1/24/07, 12:00 pm EST

We Have a Winner: Andrew Miller Nails Assignment #2

Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Miller from Mankato, Minnesota, scored top honors in the second installment of our “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing contest, in which we asked folks to submit ten incisive questions for a (living) band or artist of their choice. The spoils? A brand new First Act guitar and a Rhapsody Sansa MP3 player.

Executive editor Joe Levy, who juried this competition, had this to say:

Andrew Miller [who wrote questions for John Mayer] is the winner. Went to the front of the class with the nicely sneaky question: “Ever purchase a Jessica Simpson album?” Touched on news, music and Mayer’s personal life, and in smart, interesting ways that left room for Mayer to be smart and interesting himself.

Runner Up:

Elyssa Pachico [who submitted questions for Tori Amos]. These questions told a story in themselves, and were the best of the superfan questions.

Didn’t make the winner’s circle? You still have a shot. Enter contest #3, where we ask you to review a live musical performance, here. The deadline is this Friday at noon.

1/19/07, 6:15 pm EST

Assignment Two Finalist: Chris Faris — 10 Questions for Michael Stipe

Think you can do better? Prove it, by entering our our contest. Win prizes and get your work published. We’ll announce week three’s assignment Monday, 12:00 p.m. EST.

Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Chris Faris
Age: 34

1. With over 25 years as a celebrity, what would you say are the best and worst aspects of being recognized everywhere you go?

2. Musically and culturally, how do you define being ‘relevant’ in today’s fractured culture?

3. Have you ever actually tried to play an instrument on a recording?

4. When you were younger, you were less vocal as a person, but more vocal as an artist politically. Why has this changed?

5. Spending a great deal of time in NYC, and being a big supporter of her husband, what is your opinion of a presidential bid for Hillary Clinton?

6. You are also a filmmaker – the advent of the internet and YouTube makes immediate, massive distribution of media both free and easy. How would this have changed your career path? Would you still do what you do for free?

7. How surreal does it seem to you, being inducted into the HOF at the same time as Patty Smith, who was a huge influence on you as an artist?

8. When was the last time you took yourself too seriously?

9. Can you see Peter and Mike and yourself onstage in 10 years a-la the Rolling Stones?

10. If you had to go take a ‘joe’ job what would you want to do, and definitely NOT want to do?

1/19/07, 6:15 pm EST

Assignment Two Finalist: Elyssa Pachico - 10 Questions for Tori Amos

Think you can do better? Prove it, by entering our our contest. Win prizes and get your work published. We’ll announce week three’s assignment Monday, 12:00 p.m. EST.

Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Elyssa Pachico

Age: 21

1. Your new album features a blend of harpsichord, piano, Rhodes and organ. In the ultimate keyboard catfight, which one would come out on top and why?

2. In these songs, is there a different approach to confronting current political events than you’ve shown in songs like ‘I Can’t See New York?’

3. Is this a return to a more confrontational Tori, or do you still feel a need to censure your subject material while your daughter is still young?

4. What would you say to the argument that the sociopolitical context and religious symbolism in these songs overshadows the music itself? That is, does everyone need a crash course in Mary Magdalene in order to understand what these songs are all about, or is okay just to bob our heads along to the beat?

5. You’ve recorded and toured with Matt Chamberlain on drums and Jon Evans on bass for the past several albums now. Does it ever give you a cloistered feeling, like being stuck in a monastery cell with the same two monks for years and years?

6. As an artist known for her brutal honesty, how far do you feel you’ve moved away from exposing your most intimate emotional experiences in these later works as compared with earlier albums?

7. Did releasing last September’s retrospective boxset “A Piano” influence the new album in any way?

8. Have you sensed a change in the way radio treats solo female singer-songwriters since ‘Little Earthquakes’ came out?

9. Last year’s ‘Fade to Red’ music video compilation features Adrian Brody playing a very sexy arm in ‘A Sorta Fairytale.’ Which actor plays which body part in your next video and why?

10. Can we expect any more Bon Jovi and ACDC covers during this next world tour?

1/19/07, 6:15 pm EST

Assignment Two Finalist: Yancy Berns - 10 Questions for Chuck Berry

Think you can do better? Prove it, by entering our our contest. Win prizes and get your work published. We’ll announce week three’s assignment Monday, 12:00 p.m. EST.

Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Yancy Berns
Age: 33

1. Forget whether it was you, Elvis, or Ike Turner. Did ANYONE ‘invent’ rock and roll?

2. Your early lyrics, for many rock fans, serve as the bedrock of the music’s ethos. Were you expressing something you felt personally in those days, or were you just telling young people what they wanted to hear?

3. Who among the songwriters that followed in your footsteps did you admire the most?

4. What are you feelings concerning hip-hop and rap? Is that sound - and all that imagery - in any way connected to yours?

5. What do you think The Beatles added to the rock ethos? What about Bob Dylan?

6. Pete Townshend, another of your “children” (as Bob Seger called all those inspired by your licks), famously wrote “I hope I die before I get old.” What do you think about that sentiment? What would a younger Chuck Berry have thought?

7. You were lucky enough to ride the crest of the mid-century youth-culture revolution. Do you think that sort of major shift can happen again, or can that Pandora’s Box only be opened once per culture?

8. Do you still get the itch to write new songs? If not, at what point in your life did the urge leave you?

9. Even though your songs ARE rock and roll, you sat out much of the socio-political tumult of the 50s and 60s that rock was very much a part of. Why?

10. What, if any, are the differences between being an African-American in 1955 and in 2007? In what ways can rock and rull be credited with those changes?

1/19/07, 6:14 pm EST

Assignment Two Finalist: Catherine Mevs - 10 Questions for John Mayer

Think you can do better? Prove it, by entering our our contest. Win prizes and get your work published. We’ll announce week three’s assignment Monday, 12:00 p.m. EST.

Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Catherine Mevs

Age: 19

1. In a number of your songs, there are lightly veiled messages about the current political climate. As a man of opinions, would you ever do another stint writing for a magazine, this time—instead of writing for Esquire about music—writing opinions on current events for another publication?

2. What are the elements (human, vegetable or mineral) which, when added together, are the most conducive to your creative process?

3. By definition, your song lyrics are very relatable to a wide audience. Given the atypical life you lead, how do you keep your song writing well grounded?

4. Having previously acknowledged that playing the guitar was your first love, what was it that compelled you to start singing over your playing; as opposed to joining a band as the lead guitarist?

5. As a song writer, what are your thoughts on the fact that when your next album comes out—regardless of how far in the future that may be— there is going to be speculation (á la Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”) on which songs were inspired by your speculated romance with Jessica Simpson?

6. Has your time in the New York City comedy circuit changed the way you put on your concerts?

7. As one of the producers on this record, you held the power in determining which songs were in and which were out. What compelled you to put “Vultures” and “Gravity” on Continuum when they had already appeared on The John Mayer Trio album?

8. Among your musical contemporaries, with whose music do you connect the most deeply?

9. What do you feel the word “continuum” expresses about your music on this latest album, your past albums and the music you’ve yet to create?

10. On average, how many hours a day do you spend thinking about music?