Ira A. Robbins

1. I have a list of every concert i've been to in the past 30 years. First show: Murray the K Easter revue with my cousin Frank in 1966.

2. When I was 7 I won second place in a pet fair for a guinea pig named Eloise.

3. I was named for a relative whose name was Isidore but whose nickname was Itch.

4. I missed high school graduation because I was off bicycling in Europe.

5. I did a grade school book report on the S volume of the World Book encyclopedia.

6. My childhood bedroom was the size of a good-sized studio apartment.

7. I can't stand the sound of ice being chewed.

8. I'm scared of heights.

9. I've lived with 7 different cats and three different women.

10. Number three is forever.

11. I'm always early, or at least on time. If we're meeting at restaurant, I'll probaby be waiting outside.

12. I've been a Yankee fan since I was three feet tall.

13. My mother is the most wonderful person I've ever known. She took me to my first anti-war March on Washington in 1965.

14. I was in a pre-punk '70s band called Knickers that included Jimmy Destri before he (very wisely) joined Blondie.

15. I can't touch type, but i do hunt and peck at 50 wpm.

16. I have never spent more than two consecutive months outside the five boroughs of New York. I've lived in three of them and went to high school in a fourth.

17. After New York, my five favorite cities are London, Memphis, Chicago, Paris and Austin.

18. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorite things to do.

19. I kind of like the idea of a Germ burn.

20. When I was little, i made up a song about broccoli.

21. I've visited the final resting places of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Jim Morrison, Robert Johnson and Johnny Thunders.

22. I make pretty good soups, chili, crepes, blinis, fish, curry and pork roasts.

23. I learned to drive in my 30s and still suck at it.

24. Whistling doesn't mean i'm happy.

25. I always try to face my fears.