rockthing

I'd like to meet:

Jimmy Page

Music:

.. Led Zeppelin!
wnyu.org kusf.org wrct.org wfmu.org

This is a list of most about everything I have listened to so far this year

Led Zeppelin - A15 live at Ahoyhalle, Rotterdam, Holland 11 March 1973; Nuremberg 1973 live at Messehalle, Nuremberg, Germany 14 March 1973; Stroll On State Fair, West Allis Wisconsin (USA) 21 July 1969; Dancing Bear live at R.A.I Amsterdam 27 May 1972; lz1971-08-21 at the L.A. Forum; Blueberry Hill II live at the Oakland Coliseum 2 September 1970; Live in Japan 1971 D1/2 at Budokan 23 September 1971; lz1970-09-06 live in Honolulu; Live at the Texas Pop Festival 31 August 1969; Devil's Banquet live at Earl's Court Arena, London 17 May 1975;

MC Asue, pple, Sol Skye, Bone Idol at Zoo Station, Nagoya

Kaz' live at Yagoto No Mori Haru Matsuri; Ett - Ryuu Kyuu Nite; Afrirampo - Ryuu Kyuu Nite Comeback Tour; Nohshintoh - Ryuu Kyuu Nite; Led Zeppelin - Absence/ Listen To This Eddie live at the L.A. Forum 21 June 1977; St. Paul Master live in St. Paul Minnesota (USA) 9 July 1973; Sunset L.A. Forum, Inglewood California 27 June 1977.

Ryuu Kyuu Nite at Club Rock'N'Roll, Nagoya Japan with Ett, Nohshintoh and Afrirampo

Palm Breeze - Live at Yagoto Wood Spring Festival 2008 on 29 April; Chukyo University Brass Band - Live at Yagoto Wood Spring Festival 2008 on 29 April; Nisennenmondai - CD release Tour 2008 at KD Japon 12 April; pple with Shino-chan at Zoo Station 2008.03.23; Neither Neither World live at Zoo Station 2008.03.23; RyouGuy - RyouGuy Fest Vol. I at Cafe Parlwr 2007.12.22; Mr. F - Zappa Hitori Utahi 2008-12-12 at Nanya.

Robert Plant and Allison Krauss with T-Bone Walker - Louisville Palace Theater 2008.04.20; Nisennenmondai Cannibal Circus, live at KD Japon, Nagoya 2008.04.12; pple live at Zoo Station 2008.03.23; Neither Neither World live at Zoo Station 2008.03.23; Blasting Rod Live at Zoo Station 2008.03.23; Nohshintoh - Arigato, Isshoni Yareta (You Let Us Do It With You, Thanks)

Katsurei - Seijinshiki (Coming of Age Ceremony), live at Tokuzo 2008.01.14; Happy End - CITY ベストヒッツ (Best Hits); The Jackson 5/ The Jacksons - The Very Best of The Jackson 5/ Jacksons; Led Zeppelin Live in Japan 1971 Last Stand Disk 49, the second Budoukan performance 1971.09.24; Essen 1973, Winston Remaster, live in Essen (West) Germany 1973.03.22; Lead Poisoning, live in Vienna 1973.03.16; A Night at the Opera, live in Vienna 1973.03.16;

Yagoto No Mori Haru Matsuri (Yagoto Wood Spring Festival) at KouShouJi Buddhist Temple in Nagoya where El Rena an Andean folk music ensemble, Masahiko Okumura Piano Trio + 1, Kaz', Palm Breeze a Hawaiian music group and The Chukyo University Brass Band performed with Reverend Masaaki Umemura, the temple master giving a forty minute sermon between El Rena and the piano trio. I think I got a nice day of recording under my belt.

Deep Throat 3, live at the L.A. Forum 1975.03.27.

Led Zeppelin - Deep Throat vol. 1 and 2 live at the L.A. Forum March 1975; Sunset live at the L.A. Forum 1977.06.27; Live in Pittsburgh, 1973.07.24; L'Olympia Paris 1969; Live in Central Park 1969; Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnatti 1977; Live In Japan 1971 23, 24, 27 September; Grateful Lead 1973-06-02; Bonzo's Birthday Party Matrix 1973-05-31;
Fela Kuti - Jazz Side of Fela: Afro Groove Collection II;
Nohshintoh - Know U White 2008-01-27;

Nisennenmondai, Fukuro and Nohshintoh at KD Japon in Nagoya on 2008-04-12. Got a pretty decent recording too. Nohshintoh direct to cassette!

