interview paper

What do you do when you’re feeling down and out? What does anyone do in that case? Well, if you’re anything like Amanda Lotko, your answer will have something to do with music. I chose to interview Amanda because she’s the only one from all of my friends who relates to music as much as I do. She could be having the worst day ever and her favorite song will come on the radio, and she’ll go crazy from excitement. She’ll completely forget that she was just angry or upset. I’ve heard that music can change moods and calm nerves and I know that not everyone will agree to this, but Amanda knows it’s true. I asked her how she would feel if for some strange reason, all of a sudden, there was no more music to listen to. Her response was, “I’d probably be depressed all the time. You know how I sometimes have my bad days where I’m just angry for no reason? Well, those would turn in to, like, bad weeks or months or something.” Shoot, I think it would be worse for me than her, seeing how I’m her friend.
We’re both from Hamtramck, and it’s a little 2.5 square mile town with not much to do. People here drive around for fun. Yeah that does sound pretty stupid, but when you’re in a car full of people, singing along to loud music and acting like a child, it’s actually really fun. It’s times like these that show how great music can be. Amanda said, “I like when we drive up to people, stop, and start singing random songs. Not only is it fun for us, but it gives them a good laugh too, and if they were having a bad day, we just brightened it a bit.” Music doesn’t always change your mood to a better one, though. Sometime’s you’ll hear a song and it’ll remind you of an unpleasant situation. Amanda recently got out of a long term relationship and is still coping with her heartbreak. Every time she hears a love song she gets quiet and starts thinking about the past; what could have, should have, or would have happened. “Sometimes when I hear a new song, and actually pay attention to the words, I get goose bumps. I feel like I’m listening to my life story,” says Amanda. It doesn’t even have to relate to your life to give you chills. It happens to me when I hear an extremely good song.
“Music get’s me through my day, I could never get tired of it,” says Amanda. She falls asleep to music, gets ready listening to it, and even works around music. She’s a waitress at the Harbor House downtown, where they always have music playing, and on the weekends they have live bands. “Work is so much more fun when there’s a band, we get to dance,” she exclaims. When I asked her what she thinks makes a song a “good song,” she said it was the lyrics and the beat, not necessarily together. She believes a song can have a good beat but the words will be really pointless and it will still be a good song. On the other hand, the beat can be very bland but if she likes the words and can sing along to it, she considers it a good song.
Amanda also loves to write. She has a whole book of poems. She has anything from free verse lyric type of poems to two-line rhymes. Instead of keeping a journal she shares her thoughts and feelings through these poems. They’re pretty personal so I can’t give any examples but they’re amazing pieces of writing. She won’t let the public see because it’s a part of her, “something that no one else should see, unless they’re close friends.” They could definitely be published as songs though.