Switters profile picture

Switters

The More Advertising I See, the Less I Want to Buy

About Me

I'm a witty wordsmith and ribald raconteur who's called Tinseltown home for almost 20 years. I was formerly a writer/editor for the weekly music biz trade mag "The Album Network," where I spent five years and rose to the position of Group Editor before those Clear Channel bastards shut us down. Since then I've been doing the freelance route, including the majority of the writing for the MUSEXPO music conference (check out www.musexpo.net for all the sordid details). I've also been haphazardly working on a somewhat autobiographical novel set in Hollywood in the late '80s (see my blog "The Past Is Prologue" for a sneak peek). I'm still available for writing assignments, though, and welcome any inquiries. I made quite a few friends in the music scene in Hollywood in the early/mid-'90s, and would love to hear from any with whom I've fallen outta contact!..This profile was edited with Thomas' myspace editor™ V2.5

My Interests

Reading, writing, music. Drinkin' and thinkin', smokin' and jokin'. Hitting clubs to see a great band...and, of course, my buddy Boris:
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adopt your own virtual pet!

I'd like to meet:

Well, I spent over a decade going out at least four nights a week to various hotspots and am quite frankly somewhat burnt out on the nightlife scene. Don't get me wrong, I'll still hit a club to support cool bands, such as these guys...
...and leave most folks under the table (Thursday nights at the Cat Club are also a guaranteed good time), but for the most part I prefer to indulge in mellower moments now: watching a movie on the 36-inch TV in the living room, hitting the jacuzzi for a drink with friends, occasionally hiking in Griffith Park...you get the picture. I won't lie, I'm as much into looks as the next guy...but a keen intellect and mischievous mind are definite prerequisites, no matter how gorgeous ya may look. Beauty fades, but a good brain will last forever (unless ya murder it with methamphetamine...but that's a tale for another time...).

Music:

A li'l bit o' everything, from Miles Davis and John Coltrane to Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture. Particular faves, in no particular order (well, outside the top three): Jimi Hendrix, Gang Of Four, Bowie, The Doors, The The, VAST, early Genesis/Peter Gabriel solo, My Morning Jacket, Elton John, Joseph Arthur, NIN, Mother Love Bone, Temple Of The Dog, Jane's Addiction, Led Zeppelin, Sweet, U2, SOUL (early '90s Hollywood rockers), The Spores, The Lamented, Praying Hands, Slack Babbath, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Who, the Stones, Kinks, Allman Bros. Band, Traffic, GnR, The Cure, The Cult, The Smiths, Cracker, Gomez, Living Things, Frank Zappa, Remy Zero, Pink Floyd, BRMC, ProCon, Velvet Underground, Mayfield Four, Sam Mann and RAM, Lunatics On Parole and, of course, all the bands on my friends list...my tastes are all over the board....

Movies:

A Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner, spaghetti westerns (esp. The Good The Bad And The Ugly), Hitchcock, Freaks, Night Of The Hunter, Touch Of Evil, Double Indemnity, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Slap Shot, Mother Jugs and Speed, Phantom Of The Paradise, Tommy, Apocalypse Now, Natural Born Killers, L.A. Confidential, Pulp Fiction, The Quiet Man (me Irish side comin' out), The Big Lebowski, Death Race 2000, Farewell My Lovely (Mitchum version), Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, among others....

Television:

The Simpsons, Family Guy, old Bugs Bunny 'toons, Twilight Zone, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers

Books:

Not so much books, but authors...I'll read anything by Tom Robbins, Neal Stephenson, James Ellroy, Robert Heinlein, Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Jordan's ridiculously addictive "Wheel Of Time" series, Harry Turtledove, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke and Stephen Hunter, among many others...I'm a voracious reader! For poetry, my faves are William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe ("Annabel Lee" is, quite possibly, the best lyric poem EVER!). When it comes to philosophy, Nietzsche is alway provocative...though I find myself more and more adopting the solipsist point of view....

Heroes:

Those who dare to be individuals in an increasingly conformist society

My Blog

Stoned, Alone

It seems to me that many times Life's lack of reason renders rhymes Obsolete; Verse incomplete Emotions shackled to a beat Yet still I take my pen in hand Once again to try and Understand: Debts I owe...
Posted by Switters on Wed, 07 Mar 2007 10:51:00 PST

Creation or a Stain?

I stumbled across this most disturbing image on a messageboard I frequent. The apocalypse is, indeed, nigh. DEDICATION HONORS NUDE BRITNEY SPEARS GIVING BIRTHPop-Star's Pregnancy Idealized In Brooklyn...
Posted by Switters on Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:55:00 PST

President's Day

I'm an old fart, so I can remember a time before "President's Day" became the lamest federal holiday EVER. Ya see, kids-n-campers, up until the late '70s/early '80s there used to be a pair of holidays...
Posted by Switters on Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:30:00 PST

Had A Dad

December 16, 2005 marks the second anniversary of my father's passing. Lung cancer. It was actually his third bout with cancer; it finally wore him down at age 61. While we had our differences as I gr...
Posted by Switters on Fri, 16 Dec 2005 07:42:00 PST

The Past Is Prologue....

Below, please find the prologue of a loosely autobiographical novel I'm writing about Hollywood at the end o' the 80s. Let me know what ya think! PROLOGUE Like many others in that place and time, ...
Posted by Switters on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST