recommended by: marc johnson

A special installment of the on-going @chromeball series... 

too long for Insta but too good not to be presented in its entirety. 

Enjoy. 

*) R.E.M. / Eponymous

“At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend

I don't care if you're not here with me

'Cause it's so much easier to handle

All my problems if I'm too far out to sea

But something better happen soon

Or it's gonna be too late to bring you back”

I grew up in a household that some well-adjusted people might call a “bizarre familial dynamic”. Instead of one of guidance and support, the best way to describe it would be a dynamic of contradiction and conflict. People wrestling with not understanding their internal conflict and in expressing that confusion, projecting that conflict externally onto those closest to them. Not loving or knowing how to love your loved ones. It was confusing. We weren’t a family that worked in the way that the families of friends worked. We were roommates who hated each other and our situation and we fought a lot. Shitty to one another. Actually, it wasn’t unusual at all. That was pretty normal on my side of the tracks. 

There’s a line from Lolita where Humbert says that what happens to a boy during the summer he’s 14 can mark him for life. This album was the soundtrack to the summer of 1991 when I was 14, just before starting my freshman year in high school. By that time, I had taken to spending large spaces of time away from home and essentially living with various friends. That summer I was living with a friend I’d spent 8th grade causing trouble with and skateboarding every day. When I started staying at his house more and more often, this album was always on somewhere in the house. We listened to it religiously after a while. He was more of daredevil than I was, and he didn’t hold onto skateboarding as tightly as I did. It didn’t mean as much to him as it did to me. His family background ensured that skateboarding didn’t need to be his savior. Unlike me, he could go on to do whatever the hell he wanted. I clung so tightly to the magical language of this secret club I had discovered, and I prized it and valued it as if someone could show up and take it away from me at any moment. He had a kind of free-wheeling careless yin for the more introspective and serious yang that my upbringing had instilled in me. Our shit was always on the verge of collapse, so I always found myself drawn to friends who balanced that out with a childlike happiness that only stability and affluence will afford a kid. They needed a little grounding and I needed some time in the clouds up there with them. Just to know that it was there and what it was like. Knowledge that would serve me in years to come.

There’s a direct correlation between the spiritual and mental evolution and the higher order beings that personal success confronts you with and puts in your path. In reaching for and discovering your own potential, you’ll find yourself in the company of others whose personal experience will enrich your own and will help you grow and evolve. Striving to realize your higher self magnetizes you to others who have followed and are striving for the higher path, and so on. 

You will end up where you’re going, as long as you keep going. 

My buddy had been dating this girl from another middle school that whole year and in the first weeks of that summer, I was introduced to her. We got along really well. As teenage girls go, she was cool as hell and it was quickly decided by them both that I would be paired up with her best friend for the summer. They had more dubious intentions for my experiences of that time than I was aware of. And those intentions I had no awareness of were to end up being so much more important to me than anything they could’ve explained to my tiny brain at the time anyway. And I’m still so grateful to their teenage selves for not considering how I might feel about where they were about to take me. They taught me that sometimes you gotta just hang on and enjoy the ride. This album is the soundtrack to all of it. 

It was to be the end of a lazy kind of idyllic perception of my world at that time, before a kind of shit-hits-the-fan reality set in just months later. I think that’s part of why this album means so much to me. It takes me back to an idea of what life can be. Carefree and fun and mysterious, the way a flower might feel just before it blooms, before it really knows what blooming feels like, and before it understands that people only want to clip those flowers that have bloomed. A state of imagination and wonder, of knowing that something else is out there, and imagining all of the good and hopeful things it could be. Ignorance and bliss.

This album is a compilation of alternate mixes and unreleased tracks from the early college-radio years and sound of R.E.M. The early lo-fi empty hall sound of Michael Stipe’s voice singing those strange and obscure lyrics over that goddamn awesome Peter Buck tin can jangly guitar sound of the 80’s immediately had a strange effect on my 14-year-old mind that continues to this day. The way the songs flow into one another plays in my mind like scenes from a movie. I can see pictures and montages of that summer with the intros and choruses of the songs. Pictures that bring back with each visit both a surprisingly ignorant and naive sadness and a fondness that words can do no justice for. It’s the kind of music that should be playing while you’re doing something other than listening to music. It belongs in the background, like the walls of an old bedroom in a house you used to live in.

Oddly enough, all of the early R.E.M. songs from this album that were recorded prior to 1985 were recorded and mixed in the same exact town where I’m from, where I first heard this album that summer. I didn’t make that connection until more than 20 years later.

Favorites from this album:

Talk about the Passion

Don’t Go Back To Rockville

Driver 8

Fall on Me

The One I Love

**) The RA Material / An Ancient Astronaut Speaks

This is a heavy book. It’s hard to use words to describe it. I highly recommend this for anyone out there seeking to understand metaphysical spirituality or who simply digs tripping out on some UFO / ancient history stuff. It’s even way beyond that. It’s like a spirit describing and explaining life beyond the physical realm we know. A spirit with access to information that transcends time and space.

Don Elkins was a PhD physicist and a pilot for a commercial airline in the 1970’s and 80’s. He developed an experiment in 1962 designed to contact extraterrestrials, and using ‘tuned trance channeling’, the research group — L/L Research — made contact with a group of extraterrestrials in 1981. Almost 20 years later. Carla Rueckert was at the time, the 18 year-old human instrument for this contact, and using extremely precise instructions given by the RA group during the first contact, L/L was able to tune her meditative frequency to a wavelength that supported communication from Don Elkins to RA, using Carla as the human radio once the signal was tuned to. Don spoke to RA while Carla was asleep, her tuned body instrument responded, and Jim McCarty sat in and recorded and transcribed each word that came through. What they recorded was the verbatim word-for-word conversation between Elkins and RA, through Rueckert acting as a sleeping medium. RA used Carla’s knowledge of the English language to form its extremely complex 106 answers to these first questions and ultimately five more books’ worth of questions Don Elkins later asked it in subsequent sessions. The Material came through in English but has its own unique glossary of terms that RA used.  

The scope of information that came through Carla is beyond explanation. Don asked RA almost anything and everything about itself and its life, and tons of questions about our pre-recorded history. It’s the history of our solar system, of our planet, of life on other current and previously existing planets that were destroyed long before we can understand translated in terms of Earth years. It’s the nature of life itself, the nature of the soul and the nature of good and evil. This is pre-religion stuff. It goes far beyond our simple concepts of an Earth-centric God or Satan. RA explains itself as a non-physical light consciousness that visited and taught the Egyptians in the post-Atlantis, pre-dynastic period and was later worshipped as the God Ra, symbolized by the Sun. Ra was not a God. Ra exists as a group of souls on a much higher level of density, or dimensional existence outside our ability to normally perceive, what it explains as the Sixth Density, while we here are tuned into and experiencing Third Density, on a much lower vibrational solid matter wavelength or ‘radio station’. There is no English or human word for RA, so it aligns with the last previously known sound complex “RA” that the ancient Egyptians used. The form RA took to appear to humans in ancient Egypt resembled a glowing body of light, hence the term Sun God used by the much later generations of Egyptians. This a long explanation of the book, but it barely begins to describe how exciting and fascinating this material is.

***) Withnail & I / Bruce Robinson

A fucking genius and insanely hilarious and quotable recounting of writer/director Bruce Robinson’s early years as struggling actor in Camden, London in the late 60’s with his friend Withnail. I’m a fan of well-written dialogue in films. And this might be the best scripted dialogue I’ve ever seen.

Over the years, fans developed a Withnail & I drinking game; matching each character drink for drink in the film. This involves nine and a half glasses of red wine, half a pint of cider, one shot of lighter fluid, two and a half shots of gin, six glasses of sherry, thirteen glasses of whisky and half a pint of ale.

