Firstly, my partner and daughter... after that, lots of music, movies, good food, fine ale (Fullers, Badger, Hopback in particular), London (and in contrast the West Country). In short, life's simple pleasures. Nothing flash. Nothing too expensive.
Late 60s / early 70s big production Pop. Music that includes the kitchen sink (Left Banke, Montage, Moody Blues, Nirvana, Honeybus, Bee Gees, Thomas & Richard Frost, Nilsson, Barry Ryan.
Nick Garrie, the bendy stuff on the Fading Yellow series, Bert Sommer and all of the Euro and Yankee artists that play by these rules). Good post '66 garage-punk/psych.
Nazz.
Folk-Rock in all shapes and sizes from Simon & Grafunkel, The Byrds (for me '65 right through), later Beau Brummels, The Turtles (and their pop as well) Hearts & Flowers, Buffalo Springfield, Blue Things.
Gene Clark etc through to early Fairport Convention etc etc.
Acid folk: Trees, Magna Carta, Vashti, Incredible Stringband, Sandy Denny, Fotheringay, Mellow Candle.
Jade etc etc. UK psych-pop: love this stuff, the Tintern Abbey double whammy.
Blossom Toes.
THE BEATLES.
Tomorrow, later '60s Hollies (through to early '70s), Turquoise, The End, Kaliedoscope, Syd Floyd (and some later), Donovan, The Rubble Series.
The Mirage, The Attack, Small Faces, Bulldog Breed, Apple etc etc etc.
Country Rock/LA Canyon: Poco.
New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, CSN&Y.
Early Neil Young, Nitty Gritty Dirty Band etc. Heavy Pop: selected Three Dog Night.
And plenty of US lower key band like Fresh Air et al that make the most of big powered vocals and cool Hammond and overdriven guitar moves. Cinematic music encompassing everything from later psych orchestration to David Axelrod
and Issac Hayes. Certain shades of Sunshine Pop:
Boettcher related.
The Association. Certain Power Pop acts like Badfinger.
The Raspberries, Big Star and the later Cowsills efforts.
but not the new fat American 35+ version. I hate that! Orchestrated pop of the late 60s and early 70s.
Ball breaking hard rock like the almighty Black Sabbath.
a few early prog-pop bands like Caravan.
Whisky addled rootsy rock in the mould of The Stones.
The Faces.
THE BEACH BOYS fullstop.
The Band.
The Monkees. SPIRIT! Randy is King!
Slade.
Blue Cheer. The Guess Who. Marmalade. The Who. The Move. The Creation.
Macca wannabes like Emmitt Rhodes. Starry Eyed & Laughing's UK folk-rock/power pop. Brinsley Schwarz.
1980s garage by The Chesterfield Kings, The Tell Tale Hearts, The Wylde Mammoths and The Prisoners. The Optic Nerve.
The Mystreated. Bart Davenport. Bronco Bullfrog. Teenage Fanclub. Super Furry Animals. Curtis Mayfield. Lots of music... there's a lot more than this list.
Made with the MyTheme myspace editor
Howl's Moving Castle.
Spirited Away. The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp.
A Matter Of Life & Death. A Canterbury Tale. Black Narcicuss. Red Shoes... I love Powell & Pressburger. Harvey. Night Of The Hunter.
Amacord. Stand By Me. Spinal Tap.
Woody Allen.
Tim Burton (other than Planet Of The Apes).
Pixar -- all of 'em especially Monster's Inc.
Mike Leigh. The original Willy Wonka. The original Dr Dolittle. Singing In The Rain. Wizard of Oz. Walt Disney - until the '80s. Monty Python. The 500 Fingers Of Dr T.
The Wicker Man. Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush.
The Coen Bros. The Kids Are Alright. Monterrey Pop. Don't Look Now. Don't Look Back. The Searchers. Play Misty For Me.
The Wild Angels. ALL WES ANDERSON.
And lots and lots of other films that I have forgotten for the time being...
Not much new... but I adore '90s show Northern Exposure.
Fave all time show: The Simpsons.
'70s Brit Sitcoms. ITC Shows. Mad American shows of the '60s and '70s. Nature Docs. Current Affairs. The weather...
John Irving -- his A Prayer For Owen Meany is my all time fave. Sherlock Holmes. Lord Of The Rings. On The Road. Gulliver's Travels. Music books -- but I'm by no means obsessive like some. I don't read half as much as I should these days.
Those around me that make life beautiful. The lovely Sara and Maya. My friends, parents... I guess I admire Brian Wilson for making such wonderful music and Curtis Mayfield for making the hard shite he put up with into such pretty music too.