Marcia Griffiths with Sly and Robbie - Liberty Lunch, Austin Texas; Bob Marley and the Wailers - Natty Dread;
Katsurei and Jiyu Jigen at Tokuzo in Nagoya on 2008-04-05. I was on the camera crew for Katsurei's official bootleg DVD shoot. I was also in charge of the sound recording.

Crappy Mini Band and Ryochestra at Tokuzo in Nagoya on 2008-03-31.I got pretty good recordings of both and was on hand to shoot some promotional youtube videos for Ryochestra.
Aburanaburi, Nisueo: Cosmic Chang Mothership and Trampoliine at Elevate in Osaka 2008-03-30.I recorded Aburanaburi and Nisueo.
Nohshintoh, SKE, Rumi with SKE, Bogulta, Hard Off and Neconemuru at Shangri-la in Osaka 2008-03-29. I tried to record Neconemuru and Nohshintoh, but the SPLs were just too overpowering. It was shaking my chest in that room.

Performed as Blasting Rod on a bill with Bone Idol, Sonic Land Peace Makers, Neither/ Neither World and pple with DJ TEL and DJ Nakamura. I got a good recording of Neither/ Neither World, but overcooked the levels for all the rest.

Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartets Nos. 15&16 performed by the Alban Berg Quartett 1981 and 1983; Burt Bacharach and B.J. Thomas - Original Score for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid; Blondie - Best of Blondie; Cowboy Bebop O.S.T.1; Burt Bacharach and B.J. Thomas - Original Score for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid; The Jacksons vs Gnarls Barkley - Crazy Boogie;

Franz Schubert performed at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 11 November 1997, Symphony No 3. in D major D.200, Arias and Duets from Des Teufels LustschloB (August von Kotzebue), Singpiel 3 Acts with Overture D 84 (1813-1814), Die Freunde von Salamanka (Johann Mayhofer), Singpiel 2 Acts D326 (1815), Alfonso und Estrella (Franz von Schober), Romantic Opera 3 Acts D 732 (1821-1822), Symphoy No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished"), D. 759 performed by Koninklijk Conertgebouw Orkest under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncour with Charlotte Margiono soprano and Robert Holl bass.

Burning Spear live in Fell's Point, MD 1988.11.11

The continued bittorrent binge (that 500G hard disk I got last autumn has to be put to use after all!) led me to revisit a portion of The Grateful Dead's live recording archives. This is a very strange group. Their method of working and the different paths their music took over the years... it's very hard to understand what they were really about.

The Grateful Dead - gd73-09-15.aud-sbd.cotsman.16174.sbeok; gd85-04-28.sbd.sirmick.77406.sbeok.flac16 Frost Amphitheater, 1978-04-19, gd77-02-27.bertrando.vernon.10378.sbeok.shnf University of California at Santa Barbara;

The Grateful Dead - gd77-05-08.sbd.hicks.4982.sbeok.shnf "Cornell '77" show in pristine quality direct from the soundboard...those who say it is overrated, I find cynical..., Three times in a row and I'm ready for more! The Grateful Dead - gd1981-12-09.shnf gd67-10-22.sbd.miller.18101.sbeok.shnf_shn. The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane on the same bill in Toronto as Bill Graham took the San Francisco scene on the road: gd67-08-04.10355.sbd.hurwitt.shnf. The Dead were smokin' ... I mean their playing was smokin'. The Airplane lived up to Jimmy Page's appraisal of their rather haphazard live performances. I've definitely heard better from them. The Grateful Dead - gd85-04-28.sbd.sirmick.77406.sbeok.flac16 '85 is not such a great year for Jerry Garcia's voice, but the ensemble performance is very nice, flowing and weaving. That said, gd1984-06-30set2b.mattman.dvd was a rather depressing affair. Possibly because the single camera video tape just doesn't doe the show justice (thought I'm mighty grateful someone took the effort to record and upload this). I just find it odd that in '85 approaching Garcia's hospitalization, the group as a whole actually seems in better form, Garcia included.

The Grateful Dead - gd71-08-05.fob- SonyECM22p.miller.88859.sbeok.flac16; gd71-02-23.sbd.evans- waddell.82755.sbeok.flac16.

Jack Dejohnette's New Directions - Community Church of NY, NYC, 30 March 1985, late set. New Directions didn't really strike me,

Cecil Taylor Quintet at Studio 10 Funkaus, Hamburg, Germany, 31 March 1999 featuring, Cecil Taylor - piano/vox, Harri Sjostrom - ss, Tristan Honsinger - cello, Teppo Hauta - aho-bass, Paul Lovens - dr.

Paschen and Mosby - Poetry Speaks Disc 1, Alfred, Lord Tennyson to T.S. Elliot, recordings of poets reading their own works. Jimmy Page - live at The L.A. Forum, 7 October 1988. This was a really unfortunate show which I'm sure Jimmy would like to forget and is an outstanding example of why many artists don't permit recording of live concderts. Sometimes everything that can go wrong does. This was one of those nights. Jimmy must break a string in every song. The Mad Taper was there to catch the catastrophe as it happened.

Elvis Presley- The Hampton Roads Concert, Hampton Roads Coliseum, Hampton Roads, Virginia April 9, 1972 E.S.; Rusted Root - Indiana University Auditorium, Bloomington IN, 4 September 1996 as taped by Greg Holtz,

Rusted Root live at The Orange Peel 29 September 2006; Han Bennink & Keiji Haino & Seiichi Yamamoto & Masayasu Tzboguchi "Exotic Inquiry" live at Super Deluxe, Tokyo on 10 February 2008 and Han Bennink with Brother's Sister's Daughter (Mike Watt, Kramer and Samm Bennett) and Lite, 2008-02-08 SuperDeluxe, Tokyo. Rusted Root live at The Orange Peel 29 September 2006. The Dead (as opposed to The Grateful Dead) - dead2003-07-29.fob.sirmick.19277.sbeok.flac16. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy. Alessandro Stefano - Post E Telegraph (2 times in a row)

The Grateful Dead - gd68-12-20.sbd.miller.89663.sbeok.flac16, gd68-12-21.sbd.tiedrich.9533.sbeok.shnf, gd68-12-20.sbd.tiedrich.9532.sbeok.shnf, The Grateful Dead - gd77-02-27.bertrando.vernon.10378.sbeok.shnf, gd73-03-24.wbotb.83407.sbeok.flac16.

Bob Marley and The Wailers Japan Tour 1979: Tokyo Shibuya Public hall, 7 April, Nakano Sun Plaza Hall, Tokyo, 10 April, and two shows from Kosei Nenkin, Osaka 11 April.. Led Zeppelin - Live in Tuscon Arizona, 28 June 1972
Led Zeppelin - Vancouver Snow Jobs 19 March 1975 and Chicago 20 January 1975. The Silver Wilburys live at the Palomino Club, North Hollywood (CA) on 19 Feb 1987, a late incarnation of The Travelling Wilburys which featured John Fogerty in what was more of an improptu jam-session than an actual concert. The highlight of the show is when Fogerty steps to the mic after a brief pause with obvious glee in his voice to say, "Holy Cow, Bob Dylan just requested a song I wrote!, Far Out". The song was Proud Mary.

Don Cherry Norwegian Sextet live in Oslo, Norway 10 October 1969 featuring: Don Cherry: tpt, fl, vcl, pno Jan Garbarek: ten, fl Sidsel Paaske: vcl, jaws harp Terje Rypdal: gtr Arild Andersen: b Jan Christensen: d.
Brad Mehldau Trio live in Kongsberg Norway, 7 July 2001 FM broadcast, Stéphane Guillaume Quartet live at Sunset, Paris, France, 15 February, 2008 from FM broadcast featuring: Stéphane Guillaume - t/a/ss, flute, Frédéric Favarel - g, Marc Buronfosse - db, Antoine Banville - dr.
Carlos Guerra, Tetsuya Kaneko, Mah-ha - Bansuri x Pakhuvaj x Ghatam

Anuradha Paudwal - Gayantri Mantra. Bombay Saradha - Kandavel, Ike & Tina Turner - Triple Treasures. Charged live in Kongresawa, Warsaw, Poland 12 August 1999 Bill Laswell ......Bass Toshinori Kondo...Electric Trumpet Eraldo Bernocchi..Treated Guitar DJ Disk...........Turntables Hamid Drake.......Drums. Ceramic Dog Live at The Knitting Factory, New York City, 29 November, 2007 Ceramic Dog Live at The Knitting Factory, New York City, 29 November, 2007 Charged live in Kongresawa, Warsaw, Poland 12 August 1999. The Grateful Dead - gd1968-10-10.sbd.miller-ladner.4513.sbeok.shnf Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving, The Grateful Dead - Pico Acid Test, Carthay Studios, Los Angeles, 19 March 1966 via Paul Scotton and Ihor Slabicky. Fat Kid Wednesdays live at The Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN on 9 February 2008 as recorded by empty. McCoy Tyner Trio live at Denton Arts and Jazz Festival on 27 April 2007. Judy Mowatt with Sly and Robbie live at Liberty Lunch, Austin, TX, 20 November 1991 Ike & Tina Turner - Triple Treasures, Janis Joplin and The Full Tilt Boogie Band live at The Capiol Theatre, Port Chester, New York, 8 August, 1970 Ken and Judy Lee. Jefferson Airplane Kralingen Festival, Rotterdam, 26 June 1970 and Winterland, San Francisco, Ca, 26 October 1969,

With my recent bittorrent binge as well as starting to use my ipod and iTunes this list has become harder to maintain accurately. (iTunes Store sucks, by the way, just for the record) With my adventure into iTunes I've been using the shuffle function,for the first time in years. It disrupts the flow of the albums, but the surprise and strange combinations of songs is kind of interesting. Frankly I've been so busy, I can't really justify the thought that would go into song selection

The Grateful Dead live at the Carousel Ballroom on Valentine's Day 1968. Some parts of this show were used on the band's Anthem of The Sun album. It's got a lot of energy, but is a fairly hit and miss show. Several cuts in the recording I have sort of take away the continuity, so overall, I'd say it was really good.
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Mainstreet
The Grateful Dead - Valentine's Day 1968.

Went to a guitar clinic by Jimmy Sakurai of the band Mr. Jimmy. He is known to be the best Jimmy Page impersonator in Japan, and arguably in the world. It was much better than I expected. He's actually really down-to-earth.
The Grateful Dead - Valentine's Day 1968,
Chanteurs.org,
Led Zeppelin - Blueberry Hill II, live at the Oakland Coliseum 2 September 1970. This is an excellent show. I'm not sure why I'd never come across it before. Zep in early September of 1970 were very, very on. This compares very favorably with the more famous L.A. Forum show from 4 September. The recording quality is much different. This is kind of muddy as the bass frequencies boom around the hall, where the 'original' Blueberry Hill tends to be very mid-rangy. Some bootleg ears and a little high end boost on the EQ make this Oakland '70 gig a real pleasure to listen to. The most interesting thing is that they work Allen Toussaint and Benny Spellman's Fortune Teller into one of the medleys of traditional blues and rock'n'roll. That song is also featured on Robert Plant's recent collaboration with Allison Krauss, Raising Sand, so hearing this 1970 impromptu rendition really brought that song full circle for me. It also reinforces the fact that it is very dear to Plant, as he knew most of the words nearly 40 years ago without a rehearsal. Of course, it was a very popular song to cover at the time, a 'standard' of sorts with the new generation of British R&B fans.
Soichi, Toshihiko Okumura and O.G.S.T. from First Live 2008

The Grateful Dead - Live at the Carousel Ballroom 16 March 1968. This is a cookin' show and will require a few more listens, but was very impressive on the first play.

Duos for Piano and Guitar by John McLaughlin and Katia Labeque, my favourite pieces from McLaughlin's Mediterranean Concerto CD. He collaborated (again) with the London Symphony Orchestra for the three movement Guitar concerto, but I prefer the intimate duets and often skip straight to them.

Vety Vera - Sedang Sedang Saja, her debut cassette. Credence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory Up Around The Bend. I've since replaced it with used Japanese vinyl.

Battles - Big Day Out, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia 28 January 2008, Marco Fernandes - Hybrid Vigor, Sun Ra - The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, Led Zeppelin - PresenceThe Rolling Stones - Exile On Mainstreet, Katsurei - Seijin Shiki, Sun Ra - Sound of Joy, Nohshintoh - Chikubi Party, KD Happening, Led Zeppelin - Charisma, Reflections In My Mind, Sgt Page's Badgeholders Club Band, Nohshintoh - Rock The Rock, Sun Ra - Sound of Joy

