Introduction: Brian Brewer was one of original touring members of Cheyenne. I always had a blast hanging out and talking to him when Cheyenne would come to Kansas City with the band. He is no longer playing in the band but that is what is fun about this series.

How have you been spending your days?

I think I am pretty much done playing in bands. It started to be a pattern, I would be asked to join a band, I would give them warning about not wanting/being able to tour, they accept, it becomes a problem down the road. I have a career in the IT field, I currently am the Video Conference Administrator for a large law firm in Portland. I have always put my career and paying bills before any idea of a music career. Had I not taken a student loan, or learned the benefits of a savings account, health care, normal working hours, and being home all the time, I might have done more in the music field. I am also unsure about the passion. I love listening to music. I can be passionate about a song or an album. But playing music seemed more like a technical exercise most of the time for me. There were occasions where it really seemed to be a way of expressing myself in a cathartic performance, but those were not the norm. I also am not the type to sit around and play the guitar at home, never really have been. Again, i don’t think I have the passion for it that others do. I think trying to be a “professional” musician is a very risky gamble. You have to be willing to be broke as hell for a long time, possibly for your lifetime. I was never comfortable with that. Congratulations if you read this far.

Where have you been spending your days or evenings?

My wife and I do a lot of TV watching on the weekdays while drinking the best beers on Earth(Oregon Beers). On weekends there usually is always something to do in Portland. Movies, bands, festivals, bike rides, you know, whatev?

What has been in your ears?

Q-tips daily, I am a little OCD about that. I listen to nothing new. I kind of gave up in the past few years on finding “new” bands. I just could not get into any of these new bands. I guess that happens as we grow up. I still listen to the same albums I have been listening to since high school(class of ’97) Newish bands I have liked:
Destroyer
Arcade Fire
Can’t think of anything else of note. :(

I find now I listen to talk podcasts a whole lot more than music. Partially because I bike commute and only wear one headphone, but also because I have gotten into comedy a whole lot more. Mainly podcasts of funny people just chatting about anything, not scripted or “performance” work, just witty intelligent conversations. My favorite comedy podcasts:

Never Not Funny with Jimmy Pardo
Jordan, Jesse, Go!
Comedy and Everything Else
Real Time with Bill Maher(audio of tv show)

What has been inspiring or refreshing to you lately?

I have gotten really into stand-up comedy as an art form. As hinted at above. We have been going to see Stand-ups pretty regularly on the weekends, good, cheap entertainment. Seattle has been bringing some great comics down.

Earliest Influence that you can think of?
I was pretty big into Phil Collins before my rock and metal years. I still have a love for what he does with melody.

Best thing you have seen on a little or big screen in a while?
30 Rock.

Last best show you have been to?
Quasi

Any links to things you want to pass along?

http://www.brewcaster.com

The Final Word? (one word only please)
Riverdance

Danny and his wife Millie with one of their kitties

- Introduction:

I was at the historic first official meeting of The Record Machine held at McCoy’s in West Port of Kansas City, MO over half a decade ago. My say didn’t amount to much. I think my mouth was full as I was mostly positioned to eat free cheeseburgers.

- How have you been spending your days?

My days are spent. Creeping on the Crow’s Feet I find that time is more easily measured in flap jack format than ever before. Something big has always been beaming and beating and I find myself blind peeping to see how far back the dogs with prickly sticks in their mouths yip, kick and nip for my heels. I do beat the crickets up at 5 am Monday thru Saturday in order to pinch a bit back. Evenings and weekends find me down slide sliver squeezes as well. I engage in making things and find some peace through all the pieces with my maker in the act of doing so. The handful of women I share space with enlightenment my walk as well…kitties and wife. Walks are good too and Fall time is the best for comfortable living in Kansas City.

More after the break

- Where have you been spending your days or evenings?

A bounty of selections from my basement is always on the menu. I’m easily entertained hunched over at my good ol’ door desk. In the mean time I appreciate the company of my wife, kitty hair on my clothes, celebrating all movies, well-tailored music that sometimes requires a third ear and high rise stacks of books and comics. For nourishment I scrape every pan and pot my wife cooks in. And I am the dishwasher. In the twilight occasion, a one scoop waffle cone of peanut butter ice cream at Miami Ice just down the street does me correctly. If I’m in need to see the stars or get away, the family farm isn’t too far off.

- What has been in your ears?

I love big chunks of ear wax. While rockin’ to the thunder that Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band brought at Sprint Center here in KC, I had a big chunk of ear gunk fall out and it was heavenly. I’m really tickled by the musical foundations a fellow basement dweller named Micah Buzan of Blue Springs, MO is cranking out. He is only 18 and one to watch. Other Kansas City area highlights include The Tambourine Club and The ACBs, who both not only crank out some great and fresh music, but are genuinely lovely lads and don’t boast at the art of playing “rock star”. Far out of this area…I’m excited to hear more from Empire of the Sun as the single “Walking on a Dream” is some of the best dance pop I’ve heard since Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album. Which, I’ve been rattling the rafters with that ’80s gold as well whenever I tire of the Samey So-So’s of most things current. Though, there are a few great new ones and “Evil Urges” by My Morning Jackets is my favorite album so far in 2008. And I can never get enough Bruce Springsteen in my diet. Every day and sometimes every minute of the day calls for a different selection from The Boss’s healthy catalogue. I’m also into the music of Suicide lately. Oh, and I’m quite convinced that Harry Nilsson is one of our finest song craftsmen as a handful of his albums have really been making sense to me and his range is all over the map.

