The Museum and the Music

Today’s thoughtful Tune Tracker subject likes music, a lot. Consequently, with so much tunage marching through his brain, it spurred this proclamation about the interview: “If you asked me these questions tomorrow, the answers would probably all change.”

A native of Chicago, Rob Sherer relocated to the West Coast a couple of years ago, first living in Los Angeles and now situated locally after accepting a position with the (MCASD).

Some of his earliest exposure to music came from making it, hands on. After years of playing the trumpet, Sherer got together with some friends and started a punk ska band in Chicago. When not playing, they spent a lot of their time going to small shows in, and around, the city—the $5 kind where you buy your tickets at the door.

“Chicago has a great music scene. It’s a great place to see live shows,” Sherer said.

His parents even got in on the deal and, one time, agreed to host the after party for a live “Anti-Homecoming Dance” performance with MU330. They even put the band up and fed them breakfast the next morning—not bad.

Aside from listening to what he classifies as “moody” tunes, this local museum backer spends a lot of his time working on general membership and new member organizations for MCASD, like the new Avant Garde group for the next generation of art collectors and enthusiasts.

While maintaining ties to his Windy City music roots, Sherer continues to give his iPod a workout here on the West Coast. For more, to the Q&A we go:

Name: Robert Sherer

Occupation: Senior Annual Giving Manager at

In a word, sum up your taste in music: “This might sound a little sad and depressing, but melancholy.”

What is your castaway disc (the once CD or album you would take with you to a deserted island)? Perfect From Now On, Built to Spill

Favorite live music performance—artist, venue and year: Archers of Loaf, The Metro, Chicago, 1998; “It was a farewell show on their last tour with Built to Spill as the opener. My friends didn’t buy tickets ahead of time, so I ended up being the only one to get in. A very memorable show—epic.”

If you were an instrument, what would you be and why? A synthesizer, because of New Order; or a melodica.

Your guilty music pleasure: “Can I name a song? There’s “How Bizarre,” by OMC, “Millennium” by Robbie Williams and “You Get What You Give” by The New Radicals. In the larger sense, it might be Oasis, but I don’t know if that’s really a guilty pleasure.”

What would your theme song be? “Sunrise,” by Pulp.

Name the three artists getting the most airtime on your iPod right now:

1. Wild Nothing
2. Bill Callahan
3. Yo La Tengo