boisterous merrymaking, music (writing it, writing the words to go with it, singing it, playing it, recording it, producing it, performing it), writing, theatre, sea otter, quality film, dance, art in all forms, green building, permaculture, sustainability, organics, wild earth, mountains and forests and rivers and deserts and big bodies of water, etc., playing outside, hiking, skiing, surfing, diving, camping, swimming nekkid, good juju, true community, languages and linguistics, Scots Gaelic, dogs with character, travel, wandering, maundering, making things, making moves, never ever ever pulling fake moves, cooking, slow food, the slow dwell, mixing things up, straightening things out, throwin' down, bucking up, ponying up, bellying up, keeping it real, most any game, passion, belly laughs, connections, hung gar, shao-lin, capoeira, bodywork, herbalism, energy, synergy, absinthe, venerable whiskey, dark wine, roaring fires, that ol' pagan shit, good stories, good craic, good jokes, bad jokes, the talks that keep you up all night, being kept up all night in general.
Joe and Angie.
OK, seriously? I'd like to meet some other cats who get outside and play in the mountains and woods and rivers and beaches and deserts on the regular. I'd like to meet some other folks interested in putting together a band (trad? jazz? metal? some nice goffic rock?), although I'm open to just getting together to play, too. I'd like to meet some other cats who like to play some games, whether we're talking about games with balls or boards or cards or dice.
And people who take some frigging initiative in doing all of the above.
John's friends are all MADE FROM PEOPLE!
Wait, so I'm supposed to "rank" my friends? No thanks, myspace. Did we go to middle school together?
Though I'm not into the ranking thing, the reason I set this page up in the first place was 1.) to make it easier for you lot to get in touch, and 2.) to put you lot in touch with one another. And some people have asked me about that. That said, you're all encouraged to go here and meet one another. I'll even make you a proper introduction.
My friends are my heart. I'm absolutely convinced that some of the cats on those pages can stand among the coolest, most solid, most soulful and most righteous individuals on the planet. Get to know one another. There's also some great music. Get to know that, too.
Most of it, really.
Jazz of all stripes, metal ditto, goff/darkwave, hip-hop, bluegrass and old time, hardcore, punk, "classical" music from whatever culture, "folk" music ditto, shoegazer stuff, psychedelic hippie stuff, so-called "world music," genrebending, intelligent lyricists, compelling electronica and turntablism. I get more heavily into different things in different seasons. Weird, innit? The juke (below) is a good indicator.
If it freezes, the "refresh" button is your friend.
..
Before, It Was Like All Tuscany and No Melon
I host all that stuff on filenanny, which (so far) seems to have the least issues of any provider of free online file storage, with hotlinking.
Here are some names of people and bands that I like, in no particular order —
Battlefield Band, Jethro Tull, Doc Watson, Autumn's Grey Solace, Sky Cries Mary, Old Blind Dogs, Of the Wand and the Moon, Unexpect, Fela Kuti, Stellamara, Hurdy Gurdy, Green Crown, Magickal Folk of the Faraway Tree, Bal Sagoth, Eric Dolphy, Mr. Wiggles, Na Maragan, Finn Mac Cuill, Uisce Beatha, Gjallarhorn, Hossam Ramzy, Kevin Coyne, Jandek, Dick Butt Kiss and the Tight Ends, Clan of Xymox, Current 93, Dead Can Dance, Tuatara, Trial of the Bow, Milford Graves, Wimme, The Pogues, Roger Miller, The Statler Brothers, GZA, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Birdy Nam Nam, Nashville Pussy, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Special Ed and the Short Bus, Carbon Leaf, Nekrist, Oregon Hill Funk All Stars, Will Oldham et al, Loituma, Mors Syphilitica, Low, Andrew Hill, Faith and the Muse, Cordelia's Dad, Jim White, Karma to Burn, Luciano Berio, Lamb of God, Page Wilson with Reckless Abandon, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, The Aluminum Group, Billy Ray Hatley and the Show Dogs, Gåte, Nina Simone, Datacide, DJ Gaijin, Halali, Apatheia, Anthony B, Grant Green, Mestre Acordeon, PJ Harvey, Hedningarna, Cocteau Twins, Charles Gayle, Blind Willie McTell, Black 47, Tom T. Hall, The Karminsky Experience, The Shiners, Apostle Solomon Jabby, Sam Rivers, The Helio Sequence, Wu-Tang, Lanterna, Rush, Rhea's Obsession, Pumpkinhead (the rapper AND the old folk band of the same name, sure), Rene Marie, Susie Ibarra Trio, Bel Canto, Boys of the Lough, Hoven Droven, John Tavener, Mobb Deep, The Waybacks, Dälek, Sixteen Horsepower, Balkan Beat Box, Big Bill Broonzy, Sun City Girls, Sweeney's Men, Bran Barr, etc., etc.
. . .and of course, Kitty Tractor, Zen Tractor, Dashboard Virgins, John and 5, Spherey Blank, Bal Bas Bow, Fly Man Buz, We Miss Felix (riasrga reynhe wernwe!), Tao Jones, The Out of Body Experience, Stargazer Suite, Jammy Pack, occasionally Nekrist again, and Fires at Midnight.
And even though I'm really not a fan of Joss Stone's music at all, I generally end up listening to her CD about twelve times every week.
Gay and Amish: Not a Good Combination, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lola Rennt, Boondock Saints, The Big Lebowski, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Remains of the Day, Cuckoo, Amelie, Lost in Translation, Labyrinth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Harold and Maude, Salaam Bombay, Night of the Hunter, Ghost Dog, The Godfather, Monsoon Wedding, Never Cry Wolf, Kama Sutra, Being John Malkovich, Corpse Bride, Snatch, Only the Strong, The Tall Guy, The Magnificent Seven, Throw Grandpa to the Pit, and that movie with the old, old man eating the jalepeños.
Breakfast of Champions, A Natural History of the Senses, On the Road, Dharma Bums, Cien Años de Soledad, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Prodigal Summer, the Tao Te Ching, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Novel with Cocaine, Diary of a Solitude, The Prophet, Walden, The Life of Pi, Trout Fishing in America, Para Handy, most anything Rumi or Bukowski or Snyder or Eliot
The Good-Time Man. Capt. Make-It-Happen. Bodhisattvas and artists and truth-tellers. Healers and true teachers. Wind walkers and risk-takers and belly laughers. And them Moose Goosers.