Today's interviewee is music journalist located here in Chicago who, as the mom of two boys, gives me hope that it's possible to be productive and relevant while having children. She is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, writes the Fan Landers music-advice column over at the Village Voice, and is a frequent contributor to Pitchfork, Spin and Rookie. Her work has been included in Best Music Writing 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011. You can read a lot more of her here over at her long-running blog.

I saw that Elvis Costello played for the premiere of the new iPhone today which made me misty for the years when I was completely head over heels obsessed with him. I still like him a lot but it's just not the same. What are some groups or artists that you were completely dedicated to at one time but not so much anymore (and that not-so-much feeling makes you nostalgic?)?
I put on EC's Attractions years last week--he's such a freak of genius. I forgot how obsessed I was with him; I tried so hard to understand Imperial Bedroom as a 10th grader but it was beyond my ken.

I have found that my perspective has shifted over time on the genius of Terrence Trent D'Arby's Introducing the Hardline. I was really into a few pop records right before I found out about punk. I spent a lot of time dancing in my room to TTD. I bought that record again a few years ago in a fit of nostalgia and it has maybe two good songs. I mean, big picture, I often find that records I have since discarded are way more solid than I remember. I have let my feelings sometime be swayed by exasperation with an era or my disdain for an artists fame or choices.

What music do your kids like? Do you share their tastes?
This week we have been listening to Ravi Shankar and both the boys are really feeling the vintage sitar stylings of the master. Jude likes to dance, so he's kind of cool with whatever--he loves Chic and last week demanded repeat listens to the later-era Whisper's hit "Rock Steady." William has his dad's music tastes--classics, Beatles, Stones, Byrds. He thinks Joni Mitchell albums are his babysitter Jeanine, who is an accomplished singer herself. He does not like rap, and that is where we split.

What did you sing to your kids at lullaby time when they were tiny babies? (My kid most frequently hears The Beatles' take on "Til There Was You" and during the season, the Bears fight song.)
Whatever I could remember the melody to as a sleep-deprived, often exasperated new mom, which meant "Star Spangled Banner", and "America The Beautiful", "Home on the Range" and "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms," Eagles songs. I mean just the shit that is etched in the cortex.

What are the benefits about writing about music from Chicago? Drawbacks?
Good talent pool, most years, and people are usually quite earnest. It helps that there is not a lot of competition with other writers, we each have our beat, our niche. Drawbacks are the usual second city syndrome kind of stuff.

What song or album have you listened to on repeat lately?
The first song on the HAIM album. The new Laura Viers record. Omar Souleyman's forthcoming album. Anything I am reviewing. I have so little time to listen to anything that I am rarely afforded repeat listens when not for work.

The other day I started feeling really depressed about Miley Cyrus--not about what she does but that thanks to evolving technology and pop culture's collective short memory, the first world will find a new way to lose its mind whenever a former girl decides to put her sexuality on display, for better or for worse, and will not ever gain perspective and say "Eh we've seen this before." All this is to say, how do you handle staying current and relevant yet, as you age, becoming more mature and acquiring greater perspective? I imagine it's especially tricky in music where you want to acknowledge history but not be that old fart who's like "In my day, we didn't have amplifiers!"
Like how do I personally do it, how does one even do it in our culture? The work of staying current lists towards burdensome as the news cycle has sped up--forever stressing on the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out. See: Will Welch in the August GQ)--and while it's important, I think doing good work is more important. I mean, for me. In December and January, when things are slow I catch up on everything I missed--TV shows, albums, weird short lived memes. Just power through it all. I don't ever want to be all grandpa-zone. I try to mind my crabbiness. There is always great work being made, you just have to find it. I think the joy of being older is that I am liberated from ever having to give a shit about like, nouveau grunge fetishism and reunion tours.

Your sister Lauren Redding is an editor at Rookie and your mom is a newspaper editor: what have you learned about writing (or pitching or being edited) from your family members?
Nothing. My sister and I talk work by necessity. What I learned from my mom, from growing up in a newsroom, from reading the daily paper every day from a young age (I do not now) is just respect for real journalism, real photo journalism how hard it is to make a good paper every single day. My mom looked over one thing I wrote in like 2001 as a copy editing favor; she always just figured I would figure my stuff out no matter what it is. I think she reads some of my work. I mean, my mom was really tenacious and dedicated and had a really incredible career in the newspaper business; I met David Carr last year and the first thing he said was "I love your mother." She was the youngest stringer ever hired by the Associated Press; she was a teenager covering IU basketball, she won a lot of awards for her work when I was young, and her work was a huge part of her life and identity. She had me at 22 and was a single mom for a while, and I have no idea how she did it. I always had a lot of pride that I was the only girl in my girl scout troop whose mom had a job-job. I mean granted, one of the girls' moms did invent Jazzercise, but whatever--my mom MADE THE PAPER. My mom was rarely home for dinner and my stepdad cooked; I did not know of another family like that growing up. During the entire 80's my dad was a photojournalist covering El Salvador and Panama, based out of Mexico City. My parents and their friends that I grew up around were yoked to journalism, to deadlines. I never meant to go that route, and neither did my sister but now look at us. Ha ha.

What, if anything has being a mother taught you that has helped you in your professional life?
To ask for more money.

What is your favorite fictional band?
The Fabulous Stains. Naturally.

I feel like most people have that one concert that they would have gone to but just couldn't make it (mine was Radiohead and Belly at the Riv in 1993: my parents wouldn't let me go.) Do you have a white whale concert that you'll always remember not attending?
 Sinead O' Connor's US tour that she had to cancel c. 1990 because she was pregnant? Does that count? I think I still have the ticket. It was $5.00!

I am looking for new music to run to to get me through this half-marathon I'm doing. Do you have any recommendations for something bouncy and sassy?
Are you familiar with the work of Mykki Blanco? The new Sich Mang is like straight up Gabba-level BPM, which I think would match that kind of aerobic punishment. I do not understand running, fundamentally, but props to you.

How does it feel to be the 361st person interviewed for Zulkey.com?
Like this: