I enjoy crowds of happy, fun people. Concerts, parties, festivals, any gathering of cool friends. Good food, good coffee, good beer, cheap wine.
On the quieter side, I love my pets, my garden, good books and movies. I require a good deal of alone-time.
I try to keep life simple.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love art, though I don't have much time for it these days. These are two of my older paintings. Also see my Art Folder in the pics section.
The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness.
~ Max Eastman
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Drink wine, this is life eternal.
This, all that life can give to you.
It is the season for wine, roses, and drunken friends.
Be happy for this moment,
This moment is your life.
~ from The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayam
I already know a ton of cool people. Most of the people on my list are real-life acquaintances, party-buddies, friends-past or present. And good bands too, be sure to check those out.Oh, and of course, I'd like to meet "the one".
I love MUSIC! All kinds, really.
David Bowie & Ozzy Osbourne are my all-time favorites.
above is Ozzy & Me in 1982
Concerts and the local music scene have always been a big part of my social life.
I love lots of heavy metal - especially LIVE! At home and at work, I often listen to other genres (even mellow stuff).
Alice Cooper was always one of my faves + other classic rock, southern rock, rockabilly, punk, some techno, drum & bass,
ambient . MOBY!
I like about half of the jazz that I've heard; Pat Metheny, Miles Davis - good shit! I even enjoy wimpy oldies, soft rock, blues or country sometimes. Hippie music in the summertime. Depends on my mood, where I am and what I'm doing.
The Ripper - Heavy Metal radio!
Here are some cool links:
Aaron's Alley - Concert tickets connection
Big City Summerfest
Blue Girl Productions
The Bug Jar
City Newspaper
City of Rochester Events
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
East End
Freetime
High Fidelity (formerly Milestone's)
Insider
Lilac Festival
Lightning Ridge
Lux
Main Street Armory
Memorial Art Gallery
metroLAB
Monroe Village
Montage Live Music Hall
Monty's Krown
Music Vision
MyRochester.com
Pelican's Nest
The Penny Arcade
Richmond's
ROCKchesterHEADBANGERSAnonymous
Roc Wiki
RochesterHappyHour.com
Rochester Music Coalition
RMC on Myspace
Seneca Park Zoo
Spender's
Stooges
Taste of Rochester
Tiki Bob's
TiLT Night Club & Ultralounge
Water Street Music Hall
WBER
WCMF Calendar
Vertex
Go check them out and see what's happening around town!!
This list I need to keep handy:
Music Genres defined on Wikipedia
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My friend's adult merchandise biz.
Labyrinth
Basquiat
Go
Formula 51 (aka The 51st State)
5th Element
Pay it Forward
Dogs in Space
Rock Star
Almost Famous
The Banger Sisters
School of Rock
Sid & Nancy
Velvet Goldmine
The Doors
American History X
Fight Club
Miss Potter
The Legend of 1900
Cat People
The Visitor (French version is even better)
Other great foreign films are "Run, Lola, Run" (German)
and "Pan's Labyrinth" (Spanish)
I'm sure there are many more....
Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, Jeopardy
I need some good books lately - any suggestions?
Stephen King
Tom Robbins
Dean Koontz
J.R.R. Tolkien
Nora Roberts
Tad Williams
Watership Down ~ by Richard Adams
Backstage Passes ~ by Angela Bowie
I'm with the Band ~ by Pamela DesBarres
Any Rock and Roll or Groupie stories
I always read lots of true-crime and war stories too.
My heroine is Sharon Osbourne for the way she brought Ozzy back from the dead.
Here is one of the few great old poems that I can truly appreciate. It has long been my favorite and references a painting that I also love.
Enjoy
Musee des Beaux Arts
by W.H. Auden
About suffering they were never wrong
the old Masters: how well they understood
it's human position; how it takes place
while someone else is eating or opening a window
or walking dully along
how, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
for the miraculous birth, there always must be
children, who did not specially want it to happen, skating
on a pond at the edge of the wood:
they never forgot
that even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's
horse
scratches its innocent behind on a tree
In Brueghel's Icarus for instance: how everything
turns away
quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman
may
have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
but for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
as it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
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This poem was dedicated to a lost friend, Adam. It makes me think of art and death. It was also featured as a prelude in the book of one of my favorite movies 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'.