The two out of work actors go away on holiday to Withnail’s uncle Monty’s cabin in the country. When Uncle Monty surprises the two and shows up to spend the weekend with them, all hell breaks loose for Marwood as Uncle Monty takes liking to him.

“I mean to have you, even if it is BURGLARY”

They then return to London to deal with an unexpected intruder in their home, Danny the Drug Dealer. The dialogue that ensues is iconic. 

Marwood: He’s right, Withnail, look at him. His mechanism is gone. He’s had more drugs than you’ve had hot dinners.

Withnail:  I’m not having this shagsack insulting me. Let him get his drugs out.

Danny: [pulls baby doll from satchel]

This doll is extremely dangerous. It has voodoo qualities.

[removes doll head and empties it out and holds up a pill] 

Trade… Pheno Dihydrochloride Benzerex.  Street… ‘The Embalmer’…

Withnail:  Balls. I’ll swallow it and run a mile.

Danny: Cool your boots, man. This pill’s valued at two quid.

Withnail: Two quid? You’re out of your mind.

Marwood: That’s sense, Withnail.

Withnail: You can stuff it up your ass for nothing and fuck off while you’re doing it.

Danny:  No need to insult me, man. I was leaving anyway.

Withnail is based on Robinson’s friend and Camden roommate the actor Vivian MacKerrell, who did, in fact, drink lighter fluid and was unable to see for days afterward. 

Withnail & I is the definition of a classic film in every way. 

=O

Thanks for taking the time, Marc. More Recommended By's here. 

recommended by: vols. 1 and 2

In the spirit of Natas' Public Enemy shirt, Julien's love of Bukowski and Big Brother's fondness for Pink Flamingos, there's something to be said for the honest recommendations of those you respect. The following represents an experiment I've been conducting for the last year or so on the @ChromeBall Instagram channel where I ask friends and family to recommend 1 album, 1 book and 1 film for future generations. The choices are left entirely open to their interpretations and discretion. Bonafide classics, slept-on gems, embarrassing guilty pleasures, personal faves... whatever. The only necessity being that person's official seal of approval in a public forum. 

These are the results. Thanks to all who participated. More to come.



Recommended by: Greg Hunt

*) "Viva Last Blues" / Palace Music
Hard to explain what it is about this album but it's never stopped growing on me. Bonnie's finest.

**) "In the Blink of an Eye" / Walter Murch
This one's for the filmers, editors, etc. out there. Trust me, just read it.

***) "Paris, Texas" / Wim Wenders
I don't know how many times I've watched this movie. The last 30 minutes are about as good as it gets in my opinion.

=O



Recommended by: Aaron Meza

*) "Lifted" / Bright Eyes
Now that I know Jeff Grosso is a fan, I've found new confidence (and less shame) in saying that this is a favorite record. It can be yours, too.

**) "Middlesex" / Jeffrey Eugenides
Kinda Oprah Book Clubish, but the best story narrated by a hermaphrodite that I've ever read.

***) "The Cruise" / Bennet Miller
If you need advice or direction on how to appear as a debonair individual despite interior feelings of despair, then I highly recommend you watch Bennet Miller's first film, "The Cruise".

=O

Recommended by: Don Pendleton

*) "Roman Candle" / Elliot Smith
This was his first solo album. It's an amazing record but it's also remarkable because it's just him, a guitar and a 4-track most of the way through. And it goes to show you can create something amazing with almost nothing if the talent and creativity are there.

**) "Citizen Kane" / Orson Welles

This was Orson Welles' first feature film. It's considered one of the best for a reason. Not only did Welles star in it but he produced it, directed it and even co-wrote the screenplay. Sometimes the very best creations come from collaborations. Sometimes they come from one talented person who does it all. A lot of people want to do it all but Welles was just one of those rare people who could actually do it.

***) "A Happy Death" / Albert Camus
Another first…I think some of the most inspiring work is some of the earliest from an artist, musician or author. Camus wrote this before his much wider known 'The Stranger' and it wasn't published until 10 years after his death. It's relatively short and it's simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic (not an easy task) and it's the best book to pick up when you need some perspective on life.

