I met one of my heroes and found I didn't know what to say to him. It was overwhelming. It was breathtaking. It was really loud. Since then, I have decided that meeting heroes isn't all its cracked up to be. Sure you have the memory of a brief contact with them, but it is a pretty one-sided moment. Witnessing your hero doing whatever it is that they do seems far more inspirational. Isn't that the purpose of a hero, to inspire action in others?
Tom Waits (especially Rain Dogs and Small Change), Lyle Lovett, The Ramones, etc.
Hmm... this could take a while. I'll do it later.
It seems far more efficient to list authors as opposed to individual titles of books, so here goes...
Mercedes Lackey, Robert Aspirin, Tom Robbins, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, William Blake and JK Rowling (don't laugh).
Well, I guess that is a quick start for the traditional book format. Now we jump into the comic books!
Strangers in Paradise, Liberty Meadows, Castle Waiting, Bone, anything by Charles Vess, anything by J. Scott Campbell (Give us more funny books, man!), and Little Gloomy.