any combination of the following elements: Beaches, mountains, beerses, bikes, gardens, rocks, and a fine lady
Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knophler, and Leo Kottke. Then I can die happy.
The priorly mentioned trinity, Laura Nyro (My dark princess), The Boredoms, Prefuse 73, RJD2, Jimi, Van, CCR, Japanther, Thee Machine Gun Elephant, Luna Sea, X, Dip, the Shins, The Weakerthans, Manitoba, QOTSA, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubek, Phillip Glass, Cursive, Hank Williams III, Johnny C., El-P, Aesop, De La Soul, MF Doom, etc....
Dead Man, Shinjuku Triad Society, Rainy Dog, Ley Lines, Go!, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Stalker, Where the Buffalo Roam, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Anything by Mel Brooks, Fight Club, Three Kings, blah blah...
meh...
Books that make me think, books that allow me to not think. Specifically & most recently: Chekov, Salinger, Louis L'amour, Pelevinj, Shunryu Suzuki, Murakami, Dostoyevsky (in intermitent doses), Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins, and so on and so forth
M & D