=O



Recommended by: Tobin Yelland

*) "TNT" / AC DC
I have good memories listening to this album while driving to go skate. I can listen to the whole album over and over again.

**) "Ham On Rye" / Charles Bukowski
Autobiographical fiction from a son of German immigrants. Filled with many things a boy thinks about and deals with growing up.

***) "Amarcord" / Federico Fellini
I love the layers and time that goes by in the story of this film. It never feels long even though it's 2 hours long.

=O



Recommended by: Alyasha Owerka-Moore

*) "Q: Are We Not Men?" / DEVO
Skateboarding, DEVOlution, punk rock, subgenius, innovation, social satire, spudboy, anti-establishment, heroes, part of the soundtrack to my life since I was 8-years-old. One of the most underrated albums by one of the most misunderstood bands of all time.
"I'm a spudman. I got eyes all around."

**) "The Bear That Wasn't" / Frank Tashlin
One of the first books I remember reading on my own. Albeit a simple children's book and about a 10-minute read, it holds much meaning to me. I vividly remember my mother giving it to me and its message has been a mainstay and driving force of me following my gut and sticking to who I am ever since. As a kid, I was labeled "learning disabled" and "dyslexic" and they wanted to put me in a Special Ed program and had written me off as a dumb kid who would never make it anywhere in life. Regardless of my IQ. I was easier for the system to just put me in a generalized group instead of recognizing that I was actually intelligent. My mom fought with the Board of Ed to get me out of that program because it was so damaging.
"I'm not a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat"
In short, fuck your status quo!

***) "Repo Man" / Alex Cox
One of the first VHS tapes I owned. I watched it over and over. One of the best original soundtracks of any film I've ever seen. I feel a lot of my personal sense of humor comes from this film. As a kid, there was a lot that went over my head but because I'd watched it so many times, bits and pieces of how ahead of its time and the subversive social political satire come to my head regularly and make more sense of things and the time we live in.

=O



Recommended by: Mark Whiteley

*) “Midnight Marauders” / A Tribe Called Quest
Midnight Marauders sums up an era and a sound in hip hop that’s never been surpassed for me, and as an album is just so complete. Front to back, it’s a perfect journey. Makes all my senses fire simultaneously when I think about it. Plus, the cover is incredible.

**) “Blood Meridian” / Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy’s choice of words and economy of language shatters me and Blood Meridian is his most gripping story. The “Legion of Horribles” passage is probably my single favorite bit of writing in any novel. Like whoa.

***) “Rushmore” / Wes Anderson
The first real look into the wonderfully bizarre and richly imagined worlds of Wes Anderson. Bill Murray obviously destroys here and the “Oh, are they?” line is pure genius. Best soundtrack to a film ever.

=O



Recommended by: Aesop Rock

*) "Grief Pedigree" / Ka
Ka's 2012 LP hasn't really left rotation since it came out. Mood-heavy rap music from Brownsville, BK.
**) "2013 Sketchbook Collection / Kim Jung Gi

An astonishing lesson in what you can do with black lines on a white page.

***) "The Proposition" / John Hillcoat
Australian western from '05 written by Nick Cave. It's slow and violent and beautiful. Ray Winstone is an underrated actor.

=O



Recommended by: John Rattray

*) A River Ain't Too Much To Love / Smog

My friend Sam (@perfidiousalbion) from Glasgow turned me onto Bill Callahan & Smog. This album in particular hits me every time. Me and Philippa listened to it on a loop driving around the Rocky Mountain National Park near Boulder and it helped me through some rough, dark times in Scotland. Understated, minimalist delivery meets the perfect balance of clever, funny and poignant.
**) Galapagos / Kurt Vonnegut

I can't decide if he's a salt-coated sugar cube or a sugar-coated salt cube. Either way, I have a decent list of favourite writers and Kurt Vonnegut will always be way up there. Big subjects refracted through your favorite uncle's spectacles and distilled into a salty-sweet shot that leaves you feeling cleverer than you are. Galapagos might be the most optimistic dystopia ever written. It teaches that love conquers all, Blue-Footed Boobies prove it and, after cash, it's natural selection that rules everything around us. Duh.

