"I love things, I do my best. I eat, sleep, and laugh, and cry just like the rest." - The Small Faces
I'd like to meet:
People who I actually know in real life, or who like my records and want to let me sleep on their floor when I come through town. Introduce yourself if you send a friend request.
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?! I got over 600 "friends" now. While this is indeed a balm to my fragile ego, there's so many bulletins from outta town folks it makes it harder to see where the parties are here in Austin. If you want me to add you and we haven't met in real life, at least drop me a line or sumthin' so I know who the hell you are and why you wanna be fake internet friends with me. Even if I have met you, send me an email anyway 'cuz at this point I pretty much ignore all the new friend requests. People who like my records, rock n' roll in general, one man bands, and all the shit I'm into of course I wanna hear from. But at least introduce yourself first, or you shant be allowed into the coveted circle that is my fake internet friend list...
Music:
Basically, if it comes out on a major label nowadays – piss on it!Gimmie anything from blues to punk rock to country to soul s’long as it’s got some genuine human emotion behind it, be that emotion LOVE, JOY, ANGER, or FRUSTRATION. I won’t list the obvious like Hank Williams or the Velvet Underground and the like, ‘cuz everybody likes them if they’ve got a lick of sense or soul, right? How ‘bout the obscure stuff that I like to call my own? Well, for soul singers I got a thing for Hank Ballard, Joe Tex, Arthur Alexander, Wynonie Harris, Soloman Burke, Otis Redding, Nathaniel Mayer and my main man Richard Berry. Top ladies include Irma Thomas, Ruth Brown, Tina Turner, Carla Thomas, and Ronnie Spector. I play guitar but I HATE wanky single note soloists like B.B. King, Clapton and their spawn. Gimme some polyrhythmic guitar action, where you can’t tell where the “rhythm†part stops and the “lead†begins: Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, Link Wray. And I dig some nasty slide along the lines of Hound Dog Taylor, Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside. I play harmonica and love the Excello stylings of Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, and Jerry McCain. My inner hick loves George Jones, Johnny Horton, Wynn Stewart, Buck Owens and Uncle Dave Macon. I am a huge fan of Nawlin’s piano kings Huey Piano Smith and Professor Longhair. For rock n’ roll I’m all about the Australians: The Saints (greatest of the 70’s punkers), Radio Birdman, AC/DC, X (not the pussy one from L.A. but the god-almighty one from Sydney) Rose Tattoo and above all the Beasts of Bourbon! Spencer P. Jones' post-Beasts solo output also deserves a shout-out. I’m not much for the Brits in general, but I’ll take the Who, Small Faces and the Troggs. Southern white-boy rockers like Dale Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Tony Joe White, Billy Lee Riley. For punk rock, I don’t want any hardcore but I’ll take some Gun Club, Suicide, Ramones, and the Cramps. Throw the Real Kids in there somewhere. Modern-era malcontents who I favor would be the Devil Dogs, Lazy Cowgirls, Oblivians, Gories, Deadly Snakes, and Baseball Furies. And tho’ I prefer Dylan after he plugged in, I dig a few singer-songwriters like Fred Neil and Lee Hazelwood. And also for the folkies I love the first two Holy Modal Rounders LP’s and the Fugs. To sum it up, I love anybody with a strong personality that comes across in their music, like all-time badasses Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee, and Howlin’ Wolf.And of course don’t forget my fellow one man bands: Hazil Adkins, Doctor Ross, Joe Hill Louis, King Louie, Lightning Beat Man, and Scott Biram!
Movies:
Touch of Evil, The Third Man, Yojimbo, Army of Shadows, Casablanca, Once Upon A Time In The West, Last Picture Show, Gun Crazy, City of God, Dr. Strangelove, The Seven Samurai, Duck You Sucker, Kiss Me Deadly, A Fistfull of Dollars, Duck Soup, A Night At The Opera, Cool Hand Luke, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Dirty Dozen, The Searchers, Sunset Blvd., The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy, Return of Drunken Master, Goodfellas, Dawn of the Dead, The Great Escape, Office Space, The Thin Blue Line, Rock n' Roll High School, Jerkbeast, Hud, Wages of Fear, A Face In The Crowd, Touche Pa Au Grisbi, Bob Le Flambeau, Charlie Varrick ("Last of the Independants"!), and on and on. All the Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Tony Ja I can get my hands on. The Killing, the Changeling, etc. etc. etc.
Television:
I don't watch TV. I attempt to actually live my life instead.I do miss Beavis and Butthead, tho'.
Books:
Nick Tosches, Hellfire; Vladamir Nabakov, Lolita; Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karinina; James Ellroy, American Tabloid; Stephen Milhauser, Martin Dressler; Joseph Heller, Catch 22; Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Truman Capote, In Cold Blood; Phillip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly; Kirkpatrick Sale, Rebels Against the Future; Studs Terkel, Hard Times; Thomas Frank, What's the Matter With Kansas?; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago; The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins; You Can't Win, Jack Black; Balzac, Lost Illusions; many more but I’ve run out of steam as far as lists go. Blew all my patience on the music one - dammit, I've got shit to do!
