Born and raised on the tony streets of Detroit, Michigan, Ben Blackwell has been a reluctant participant in the overhyped underground rock and roll community (both as a performer in the Dirtbombs and on the label-side in his work through Third Man and his own imprint Cass Records) since 1999, literally half his life. He miraculously won Rolling Stone’s 2004 College Journalism Award and has contributed writing to countless rags and dog cage liners. He ate his first salad at the age of 21, has never gone to the bathroom on an airplane and on average buys two records a day. He falls asleep nightly on a couch in Nashville, Tennessee while his frustrated wife Malissa wonders why he won’t just go to bed.