***) The Angel's Share / Ken Loach
If anyone from outside skateboarding has the potential to make the ultimate real-life skate film, I'm putting it out there that Ken Loach could easily be our dude. One of the greatest British film directors, 'The Angel's Share' is Ken on a slightly more upbeat note. Basically, if my childhood friends from Scotland got involved in a whiskey heist then this is the movie that would result. Ken balances on that tightrope of pathos and good times and never falters. Real-life stories expertly told.

=O



Recommended by: Chris Miller

*) Sandinista / The Clash
The Clash is probably my all-time favorite band and I particularly love skating to their music. The album is incredible in its depth and range and kind of opened me up to other styles of music. It also exposed me to a political and social point of view that at a time was mostly unexpressed by mainstream media.

**) The Little Prince / Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I love this book for its simplicity and wisdom about life. I prefer simple wisdom to dogma and authority. I embedded the quote "what is essential is invisible to the eye" into a bunch of my art and at least one early Planet Earth graphic.

***) My Life As A Dog / Lasse Hallstrom
It's a Swedish film about childhood and coming to terms with the realities of life... But I guess I just found it so relatable to my own experiences that I was deeply moved by the film.

=O



Recommended by: Rob Brink

*) Live in Reykjavik, Iceland / This Will Destroy You
TWDY began as an Explosions in the Sky clone (not necessarily a bad thing) and about three albums in, really came into their own by introducing spacey, synthy, drony textural elements to their music. This performance is the essence of all they are. There is no empty space. It’s a sonic avalanche. They are the stuff that puts me in the right headspace on daily bike rides or while writing.

**) Make Something Up / Chuck Palahniuk
Short stories are my favorite form of writing, and the thing about Chuck is I’m perpetually attempting to comprehend from what beautiful fucked up place his ideas come and how he manages to weave together banger after banger of a sentence without depleting the well from which they derive. It’s like if a skater had a four-minute part full of enders every single year. If you’re skeptical before buying, Google and read “Zombie” as a teaser to this collection.

***) Cafe de Flore / Jean-Marc Vallee
This film floored me. Like, tears in my eyes and a tension and pain in my chest kind of flooring. Not unlike Malick’s films, Café De Flore is somehow beautifully and transcendentally about EVERYTHING—life and death and love and the space in between and before and after. I’ve watched it a dozen times and I’m still discovering layers and in awe of how it was written, process-wise. I don’t know how Jean-Marc Vallée did it so seamlessly and can’t begin to fathom how I’d ever pull it off if I were to try.

=O



Recommended by: Lance Mountain

*) The Collection / Captain Sensible
The new soundtrack of skateboarding by late 1978 for us at the parks was punk new wave. As some of the bands tried new stuff or members did solo stuff, some of it was interesting. I always dug the sound and childlike feel to Captain Sensible's tracks. I'm going with The Collection just because it has some of the best in one place.

**) The Pilgrim's Progress / John Bunyan
I'll have to admit I'm not much of a reader, in fact, I can't even recall more than a handful of books I've read. I wanted to reread one of the first books I remember reading, The Pilgrim's Progress, and this post has encouraged me to do so.

***) Lambert and Stamp / James D Cooper
One of the last movies I've seen that stood out is this documentary about the Who and how the band was created and developed. I enjoy that the sort of ideas behind it had a lot of similarities for me to how the skateboard industry was nurtured and developed in its early years.

=O



Recommended by: Rick McCrank

I know John Rattray did one of these and he stole my book answer for Kurt Vonnegut so in his honor, I've gone with a Scottish theme.

*) The Incredible String Band / self-titled
Scottish psych/folk from the mid-60s. I'm a huge fan of the track "October Song"

**) Ratcatcher / Lynne Ramsay
This film is beautifully shot and incredibly acted. It's dark and slow and follows a young boy around his impoverished Glasgow neighborhood in 1973.

***) The Wasp Factory / Iain Banks
This is Banks' first book and one of my favorite reads. Again, it's very dark and twisted with some fantastic writing also set in Scotland.

=O



Recommended by: John Cardiel

*) Runaway Train / Andrey Konchalovsky
Runaway Train because, to me, it expresses man's need to be free of the mental and physical angst put upon him by the system, confronting the wrongs done onto him by his fellow man.

**) Beyond World War III / Mikey Dread
Just enough lyrics to keep you interested and carefully orchestrated rhythms with just the right touch of echoes and reverb to keep the vibes pumping!! This album never gets old 👊
***) Atlas of the Human Anatomy

My most favorite book because, basically, it is a roadmap to your body. I like to picture what might be going wrong inside me, figure out how it happened and how it must be fixed.

=O



Recommended by: Louie Barletta

*) Bona Drag / Morrissey
I love Morrissey and this album was very influential to me as a teenager. It came out right when my best friend that I'd been skating with for years had moved away. Morrissey's lyrics spoke to me, man. They made me feel like it was ok to be alone and not fit in. It's dark subject matter filled with poppy, catchy beats! It totally gave me confidence in just being me, the way I am, the way I skate. I just immersed myself in skating in every way and this album was the soundtrack that got me thru those years! From beginning to end, it's perfect.

**) V For Vendetta / James McTeigue

I love the idea that drives the story. An idea stronger than anything. Stronger than one man, stronger than law. It's based on the same essence that's similar to how a lot of us view skateboarding. It's not just the act that defines us, it's the idea. The idea that we're free, with no rules and no boundaries. We're only limited by what we think is possible on a board. In the movie, it's about toppling a regime but that same sentiment also rings true when talking about just keeping skateboarding fun!

***) The Necronomicon
I just love a great, relaxing read in the bath, surrounded by aromatic candles burning.

=O



Recommended by: Sean Sheffey

*) Straight Outta Compton / F Gary Gray
I love the way it tells the hardcore come-up of each member's life and the group as a whole. That shit is hype! N.W.A for life!

**) Meat is Murder / The Smiths
I really loved the period of my life when I stumbled across this music. Progression, romance and travels were all so intense back then... Building blocks that still stand for the S.S. I am today!

***) Wild Style / Charlie Ahearn
This book (and movie) illustrates how the art of graffiti traveled all over world! From NYC, of course!

=O

Recommended by: Quim Cardona

*) Tao of Jeet Kune Do / Bruce Lee
Aka Way of the Intercepting Fist, this is a great book that could apply to your everyday thinking and action. I strive to understand giving the discipline and time to train in order to be healthier and keep skateboarding nontraditional and unconventional.

**) The Giving Tree / Shel Silverstein
I'm actually recommending the 9:44 movie from '73 here, spoken by Shel Silverstein. You can find it on YouTube. The story follows a selfish man who only takes throughout his life, never giving back... the tree just appreciates the companionship. By the end, the man is left with a dead stump to use as a place to sit and rest. The moral of the story is to be less selfish and give more.

***) Kind of Blue / Miles Davis
He was, and always will be, influential and quintessential for his time, for years to come.

=O



Recommended by: Jeff Grosso

*) Script of the Bridge / The Chameleons UK
Neil turned me on to them in '85. Their music speaks to me. I don't know... just listen to it. It's fuck'n beautiful.

**) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius / Dave Eggers
I read it when I was in a very fragile state. It's a memoir and the guy's story just gave me hope.

***) Lucas / David Seltzer
It's an insightful, sensitive film about real kids dealing with real problems. Ha! Plus, I believe it's Winona Ryder's first film.

