Joel profile picture

Joel

There is no truer truth obtainable by man than comes of music - Robert Browning

About Me



I love exotic foods, but fresh bread with Rioja also suits me well. Drop me off on any foreign shore, and I'll explore and feel right at home. I can talk to you about acoustic music, songwriting, kayaking, that special moment when the sunlight shimmers off ripples in the water like diamonds, cats that have taught me about love, angels, and secret places in my heart.

No doubt about it. I am passionate about many things. Music and films are near the top of the list, along with travel and discoveries, imaging, history of photography, writing poetry, reviews and commentaries, gadgets, and technology.

In music, I've produced house concerts as well as shows at other venues, and helped artists with bookings, performance and media photos, and commercial web design.

Don't forget to stick a pin in the map when you visit.

My Interests


From my first Kodak Brownie camera to the latest techno imaging gadgets, I've always enjoyed capturing the moment, through photographs. Here's a sampling of personal snapshots, including some performance and travel photos. To view captions, just move your cursor over an image, and click on any photo if you wish to leave a comment.

I'd like to meet:


The great philosophers and teachers have always fascinated me, Plato , Aristotle , Abraham, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi , John Locke , Sathya Sai Baba , and countless others. Pacifists Henry David Thoreau , Martin Luther King, Jr. , Mahatma Gandhi , and Nelson Mandela ; scientists Alexander Fleming , Sir Isaac Newton , and Jonas Salk ; Renaissance artists, including Dante Alighieri , Michelangelo , Leonardo da Vinci , and Sandro Botticelli ; political luminaries Thomas Jefferson , Benjamin Franklin , James Madison , John Marshall , Benjamin Disraeli , and Abraham Lincoln , of course; great women photographers including Julia Margaret Cameron , Margaret Bourke-White , Tina Modotti , and Annie Leibovitz ; and people who have always struck my fancy and imagination, such as Shoeless Joe Jackson , Will Rogers , Bob Dylan , Joni Mitchell , Nanci Griffith , Joan Baez , Richard Branson , Bill Gates , and many others, including all of my friends here on MySpace .

Music:


My music tastes are quite extensive and eclectic. For starters, here's a short list: Amilia k Spicer , Amy Speace , Big Wide Grin , Bob Hillman , Bright Blue Gorilla , Caroline Lavelle , Cecilia , Chris and Meredith Thompson , Christene LeDoux , Connie Dover , Dar Williams , Darryl Purpose , Don Conoscenti , Eliza Gilkyson , Enya , Grant Langston , Happy Rhodes , Heather Nova , Ingrid Karklins , Jack Hardy , Jane Siberry , Joni Mitchell , Heather Nova , Indigo Girls , Jenny Bruce , Kate MacLeod , Kathleen Wilhoite , Loudon Wainwright III , Mary Coughlan , Loreena McKennitt , Michael McNevin , Monique Brumby , Noa , October Project , Orchid Ensemble , Paula Cole , The Prince Myshkins , Randi Driscoll , Sam Phillips , Sara Hickman , Sarah McLachlan , Steve Poltz , Susan Werner , Suzanne Vega , Tiddis , Tim Flannery , Todd Thibaud , Tori Amos , Wendy MaHarry , Wendy Rule .

Eventually, there will also be a top ten jukebox. For the moment, these are songs from John Stewart's , two CD compilation album Gold. John appeared at a house concert in Lakeside, CA (just outside San Diego), produced by my good friend Jimmy Duke , on June 17th, 2007.

To play these songs, first stop the song that is currently streaming in the single stand alone player located above the slide show. Then, click on one of the songs in the playlist below, and press play on the multi-song player.


Movies:

There are so many favorites, including Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain <[i>Amélie], American Beauty , Les Amants du Pont-Neuf <[i>The Lovers on the Bridge], Before Sunrise , Before Sunset , Being John Malkovich , Bian Lian <[i>The King of Masks], Blade Runner , Bubba Ho-tep , The Castle , Cidade de Deus <[i>City of God], Fantasia , The Godfather , The Good, the Bad and the Ugly , Good Will Hunting , Goodfellas , Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle , Hearts in Atlantis , A History of Violence , Holes , Little Children , Lola Rennt <[i>Run, Lola, Run], Last Train to Freo , Lost In Translation , The Matrix , Memento , North & South , The Notebook , The Piano , The Queen , Le Violon Rouge <[i>The Red Violin], Saving Private Ryan , The Secret Of Roan Inish , The Shawshank Redemption , Sideways , Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand <[i>Turtles Can Fly], Smultronstället <[i>Wild Stawberries], and many others, but Der Himmel über Berlin <[i>Wings of Desire] is my all time favorite movie. Here's a clip from it:
Wim Wenders - Wings Of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin)

