Photo by Colby Droscher
Guest List features some of our favorite artists filling us in on some of their favorite things, along with other random bits. For this edition, we spoke with Bay Area singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt, who is at work on the follow-up to last year's self-titled debut album.
First Record I Bought For Myself
My family went to Boston on a vacation and it was really insane for me because I was from a small town. I had a gift certificate to Tower Records and I got the first Spice Girls record. I was totally into them. I remember seeing their video for “Wannabe” on MTV, and I was truly struck with their infectious energy. 
Favorite Spice Girl
Ginger was my favorite. I liked her color palette a lot. I really liked her hair and all the reds and oranges that she would wear. She seemed like the most well-rounded one.
My Morning Routine
I usually wake up with my cat on me and pet her for a while and then I make a cup of PG Tips tea and just kind of sit around for a while. It’s like a shitty English tea. I think it’s like the Folgers of England, basically.
Dream Collaboration
Ariel Pink. I’m so obsessed with him right now, and it's pretty insane how limitless [his music feels]. He just gets really far out and it seems kind of effortless, but it’s such a range of different sounds from different eras. He makes me feel like I have a limited imagination sometimes [in comparison]. Personally, I don’t think that there’s anyone doing anything even close.
Last Great Film I Saw
Just last night, I saw Clifford with Martin Short and Charles Grodin. I think that’s a great film, but I also have a really weird crush on Martin Short, so it was, I dunno, it kind of fed into that fantasy. I mean, in his prime, if you could call it that. [laughs] I think it developed as a child. I watched Captain Ron religiously as a kid, for some reason.
Best Thing I’ve Bought in the Past Year
It’s a module box that allows you to input several instruments into a 4-track and run through your computer so it’s kind of like a mini studio setup. I’m recording actively.
Favorite Record Store
I have a sentimental place in my heart for Recycled Records on Haight Street because I used to live in like a basement apartment with this guy that worked there, Moses. We would just go down there four days out the week and hang out all day and listen to records. I also really like Groove Merchant when I’m looking to find a bunch of records that I can afford.
Favorite Song of All Time
“I Scare Myself” by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. It’s got a really intense violin solo in the middle, and it kind of sounds like a song that a serial killer would write about somebody. But it’s really beautiful.
Last Album I Downloaded
I downloaded the entire Hollies discography. Mainly-- because not all of it’s good-- I was just trying to get Evolution and this other album, Butterfly, which came out one after the other, and they’re both super good. Those two albums are super hard to find on vinyl, which is super annoying, because it is by far their best stuff. All their greatest hits are way earlier, more Beatles rippy-offy kind of stuff, so it’s not as interesting. But Evolution is totally their psych record and it’s really varied but it’s very cool and it’s definitely Graham Nash’s best songwriting.
Role Model
Genesis P-Orridge for just being a freak, if you want to be. I agree with a lot of his and/or her ideas about how you should live your life, for you, and stuff like that. It’s kind of cheesy, but it’s kind of like modern Buddhist ideas about serving yourself, which is cool.
Favorite TV Show
I love “Columbo”. I love “Black Books”-- it’s like a British comedy. It’s fucking hilarious. I also am totally addicted to this show on A&E called “The First 48”. It’s a show that is real time. A crime is committed and it usually takes place in Detroit or Houston or something and it’s basically just tracking the detectives in the first 48 hours after the crime is committed to track down the people who did it. There’s a lot of interrogation, like hidden camera things. It’s just really focused and there’s no fast-paced editing. It’s almost like zen.
Favorite Music Video
There’s a weird video for “Night Fever” by the Bee Gees that’s really cool. It’s shots of a strip somewhere that looks really shitty at night interspersed with these weird low-lit shots of the three Bee Gees standing and they’re singing and they’re lined up, tapping their foot in unison, like the same leg. They all look super dead and they’re not very enthusiastic and it’s really kind of awkward, but it looks really cool.
Favorite Venue
I really like the Great American Music Hall because it’s really beautiful and really historic. I kind of have a sentimental attachment to it. My mom used to live in San Francisco in the ‘70s and she told me this story about how she used to feel like she had this weird psychic connection with Van Morrison. She would have dreams about him all the time and she always felt like if she met him someday, there might be something there for some reason, which is just kind of crazy. She said she went to see him at the Great American and she was right in the front row against the stage and she was like, “Tonight’s gonna be the night, he’s gonna open his eyes and he’s gonna see me and he’s gonna know something.” But then she said he never opened his eyes the whole time. He never opens his eyes.
Favorite “Simpsons” Episode
Obvious choice, but the one where Homer gains all the weight to get on disability-- just so quotable, the whole thing. “I don’t want to look like a freak, so I’ll take the muumuu.”
Favorite Cereal
Cereal, oh fuck. I have a lot. Honestly, I really like Special K. As far as a crazy ass cereal, I love Cocoa Pebbles. I just really like the texture, they’re all airy and weird and tiny.
Favorite Sport
I like the pacing of baseball. I find that it’s the easiest sport for me to become attached to the different people, which is the only thing that makes it interesting for me, because I don’t really like sports. I like being able to see people’s faces without a mask on. I feel like there’s a wide range of looks for a baseball player, like he can be tall or short. They’re pretty varied looking, which is interesting. You can be out of shape or be a tall freak who’s really skinny. It’s like the misfit sport.
Dream Tattoo
I would actually be super into having a portrait tattoo, but the person is always changing. You see people with kind-of-good portrait tattoos but there’s always one detail that’s fucked up. If I could maybe meet some insane Japanese tattoo artist that could do photographic renderings of peoples’ faces, then there’s a lot of people I might consider getting. My friend has a tattoo of Brian Wilson, and it's cool, but it totally looks like Roy Orbison.