Music, making a difference, literature, writing, volunteerism, pop culture, reclamation projects (spiritual and physical), sports, warrior souls, fashion, travel, art, people who blow minds for a living.
Whoever.
The Clash, Public Enemy, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, The White Stripes, New Pornographers, The Hard Lessons, Pearl Jam, The Replacements, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, OutKast, The Coup, Rancid, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, The Pixies, Flaming Lips, Iggy & The Stooges, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, DangerMouse & Jemini, Electric Six, Beck, Sleater-Kinney, Jurassic 5, Rocket From The Crypt, Blackalicious, Neko Case, The Shins, Neutral Milk Hotel, Gnarls Barkley, New Bomb Turks, Avail, Gaunt, Chemical Brothers, Lee Marvin Computer Arm, Bob Mould, Sugar, Husker Du, Theory, Glowb, Main Event, Tunde Olaniran, Regina Spektor, Chalk Outlines, Ghostface Killah, The Concept, Nehlo Sanctum, DJ Psycho, Rontronik, TV on the Radio, Rugby Mothers, Absence, Fudge Gun, Von Bondies, Guns N' Roses, The Strokes, The Band, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Eat World, McLusky, Nirvana, The Killers, Kanye West, Pharcyde, Iron and Wine, Sparklehorse, David Bowie, Cat Power, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Coctails, Talking Heads, Jon Connor, Sublime, The Ramones, PJ Harvey, Massive Attack, My Morning Jacket, Drive-By Truckers, Wolfmother, Peeping Tom, Riverboat Gamblers, The Raveonettes, Dark Meat, The Mae Shi, The Raconteurs, Spoon, Common
Ocean's Eleven, The Big Lebowski, The Blues Brothers, Chinatown, The Sandlot, Napoleon Dynamite, Pulp Fiction, Clerks, Mallrats, The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Almost Famous, High Fidelity
The Wire - OK, so I'm not a habitual TV viewer anymore. Haven't been for a while now since I gave up "Seinfeld" reruns a few months ago and I thought my days of being truly won and taken over by a show were long gone, and I was fine with it. WRONG. At the urging of too many people I trust - to the point that ignoring them would've amounted to an insult - I gave "The Wire" a chance and put the first season in my Blockbuster DVD cue. Holy. Crap. There's no way to say it other than to pronounce it the best TV show ever made. Forget "The Sopranos," forget both iterations of "The Office" or anything else you want to throw at me. Nothing else compares to how rich, detailed, stark, unflinching and gut-wrenchingly honest this show is about the power institutions and social forces that shape everyday life in America. I know that sounds like pretty heady stuff and naturally begs the question, "OK Chad, so what's the best show ever on TV about?" Hmmm. Well, at its simplest level "The Wire" is a cop show, but calling it a cop show is like calling Bob Dylan a songwriter; fundamentally true but nowhere close to capturing the whole truth and just how high a level everyone involved (writers, actors, producers) is performing at all the time. Forget "NYPD Blue," "Hill Street Blues," or "Miami Vice". All of them great shows, but what's different about "The Wire" is that it shows characters as real people with real faults who often get ground down by the gears of society (politics, schools, the media, global economics, shifting loyalties, jealousy, the list goes on...) through no or little fault of their own. The fundamental conflict is the battle between a special case unit of the Baltimore (Bodymore, Murdaland) police and a drug crew that runs a brisk business out of projects on the city's west side, and isn't afraid to spill some bullets and blood in the process. But that's just the jumping off point and from the first scene it's riveting, engrossing stuff, to the point that watching three episodes on DVD in one sitting doesn't seem unreasonable. I've done it more than once and in just a couple months have plowed through three seasons on DVD (thank you Genesee District Library!) and enjoyed one episode more than the entire run of "The Sopranos". Now I'm fiendin' for the release of Season 4 on DVD in December and the premiere of the fifth (and final) season on HBO in January. Seriously. They can't come fast enough and the only downside is that I don't know what I'll do when the show ends its run this spring. They're'll be a real void for a while and a little grieving on my part. That might sound hyperbolic and overblown but once you dive in you'll get it. As violent and disturbing as it is, "The Wire" is great because it's so enriching in its honesty in addressing the no-win situations too many people find themselves in, and presenting them so impartially. Might as well say it; I love this show. I'll own all the DVDs soon enough and treasure 59 episodes of the best drama (in any medium) I've ever seen. But don't take my word for it. Plug in, and thank me later.
In Cold Blood, Naked Lunch, Stephen King's Darktower series, The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Universe, Joe Gould's Secret, Let It Blurt - The Story of Lester Bangs, Our Band Could Be Your Life, DaCapo's annual Best Music Writing series.
My parents