Mary-Margaret (M-M), who’s your idol?
Emma Peel.
Ok then, who do you look up to musically?
Like every female musician, I nod to Joni Mitchell. Also, I think Ella Fitzgerald is the ultimate vocalist! On the guy side: Mr. Steely Dan, the performance art of both Peter Gabriel and the Tubes, my favorite composer, Cole Porter and of course, Sinatra. I’d take his albums to a deserted island any day! Mozart is the Master… and more recent stuff: chillout tracks, drum and bass, meditation music.
What faraway past or future time and place would you choose to live in and why?
I’m most interested in the ‘now’, but I’d like to see the ‘Great White Way’ at the 1892 Chicago World’s Fair. It must have been a fascinating time; so many inventive minds: Faraday, Twain, and the man who changed modern history, Nikola Tesla.
What is your favorite movie?
Mary-Margaret Stratton photo by Robert
Ball of Fire, directed by Frank Capra, with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwick. I love old movies with happy endings, musicals like High Society or Guys and Dolls, sci-fi like Blade Runner. It’s also hard to tear me away from Elvis on Saturday afternoon!
M-M, how did you meet your husband drummer, Cary?
I went to an all girls Catholic high school. And in senior year you could get out of religion class by taking an evening ‘marriage class’ with boys from our brother school. We met there and became friends. Then Cary took me to his senior prom, shook my hand goodnight, and made me think twice. My parents didn’t approve of our relationship, so it became very exciting – like Romeo and Juliet. Lots of nights sneaking out of the bedroom window for midnight trysts! Decades later and we’re still together.
What is your outlook on life?
I am a firm believer in Abraham Lincoln’s observation,
“Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
I’ve made up my mind!
If you could change something in the world, what would it be?
I’d like to make everyone honest!