Media

After reading some books about the history of dance, recently I started buying some dance videos.

Watching modern dances created by Denishawn, Isadora Duncan, Alvin Ailey, Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham, José Limón, and Merce Cunningham, and performed by their dance companies, is really neat. And believe it or not, after studying the history of ballet, I even enjoy watching that. Hey, all those dancers are so beautiful.

You should try it sometime: give dance a chance.

Music

Lately I've been getting into a lot of bebop and hip hop.

Of the two I've definitely been listening to hip hop the most. I feel like it combines those funky jazz rhythms with a message that, like that of the punk rockers', don't pull any punches. Yo. It's some wicked shiznit. Aight. Shizzle my nizzle. Westside. For real.

Translation: there are some dictionaries on the web that make it much easier for wiggas to talk jive.

Maybe I'm digging it because I've lived in da hood -- Five Points -- for over a decade now. Or maybe I like it because it makes me want to move certain body parts, which somehow remain largely unaffected by other musical genres.

Hey, I'm not saying I have to justify my taste in music, it's just that I like to figure things out. Of course, I still listen to plenty of the old stuff, it's just that most of my recent musical purchases have been Hip Hop CDs.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite musical groups, in no particular order, except some of my newer faves appear near the top:

This of course is just a partial list of my favorite favorites.

Radio radio

After witnessing the regrettable demise of WGOE in Richmond, Virginia, for decades I refused to listen to the radio. I know what music I want to listen to and when, and moreover why put up with commercials?

Since moving to Denver, however, I've found a couple of commercial-free radio stations worth listening to:

All of my radios are set to KUVO at 89.3 FM. Jazz enthusiasts and those who listen to KUVO should be pleased to know that Bob Parlocha now has an extensive website. KUVO streams on the web so you can listen to it wherever you live.
When I have the time and feel like getting away from it all, I often go up to the Cache Poudre River, which is north west of Fort Collins. This is due in part to the excellent college radio station they have up there, KCSU. If you're ever up in those parts, check them out at 90.5 (a mere two clicks of the search button above KUVO).

Thanks to KUVO and KCSU, sometimes I feel like maybe I'm not "on the wrong planet" after all.

Film noir

There are some nice books out about film noir, you know, with the hard-boiled PIs and femme fatales and all that desperation stuff.

Some of my favorite books on the subject are by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward, and The Big Sleep is definitely my favorite movie, both of the genre and of all time.

The telly

The old Panasonic boob tube finally bit the dust this year so I decided to get one of those wide screen, high definition TVs, a 34 inch Sony Trinitron. As you might imagine, it's pretty nice.

I find myself watching some shows (e.g., network news shows) just because they're in hi def. I also find myself watching the Cartoon Network on Saturdays.

Having watched most of the films noir in Turner Classic Movies' library, the new TV is usually tuned to the History Channel, A&E, or Court TV. I've also turned into a big fan of Law and Order -- all of them -- and am starting to get into CSI, the original one more so of course than the Miami one.

The best shows, though, are the original series on HBO. Specifically I'm talking about Six Feet Under, Da Ali G Show, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and my favorite one, The Wire.