Went to see Nohshintoh at Huck Finn in Nagoya's Imaike district.
Sun Ra and the Arkestra sound of joy, Nohshintoh, Soichi, Toshihiko Okumura, O.G.S.T. 2008 First Live at KD Japon 2008.01.05 kdfl20080105spC4cE1/2, Nohshintoh 2008 First Live at KD Japon 2008.01.05 nst20080105spC4c, Soichi 2008 First Live at KD Japon 2008.01.05 schi20080105spC4c, Toshihiko Okumura 2008 First Live at KD Japon 2008.01.05 okto20080105spC4c, Sakana Live at Tokuzo 2008 skna20080114-C4c, 1998.08.31 Thur. E.L.L. Pokopen came on her own when the other members succumbed to other commitments. Katsurei Seijin Shiki live at Tokuzo 2008.01.14 kr20080114spC4c

Carlos Guerra, Tetsuya Kaneko, Mah-ha Bansuri x Pakhavaj x Ghatam
Robert Plant and Allison Krauss - Raising Sand, Sachiko - You Never Atone For..., Marcos Fernandes - Hybrid Vigor, Marcos Fernandes and Bill Horist - Jerks and Creeps, John Fogerty - Revival,

Sachiko - Kunado

Movies:

2008 list:
(keep in mind this is just what I've seen, not recommendations)

監督ばんざい
(Kantoku Banzai / Glory to the Director)

笑の大学
(Warai No Daigaku / University of Comedy)

F１グランプリ栄光男たち
( Champions Forever: The Formula One Drivers )

真夜中の弥次さん喜多さん
(Mayonaka Yajisan Kitasan/ Late Night Yajisan Kitasan)

蛇イチゴ
(Hebi Ichigo /Snake Strawberry)

Lions For Lambs (大いなる陰謀)

パフェおやじ　(Parfait Oyaji / Parfait Pops)

Kill Your Idols

ワンダフルライフ (Wonderful Life)

Holiday

All The President's Men (大統領の陰謀)
In Her Shoes (イン・ハー・シューズ)
舞妓Haaaan!!! (Maiko Haaaaan!!!)
Transformers (トランスフォーマー )
Dark Side of The Rainbow

Television:

.. I'm doing a fairly good job of avoiding it, but F1 got rolling in Australia in March which will see me spending many late Sunday nights watching the tape delay broadcast on Fuji TV then finding the ITV broadcast online to see the whole race and get some sensible commentary. Now, those who watch ITV will understand just how ridiculous Fuji TV is.

Books:

..

Reading:

Watts, Alan W. (1958) Nature, Man and Woman, New York: Mentor/ Pantheon.
The Watts is in progress as the Promethea books have become a bit too graphic for the subway, unfortuately I don't find much other time to read.

Moore, Alan J. and Williams, J.H. III and Gray, Mick with Cox, Jeromy and Villarrubia, Jose and Klien, Todd (2000) Promethea Collected Book Edition Book II, LaJolla, CA: America's Best Comics

Moore, Alan J. and Williams, J.H. III and Gray, Mick (2000) Promethea Collected Book Edition Book I, LaJolla, CA: America's Best Comics

Graduate school has resulted in reading just bits of many things, not just books, but almost nothing in its entirety. Some things of note:

