CURRENT MISSION

Pacay, tamarind, carob, liquorice and mesquite. Not necessarily in that order.

ABOUT ME

40 year old native of lovely North Carolina, on the east coast of the US. At various points in life, I've been a buyer for a music distribution company, a writer/journalist, worked in sales, worked in various types of retail, been a college student, and a musician in (a few) struggling bands. My interests are varied - film, art, history, books, music, nature, food/cooking, travel, people, places and things. I've been fortunate to have a life filled with interesting people.

PHILOSOPHY

Hmmm - I try to learn something new every day. I don't always succeed in this, but I make the attempt. I love to learn.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Very new here, so at this point I'm just getting my bearings on the site, but I look forward to a more advanced level of involvement here.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've not had any CS experience (on this site), but have done a bit in parts of the US, at times in my life - before settling into various jobs and places, I travelled as a musician, which led to no fame or fortune, but lots of wonderful experiences, great stories and many moments of enlightenment.

Interests

Film, music, books, art, nature, food/cooking, history, travel, sustainable living, philosophy, maps and legends, life and how to live it. Lately I've been writing a lot, with no intent thus far, just writing and writing and writing.

I've been getting into some plant cultivation: lemon, tangelo, yuzu, sudachi, pummelo, kumquat, calamondin, feijoa, guava, biriba, cherimoya, sugar apple, custard apple, ice cream beans, cinnamon, ginger, naranjilla, cocona, tamarillo, tomatillo, a few types of tomato. These guys range from sprouts to 4-foot trees, and I am a novice, but this has been a phenomenal learning experience.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• dining
• cooking
• traveling
• music
• spelunking
• cartography
• history
• journalism
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies - Most things directed by Satyajit Ray, Fellini, Godard, Truffaut, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen. There are days when I think I could devote the rest of my life to Japanese film.

Music - Punk, soul, funk, classic rock, various kinds of experimental music, electronica, varied other things from around the globe. Gamelan, Afrobeat, rock en Espanol, and Japanese indie rock have been making me happy lately.

Allman Brothers, Antibalas, ABBA, Archers Of Loaf, Al Green, Antiguo Automata Mexicano, Astrud Gilberto, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bela Bartok, The B52s, Big Star, Blue Oyster Cult, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Brothers Johnson, Buck Owens, The Buzzcocks, The Byrds, Cafe Tacuba, Camper Van Beethoven, Can, Captain Beefheart, Cheap Trick, Chic, The Chills, The Clash, Cocteau Twins, Cornelius, Cornershop, Crowded House, Curtis Mayfield, David Bowie, David Sylvian, Devo, Doug Sahm/Sir Doulas, Duke Ellington, Dwight Twilley, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The (English) Beat, The Faces, Fairport Convention, Flaming Lips, Flavia & The Motonets, Funkadelic, Gang Of Four, Gil Scott-Heron, The Go-Betweens, Harry Nilsson, I Am Robot & Proud, Jackie Mittoo, Japan, Jimi Hendrix, John Cale, John Prine, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, King Crimson, The Kinks, Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Led Zeppelin, Leon Russell, Los Amigos Invisibles, Los Lobos, Lou Reed, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Meat Puppets, The Meters, Miles Davis, Mission Of Burma, Moby Grape, Mott The Hoople, Mudhoney, My Bloody Valentine, Neil Young, Neu!, Nick Drake, Nino Rota, Patti Smith, Pavement, Pere Ubu, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, Polvo, Prefab Sprout, Pylon, Rei Harakami, REM, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Ryuichi Sakamoto, The Sadistic Mika Band, Savage Republic, Scenic, Seam, Shuggie Otis, Shugo Tokumaru, Sly & The Family Stone, Sonic Youth, Sparklehorse, The Spinners, Steely Dan, Stereolab, Steve Reich, Stevie Wonder, The Stooges, Stravinsky, Superchunk, Talking Heads, Television, The Texas Tornados, Throwing Muses, Todd Rundgren, Tom Waits, Tortoise, Unwound, Urichipangoon, The Velvet Underground, Warren Zevon, Wings, Wire, X, XTC, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Yo La Tengo, Zappa, The Zombies, ZZ Top.

Books - I'm a big fan of Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Vladimir Nabokov, Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, Junichiro Tanizaki, Paul Auster, Peter Matthiessen, Bohumil Hrabal, Italo Calvino, Pu Songling, Yasunari Kawabata, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Thomas Pynchon...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The small amount of international travel I've done thus far. 4 years touring with a rock band in the eastern US. Spelunking in the Appalachian Mountains. Tending to my newborn lemon and tangelo trees is a great experience.

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmmm...I've played a variety of musical instruments since childhood, and am more or less at a professional skill level as a bass guitarist. I love film and literature, and can discuss both at length. I've done a bit of film-related writing, and have been active in both online and real-life (non-professional) communites devoted to film.