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John

I am in my extended network

About Me

I think I have been a 60-75 year old man since I was 17. I am becoming more and more satisfied with my life and my music. Trying to write down sounds that are in my head is becoming harder and harder. The "serious" music that I write is meant to sound like noisy jumbles of sound with no melody. The other half of what I write sounds like really catchy tunes from the '30's. I like to keep these things separate. I want to do more with harmonics/overtones and difference tones because I find them absolutely fascinating, though if I start to notice them all the time they can be kind of a headache.

My Interests

Check out my myspace music page. Classical music, "Other" classical music, modern classical music, writing music, listening to weird classical music, NPR, Italian, languages, Asian food, particulary Indian and Thai, crossword puzzles, beer, Camel Lights, I miss Charlie's Chicken and Thai Diner, I hate all olives, and I really hate yellow mustard.

I'd like to meet:

Great Danes, the people not the dogs. Scarlett Johansson, damn...A few months ago I met Singapore's Minister of Education. That was the real highlight of my meeting people. No, really I did. Melissa Auf der Maur. Bill Clinton. Giacinto Scelsi, unfortunately he died when I was six years old.

Music:

Giacinto Scelsi, Gustav Mahler, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Per Nørgård, Avet Terterian, György Ligeti, Krszystof Penderecki, Henryk Gorecki, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Friedrich Cerha, Peter Ruzicka, Alban Berg, Paul Panhuysen, Luigi Dallapiccola, Olivier Messiaen, Henri Dutilleux, Claude Vivier, Arditti Quartet, George Crumb, John Tavener, Dmitri Shostakovich, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig von Beethoven, J.S. Bach, The Beatles, Bjork, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Fats Waller, 1920's pop songs, bebop jazz, Queen. Mia Doi Todd singing "La Vie en Rose." Once, at karaoke, I sang "Stay" by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories, I guess I have a soft spot for that song.

Movies:

The Shawshank Redemption, 8&1/2, and a lot of other Fellini, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Amelie, Felicia's Journey, Charlie Kaufman movies. Harry Potter, X-Men

Television:

I don't have TV, but I wish I did if only for The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and The Daily Show.

Books:

Confucius' The Analects, My Lady Nicotine by J.M. Barrie, The Student Conductor by Robert Ford, Testimony (which I now know is largely bullshit), Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke, Rilke poetry, Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century by Glenn Watkins, music textbooks.

Heroes:

Mahler, Scelsi, Confucius, Rilke