• Playing the friggin' bass: Currently I play with Tommy Guerrero , The Kehoe Nation , Bing Ji Ling , and my own projects TopRockerz and Ben Wa . Previous band affiliations: Limbomaniacs, MCM and the Monster, Buckethead's Giant Robot. Other past and present co-conspirators include Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Scientist, Brain, M.I.R.V., Larry Lalonde, Adrian Young, DJ Disk and Kenny Brooks.
• Supporting alternative economies, like Fair Trade .
• Things, places and people Japanese
• The sexy romantic allure of a good game of ping pong, the tango of sports.
• Consumer Consciousness: Buying less crap in general, but when I do buy some crap I want that crap to support people and ideas that reflect my values. (Ya, I used the word values, punk!) And no, I'm not perfect at it either, but I'm trying. I mean, what's the point in complaining about the criminals in power if you stumble off to the liquor store and buy a brand of beer that donates to their "party"? Every dollar votes, and here are just a few ways I'm dealin' with it (and if you have any other ideas let me know):
Working Assets
No Sweat Apparel
Justice Clothing
Co-op America
Buy Blue
boycottbush.net
New Dream
knowmore.org
Small Dog Electronics
The Body Shop
New Belgium Brewery
In the U.K. check out:
People Tree
New Consumer
The Body Shop
In Japan:
People Tree
Alter Trade Japan
The Body Shop
There are also some great resources for conscious consumption right here on Myspace. Check out:
Sustainable Style
Fat Pat
....
M.I.A., Massive Attack, Robots in Disguise, Electrocute, Thievery Corporation, James Brown, Siouxie and the Banshees, Parliament/Funkadelic, Portishead, Miles Davis, Cibbo Mato, Prince, The Chemical Brothers, Bilie Holliday, Devo, The Avengers, Scientist, The Sex Pistols, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa, N.I.N, Black Flag, Beck, Black Uhuru, Augustus Pablo, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Michelle Ndegleocello, Bob Marley, Gil Scott Heron, Tower Of Power, Robin Trower, Prince, Bootsy Collins, The Sugarhill Gang, Duke Ellington, Motown and The Funk Brothers including the great James Jamerson, Grandmaster Flash, Fela Kuti, Gene Kelly, Polkacide, Jaco Pastorius, Buzzcocks, Mad Professor, Sly Stone, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The (English) Beat, The Specials, Bad Manners, Slim Gaillard, Fear, Carl Stalling, Ennio Morricone, Linton Kwesi Johnson, ZAPP!, F.S.O.L., T.S.O.L., Crystal Method, Death in Vegas, Bjork, The Orb, Eric B and Rakim, Run DMC, King Tubby, Jimi Hendrix, WAR, The Time, Marvin Gaye, Tito Puente, Charles Mingus, Earth Wind and Fire...
Network, Being John Malcovich, The Glass Menagerie (with John Malcovich), Dr. Strangelove, Eraserhead, Napoleon Dynamite, ExistenZ, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, The Freshest Kids, Slacker, The Kids are Alright, Seconds, Blue Velvet, Manufacturing Consent, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Barton Fink, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Clerks, Edward Penishands (no, really, excellent character development and pertinant plot ramifications), The Yes Men, Boogie Nights, Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane, Stranger than Paradise, Mystery Train, The Hustler, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Paths of Glory, The Revolution will not be Televised, Blade Runner, Alien, Videodrome, Touch of Evil, Lolita, Midnight Cowboy, Naked Lunch, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Being There, The Dead Zone, Wall Street, Straw Dogs, Bowling for Columbine, Wild Style, Crumb, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (it's so damn now) The Elephant Man, Ed Wood...
The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, NOW, and this episode of Frontline
Fiction: Mark Leyner, Henry Miller, Bukowski, Martin Amis, Paul Bowles, Allen Ginsberg, Irvine Welsh, Wiliam S. Buroughs, Joseph Conrad, Hunter S. Thompson, Celine, The Beatitudes.
Non-Fiction: No Logo by Naomi Klein, Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn, Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan, Consumer Boycotts by Monroe Friedman, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast, Adbusters Magazine, The National Green Pages published by Co-op America, and anything by Richard Dawkins...
Lt. Ehrin Watada, Medea Benjamin, Amy Goodman, Barbara Lee, Cynthia McKinney, John Conyers, Bill Moyers, Helen Thomas, Edward R. Murrow, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins.