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Anthony

tony (bones) Stephens, bringing ya the bottom end.

About Me

It's one thing to hear the music, but it's another thing to actually feel it, to feel the notes rattling your bones and making your whole body move. I think that's why I took the bass up as my main instrument, after spending much of my early childhood tooling around on the guitar.A lover of Jazz and swing, thanks in part to my grand father who use to help out with a local big band in my hometown of Atlanta, there was something about the bass that always mezmorized me; it's stately figure amongst the other instruments, the way that it carried the band, sometimes a flying plane and other times a roaring train, there was something about those walking notes that brought me deeper into the music.currently, I live in New York City and work on several solo projects, a mixture of musical and literary ventures. The links and comments you'll find on this site focus alot on the bottom end and, also, show my broad interest in a variety of music genres, as well as a wide range of non-musical influences.Enjoy and give a shout out if you feel so inclined. Cheers.

My Interests

Of course, I find great joy in music. There is my love of the bottom end, the bass. too, I find a great interest in music that is able to fuse something old with something that has yet to be explored. My tastes in music are defined more by the level of creativity in a project, rather than a particular genre. I see talent in simplicity, and often find myself emersed in a lot of low-fi indi music, where young artists focus on the song more than the production quality. Though there is also that part of me who puts on an 80s Yes albumn like 90125 and listens in awe at the production quality.Other than music, I'm a fan of traveling to big cities where a person can get lost in the crowd and just soak in the vibe. I live in Brooklyn, USA, which is great for blending into a large group of people and just being a part of a city that never stops moving. If, and when, I ever get out to the country, it's usually to refuel myself on childhood memories of camping or to visit friends. I've lived in a lot of places, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Detroit, Ashville, Savannah and New York. So my interests can change depending on where I am. I might crash on a beach, argue the finer details of Chicago Pizza, or find pleasure by passing time on the water front watching the boats leave the Port of New York and imagining where they might be heading.Bono made a strong statement once by argueing that artists are drawn to an extreme on either side of faith, having either a deep devotion or an opposite attitude toward it. I fall on the former rather than the latter. And, by the nature of my sojourn over the past seven years, I live a very deep and fulfilling spiritual life. A Roman Catholic, I live a faith of works, and I also am deeply interested in other faiths of the world.

I'd like to meet:

Other people interested in the art of playing the bottom end. I'm also a writer, my schooling being in journalism and mass communication. So, that covers a wide range of folks, myself having worked in radio and newspaper, and dabbled in film, television, and other media related arenas. Faith and spirituality also tie me to a large group of people, having been a former Jesuit and Catholic seminarian. So, that covers an even wider range of different people who I would enjoy conversing with. Reading through the comments and links on my space will probably give you a greater sense of where I stand, and what I have to share with others.

Music:

Love Supreme by John Coletrane speaks for itself. Other magical works include--as I see it--Aja by Steely Dan, The Beatles Revolver and Bach's Fueg in Gm.

Currently in rotation on the IPod: Martha and the Vandells
The Killers
The white stripes
Frank Zappa (circa late 70s)
)Stevie Wonder
The Police
Bruce Springsteen (early 70s and The Rising)
Squat

and Harvey Danger.

Movies:

Documentaries and english or Spanish speaking foreign films will always catch my attention (my eyes are too bad to read subtitles).
TOP 5 MOVIES:
1. Jaws
2. Empire of the Sun
3. Annie Hall
4. The Barefoot in the Park
5. The Squid and the Whale
Top 5 recommendations (For those who want to see inside my brain):
1. The Squid and the Wale (For those who experienced divorce during childhood.. I Identify with frank the most)
2. Capote (I can't explain why, but that movie has been stuck in my head for the past couple of weeks. As an aspiring writer, I think I see through his eyes much better than most other writers, myself being an ex-patriot from the south now in New york.)
3. the Muppet Movie (Never grow up! And, too, listen to dialogue to see how Jim Henson was ahead of his time for pop culture).
4. The mission (Bobby's best outside of the stereotype mobster role, and it shows why my sojourning medikan life appealed to me so much)
5. Millions (I grew up as Anthony, but wished I were damian)

Television:

Top 5 at present:

1. The west Wing
2. 24
3. The Daily Show (via ITunes since I have no cable)
4. 60 Minutes
5. Sunday's Meet the Press

Top 5 All-Time Programs:

1. M*A*S*H
2. The West Wing
3. Hill Street Blues
4. Monty Python's Flying Circus
5. The Supranno's

Books:

can't give a top five for these, as my life is constantly changing and my perspectives growing. Major works in my life, however, would be The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road The autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Seven Story Mountain and the writings of Poe.

Pick of the month: Capote's In Cold Blood. I recently was helping with a 7th grade literature class while they were reading To kill a Mocking Bird. Researching the life of Harper Lee gave me a desire to open this classic text again, looking at it from a different perspective knowing her relationship with capote. The movie did a good job of fleshing out their friendship, and I've been trying to read it through her eyes.

Heroes:

Top 5 (Of course):

1. Jimmy Carter, a good Southern boy who did good and didn't stop after he left office.

2. Peter Gabriel, a true music artist who also helped bring down apartheid in South Africa.

3. U2, a band that sees the true power of their art for more than a quarter of a century.

4. JFK, a leader who could truly lead.

5. The FDNY

My Blog

The speed of air

Bass is about moving air; it's about taking what stands still and pushing it hard so the body feels it, but slow so it doesn't pass you by.   Sometimes air sitstgnent,ed foh And then there's some...
Posted by Anthony on Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:00:00 PST

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

There's an old joke amongst musicians that goes like this: Two people run into eachother on a busy street in New York, one of whom is running frantically with a viola case. The one with the case asks ...
Posted by Anthony on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 09:00:00 PST

Up and Running...

It hasn't even been two days since I started this, and already there is traffic on this page. Therefore, I thought it necessary to start a blog for the site. although I'm a bit under the weather and e...
Posted by Anthony on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 09:51:00 PST