'It is not desirable to devote all your time to an appreciation of art. Art should drive you forth. It should be an incentive to life. The greatest value of art to the appreciator is in that it stimulates to personal activity.' ~ Robert Henri
~ All things that inspire and evoke emotion..movement...beauty.... Being set aglow with laughter. ~The deepest pleasures come from dancing, painting, music, traveling, and venturing into the unknown... ~I am stimulated by challenges and also thankful for the things that make me sweat... as well as those cozy Friday nights... ~
We are all filled with a longing for the wild...
'Let the beauty you love be what you do.' ~ Rumi
{ JAZZ } ~ Ohhhhh Miles, Clifford, Freddie Hubbard, TRANE, Joe Henderson, Dexter, Bird, Cannonball, Herbie, Phineas Newborn, Bud Powell, Monk, Mingus, ELVIN, ART BLAKEY, Philly Joe, Jimmy Cobb, Max Roach, Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, LADY DAY, Ella, SHIRLEY HORN, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole.. and the beat goes ON ~
{ R&B } ~ SAM COOKE, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Roberta Flack, Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson ( ‘YESTERDAY’).. just about everything from Motown, EARTH WIND & FIRE, Patti LaBelle, James Brown, Tower of Power, Chaka Khan, Prince, SADE, D’ANGELO, Erykah Badu, Joi... alright, I have to add Jodeci here too ~
{ HIP-HOP/RAP } ~ MOS DEF, Tribe, Talib Kweli, Common, DE LA SOUL, Slum Village, KRS ONE, Run-DMC, Jill Scott, Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill ~
{ COLLAGE } ~ Debussy (Clair de Lune), Chopin, Beethoven, BACH, Joni Mitchell, Third World, Bread, Cesaria Evora, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Mahalia Jackson, Walter Hawkins, Bob Marley, Kool & the Gang'~
Fellini's 81/2, La Dolce Vita, City of God, In the Mood For Love, Malena, Camille Claudel, Cinema Paradiso, Il Postino, Hero, Seven Samurai, Dreams, Central Station, On The Waterfront, Streetcar Named Desire, Citizen Kane, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, 'Round Midnight, Lady Sings the Blues, Bird, The Temptations, Once Upon A Time In America, Godfather I & II, Raging Bull, Zeelig, Sleeper, Henry and June, Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues, He Got Game, Bamboozled, Brown Sugar, Glory Road, The Five Heartbeats, Fame, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Say Anything, True Romance, Usual Suspects, Rounders, The Color Purple, Remember the Titans, Dangerous Beauty, Chasing Amy, Love and Basketball, The Best Man, The Answer, Drumline... and the reel spins on ~
Not much of a fan of television... Except for sports and the news, of course ~
How do I narrow this down...?
From Shakespeare's plays to George Bernard Shaw's to Tennesee Williams'. ~
From poets ELIOT, Cummings, Rilke, Whitman, Neruda, and POE to TWAIN, Camus, Henry Miller, H.L.MENCKEN, and Vonnegut. ~
Everything by CARSON MCCULLERS, JAMES BALDWIN, Toni Morrison, Anais Nin, and HIS HOLINESS THE XIVth DALAI LAMA. ~
From Mythology to Hans Christian Andersen to Shel Silverstein. ~
From history books to politics to faith ~
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY of MALCOLM X, Miles, Trane (ASCENSION), Martin Luther King, Jr., Michelangelo, Joan of Arc, Veronica Franco, KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR, Maya Angelou, Bruce Lee, EINSTEIN... ~
Individuals such as 'The Prophet', 'Roots', 'The Magus', 'The Kitchen God's Wife', 'Black Like Me', 'Atlas Shrugged', 'The Brothers Karamazov', & ON & ON... I almost forgot, there's also Bill Maher's 'New Rules' ~
Let's Get It On ~ Marvin Gaye (Live)
His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.~Muhammad Ali~Aung San Suu Kyi~Jesus Christ~Mahatma Gandhi~Nelson Mandela~Thich Nhat Hanh~John Coltrane~Leni Riefenstahl~Albert Einstein~Audrey Hepburn~Khalil Gibran~and my father, Kenneth; ~ Peace and One Love ~
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