Me jamming with The Lee Boys at Mag Fest:
Such an incredible song/video... Gorillaz "El Manana":
Anything and everything related to music. Guitar, songwriting, keys, recording, producing, lighting, etc. Yoga, some of the fundamentals of Buddhism, and trying to be a better person.
Too many to name, but I've gotten a chance to either hang out or play with some really good musicians and that's much better than just meeting someone real quickly. Also, people that live around Jax. Beach that aren't mental and people that like cool music.
Peter Gabriel, Seal, Stevie Wonder, George Benson, The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Jamiroquai, Santana, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Donny Hathaway, Al Green, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, and all that good old-school Motown/R&B, The Motet, Soulive, Elton John, dada, anything that Jimmy Herring is involved with such as Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit, Percy Hill, The Derek Trucks Band, Ray Charles, Gov't Mule, Jim Lauderdale, Hendrix, SRV, Buckethead, Steve Kimock Band, Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, George Jones, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Wayne Krantz, Prince, Morris Day and The Time, James Brown, Galactic, Fela and Femi Kuti, Tower of Power, Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Talking Heads, Lauryn Hill, Corinne Bailey Rae, Harry Connick, Jr., Sinatra, Dr. John, John Scofield, Aimee Mann, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, XTC, Skynyrd, .38 Special (my dad's band), Mofro (the best band to come out of Jacksonville in years), Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Shinedown (my brother in law's band), Susan Tedeschi, The Codetalkers, moe., Oteil and The Peacemakers, ELO, Supertramp.
Any sort of world music ranging from Afro-Cuban, mambo, son, samba, bossa nova, reggae (Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Toots, etc.), Afrobeat, African juju, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc... Classical, usually Romantic period... Debussy, Liszt, Strauss, Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Stravinsky, and many more. Movie soundtracks from composers like John Williams, Bernard Hermann, Jerry Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, and many more. All the usual jazz suspects (too many to name them all)... Miles, Coltrane, Bird, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and all the sweet jazz guitarists that have played such great stuff like Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Pat Martino, Grant Green, etc. Love the Brazilian jazz fusion from Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Astrud Gilberto, etc... "The Girl From Ipanema" rules. Cuba L.A., Afro Cuban All-Stars, gospel choirs, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and all those badass New Orleans grooves, Phish back when they used to play REALLY tight (pre-1998), The Jackson Five, non-caucasian Michael Jackson, Norah Jones.
I LOVE to play and listen to bluegrass... Tony Rice especially when he used to sing, The Bluegrass Album Band, Del McCoury Band, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch, and lots more. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, The Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Blues Traveler, The Veltz Family, Inspection 12, Jill Scott, Ray LaMontagne, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Ours, Radiohead, Fiona Apple, Kate Earl. The list goes on and on. I don't really listen to too much new music.
Guitarists: Jimmy Herring, Derek Trucks, Dickey Betts, Warren Haynes, Tony Rice, George Benson, Steve Kimock, David Gilmour, Scott Henderson, Trey Anastasio, Hendrix, SRV, Buckethead, Steve Gaines, Allen Collins, Pat Martino, Michael Gurley, and many more. I listen to entirely too much music to name right here plus I'm drawing a blank on some stuff.
Let's just name directors/producers to start with... it'easier that way: Spielberg, Hitchcock, Coppola (both father and daughter considering how great Lost In Translation was), Kubrick, The Coen Brothers, Scorcese, Bob Zemeckis, Tarantino, Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, Memento), Orson Welles, David Lean (Bridge on the River Kwai is great), James Cameron pre-Titanic, George Lucas pre-computers, M. Night Shymalan (contemplating taking him off the list after the horrible "Lady in the Water"), who can make up for a so-so story with some of the moodiest, intense directing I've seen (not to mention James Newton Howard's music), Michael Mann, Steven Soderbergh, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, Roman Polanski, Alex Proyas (Dark City is amazing), Ridley and (sometimes) Tony Scott, Gore Verbinksi (what little he's done so far has been damn good), George Clooney, Sam Mendes, The Farrelly Brothers, Kevin Smith, James L. Brooks, Mike Nichols, Woody Allen, Peter Weir, Cameron Crowe, Spike Jonze, Danny Boyle, and Mel Brooks, plus many, many more.
Vertigo is the best movie ever... I love the eerie San Francisco locales, Hitchock is brilliant, and Bernard Hermann's music was never better. Schlinder's List is right up there too... Ralph Fiennes is so evil... I liked him in Strange Days and Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire also. Speaking of which, the Harry Potter movies are damn good, but not as good as the books. Mike Myers is the man!!! Million Dollar Baby is amazing... it made me so sad. Syriana was fantastic. The Descent had three guys screaming and jumping like little girls! Ian McKellen is the best actor of recent times, except for maybe Geoffrey Rush. Peter Sellers is the coolest. I love Redford and Newman like Butch and Sundance and The Sting. Monty Python rules. Other favorites include L.A. Confidential, The Big Lebowski, Glory, E.T. (most everything Spielberg has ever done has been really great), Indiana Jones movies, Dr. Strangelove. I really like Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy and still laugh my ass off when I watch it. Sin City recently made a very good impression. I also liked Capote and Crash a lot. There, that should narrow it down. Honestly, this is another case of having too many to name, plus I continue to draw a huge blank. I watch A LOT of movies and have many favorites that I enjoy.
Lost, Jeopardy, Arrested Development, South Park, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Studio 60, HBO Original Series: The Sopranos, Rome, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Entourage, Deadwood, Carnivale, The Wire, etc., 24, The Simpsons, assorted comedic entertainment. Discovery Channel HD, American Chopper.
The Dark Tower and other assorted Stephen King, Harry Potter 1-6, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Michael Connelly, and a few books by John Grisham. Catch-22. Some Anne Rice. Tried reading Cussler... thought it was the studipest shit I've ever read. Reminded me of Austin Powers, but serious. I enjoy literature, history, bios, etc., but rarely have time for it, so I guess I'm guilty of being a reader mainly for entertainment, rather than introspection.
Ken Jennings, Col. Bruce Hampton, Jimmy Herring (greatest guitar player EVER), Tom Grose, Buckethead (coolest guitar player ever... still have no idea if he speaks or what he looks like), and Gandalf, in no particular order.