Good conversation, coffee, biking, playing music, talking about music.. computers of course... keeping reasonably fit, staying up way too late. Current events, distasteful though they may be-- Counterculture; the hippies, the beatniks-- must have been interesting times. It seems I was born too late, in a way. We are lucky in the S.F. Bay area to finally have a Beat Museum, which has had a number of in-house presentations, poetry readings and appearances by some of the most prominent persons associated with the Beat movement. Check them out at Kerouac.com.
Interesting people-! Other musicians, creative folks of all disciplines/interests.. those who read, and/or write stuff; I'm not particular. Painters, sculptors, folks who disassemble things. This is how I got started as a tech; thirty-five years later, I'm still taking things apart. Sometimes they might get reassembled. Usually for the better. I imagine sometimes that's a matter of opinion-! You know those signs that say, "no user-serviceable parts inside" ? Don't believe it! What we need is common-sense signs, perhaps.. "Do not drop radio in bathtub, especially when plugged in"- that sort of thing.
I enjoy playing rock and roll, blues, straight- ahead jazz and "out there" stuff sometimes.. improvised music, progressive.. R+B, and all points in between. I enjoy listening to all types of music, anything that's good... classical, jazz, the various forms of the blues, rhythm and blues, rock-- I do appreciate most forms of music, as long as it's good-! Many faves... Jimi Hendrix. Miles. Stan Getz.. Scott La Faro. Bill Evans. Gary Peacock. Eric Clapton. Jerry Garcia. John Kahn. Phil Lesh. Jack Casady. Bill Frisell. Jim Hall. Tal Farlow. Jimmy Smith. Paul Motian. Dave Holland. John Mc Laughlin. Richard Bona. Dexter Gordon. Wynton Kelly. Paul Chambers. Stan Levey. Victor Feldman. Bob Dylan. Gary Burton. John Scofield. I recently performed on electric and upright bass in a group in and around San Francisco, the Julia Lau band. Julia is a great singer and songwriter based in Oakland. Her first original CD came out this past summer, titled "In the Wildflowers and Weeds". It's available thru CD Baby. Check www.julialau.net for latest show info, or to get on her mailing list. My stylistic specialties include blues, rock, jam-band, jazz.. straight-ahead, standards, etc. I'd like to do more Grateful Dead type music as well... I was in a fun group for a few years called Cats Under The Stars, which specialized in Jerry Garcia Band music as well as some of the Dead's eclectic repertoire. That group is currently inactive, except for a "reunion" we do every Easter. Check out a group called Tres Mojo, led by Jim Talley of the "Cats"-- fine keyboard player, at tresmojo.com. Most often of late I have been making occasional appearances at the Bistro in Hayward, as part of their blues and jazz jams, sometimes as part of the "house band" and sometimes just to drop in for a few tunes. Once in a while I perform with the Dave Walker group, and also occasionally with Masayo Yoshida's trio. I'm thinking of late maybe it's time for another more permanent band/project.. yeah, I know.. permanent? Musical project? What could I be thinking? Also.. check out my great musical friends the M.Dogs-- we go way back. Rock and Roll-!! Myspace.com/mdogssf. For some interesting insights on the music business, and why it is we care about the artists we like, and what it all means.. the short-sightedness of the labels, etc.. see Bob Lefsetz' blog at Lefsetz.com. He has a lot to say about the music biz, most of which I agree with.
LOTR, Star Wars, good Anime.. the Matrix series (first was the best one)... Black Orpheus, King Of Hearts, Day the Earth Stood Still.. The Trip.. Forbidden Planet, Bourne Identity, Fifty First Dates, Crouching Tiger, Night Tide, Enter The Dragon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both). Alphaville.
Television? Hmmm.. mainly I use it to watch films. When it's on, of the stuff the rest of the family likes to see, I do find American Idol entertaining. Supernatural's a current fave. I like Smallville. Hm- think I'm watching too much TV now-!
Lord of the Rings, Ringolevio, Omnibus of Crime, E.E. Doc Smith's Lensmen series, anything by Philip K. Dick, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Jack Kerouac, Tolkien, Neal Cassady, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Gary Snyder, Jaco Pastorius, Bob Marley, Orrin Keepnews, Ahmet Ertegun, Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, Les Paul, my parents.