Photo courtesy David Brooks.
What’s the first album you bought? When? Why?
My first record was a Jackson 5 song called "Mama’s Pearl" and a Bee Gees song the name of which I’ve now forgotten. I know it was in their rock period, before they’d lost their testicles. My first album was American Pie by Don McLean. I liked it because I understood what that song was about—every word of it. No. I had no clue. Someone once asked Don McLean what that song meant, and he said "It means I’ll never have to work again in my life."
What was the best concert you ever saw? What made it so great?
I just went to a Springsteen concert that was quite good. My history of concerts is that I bought a Lynyrd Skynyrd ticket and a week later a couple guys in the band got killed. Not long after, I bought Led Zeppelin tickets and John Bonham died. So I figured I was killing everybody and went five years not buying tickets.
I was an early adopter to the Ramones—them and Kiss. In about 1979, I saw the Ramones four times. They did the same exact concert each time.
Was it about twenty minutes long?
Pretty much. And they played all the songs straight through, with no breaks. My first concert, though, was a Kiss concert. Bob Seger opened. I guess none of these people are Jewish, other than Kiss.
Actually, Joey Ramone was Jewish. His real name was Jeffrey Hyman.
Wow, I’m such a repressed Jew. I wasn’t even aware.
If you could join any band, what would it be?
The E Street Band. But I should say something more creative, like the Carpenters or Captain and Tennille. It could be Captain and Tennille and the Jew. The Captain had his captain hat—I could have a kippah.
What's the most embarrassing album you own?
Candy Shop by 50 Cent. My kids are deeply embarrassed about that.
Name the song you loved so much you played it to death.
Born to Run—well, lots of Springsteen songs. I went through a period when I liked "Love is a Battlefield." Pat Benatar, right? I was also deeply into "Bette Davis Eyes" by someone whose name I can’t remember.
What’s the most recent album you’ve purchased?
Well, now I just use my iPod. George Strait is the most recent person I’ve downloaded. I’m doing more country as I get older and more boring.
What’s the most Jewish your music collection gets?
Somebody once gave me a CD of Jewish music, but I don’t really listen to anything exclusively Jewish. I listen to more Christian music—Catholic ritual music.
So I guess that’s the least Jewish your music collection gets, really.
Least Jewish is Wagner. Though I guess the Carpenters are pretty un-Jewish.
Have you tried Kabbalah?
No. Some very attracted woman invited me, but I couldn’t do it. It’s just not me. But I bet Jeff Goldberg has tried it.