Spotlight: Anthony Fantano

SPOTLIGHT: ANTHONY FANTANO

Most likely if you know of Anthony Fantano it is from his work on The Needle Drop.  It began as a seedling in his college years and developed into a cross-platform media outlet for a radio show/podcast, reviews and more (I would miss out on at least one thing if I tried to list them all... uhh, like interviews for instance).

Anthony is also a local guy (living just a couple towns over from us) and has been involved in the local music scene (mostly as an attendee - don't underestimate the power of that). We (Josh & Rick) decided to do an interview with him over email. Instead of emailing us back with answers Anthony hit record on an audio device and sent us that file back. I (Rick) then decided it would be pretty dry to just listen to that with no visual aspect so I made them into videos with some fun slide-shows over them. 

I'll transcribe the full questions before each video (the videos contain a truncated version of each question on a title screen). 
Enjoy!

1. You grew up and still live here in Connecticut. What were your
early musical influences growing up here (bands, venues, family,
friends, friends' older siblings...)?

2. What's your perspective of the current local music scene? What are
some local artists you personally enjoy? Is local music important to
you?



3. Can you give us a brief history of The Needle Drop? How did you get
from Southern (SCSU) to the current all encompassing web presence you
have now?

4. You're closing in on 40,000 Youtube subscribers and over 8 million
upload views. What's it like being an internet celebrity? I must say,
that the fan art is not very flattering. Has anyone sent you creepy
fan-fiction yet?



5.  If you were a Cosby, which Cosby would you be and why?



6. What's the deal with your NPR profile picture on their website?
It's way dated!



7. Can you give us some vegan body building tips? We're vegan, but way
too busy (making excuses) for the gym.



8.  You were involved on a panel at SxSW (South By Southwest Festival)
last year and we see you're preparing to do it again this year. How
did that come about and how is it?  Who joins you on that panel?  How
is the general SxSW experience? Do you get to see even half of the
bands you intend on seeing before going down there?



9.  Getting recognized, it happens to you.  We've seen it happen here
in the store first hand.  We've heard second hand tales of train ride
recognition.  How is that generally for you?  Is it welcome?  Do you
get recognized a lot in CT (by fans rather than friends) or does it
happen more often at bigger events and concerts?



10.  You just crossed over at 10,000 likes on Facebook. Does that even
mean anything to you at this point?  What social media outlets do you
focus on and do you have an opinion on what the future holds for
these? Google+?



11. Are you a member of the Internet Celebrity inner
circle/illuminati/newsletter? If you were you probably couldn't tell
us, but if there is anything you can hint at please use a series of
clicks and clacks.



12.  The future! What's it got in store for you?  Do you have particular goals you're currently working on both short and long term?

The Needle Drop is also in a heated contest to see "Who should win September's On The Rise?" on YouTube - you can vote here. Hurry, it ends tonight.