Bob, Clifford (2007) "Dalit Rights are Human Rights: Caste Discrimination, International Activism, and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue", Human Rights Quarterly 29: 167–193, Baltimore, Maryland, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
(BLHRRI) Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute (2005 [2004]), Photo Document of the Post-war 60 Years-Development of the Buraku Liberation Movement, Osaka: Kaiho Publishing Company Ltd..
Creighton, Millie (1997) Soto Others and Uchi Others: Imagining racial diversity, imagining homogeneous Japan_, 211-238, in Michael Weiner (ed.), Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, London and New York: Routledge.
Davis, John (2002), "New Writing on the Buraku Issue", Social Science Japan Journal 5(2): 249-253.
Fowler, Edward (2004 [2000]), The Buraku in Modern Japanese Literature: texts and contexts_, 21-59, in Michael Weiner (ed.) Race, Ethnicity and migration in Modern Japan Volume II, London and New York: Routledge Curzon.
Ito Takuya (2005), Cooperativeness and Buraku Discrimination _, electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 31 October.
Marfording, Annette (1997), Cultural Relativism and the Construction of Culture: An Examination of Japan_, Human Rights Quarterly 19(2): 431-448, Baltimore Maryland, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nakamura, Karen (2004), "Civil Society in Japan: The Growing Role of NGOs in Tokyo's Aid Development Policy, by Keiko Hirata. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002", Social Science Japan Journal 7: 318-320.
Pharr, Susan J. (1990), Burakumin Protest: The incident at Yoka High School_, 133-145, in Michael Weiner(ed.), Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan Volume II Indigenous and Colonial Others, London and New York: Routledge Curzon.Tomonaga Kenzo (2006), 2007 Yearbook on Human Rights _, Buraku Liberation News (142).
----- (2006), Ima Aratamete 'Buraku Chimei Soukan' Sabetsu Jiken Wo Tou (Now, Inquiring Afresh About "Buraku Place-Name Compendium" Discrimination Cases), Osaka: Kabushiki Gaisha Kaihou Shuppansha (Liberation Publishing Company Ltd.).
Upham, Frank K. (1987), Instrumental Violence and the Struggle for Buraku Liberation_, 146-190, in Michael Weiner (ed.), Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan Volume II Indigenous and Colonial Others, London and New York: Routledge Curzon.
Willie, Jim CB (2007), Deadly Dollar Downtrend States All Inflation Adjusted Statistics Are Wrong, True Inflation is Double CPI! _, The Market Oracle, November 08.
(Zenkairen) "Zenkoku Buraku Kaihou Undou Rengoukai" (National Buraku Liberation Alliance) (2004), Zenkairen Dai 34 Kai Teiki Taikai Ni Tuite ('About the Zenkairen 34th Regular Meeting).
Neary, Ian (1997) Burakumin In Contemporary Japan in Michael Weiner_, 50-78 Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, London and New York: Routledge.
Weiner, Michael (1997) Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, London and New York: Routledge
Jones S. (1997) 'Taxonomies of Difference: the classification of peoples in the human sciences', in The Archaeology of Ethnicity: constructing identities in the past and present, London: Routledge ch.3, 40-55
Russell, John G. (1996) 'Race and Reflexivity: The Black Other in Contemporary Japanese Mass Culture', in Treat, J.W.,(ed.) Contemporary Japan and Popular Culture, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, ch.1, 17-40
Bordieu, Pierre, Johnson, Randal (1993) The Field of Cultural Production, New York: Columbia University Press
Ivy, Marilyn (1989), 'Consumption of Knowledge' in Miyoshi, Masao, Post Modernism and Japan (Post-contemporary Inventions, Durham, NC, USA: Duke University Press.
Gans, Herbert J. Democracy and The News.
Gans, Herbert J. Deciding What's News: A Study of CBS Evening NEws, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time.
Fuller, Jack News Values: Ideas for and Information Age.
Gatzen, Barbara (2007) "Media and Communication in Japan: Current Issues and Future Research" Doshisha Journal of Media & Communication Research, Mar 20.
Chandler, Daniel Notes on the Construction of Reality in TV News Programmes.
Clare, Alexander A Semiotic Analysis of Magazine Ads for Men's Fragrances
Chandler, Daniel Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Takeshita, Toshio and Takeuchi, Ikuo Media Agenda Setting in a Local Election: The Japanese Case
After spending a couple years reading Finnegans Wake, all of this social science stuff is actually pretty easy to wade through.
Pharr, Susan J. Media as Trickster in Japan
Pharr, Susan J. and Krauss, Ellis S. (eds.) Media and Politics in Japan.
Gamble, Adam and Watanabe, Takesato A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West.
Sugimoto, Yoshio An Introduction to Japanese Society 2nd Ed.
Kaminsky, Stuart M. The Shooting of John Roy Worth.
Yoshino, Kosaku Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan.
Hane, Mikiso Eastern Phoenix.
Crowley, Aleister 777 The table of correspondences has become a daily reference.
Fluxus, Yesterday and Today
published way back in 1993. Great book of interviews with various artists associated with Fluxus events and publications.

Hawking, Stephen A Brief History of Time.

Joyce, James (1939) Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The Bhagavad Gita

Tolkien, J.R.R. Roverrandom.
a children's book that was never published in Tolkien's lifetime. A fun, easy read.

Moore, Alan Promethea
a graphic novel by , creator of The Watchmen, which I read as a complete novel when I was in university.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Tales From The Perilous Realm.
a book of short stories.
This was really great. If you've enjoyed the Lord of The Rings trilogy or want to warm up to Tolkien's style I can't recommend this book highly enough. A section of poetry/songs is the only reference to the trilogy, so it's not really a prerequisite.

Shakespeare, William A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The Upanishads

Auster, Paul New York Trilogy.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy

Campbell, Joseph Myths To Live By.

Heroes:

..Jimmy Page