Music (all of it). Nature (all of it). Some folks. Most critters. The drink.
Music:
Looking Glass (for vanity), Rapping Duke (for making fun of rap before anyone else even knew what rap was), The Neville Brothers (for soul), Bob Dylan (for lyricism), Neil Young (for guitar), Waylon Jennings (for manliness), The Stones (for at least the first decade), Van Morrison (for Bang Masters), Van Halen (for anything prior to Hagar), Willie Nelson (for best hair), Ween (for commentary), Ferdinand Fox (for real), Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (for horns), Easy E (for puttin it out there), Jeff Buckley (for suicidal tendencies), Gillian Welch (for style), Beastie Boys (for pop white boy funk), John Lee Hooker (for originality), The Magnetic Fields (for insight), Travis Tritt (for sappy ballads), The Mammals (for overall effect), David Byrne (for wackiness), King Wilkie (for at least 5 good reasons), Leonard Cohen (for poetry), MC5 (for kickin' it out), Dynamite Hack (for covers), Soundgarden (for rage), Bob Seeger (for americana), Cameo (for funkiness), Stereo MC's (for still kicking ass), David Bowie (for showmanship), Ian Reardon (for preachin it), Old Crow Medicine Show (for christ sake), The Foxymorons (for prodigiousness), Formerly Tomfoolery (for flirting...with disaster), Pearl Jam (for reminiscence), NIN (for my formative years), Nirvana, Incubus and System of a Down (for doing something different with hard rock), Guns N' Roses (for, well, you know), Abe Reid (for mother-fucking genius AND perseverance), Chris Thile (for sick and wrong unadulterated talent), Ben Kushigian (for the love of god). Ok, I lost myself.NOT ENYA.The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Wood Brothers, Ruth Ungar, CCR, John Mellencamp, The Boss, B.B. King, Black Crowes, Dixie Chicks, Katie Moore, The Asylum Street Spankers, Oysterhead, Gov't Mule, MarsupiaL, Nick Cave, Beck, Pixies, Stewart Copeland, Allison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Chuck Berry, Elvis, J.J. Cale, Gov't Mule, Lou Reed, Violent Femmes, Screaming Trees, Stevie Wonder, Colin Hay, Jane’s Addiction, Chris Isaak, Son Volt, Elvis, Prince, The Duhks, Langhorne Slim, Ike and Tina, Billy Idol, Claire Lynch, Soul Coughing, Taj Mahal, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Toots and the Maytals, R.L. Burnside, Steve Earle, Clarence “Gatemouth†Brown, Bobby “Blue†Bland, Alvin “Youngblood†Heart, Sonny Boy Williamson, Luther Allison, Sixteen Horsepower, Jane’s Addiction, Nirvana, Portishead, Radiohead, Nick Cave, The Cox Family, Tony Furtado, Tony Rice, Tony Trischka, David Rawlings, Joe Tex, Morphine, Cat Stevens, Violent Femmes, Screaming Trees, The Gibson Brothers, Yonder Hill, Stylex, this one kid named Al Foreman, Chopin, Ryan Adams, Whiskeytown, Piers Faccini and lastly: myself.
