Sound and the effect it has on humans
I play guitar and enjoy composing producing and improvising
Old Friends, Family, People with similar interests
My favorite for the last 20 years
A new favorite, imagine Pink Floyd as a Death Metal band
Another new favorite - high energy folk/country - Trad is Rad! Laurie Anderson , Flaming Lips , John Zorn , Most everything on the 4AD Lable
Metal was my first love (see classic rock too, remember KZAP?) - Iron Maiden led me to MotorHead , Slayer , and Celtic Frost High school introduced me to Punk - 7 Seconds, Minor Threat, Black Flag, D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers , DEVO . Punk led me to No-Wave - D.N.A., The Contortions, Mars, Teenaged Jesus and the Jerks - which led me to Sonic Youth, The Swans, Nirvana, The Flaming Lips, and other post punk. I also started listening to Industrial ,Experimental, and Modern music - Einstürzende Neubauten , Laurie Anderson, Glenn Branca , John Cage , Philip Glass . Classic rock? AC/DC , Black Sabbath , Rush , Blue Öyster Cult , The Who , and Led Zepplin .
Norcal Noisefest web site noise and improvised music right here in Sacramento!
My Own Music I am presently getting back in shape musically after taking a few years off. My current plans include composing for a five guitar ensemble and getting together with long time friends Neil Franklin and James Telles for some rock (punk? metal? sludge?).
Most recently I recorded guitar tracks for a song on the upcoming Ricky and Del Connection album. It was fun but it let me know just how out of shape I am presently. In 2003 I recorded some tracks for Jasmin and the Dirtstars and did some gigging with them before leaving (I had no long term interest the band)- Favorite (guitar) and Outlaw (guitar, bass)
Before that I was in a project with Ruben Reveles (God Squad/Nothing But A Nightmare) called Nebula M-78. I played guitar through effects and he played loops and samples. It was great. At the same time I was playing Bass, then guitar in SuperPlumb. You can hear their demo at Archive.org . Note that I wrote the music for Skull Boat. Both projects lasted a couple of years, I lost interest in Superplumb and Nebula M-78 faded away due to personal problems.
That brings us back to my longest running project -
Book I'm reading now: Dune - The Machine Crusade, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson
Latest book I've read that makes me sound smart: The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek - Made me redefine my concept of liberal and gave me some needed insight into political theory
Honestly I read mainly for entertainment but I try to include some more thought-provoking works that demand more focus regularly.
My favorite genre is science fiction with Frank Herbert being my favorite author. I've just discovered that his son wrote six prequels to the Dune series and so I've started in on those. I'll read well written fantasy books too, I cut my teeth on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (and was a D&D nerd in by pre- and early teens).
I enjoy the concepts of quantum physics and seek out books written for the lay person. My favorite example of this is Hyperspace by Michio Kaku.
I own two copies of the I Ching and study them periodically when I'm feeling metaphysical.
I try to read historical and biographical literature to better understand current and cultural (including pop - I'll read autobiographies of musicians and such) events.