Instrumental guitar music, writing, enlightenment / philosophy / spirituality, nature / animals, gaming / video game journalism, superheroes / comics, comedy, and… whatever!
Any of my heroes and anyone who finds their way to this page!
Recently I’ve gotten into a lot of fantastic rap lyricists like Immortal Technique, Canibus, Jedi Mind Tricks, Aesop Rock, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, The Geto Boys, Tupac Shakur, Nas, The Wu-Tang Clan, Vast Aire, and a few others (but I’m still very new to rap). I also really like electronic drum & bass artist “Squarepusher†(Tom Jenkinson), and free-jazz artists such as John Coltrane, Mats Gustafsson (“The Thingâ€), Art Pepper, Joe McPhee, William Parker, etc… I like some acoustic/voice pop-rock music too (Dave Matthews for example). Progressive vocal metal is another interest of mine, and I enjoy bands like Outworld, Nevermore, Freak Kitchen, Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, and a few others. I don’t like very much “popular†rock-radio type music anymore, but occasionally I’ll put on some Offspring, Coldplay, Andrew W.K., or something catchy like that. Other than all that, I’ve been enjoying some classical music (instrumental) in the context of a lead soloist on violin, cello, piano, or guitar (of course)!But most of all I like straight up instrumental virtuoso guitarists such as:Andrew York, Shawn Lane, Rusty Cooley, Jason Macedo, Andy James, Guthrie Govan, Goncalo Pereira, Justin King, Antoine Dufour, Brett Garsed, Mattias “IA†Eklundh, Conrad Simon, Buckethead, Dave Martone, Vinnie Moore, Paco Hernández, Paul Gilbert, Trace Bundy, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Scott Stine, Derek Taylor, Darren Housholder, Michael Lee Firkins, Derryl Gabel, Todd Duane, Ron Thal (“Bumblefootâ€), Michael Angelo Batio, Michael Hedges, Erik Mongrain, Andy McKee, Erick Turnbull, Tommy Emmanuel, David Pritchard, Troy Grady, Yngwie Malmsteen, Magnus Olsson, Allan Holdsworth, Andreas Oberg, John 5, Django Reinhardt, Adrian Galysh, Art Rodriguez, Jean-Do Leonelli, Prasanna Ramaswamy, Michael Orlando, Stefan Joubert, Paul Martone, Philip Toshio Sudo, Christophe Godin, Alex Machacek, Marcel Coenen, Milan Polak, Joop Wolters, Rick Renstrom, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Hoey, John Petrucci, Carlos Santana, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Morse, Doug Marks, Steve TrovatoAl Di Meola, Greg Howe, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johan Randen, John McLaughlin, Lyden Moon, Katrina Johansson, Eric Johnson, Eliot Fisk, Andrew Roudny, Dave Weiner, Billy Sheehan, Elias Viljanen, Choi-Il-Min, Neil Zaza, Johnny A., Jason Becker, Alex Skolnick, Dweezil Zappa, Frank Zappa, Robert Johnson, Randy McStine, Prashant Aswani, Patrik Carlsson, Eric Sardinas, Eric Clapton, Billy Cobham, Mike Stern, Joe Morris, Derek Trucks, Alessandro Benvenuti, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Jeff Loomis, Jeff Beck, Stanley Jordan, Sylvain Ducloux, Tony Hernando, Ted Greene, Theodore Ziras, Bob Zabek, Adam Fulara, Richie Kotzen, Jonas Hellborg, Tom Hess, Jose de Castro, Ken Rubenstein, Marty Friedman, Richard Hallebeek, Enver Ismailov, Stelios Arnaoutoglou, J.A. Allen, and lots of others!
Office Space, The Big Lebowski (along with almost any Coen brothers movie), Baseketball, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Punch Drunk Love, Dirty Work, Airheads, Coneheads, Anchorman, 40 Year Old Virgin, Shawn of the Dead, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Home Alone 1 and 2, Austin Powers, Almost Heroes, Beverly Hills Ninja, Half Backed, Wayne’s World 1 and 2, The Object of My Affection, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, They Live, Terminator 2, Leon the Professional, Pitch Black, The Matrix, Die Hard, A History of Violence, Crossroads (the 1986 classic featuring Steve Vai, NOT the Britney Spears movie), The Karate Kid 1-3, Memento, American Psycho, The Machnist, Batman Begins (… I love Christian Bale), Spider-Man 1 and 2, X-Men 1-3, Superman 1-2, The Punisher, Daredevil, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, the Kill Bill’s, Dawn of the Dead (remake), Night of the Living Dead (the original), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original), Hostel, Napoleon Dynamite, Legend of the Drunken Master, many of Kurosawa’s films, The Twilight Samurai, Samurai Fiction, The Bourne movies, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, all six Star Wars movies, Murderball, Emmanuel's Gift, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The Life Aquatic, Cast Away, Saving Private Ryan, Saints and Soldiers, The Thin Red Line, There’s Something About Mary, the Back to the Future trilogy, Orange County, Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo, Kontrol, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Unleashed, Old Boy, Way of the Gun, The Fly, The Man Without a Past, Kung Fu Hustle, and Last Action Hero… to name just a few of my favorites.
Kung Fu, Dexter, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Penn and Teller's B.S., Da Ali G. Show, Seinfeld, Family Guy, Futurama, South Park, The Critic, The Brak Show, Harvey Birdman, Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Venture Brothers, Home Movies, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Squidbillies, The Oblongs, Lois and Clark, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, etc...
Instead of individual books here are some of my favorite authors: Thich Nhat Hanh, George Carlin, Eckhart Tolle, Elysha, Adyashanti, Gangaji, Byron Katie, Douglas Adams, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Philip Toshio Sudo, Paramahansa Yogananda, and many more spiritual authors. But my favorite book would have to be "Swedish-Made Penis Enlarger Pumps and Me: This Sort of Thing is my Bag, Baby", by Austin Powers.
Troy Grady, Rusty Cooley, Guthrie Govan, and all of my other guitar heroes, Eckhart Tolle, Douglas Adams, George Carlin, Spider-Man, and many more people I don't have time to mention right now... and Shawn Lane, of course. Here's the tribute video I made about him: