Journalism, primarily "literary journalism" and "music journalism."
2000-2005, Editor-in-Chief, writer for vagrantcafe.com (zine officially laid to rest earlier this year)...mostly music journalism, but a few other things here and there. I'm interested in zines, both web and print, and those who write/shepherd them.
I converted to Orthodox Christianity in 2002, and work in various roles in my parish.
As an English Graduate student, I'm interested in literature, nonfiction writing, "creative writing," spiritual writing and even things like composition and linguistics. The specific field I prefer to study is Creative Nonfiction (no surprise given my time in music journalism).
I may as well admit that I enjoy baseball quite a bit...Chicago Cubs fan, if you were wondering.
People who like decent music (see my Music section for a few artists I'm into), fellow English majors & grad students, essayists, critics, Chicago Cubs fans, fellow vegetarians, Orthodox Christians, Bandoppler fans, the weathermen underground, people who collect 78s, candystripers, old schoolmates (chummy or not!), people who like Beat literature (and not just Kerouac), indie music fans too square or geeky for hipsterism, Diggers, Pranksters, dead bluesmen/women, the man who shot my paw. I'm not going to use specific names here so as to avoid all appearances of creepiness.
I'd Like to NOT Meet: fake hippies (you know, Dave Matthews fans with pre-worn baseball caps burning GAP incense), meatheads, poppunkemo bands looking for free shoutouts, military recruiters, white trash, Toby Keith fans, people bragging about their relevance, loose women and pickpockets, my former roommate that stole my computer and bass guitar, Wal*Mart management, people who drive Hummers, Dobson lemmings, guys who love wearing Hawaiian shirts, and especially the aforementioned web-hookers.
UPDATES ALWAYS IN PROGRESS AS MY MEMORY PERMITS. In alphabetical order: Adam Again, Aesop Rock, Air, The Animals, annabelle lee, Annie, Antony & the Johnsons, Arrested Development, At Peace While Burning, Atmosphere, Devendra Banhart, Beach Boys (especially 1966-1977), Beep Beep, Belle & Sebastian, Black Mountain, Blues Magoos, The Books, Billy Bragg, Braid, Bright Eyes, Jackson Browne, The Byrds, Camera Obscura, Neko Case, Cave-In, Chin Up Chin Up, The Choir, The Clash, Coast of Nebraska, Common Children, Converge, Billy Corgan, Criteria, Crystal Skulls, The Cure, Cursive, CSNY, Daniel Amos, Danielson, Darkest Hour (first album, anyway), Dark Tranquility, The Dears, Destroyer, The Dirt Bombs, Bob Dylan, Electric Prunes, Flaming Lips, Gene Eugene, Fugazi, The Fugs, Flaming Lips, Frijid Pink, Paul Geremia, The Good Life, Steve Goodman, Jean Grae, Woodie Guthrie, Havalina Rail Co., Richie Havens, Lee Hazlewood, Joe Hill, His Name Is Alive, the Andrew Horton Quintet, The Hunches, Iron & Wine, Jefferson Airplane, Joy Electric, Joy Zipper, Carole King, The Kinks, Kite Pilot, Michael Knott, KRS-One, Yusef Lateef, The Left Banke, Jens Lekman, Frank Lenz, Sondre Lerche, Mr. Lif, Little Brazil, Lost Dogs, Love, The Magic Numbers, Magnolia Electric Co., MAP, mara'akate, The Mariannes, Blind Willie McTell, Meat Loaf, mewithoutyou, The Microphones, Minor Threat, The Millennium, Mountain Goats, Mt. Eerie, Murs, Willie Nelson, Neutral Milk Hotel, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, 9th Wonder, Nomo, Orange Juice, Organ, Over the Rhine, Gram Parsons, Lee Perry, Pink Floyd, The Pipettes, The Polyphonic Spree, Ponys, The Pretty Things, rince, Public Enemy, The Raconteurs, Ma Rainey, Ratatat, Red House Painters, Malvina Reynolds, RJD2, Roadside Monument, Roman Candles (Matt Hopper), The Rosebuds, Sage Francis, Sagittarius, The Shins, Shivaree, The Shots of Perspective, Judee Sill, Silver Apples, Siouxsie & the Banshees, thesistermaria, Sleepy Jackson, Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Spoon, Starflyer 59, Sufjan Stevens, Steve Taylor, Rosie Thomas, The Thrills, Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, The Unicorns, The United States of America, Unwed Sailor, Dave Van Ronk, Velvet Underground, Virgin Prunes, M.Ward, The Who, Wilco, Brian Wilson, Denison Witmer, Yo La Tango, Neil Young, Zao, The Zombies,
I mostly watch older and/or independent films. How hipster of me. The last few I've watched/enjoyed include Little Miss Sunshine, El Dorado, Harold & Maude, Iron-Jawed Angels, and Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail (the first half, anyway, and the movie is pretty much ruined by the fact that people constantly quote it and think they're so "random lolz" but really just give the whole thing a bad flavor).
24, Twilight Zone, X-files, Subterranean, Chicago Cubs games, Simpsons, Family Guy, Cheers, Law & Order: SVU, Arrested Development, Mission Hill, Oblongs, The Office, Pee Wee's Playhouse, BookTV, and the like.
Authors and maybe books? Poets? Essayists? Critics? Unharvested literary minds? Off the top of my head...
St. Augustine, Amiri Baraka aka Leroi Jones, Richard Brautigan, William Burroughs, Dennis Covington, Meghan Daum, Annie Dillard, Fyodor Doestevsky, Stuart Dybek, Chris Estey, William Faulkner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ian Frazier, Allen Ginsberg, E.D.D. Hirsch, Zora Neale Hurston, Edward P. Jones, Kafka, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Maxine Hong Kingston, Lisa Knopp, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Thomas Merton, Kyle Minor, Pablo Neruda, Kathleen Norris, Flannery O'Connor, Cynthia Ozick Walker Percy, Christina Rossetti, Mike Royko, J.D. Salinger, Gary Snyder, Ira Sukrungruang, Studs Terkel, Craig Thompson, Toure, Kurt Vonnegut, more to come.
Periodicals: Bandoppler, PopMatters, Opuszine, Uncut, Kitchen Sink, Believer, Tidal Wave, Touchstone, Colors, Mojo, Wire, Found, Skyscraper, Magnet, Big Takeover, Lazy-I, Pitchfork (at times).
Richard Brautigan, Jason Martin, Dave Van Ronk, Thomas Merton, Maxine Hong Kingston, St. Mary, Brian Wilson, Mike Royko.