Concerts at small venues. Both high end and lo-fi: guitars (Fender to Harmony), amplifiers (TopHat to Silvertone), synthesizers / organs (prefer Moog or Casio). Using these tools to make organized/not so organized noise. Vintage Pioneer stereo systems, records, cassettes, 80's Panasonic boomboxes. 30's to 60's CheeseCake / Pin-up art (Elvgren, Ekman, Petty, Moran). Antiques - not "antiquing", thrift stores. Anything old (Seiko, Casio wristwatches, pocketknives, hot wheels funny cars). Bicycles - beach cruisers and 80's BMX. Old diners. Museums and Galleries: Peterson Automotive, LACMA, MOCA, La Brea Tar Pits. Dive Bars: Ye Ole' Coach and Horses (Hollywood), Old Tony's, Naja's (Redondo Beach). Concerts at: The Echo / Echoplex / Rec Center, Spaceland, Troubador. Dancing at Miss Kitty's. Old houses/architecture: Arts and Crafts (Green and Green), Spanish (Wallace Neff). Mid 60's to early 70's Buicks and Mopars. Driving around to no destination in particular. The Palos Verdes peninsula. Mountains, hills, views, ocean, sun, bicycling, tennis, walking, running, Hermosa and Manhattan Beaches. Oh - and Tic-Tacs.
Fabulous failures instead of benign successes.
COOL MUSIC VID OF THE WEEK! The Rentals, B-52's, Petra Haden and the Sellouts, That Dog., Throwing Muses, Belly, LUSH, My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders, The Spinanes, The Muffs, Los Abandoned, Dressy Bessy, Hello Stranger, The Slow Signal Fade, Be Your Own Pet, Gram Rabbit, Peaches, Chicks on Speed, Fiery Furnaces, Mates of State, Dresden Dolls, Electralane, BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, THE DANDY WARHOLS, The Pixies and The Breeders, BECK, PULP, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Urge Overkill, Butthole Surfers, Jane's Addiction, The Smiths, The Damned, Dead Kennedys, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, X, Ramones, Trio, The Buggles, Devo, Soft Cell, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, Joy Division, New Order, The Jesus and Marychain. CLASSIC ROCK FAVES: Velvet Underground, Mark Bolan / T.Rex, Cream, Jimmy Hendrix, James Gang, Ted Nugent, MC5. SOME FUNKY BLUES / JAZZ: Albert King, Mike Bloomfield, John Coltrane, Lou Donaldson, Grant Green. GUILTY PLEASURES: Journey / REO Speedwagon, weird rare Tiki Lounge music and foreign 60s garage surf stuff. ALSO LOVE...songs with a guy and girl singing to eachother: "Candy" Iggy Pop / Kate Peirson, "Kingdom of Rain" by The The / Sinead O'Connor, "Absolute Beginners" David Bowie / Patsy Kensit, "Cool Places" Sparks / Jane Wiedlen, "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" Tom Petty / Stevie Nicks, "Islands in the Stream" Kenny Rogers / Dolly Parton, "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" by MeatLoaf / Ellen Foley, to name a few. HONORABLE MENTION (cant stop playing these on my guitar): "Burning House of Love" by X, "Baker Street" by Jerry Rafferty, "Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione . . . Yeah, I'm pretty eclectic.
Most current movies suck, even foreign and "independant" films get pretentious. If I'm gonna waste 2 hours of my time I'd rather rent movies that take me back to my youth: The NeverEnding Story, The Dark Crystal (gelflings are hot).. The Secret of Nyhm (rats rule!), Clash of the Titans, The Black Hole (lo-fi Star Wars copy). Those old 70's movies about giant animals taking over small towns they use to air on channel 5's "Family Film Festival" all day Sunday like the one with the giant rats: "Food of the Gods". Also loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, PiPi Longstalking.
I like to watch old comedies/reruns on cable when I can. I also love nature/animal shows. History/Discovery/Science channels. Antiques Roadshow has become addictive (recovering "collector"). Nothing beats an old cartoon.
Existential: Nietzsche, Salinger, Camus, Hesse, Kazantzakis.Psycho: Freud, Jung, Frankel, Yalom, any graduate school textbooks or casebooks/studies on applied clinical/social/family psychology/psychotherapy, also addictions or addictive personalities.Macho: Hemingway, Harrison, Bukowski, Trashy 50's pulp.Just plain crazy: Burroughs, Thompson, Ellis.Favorite books of my youth: The Island of the Blue Dolphins, Where the Red Fern Grows, Chocolate Touch, Buniculla.
Free spirits that have the guts to march to the beat of a different drum and refuse to "keep up with the joneses".