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And just for fun, here's my favorite job interview:
OurSpace (the myspace sketch)

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This is offered for anyone who's ever wanted to leave home:
Leaving Home

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Yoga fans everywhere, take a lesson from Opie, Portrait of an Artist:
Here is a lovely song by Rhys Fulber of Conjure One with vocals by Poe called Center of the Sun juxtaposed into a Japanese Anime:
Here's a beautiful video to just calm one's soul and focus on peaceful thoughts:
Ontwaken/ Awaken

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Children can sometimes speak more eloquently than poets and philosophers:
The meaning of the Sanskrit mantra OM is explained in this video:
OM

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Books:


There have been so many books that I have enjoyed. Off the top of my head, here are some favorites:
Paul Auster, The Music of Chance , Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull , Coleman Banks, The Illuminated Rumi , Billy Collins, Questions About Angels , David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest , Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls , Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea , Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises , Peter Jenkins, A Walk Across America , Franz Kafka, TThe Castle , Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer , Rory Nugent, The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck: A Journey Into the Himalayas and Down the Brahmaputra , Francoise Sagan, Bounjour Tristesse , Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince , J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye , Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar , Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court , Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad , Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle , Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death , Herman Wouk, City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder , Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny ,

My Blog

The Politics of Fear, Hope and Hero Worship

The Politics of Fear, Hope and Hero WorshipAnother four years have passed since the last Presidential election in the United States. As much as some things have changed, they have also stayed the same...
Posted by Joel on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:22:00 PST

Fresh But Not So Easy

Fresh But Not So EasyShopping has never been my strong suit. I try to avoid sales, crowds, coupons, and of course, grand openings. So it was very much out of character that I arrived this morning at 9...
Posted by Joel on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:57:00 PST

2008 Mark OConnor Strings Camp - San Diego, California

2008 Mark O'Connor Strings Camp - San Diego, CaliforniaI had the good fortune to drop by for a few of the faculty concerts at this year's Mark O'Connor Strings Camp in San Diego. Mark has been the dri...
Posted by Joel on Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:51:00 PST

Burma-Shave - Memories from the Past

Burma-Shave - Memories from the PastThe American roadside landscape from about 1925 to 1963 was adorned by a particular form of advertising that usually brought smiles from passing motorists. The comp...
Posted by Joel on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:28:00 PST

A Few Tears for the Dead

A Few Tears for the DeadOn the way out to the lighthouse on the southernmost tip of Point Loma, with the Bay and cityscape off to the left, and the churning waters of the Pacific stretching endlessly ...
Posted by Joel on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:45:00 PST

A Warm Coat (Poem)

A Warm CoatI used to wear a warm coatfashionable in every seasonclinging to my lean calloused frameso stylishly affixed like skinwrapped around me as a tourniquetor an unyielding anaconda andcovering ...
Posted by Joel on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:03:00 PST

Jason Wilder Concert Photos

Jason Wilder Concert PhotosJason Wilder (MySpace LINK), on tour from his home base of Crestone, Colorado was in San Diego last weekend playing at the E Street Cafe in Encinitas (LINK), and at the Cany...
Posted by Joel on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:33:00 PST

Miracles All Around

Miracles All AroundI left my house going to the beach with my beach bag in one hand and the week's garbage in the other. I stopped frozen in my tracks when I saw laying on the ground a dead hummingbir...
Posted by Joel on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:17:00 PST

Good Birds, Bad Birds

Good Birds, Bad BirdsAs another chapter in the changing seasons closes on Summer, I've been making the most of the beautiful San Diego weather by daily swims at Sail Bay, a sweeping expanse of sand an...
Posted by Joel on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:15:00 PST

Pavla Nova Photos

Pavla Nova PhotosOn Saturday evening, August 25, 2007, I was treated to an incredible group called Pavla Nova (no connection to Heather Nova), whose music was new to me, at the E Street Cafe in Encini...
Posted by Joel on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:01:00 PST