Miss Kelly
3 years employment
International Rock Goddess/Cashier

Q:  What music was playing your house when you were a kid?

Miss Kelly:  Like Ratt and Prince.  I had a brother and sister that were 12 and 13 years older than me and my brother was practicing drums all the time.  He was in a band, a metal band.

Oh yeah, lots and lots of Madonna too. My sister once performed Madonna's "Lucky Star" at the food court in the mall and she won the contest and got lots of money.  She had this black lace bustier that she looked killer in and she used to make all the ladies salivate at the lady bars because she was in a lesbian band called Upside Down and Inside Out.

Wow.  Where is she now?

She lives in Virginia with her girlfriend and all of their baby animals.  She plays ukelele now.  We all kind of picked up the ukelele at the same time in the last few months.  We have this fantasy that when we meet up at the family reunion this summer we are all gonna play ukelele together.  It's kind of Uni's fault.

Wow that's rad. So how did you start listening to japanese pop and international rock?

I used to be really into punk rock and I was in this punk rock cafe that was literally under ground and one day on the jukebox this Pizzicato Five song was on and no one knew who it was and it made me so happy.  Ever since I was a child, since I heard "La Bamba", I wanted to sing it even though I didn't care what it meant, so foreign languages have always kinda turned me on.  So after I heard Pizzicato Five I couldn't find that song again until I heard it like 5 years later on the radio at my brother's house and that's when I found out who it was. I went to the indie record store in Richmond, Va -- Plan 9-- and they had it and I got really into it.  It's kind of like this insane musical; I love the showmanship of their sound.

Brent James
7.5 years employment
Information Control

Q: What was playing in your house when you were a kid?

BJ: Janis Joplin, "Mercedes Benz" and lots of  Willie Nelson, lots of The Doors, Fleetwood Mac.  Basic 70's things that are very important to my formative years.

What was your first show?

The Shirelles at a classic car show in Turlock, California.  No lies, my dad was the president of the Cam Twisters USA! He still is.  That was it!

That's crazy. ...yet fabulous. What was the first band that you were really into?

Ratt.  They made me want to be a musician.  It's true!  Why lie, you know?


What is your favorite venue here in the city?

Cafe du Nord.

Yes, I love it.  That's one of my favorites too.  What is your favorite band right now?

I just gotta say I listen to a lot of old things right now.  Ruth Etting and vocalists of the 30s and 40s is what I am listening to a lot at home, besides the usual.

Greg
5+ years employment
vinyl person

Q:  What is the first music you remember hearing, before you had a choice?

G: I remember hearing Bob Seger "Against the Wind" and I remember my sister playing U2 and Tiffany and X2.

Q:  What was the first band you heard that really got you into music?

G:  I think the Beastie Boys and George Michael. and Run DMC.

Q:  What's your favorite music to skateboard to?

G: It's pretty difficult to skateboard to music unless you have an ipod.  When I was young I had a boom box and I would play my mom's Fleetwood Mac tape and the Best of Country Gold tape or something like that.

Q:  What is your favorite record right now, this instant?

G:  Today? Um I like The Way I Am by Merle Haggard, a 1980s record.  Very smooth.

Q:  What's the best reissue you've heard this year?

G: Well the John Phillips Wolfking of LA. [ed note: John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas recorded a solo record in 1970.  It's fantastic and in our Oldies section.]

The Employee Interview
Second Edition: M. Nero Nava
3 + years at Amoeba
Floor Gent


Q: What was the first music you remember hearing as a kid, before you had a choice?

M.N.N: The first song I remember was Blondie's "Heart of Glass."

Q: How have your parents' musical choices affected your musical tastes?

They affected me a lot because my dad likes blues music, which got me into R&B, and my mom used to be a goth chick, so my aesthetic leanings were more towards post punk and all that stuff.  But of course I rebelled as a teen and I listened to hip hop.

Q: What has been the biggest musical influence on your life?

Probably my mom. She laid the foundation with bands like the Cure, David Bowie, Lou Reed.

Q: What is your favorite record to get down to?

Probably Marvin Gaye, the I Want You album.

Q: What is your musical guilty pleasure?

All those R&B chicks that have one good song and they have one name: Kelis, Aaliyah, Ciara, Amerie.

Q: What's the last concert you went to? What was the first concert you went to?

First concert: Jefferson Starship at Great America.
                                   Last concert: I saw Prince for my 46th time.
Q:  When did you start playing music and why?

When i was 16 I started playing keyboards, then I sold my sampler and bought a guitar when I was 18. I wanted to play because girls like that and I'm funky.

In following with both the fact that Amoeba hires only the most insatiable and voracious music enthusiasts, and the fact that we of course all learn from one another, periodically I will be posting interviews with staff members. In this edition, I discuss with San Fran's own Zack his musical past and present, among other things.

The Employee Interview:
Zack
4+ years employed at Amoeba
Floor dude

Q:  What was the first music you remember hearing as a kid, before you had a say?

Z:  "Back in the USSR," "Good Vibrations," and the "Monster Mash." My dad would play these while he got me dressed on the couch in the living room before preschool.

Q:  How have these songs influenced your musical likes and dislikes?

Z:  With the Beatles, it gave me a great pop foundation for discerning melodies I like and dislike, but as I got older I really couldn't take the Beatles anymore and had a long stretch of being completely over them while I explored other musical avenues. Since the birth of MY son I have embraced the Beatles once again, having had enough time off and being able to hear them again for the first time along with him.

Q:  What was your first concert?  Last?

Z:  First concert was the Kinks at the Palladium in LA, '87 and my last was the Melvins at Great American.