Swanky Don profile picture

Swanky Don

Overnight Male...

About Me

DJ in New York for over a decade...BIG music buff, guitarist and tutor, voracious reader, failed vegetarian, citizen of the Earth, freethinker...I like to think I am my own church and my own higher power. It's just that I can't tap into that all the time. Funny?...that makes me just like everybody else! Nature and the Universe are perfect: that's all we have to know - we're not meant to comprehend everything! Just live your LIFE and strive to be HAPPY. Living right is common sense, basically. You take responsibilty for your actions and judge good and bad with your intellect and heart. However, sometimes you may want to do something bad or immoral. And if you do, accept that we all have a dark side and that's what we wanted to do. That's where we were! The consequences will take care of themselves. This is about YOU. So bible thumpers can take a hike! At leisure I'm all about takin' it EASY with good friends and good MUSIC with nice food and wine and sunsets and stimulating conversation. Gettin' to know and breaking the ice with a nice woman in a dive bar with an eclectic jukebox is my speed. Ultimately I aspire to be with cosmic and transcendently beautiful human beings. Let's live for today.

My Interests

In addition to listening to music and d.j.'ing I enjoy playing guitar. Mostly the classical and 12 string acoustic. I'm obsessed with every detail of the guitar and currently working on some unorthodox idiosyncratic directions that I think will bear fruit in a spectacular way...I hope. I'm workin up the chops now and should know in about a year. Other than that I'm a pig for reading: anything and everything: newspapers, magazines, books, books, books...there's a whole world to explore and extrapolate in the pages. Plus there's a "proactive x-factor" that you don't get from the internet. Good wine and cheese are sublime. My favourite dish now is stir fried rice and veggies with melted cheese and wasabi! I also like experimenting with diet and health with the goal being to instill a discernable improvement. For example: doubling water consumption daily or suddenly starting to eat flax seeds or beets. But I'm NOT a health nut. I'm just fascinated by it. Hell, I'll go to White Castle's no problema! I'm trying to substitute tea for coffee, also. I've been moderately successful so far. And I found that breathing exercises really make you feel much better. And of course there's music as therapy. More to come...

I'd like to meet:

ALIVE: Barak Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan Jr., His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Gary Null, Bill Clinton, Ben Kingsley, Walt Frazier, Jennifer Beals, Julee Cruise, Charlotte Rampling, Dolly Parton, Doris Day, Kate & Cindy of the B-52's, Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen, Prince, James Ellroy, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, David Bowie, Nels Cline, Olivia Newton-John, Andrew Weil, Bob Ludwig ///////////////////////DEAD: Rod Serling, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Huey Newton, Ike Turner, Anton Lavey, Jesse Owens, Pete Maravich, Cole Porter, Jerry Garcia, John & Alice Coltrane, Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Timothy Leary, Percy Faith/////////////////////////////HISTORY & MYTHOLOGY: Oedipus, Socrates, Albert Einstein, Archimedes, Sisyphus, Harry Houdini, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Rasputin, Merlin, William Shakespeare, Arc Angel Michael (inspiring), Pocohantas, Sitting Bull, Confucious, Poseidon....otherwise DJ's, musicians, artists, intellectuals, writers, epicures, and heavyhitters like yourself. I also wouldn't mind a cute big boned Botticelli girl!!

Music:

Song of the year: "Tears Dry On Their Own" by Amy Winehouse. This song is so emotional and so sad I can't play it anymore; it's too heartbreaking! On music: the genre is not as important as the idea and/or the presentation. A lot of people are not listening as well as they think. Music made purely for money is seldom ever good; trashy maybe. Don't waste your time if you can't make an emotional connection with it, I say. So...these are current obsessions, no particular order: The Beatles (the new Help DVD is great! Some underrated tunes on that), "All Things Must Pass" by George Harrison is a MOUNTAIN of an album. Cat Power (somewhat obsessed with her concept, voice, and guitar technique; or lack of!), John Coltrane (his later free stuff is beyond belief!!), Gram Parsons, Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, early Elton (up to "Captain Fantastic"), Prefab Sprout, Brian Eno, Sufjan Stevens, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Ornette Coleman, Yoko Ono, Steely Dan, Michael Hedges, Will Ackerman, Erik Satie, Joni Mitchell, Yes, Lee Perry, Burning Spear, Scott Walker, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, John Lee Hooker, k.d. lang, Anita Baker, to name a few!! Piano trio jazz is the best music for brunch. Bossa nova too! I like Latin music; especially Mariachi and CUMBIA. Contemporary SALSA (I hate that word) is not that good, unfortunately. It hasn't really grown. By the way, the Fania catalougue has been refurbished. That's the real stuff. And of course the Buena Vista guys. Also anything on Atlantic/Atco, Stax/Volt, and Blue Note and Prestige records. And Verve...And Pacific Jazz...and...and...check with me in six months and it'll all be different!