- What has been inspiring or refreshing to you lately?

The work ethic, ideas, passion and output of singer-songwriters Harry Nilsson and Bruce Springsteen gets me going. I finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” for the second and one half times and it is gold. I like Michael Chabon’s writing and work ethic a lot too and am spending my second Fall in his books…the same with Flannery O’Connor. In terms of arts and crafts, Saul Steinberg, Henryk Tomaszewski, Eric Carle and Bill Traylor continue to get me to smiling. Oh, and I must hand out an exclamation to fellow maker Ben Chlapek of Neversleeping.com as he is involved with a lot of lovely creations.

- Earliest Influences that you can think of?

Farm Life / Giant Watermelon Patches / Giant Pumpkins / Grandaddy Long Legs / Dead Animals Under Bed / Homemade Stuffed Animals / Taxidermy / Seed Corn Packaging and Farm Implement Logos / Small Town Gas Stations / Uncle Ed’s Horse Drawing Skills / The Seasons / Fireworks / Animals Big and Little / Hunting / Dead Animal Backpack / Grandma Gibson’s Handmade Aesthetics, Checker skills, Sugar Cookies and Salmon Patties / Grandpa Gibson’s Burnt Pancakes and Old Western-Love Story Reading / The Sand Box / Tree Houses and Forts / Popping Asphalt Bubbles in Summertime / Snow Days / Hard Rains / Holidays / Fishing / Camping / Guns and War / Drawing WWII Battles with Dad / Raccoon Wall Paper / Puppets / Anything Jim Henson / Mad Magazine / Mad Balls / Garbage Pail Kids / Dr. Demento / Taping Music Off the Radio / “Live & Let Die” by Paul McCartney & Wings / Mom’s Record Pile / The Beatles / Oldies Music / ‘70s T.V. Theme Tunes / ‘80s Pop Music (Michael Jackson for sure) / Weird Al Yankovic / Ren & Stimpy / Pee-Wee’s Playhouse / Saturday Morning Cartoons / “Gummi Bears” / Comic Books / Tractor Pulls / Big Foot (Creature and Monster Truck) / “Star Wars” / “The Swiss Family Robinson” / “James Bond” / “Indiana Jones” / “Rambo” / “Commando” / “Batman” (Tim Burton) / Going to the Movies / Pizza and Tacos / Soda Pop / Flavored Frozen Pops / Kick Ball / Grandma Dayton’s Spaghetti / Racking Leaves and Riding to the Dump with Grandpa Dayton / Sports (Michael Jordan for sure) / Sports Team Mascots / Sports Stadiums / Collecting Sports Trading Cards / Skyscrapers / Cake and Ice Cream / Late Nights at Best Friend Ean’s Funeral Home House / “…red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” / Being Alone / Cutting and Pasting / Falling Off a Slide, Hitting My Head and Blacking Out in Kindergarten

- Best thing you have seen on a little or big screen in a while?

P.T. Anderson’s “Punch Drunk-Love” is my favorite movie and I just took my 8th dip with it. My favorite 2008 movie and the best rockumentary ever so far is “Young @ Heart” and close behind for top of this year is “Be Kind Rewind” and “Son of Rambow”. This Fall and Winter look to boast one of the finest crops of films…I’m highly anticipating “The Road”, “The Wrestler”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Synecdoche, NY”, “The Changeling” and many others. Other great watches of late (old and new) include “The Tin Drum”, “Hoop Dreams”, “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “The Wicker Man” (1973), “Sorry, Haters”, “The Seven Year Itch”, “The Cars That Ate Paris”, “Don’t Look Now”, “Dark Days”, “Rat Catcher”, “The King of Kong”, “Alice”, “Dear Wendy” and “The Band’s Visit”. On the small screen, “Planet Earth” is mind-blowing worship that demands for me to invest in a projector for the future. In T.V. Land this summer I discovered and fell in love with “Beauty & The Geek”. I’m excited for the cool new sci-fi show with cool typography called “Fringe” and another season with the excellent “How I Met Your Mother”. Currently I’m backtracking through the entire series of “Sex & The City” and am absolutely loving it and can’t wait to get the movie! Oh, and the live Broadway production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” is gold genius and made me cry.

- Last best show you have been to?

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in Kansas City on August 24, 2008. It is the best show I’ve ever seen, even better than two previous Boss concerts. Sprint Center is now officially called Spring Center. I can’t wait for the Super Bowl half-time…

- Any links to things you want to pass along?

- The Final Word? (one word only please)

GRILLEDCHEESETOMATOSOUP