Nine Music-Related Things You’d Never Guess About Michele Dunaway -

I was on MTV. I had a few seconds on MTV’s “The Week in Rock” in July 1989. I was in New York City at the New Music Seminar working a tradeshow booth for the group Hear St. Louis, promoting St. Louis bands. After a five-minute interview, the reporters used only one snippet of me saying “The worst thing is it’s an information overload.” A friend in Cleveland videotaped the episode and sent it to me. Sadly, in 1998 an episode of Sailor Moon taped right over it.
While in NYC for New Music Seminar, I rode in an elevator with Sinbad (the comedian), hung out with GWAR (without their makeup), and was in the crowd when Nirvana played the Pyramid Club in East Village. I was standing with Jeff Suhy, of A&M Records, who was throwing Soundgarden CDs into the crowd. He pointed to Kurt Cobain and said “This band will be the next big thing,” and he was right. I like to call that the moment metal died and grunge took over. Rap was also huge that year.
As a fun sideline from my day job, I wrote for Spotlight, a music newspaper in St. Louis. I’m actually still friends with some of local bands I interviewed and my editor, Bob Baker. During this time, I met many national bands including the Warrant, The Young Fresh Fellows, The Replacements, Anacrusis, The Call, and 24-7 Spies. Tuff Nutz opened for 24-7 Spies, and members of that group were good friends of mine.
Fun fact—I can’t sing or play an instrument.
The list of concerts I’ve seen is far too long to post but includes groups like The Police, R.E.M., Dan Fogelberg, Supertramp, Montgomery Gentry, Kenny Chesney, Capital Cities, Stir, John Michael Montgomery, Bear Hands, and more.
Bands I’ve seen more than once include Lifehouse, Bastille and the Goo Goo Dolls. Both times I saw the Goo Goo Dolls I was with my daughter—once in St. Louis (2007) and once in NYC (2018). Another fun night was back in 2001 when I was hanging backstage during the Better than Ezra concert with the guys from Dexter Freebish, who’d played earlier. I’d met the band on a plane to Birmingham, used Charles and his girlfriend in a book, and caught up with them the next time they came through.
One reason I still have my hearing—I was wearing earplugs to shows as far back as the late 1980s. The last concert I saw was The Bitter Ends, a local group. The lead singer and his wife are my neighbors.
The radio station always on in my car is SiriusXM’s Alt Nation (Channel 36). I love alternative music and dedicated my Love’s Secret Ingredient to Radio Madison. So what if she sings? She’s awesome. And I once shared the world’s craziest airport shuttle in 2011 with Alt Regan, who was on his way to Coachella with other DJs. I was on my way with my daughter to a conference. The shuttle driver stopped for gas and the ladies in head-to-toe Disney gear lost it.
My second favorite Sirius XM station is Life with John Mayer (Channel 14). His station plays a little bit of everything past and present. While I’ve bought his CDs (and he’s on my Spotify), I’ve never been to a John Mayer concert and once again missed him the last time he came through. He’s probably the one person living or dead I’d love to sit and chat music with.