TEN PLACES WORTH INVESTIGATING IN L.A. 1. The Museum of Jurassic Technology. 2. The Watts Towers. 3. The Original Pantry Restaurant. 4. Downtown in general. 5. Nick's Cafe. 6. The Bizarre Assortment of Co-existing Urban Identities That is Long Beach. 7. The "David" House, 304 Murfield near 3rd and Rossmore. 8. New Beverly Cinema. Last of a dying breed. 9. The Apple Pan. 10. The Bradbury Building. 11. of course there're more, but I did say I'd give just ten... the above are not in order of preference, except for number one, which is most definitely in its correct order of preference.
Odilon Redon.
I've been liking Battles lately. Plus the Finnish band Paavoharju is really something. And since I'm reading Alex Ross' amazing book The Rest is Noise, I've been checking out some early 20th century classical stuff, like Ives, Debussy, Sibelius, and Satie.
Anyway, here're 50 artists who help me to want to wake up every morning.
Albert Ayler, American Chamber Music, Syd Barrett, Boards of Canada, Boredoms, Camper van Beethoven, Can, Deerhoof, Nick Drake, Electric Light Orchestra, Brian Eno, Dave Evans, John Fahey, Serge Gainsbourg, Alastair Galbraith, Game Theory, Kelli Hicks, The Homosexuals, Hanne Hukkelberg, The Kinks, Lawsuit, Mazzy Star, Ennio Morricone, My Bloody Valentine, OOIOO, Pearls Before Swine/Tom Rapp, Pluramon, Richard Pryor, Queen, Peer Raben, Steve Reich, Renaldo & the Loaf, Nino Rota, Raymond Scott, Silver Apples, Sparks, Skip Spence, Carl Stalling, Stars of the Lid, Swell Maps, Television, This Heat, The Vaselines, Velvet Underground, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Wire, Stevie Wonder, Roy Wood, Robert Wyatt, Frank Zappa
I like movies. I think some of the films that have meant the most to me in a deep personal way include L'Atalante, Playtime, Lessons of Darkness, Horse Feathers, Katzelmacher, Sherlock Jr., McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Sans Soleil, Pickup on South Street, Ghost World, Funeral Parade of Roses, and any number of Warner Brothers cartoons. I could go on, but I don't think I should.
Oh, I really want to see the movie Microcultural Incidents in Ten Zoos.
The Simpsons. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. The Muppet Show.
There's an amazing book from maybe 1925 called "You Can't Win" by a guy named Jack Black. He was a hobo, criminal, opium addict, house thief, and many other things around the turn of the 20th century and this book's an autobiography of his exploits. Incredible. And there are so many good books out there. Definitely check out Bruno Schulz and Flann O'Brien if you haven't already. And Madame Bovary is wonderful. And Foam of the Daze by Boris Vian!! Hoping to read soon: The Master and Margarita, Pale Fire, Ferdydurke, The Dalkey Archive, and From the Velvets to the Voidoids.
David Wilson and Robert Nelson.