james

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james
101 / Male
chicago, Illinois, US
Last Login: 7/18/2009

1053062|101|11110|http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/10/m_2724c4a2a703e23da012c22c25688806.jpg

Interests

General
Modernism, maps, astronomy, bigfoot, art history, googie, good design, bad design, Illuminati, solitude, old Jedi mind tricks, Macintosh, riding my bike, dreaming, Micronauts, ancient dusty photos, pinball, activism, silence, retro-futurism, pie, tattoos, exotic rum drinks, the city, not the city, wine, public art and music, silliness, cheese, culture jamming, continuing my plan to visit at least two new countries every year, learning about anything I don't already know a little bit about, trying everything once... or more.
I keep discovering that there is always a middle path.

I like to go to new places, to get there slowly via back roads, and to write about it. Days: taking pictures, poking around flea markets, admiring architecture, and lingering at art galleries and museums. Nights: cocktail bars, looking at the stars, and getting into trouble.
Continually devouring music, books, films, and art.
I have both highbrow and lowbrow favorites in all of these areas.
Music
Just a few...
Neko Case, Les Paul, Lhasa de Sala, David Sylvian, Bartok, Devo, either Elvis, Takemitsu, Bauhaus, Beethoven, Bjork, Bob Wills, Eno, Talking Heads, W. Carlos, Mingus, Parker, Bowie, Esquivel, Gang of Four, the Cars, Prokofiev, Japan, Cage, Cash, Joy Division, Louis Jordan, Magazine, Messiaen, theremins, Modern Jazz Quartet, Lyman, Morphine, Cave, pedal steel, Roxy Music, pre-disco ELO, Orbison, Shriekback, The Specials, analog synthesizers, Clash, Hedningarna, Tones on Tail, Yma Sumac, Tom Waits, Wesley Willis, X, vibraphones, Tibetan singing bowls, Buzzcocks, Bad Religion, Tjader, Gamelan orchestras, Ligetti, Uakti, taiko drumming, Kiss, Laurie Anderson, Django Reinhardt, MTV circa 1982.
Movies
Quality films from all decades, made in all languages, at all budget levels.
For starters: Lynch, Hitchcock, Bergman, Jeunet, Jarmusch, Bunuel, Kubrick, Gilliam, Kurosawa, Wenders, Coen brothers, Hartley, Jodorowski, Aronofsky, Cocteau, Avery.
Plus: Film Noir, French New Wave, Thin Man, Marx Brothers, ancient cartoons, anything from Criterion Collection.
...and of course, Spinal Tap and High Fidelity, both of which I have LIVED.
LOTS more: http://www.tydirium.net/writings/films.html
Television
Then: PBS, Young Ones, Twin Peaks, Night Flight, Space: 1999.
Now: movie DVDs, about two per week, and that's it.
Books
I always have two or three books going, and break it up with comics... radical counter culture, history, Camus, Bukowski, Campbell, Dan Clowes, Douglas Adams, Kerouac, Jaime Hernandez, Steinbeck, old 1940s Life magazines, Conrad, Vonnegut, existentialism, Burroughs, Kafka, Herbert, Heinlein, eastern philosophy, vintage quackery, anthropology, archeology, Hunter S. Thompson, Edward Gorey, Orwell, R.A.Wilson, Roald Dahl, Heyerdahl, Kundera, Nietzsche, Moebius, Hesse, Mignola, virtually anything published by Benedikt Taschen. I have a special fondness for Don Quixote. I really want to read the Voynich Manuscript.

A few artists: Dali, Ernst, Delvaux, Bosch, the Brueghels, Nerdrum, Vargas, Elvgren, Arp, DeChirico, Weegee, Man Ray, Ryden, Mucha, primitive and tribal, Hiroshige / Ukiyo-e, Dutch masters, Tanguy, Geiger, Winston Smith, Ito Shoha, Shag, Delacroix, Moreau, Pradier, Barye, Bacon, Morrisseau, Hersent, Biard, Vermeer, ancient Egyptian, Calder, Heffernan, Hogin, Vermuelen, Blume, Orientalists.
Heroes
I remember standing by the wall,
the guns shot about our heads,
and we kissed,
as though nothing could fall...

Blurbs

About me:

Professional stage/studio sound engineer. Touring credits include: Ministry, Royal Crown Revue, Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan Band, Pigface, and 700 gigs at Chicago's Park West Theatre.
I teach record production classes too, which I find very satisfying.

My own music manifests itself in synthesizers, samplers, and odd noises for Evil Clowns, Flat Earth Society, and Left Orbit Temple.

Also an author: the books "Tiki Road Trip", "Big Stone Head", "10x5x1", and "Sound Guy" are all either out or coming soon. I've written for a ton of magazines and web sites as well (Playboy, American Heritage, Film Threat).

There's a mind-altering work of staggering philosophical genius gestating inside of me, but it's a few cocktails away from being unleashed.

I take lots of pictures too; I never leave home without a camera.

I travel a lot.
A lot means "as much as possible".
I am the only person you know who has been to Easter Island... twice.
Also: 49 states, UK, France, Spain, pacific islands, Japan, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, more.

Committed to doing what I can to make the world a better place via a variety of traditionally left-wing causes.

Fascinated by anything 1930s 1940s 1950s: clothes, cars, art, films, architecture, industrial design, music, cocktails...

Resume, photography, travel journals, film reviews, etc.: http://www.tydirium.net

Approximately.

Who I'd like to meet:

I know just about everyone on my friends list in person, and I aim to keep it that way.
Due to being swamped with add requests from bands and businesses, I am not adding ANY of them, even those being run by close friends, save for those that I am directly involved with. Love ya' babe.