These are a few of my favorite things: Singing. Making up songs. Listening to all kinds of good, soulful music. Hanging out with all kinds of good, soulful people. Lolligagging in bed all morning on rainy days (and for half the afternoon, with a worthy companion.) Solitude. Recovering (grown-up) Catholic boys. Sad songs. Songs with internal rhymes. Veuve Cliquot orange label champagne. Ghirardelli chocolate. Godiva truffles. Amador County old vine zinfandel. Oregon coastal pinot noir. 7-keto DHEA, St. John's Wort and valerian root. Living beyond my means. Oh, and the Dodgers.(Some samples of the real me can be heard at my music url: http://www.myspace.com/suzannesherwintunes A few songs may be worth the proverbial 1000...)
I'd like to meet:
Men with spines. People who aren't afraid to tell the truth... or to hear it. Folks who share my dark, sick sense of humor, while still remaining compassionate.
My benefactor.
People who have a certain degree of levity about their God.Musicians who know the intro verses to old Cole Porter songs, but who have enough soul to play hardcore country music, too... (Is that too much to ask?)Or, to sum it all up in a Jack Kerouac quote (thanks, Becky!) -
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everyone says Awwww..."
Music:
Where to start? My parents were both singers, and my stepdad a musician as well, so I had access to a huge music collection when I was growing up... I love old 40's tunes by Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and the Gershwins, for example, but my favorite bands include X, The Beatles, The Eagles, Reckless Kelly, The Blasters, The GoGos, Squeeze, The Police, Pretenders, The Band, Oingo Boingo, Warren Hood and the Hoodlums, The Uninvited, The Roches, The Dixie Chicks, The Stones... I love great songwriting above all else - I suppose that is the common thread here - Favorite singer-songwriters include
Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams (the master of eloquent simplicity... or is it simple eloquence?) Bob Dylan, Ron Davies (yes, RON Davies,) Carole King, Otis Redding, Randy Newman, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, Stephen Bruton, Jon Dee Graham, Bruce Robison, Tom Waits, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Kim Richey, Elvis Costello, Don Henley, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Gretchen Peters, James Taylor, Merle Haggard, Kevin Welch, Walt Wilkins, John Prine, Steve Goodman... the list goes on and on...Favorite interpreters of other people's stuff: Toni Price, Chet Baker, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, and Patsy Cline, to name only a few. I'm sure I'll keep adding to these lists... Oh and I'm guilty of an unabashed love for show tunes, so don't get me started.
Movies:
Favorite movie of all time: Roman Holiday. I'm always amazed at the last scene, at how much Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck say with only their eyes... Other favorites: Harold and Maude, Manhattan (That scene near the beginning, with the Gershwin and the fireworks, always makes my eyes well up...) Annie Hall, Duck Soup, A Mighty Wind, This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Almost Famous, High Fidelity, Ghost World, My First Mister, All About Eve, One From The Heart (obscure Coppola with a Tom Waits soundtrack... check it out!) Star Wars (the original one,) Singin' In The Rain (my favorite musical,) Casablanca, Wonder Boys, Lost In Translation, Wuthering Heights (the old one with Olivier,) All That Jazz, Silverado, True Romance (I hate violent films but could not stop watching this one. The scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper has some of the finest acting I've ever seen... ) Guilty pleasures: Serendipity (kind of a silly chick flick but I love it... then again I love pretty much anything with John Cusack,) movie musicals from the 50's and 60's, especially the old MGM ones with Gene Kelly... Oh and Dirty Dancing. How can you not love Dirty Dancing?
Television:
The Office, Men In Trees
Books:
Been into rereading Shakespeare lately... especially those wacky comedies. Favorite book of all time: Still Life With Woodpecker - Tom Robbins. More recent reads I have enjoyed: Bee Season, A Walk In the Woods (hilarious - and true - account of hiking the Appalachian Trail,) The Secret Life Of Bees... Perennial favorites from a long time ago: Catcher In The Rye, The Dharma Bums, The Adventures Of Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, Breakfast of Champions...
Heroes:
That little boy in the Emperor's New Clothes story. Ella Fitzgerald. Tina Turner. Audrey Hepburn. Dorothy Parker, whose poetry always makes me smile - even in my darkest of moods. My mom and dad, who were my first singing and songwriting teachers.
Billy Zoom - nice guy, punk legend. Phil Kaufman (aka Road Mangler Deluxe.) Holden Caulfield. Rufus T. Firefly. Yakko, Wakko and Dot. And anyone who supports himself/herself by making music is a hero of mine... this includes many of my friends...