Movies:

The Night Porter ( dark! ), D.O.A.(good noir), Joe, Young Frankenstine ( R.I.P. Peter Boyle), The Taking Of Pelham 1,2,3., Lost Weekend, Let's Get Lost:(Chet Baker), The Days Of Wine And Roses, The Old Dark House, Blow Up (super cool), The Flim Flam Man, In The Heat Of The Night, King Kong (the original), The Thing (both versions), Blade Runner, The Man With The Golden Arm, Angel Heart, Brokeback Mountain, Hatful Of Rain, Midnight Cowboy, Paris Texas, Easy Rider, The Graduate (indubitably!), A Clockwork Orange, Cooley High, The Doors, The Kids Are Alright, Blue Velvet, Foxy Brown, Boogie Nights (of course!), Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull, The Devil In Miss Jones (ok!), The Birds, The Innocents (scary), Cool Hand Luke, Casino Royale (the original), The Apartment, Of Human Bondage (scary after a break up!), What Ever Hapenned To Baby Jane? ( just plain scary!! )...also: Jaws, Yellow Submarine, Woodstock, anything with Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Lon Chaney (father & son), Boris Karloff, & Bela Lagosi (without question!). Recently saw the Dylan movie "I'm Not There". Pretty good!

Television:

I am a child of the 60's: The Twilight Zone (no contest!) and anything by Rod Serling, The Outer Limits, T.H.E. CAT (NBC '66), Peter Gunn, Dragnet, Get Smart, The Galloping Gourmet, Ed Sullivan, The Munsters, F-Troop, Mission Imposible, The Green Hornet, the Tonight Show (all decades), Conan O'Brian, Night Music (excellent late night 80's show hosted by David Sanborn), The Midnight Special. Currently I like "Lipstic Jungle", "Las Vegas" and "The Office" However these days I'm into radio almost exclusively (NPR and freeform / college)

Books:

Like in music I don't care about genre, but...I'm a sucker for noirish crime fiction like: "Shoot The Piano Player" (David Goodis - possibly the best writer ever!), "The Killer Inside Me" (Jim Thompson), "The Black Dahlia" (James Ellroy), "The Cockfighter" Charles Williford. Obviously stuff on music--recently: "Our Band Could Be Your Life" Mike Arazad.

Heroes:

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My Blog

Beyonce Aretha Franklin feud

Ok, a few weeks ago at the Grammys, Beyonce anounced Tina Turner on stage as "the queen of soul" and Aretha Franklin took offence to that.  With all due respect, Aretha,  may I remind y...
Posted by Swanky Don on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:06:00 PST

Top songs played out this weekend!

Some of the top tracks played out this gorgeous weekend at my gig in Brooklyn...1. "Tears Dry On Their Own" - Amy Winehouse2. "Sweetie" - Josh Rouse3. "Goucho" - Steely Dan4. "Got To Get You Into My L...
Posted by Swanky Don on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 06:52:00 PST

R.I.P. Max Roach

Jazz TITAN and best drummer EVER(?) (with apologies to Steve Gadd and Neal Peart, HA! ), but also: composer, musical civil rights activist, educator, Brookynite, the epitome of COOL, and BEAUTIFUL hum...
Posted by Swanky Don on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:52:00 PST

Why are current cds so LOUD))))?/A word to mastering engineers.

Okay. As many of you I'm sure have noticed, a lot of commercial cd's are very loud. This is a big problem and very annoying (epecially if you're listening to a shuffle mix and a loud track follows a n...
Posted by Swanky Don on Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:36:00 PST

Labor Day sundays brunch playlist!

Here's a partial playlist from last sunday's brunch:1. "Hungry Heart" - Minnie Driver (yes, Brucie's song and yes, Minnie Driver!)2. "Allentown" - Billy Joel3. "Mad World" - Gary Jules (Tears For Fear...
Posted by Swanky Don on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:50:00 PST

WCBS FM is back!!!

Yes... the sound and ATMOSPHERE of 60's and 70's pop radio is back in NYC after the 2 year long ABOMINATION called Jack FM. Proof that following market research and money leads to ludicrosity!
Posted by Swanky Don on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:30:00 PST

Last Sunday's brunch playlist!

Some of the stuff I played last Sunday at Taco Chulo:Julee Cruise: "Falling"The Cure: "Love Song" 12" mixSteely Dan: "Home Again"Siouxie and the Banshees: "Dear Prudence"Luna: "Sweet Child Of Mine"Jon...
Posted by Swanky Don on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:50:00 PST

The year 1966.

'66 was year zero for me in many ways. It seemed that a lot disparate strands of the big ball of pop culture converged for me at that time. As Robin would say : "Holy Discombobulation, Batman!"We got ...
Posted by Swanky Don on Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:05:00 PST

New Top 10 Chart

1. Central Park West...........................John Coltrane I've been thinking a lot about J.C. and N.Y.C. lately. This was a no brainer. 2. Wave..............................................Ahmad Ja...
Posted by Swanky Don on Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:53:00 PST

Monster Chops...

I spent 20 years developing monster FLASH "chops" (technical ability). Constantly looking to become what I was not (a musician) because of what I was (a perpetual student)...Not realizing that you onl...
Posted by Swanky Don on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:23:00 PST