iProf: Eric Strauss

Now playing on Professor Strauss' iPod:

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Ventura Highway - America

Running on Empty - Jackson Brown

Lowdown - Chicago

Statesboro Blues - Allman Brothers

Can't Let Go - Lucinda Williams

Anywhere Like Heaven - James Taylor

Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan

Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

The man behind the music:

Anybody who takes professor Eric Strauss' ecology class knows from his habit of playing music before each lecture that he is a music aficionado. Not only does he love the classic rock of the '60s and '70s, but he plays it on guitar, noting that he enjoys to sing and play Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and that he struggles with the chords but loves James Taylor's "Anywhere Like Heaven." Strauss even plays in a band, The Ecotones, with his colleagues at the Urban Ecology Institute. "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits "left a permanent imprint" on Strauss' brain, and he says he has trouble listening to "Lowdown" by Chicago just once. While he clearly has a strong appreciation for music of decades past, Strauss credits Steely Dan as being a major influence of modern artists like Beck, showing that his music tastes have not stalled in the late '70s. While he maintains his ecology and nerd credibility by frequently listening to birdsongs and NPR podcasts on his iPod, Strauss doesn't hesitate to crank the classic rock in Devlin 008.