TIM MORTENSEN

Tim Mortensen plays in Into It. Over It. and co-founded SoundSupply.

What was the food highlight of your year?

For my birthday, my wife took me out to Stephanie Izard's The Girl & The Goat restaurant in the West Loop where we ate Pig Face, which I thought was just some clever name, but in reality is exactly that: a pig's face. It was amazing, just like everything else at that place.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Do I have to pick just one?! To say this year was unreal would be an understatement. I got to travel the world with some of my best friends playing over 100 shows. I got the privilege of playing multiple shows with two of my all-time favorite bands (Mineral and American Football). We got to play Lollapalooza this year. As I'm typing these things, they still feel like stuff I'm making up, but there's pictures on the internet to prove that all of this stuff is real!

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food is very important focal point when Into It. Over It. is on tour. It dictates a lot of our decisions and sometimes the main motivator when we're facing long overnight drives and it's great respite battling homesickness. One moment that sticks out was in September in New York. Typically, we rely on things like Yelp to find really good food when we're on the road, but we decided to try something different that we now call "Drake Eats," which basically is us finding out where Drake eats and then going there to eat. We got pizza from Drake's favorite pizza spot, Tony's, which was excellent, and then ate it on the floor of Webster Hall while watching American Football soundcheck. I don't think I could imagine a better combo of food and music.

@timmort

ROB WILCOX

Rob Wilcox does alternative radio promotion for The Syndicate and plays in the band By Surprise.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Since moving here five years ago, a lot has changed in terms of my eating habits. When you work in an industry that keeps you out late most nights, you spend a lot of time (and money) eating out, which doesn't always mean you're eating healthy either. With the exception of "brunch," which I willfully subscribe to, most of the time you have to grab food on the go. So, I've started to cook at home more often, and while it's still something I'm very much a novice in, it's incredibly fun and relaxing when you make the time to do so -- especially when you have a cooking partner in the kitchen!

In cooking at home, my highlight of the year was just last week when I decided to make stuffed peppers for the first time. I wanted to "healthy it up," so I tried substituting rice with quinoa, using ground chicken instead of beef, and tossing black beans to the mix for some extra flavor. I added some sautéed some garlic and asparagus as a side dish and it all tasted pretty fantastic. The whole meal was simple to make, cost-effective, and absolutely delicious!

What was the music highlight of your year?

I can't name just one, but several shows in particular stand out: 1. Watching both Chvrches and Cage The Elephant deliver career defining performances at Lollapalooza. 2. Attending American Football's first public performance in 15 years at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago. 3. Singing my heart out to The Replacements at their Forest Hills Tennis Stadium show in Queens.

On a more personal level, working closely with The Rentals and Braid was a pretty big highlight for me. Looking back on my 20s (I turn 30 next week), I think about which bands I've held onto as personal favorites, and how their albums played out more like a soundtrack for my own life. Getting to reintroduce both bands to radio programmers was a deeply personal and important experience for me. Both 'No Coast' and 'Lost In Alphaville' were among my top ten favorite albums this year.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

I saw The Pizza Underground (a pizza-themed Velvet Underground parody band) and they gave out free pizza to the audience during their set. I don't think I'll ever forget that, or how weird it felt to eat pizza within 30 feet of Macaulay Culkin.

@heyrobwilcox