 and the fact that there’s a lot of fucking great music coming from my soil. Deal with it…

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?

• As questionably uncool this may make me sound, this lyric is about a time & place when I realized I was a grown up…
  “That’s when I turned to them and said, hold it, right there. Well it’s more to me than just a job, and while I’m playing, you won’t get robbed. Nobody tells a man how to play, it just ain’t that way. Hey, hey, hey, can you hear me say: All men play on ten, never gonna turn down again” – Manowar, “All Men Play on Ten”

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.

• I play hockey once a week with a recent former NHL goalie (professional hockey for you non-Canadians out there).
• Another guy I played roller hockey with is currently in the NHL.
• I love shoes – especially Vans.
• And I like shopping.
• And I have seen the Ramones live in concert.
• And Nirvana.
• I blew my knee out on stage performing with a joke band my brothers and I formed in the first and only song I ever performed in front of a crowd

 

Meet Our Contributors: Kip Gasparick

The unsightly growth on my face (Jon Phillip) is currently touring the world, pounding skins for the band Limbeck. Photo by Jacque Nodell.
Where do you call home?

Green Bay, WI. It’s not the most exciting city on the planet, but I’m within driving distance of family and friends, so it suits me fine.

What was the first concert you attended?

RISE UP, GATHER ‘ROUND…summer of ’83 if I remember correctly, Def Leppard headlined. The sleeveless Union Jack T was all the rage the summer of the Pyromania tour…Rick Allen had both arms. Krokus and Thin Lizzy’s Gary Moore were the opening acts.

What was the first record you bought?

I’m sure I’d give a different answer to this question if I was asked tomorrow, but here goes. I remember winning an 8-Track stereo system in 7th or 8th grade in a magazine fund raiser. I took my allowance and bought the Cars’ Candy-o. “Let’s Go” was one of my favorite songs at the time and constantly playing on the jukebox at the local arcade.

If you were making a mix for our readers, what would be the first three songs you’d select?

The theme of my answers seems to be stuck in the 80s, so I might as well run with it.

The Go-Betweens – “Cattle and Cane”
Gun Club – “Sex Beat”
Hüsker Dü – “Don’t Want To Know If You’re Lonely”

What new music are you currently listening to?

I share most of the majority of new music I’m listening to here. Check out the playlist, that’s your answer. As far as albums are concerned, here are a few of my favorites from 2006: The Decemberists: The Crane Wife, The Hold Steady: Boys And Girls In America, Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, The Pernice Brothers: Live A Little, The Long Blondes: Weekend Without Makeup, Sparklehorse: Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain…I’m sure I’m forgetting the most obvious that should be on the list.

Using lyrics from a song or two, what are some words you live by?

If you spend your life looking behind you, You dont see what’s up front – The Go-Betweens “Was There Anything I Could Do?”

Tell us something about you that we can’t find on Google.

I have a cat named after an Ambulance LTD song (“Ophelia”). The soccer team I coached this summer went undefeated and won their tournament championship game 3-0. My fantasy football team won the league championship by 30 points last Sunday. I bowled my first 200 game this year. I’m deathly afraid of city traffic…so much so that I get nauseated when I attempt to drive in it. I have one of the largest collections of junk you’ll ever see. My parents’ garage is filled with boxes containing advertising collectibles, PEZ dispensers, old school Planet of the Apes memorabila, junk I say. I’m currently collecting the Milwaukee Brewers sausage races characters. Yeah, I’m not right.