What is your first musical memory?
After seeing The Wizard Of Oz on television, I went to the piano and picked out "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." My parents looked at each other like they'd given birth to an alien and bought me a guitar.
What was the first album you owned?
My sister and I got matching cassette players for Christmas and I believe the cassettes were The Seeds and The Beach Boys.
Were you not a musician, what would your profession be?
A veterinarian.
What song do you wish you had written?
“Smile” by Charlie Chaplin.
What was the first concert you attended?
Lee Michaels at the Hollywood Palladium. I had a joint in the cuff of my bell bottoms and lost it. My boyfriend was pissed!
What artists, dead or alive, would be part of your ultimate one-night concert performance?
Carmen Amaya, Cameron, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Dino, Pablo PIcasso, and Frida and Diego Rivera.
What instrument would you like to play, that you currently cannot?
Viola and cello.
With whom would you like to collaborate?
There's a band called 'Flametal' out of Berkeley who are flamenco/metal. I love them and hopefully someday I can sing with them. I just had Julia Butterfly Hill with me in San Francisco and I am dying to do more with her. Also I had John Trudell out to my cabin and I am singing on quite a bit of his new work which is not released yet.
Which one of your songs would you put in a time capsule?
“True.” Jim Mankey (Concrete Blonde guitarist) had given me a cassette of ideas and that was the one I liked. He didn't. We fought like hell over that one and I was right.
What albums can you not live without?
Robbie Robertson's Red Road Ensemble and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.
Who was (or is) your biggest influence as a musician?
The Creator. The music just comes through me, I have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Compiled by Bob Ham
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Johnette Napolitano's Scarred is available now on Hybrid Records.
http://www.myspace.com/johnettenapolitano
