Luke Rathborne

Age: 21. Occupation: Musician. Hometown: Brunswick, Maine. Currently lives in: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Day job: Almost any work, really. I work in bars. It would be nice to say I bartend, but I do sort of the lower-rank jobs. Reason for moving to New York City: New York in everyone’s mind is this place where you can go to find freedom. I don’t know if it was ever about finding fame or wealth or anything like that for me, but it was definitely about finding and—solidifying some kind of identity. Childhood hero: Lou Reed. He could do no wrong in my eyes. I remember listening to Transformer [1972]—it reconfigured the way I thought about things, just the daring of it. Favorite fictional character: Holden Caulfield. Favorite real-life character: Sam Shepard. Best celebrity sighting: I saw this dude with big, poufy hair. All he had on were tiny, pink, ’70s gym shorts, and flip-flops. It took me a second, but I was like, “Holy shit. That was Lou Reed.” Worst nightmare: New York City can be a nightmarish place. It exists in your imagination in one way, and then it exists in front of you in another. Theme song: Ah, man . . . I’m trying to think . . . Does it take a really long time for people to answer that question?