=O



Recommended by: Tommy Guerrero

*) Ethiopiques, Vol 4 / Mulatu Astatqe
**) Lost in Translation / Sofia Coppola
***) The Things They Carried / Tim O'Brien
Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO! 😉

=O



Recommended by: Brian Lotti

*) Heathen / David Bowie
I'm not the hugest Bowie fan but there's something timeless and moving about this album. I've been returning to it as music to work to and also to make sense of different times in my life. A Better Future is particularly nice.

**) Zen Flesh, Zen Bones / Paul Reps
The collection of short stories and fables in this book are filled will great reminders and they point inspirations toward the ways I endeavor to live life.

***) The Big Lebowski / Coen Brothers
A timeless cinematic feast, this movie has really grown on me over the years. I love the actors, the story, the music, and the Los Angeles mythology that the Coen brothers tap into. It's very entertaining and I'm always seeing something new. I always seem to get a fresh perspective on things after watching this movie.

=O



Recommended by: Al Davis
Not my favorites, just what I'm on right now...

*) IV / BADBADNOTGOOD
Literally listening to this album right now. I've been editing 60 rolls of super 8 footage that I've got so I've been listening to a lot of music with live instruments, plus soft vocals.

**) Rockers / Ted Bafaloukos
Jamaica in 1978. If you have a dream for your whole crew, you have to put everything you have into it. Similar to these days, I get hyped on the underdog coming up after a long struggle. It's a good laugh. Check it.

***) The Bang-Bang Club / Silva and Marinovich
My friend Jake gave it to me on a skate trip. Anyone that loves photography will be into this book. Raw war photographers going hard as fuck.

=O



Recommended by: Giovanni Reda

*) Me Talk Pretty One Day / David Sedaris
I laughed out loud on the plane reading this. It's really funny and an interesting look into someone's life.

**) Out of Step / Minor Threat
I heard this album when I was 12 and instantly related to it, from the black sheep on the cover to the message it sent. Always be out of step with the world.

***) The Godfather / Francis Ford Coppola
Probably the best movie ever made, the transformation of Michael from innocent to mob boss is just epic.

=O



Recommended by: Andy Jenkins

*) What Makes a Man Start Fires? / Minutemen
My friend O took me to Neil Blender's house in the mid '80s. Not only was I meeting one of my favorite skaters, but he was blasting music that blew my mind. I left without knowing what it was. A couple months later Kevin Wilkins shoved a red album into my hands at the record store. "Here, get this." That was it, that was the music Neil was playing. "East Wind/Faith" was the song— fucking amazing. "Double Nickels on the Dime" is right there as well.

**) Ham On Rye / Charles Bukowski
Buk spilled his guts on paper for us to devour — or ignore. He didn't care. This was my introduction. A raw and resolute story of surviving childhood. It opened the Bukowski gates for me... that's when I began devouring.

***) Wings of Desire / Wim Wenders
There was an old, dilapidated movie theater in Hermosa Beach we used to go to. It was really cheap and they mostly played shitty "art" films. I saw "Wings of Desire' there. That film stirred so much emotion in me. It paralleled some of the ways I saw things. Plus Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds played "From Her to Eternity" in it.

=O



Recommended by: Dante Ross

*) Moonlight / Barry Jenkins
I recently saw this and it brought me to tears. What an amazing story. The exploration of addiction, sexuality and the notion of compassion was so honest and sans judgement. It encompasses the importance of forgiveness and the search for inner peace in such a beautiful and truthful way. Best film of 2016, hands down.

**) Sign of the Times / Prince
Lately I've been rocking this a whole lot. If I Was Your Girlfriend gets me everytime. The title song, Adore, Starfish and Coffee, the Ballad of Dorothy Parker, The Cross... basically the whole record is so damn good. When I listen to Prince, I feel like I'm hanging out with an old friend. I love Prince and have since I was a teenager. His being on Spotify is a game-changer for me.

***) The Sellout / Paul Beatty
Beatty is simply the greatest living American fiction author. The Sellout is his 4th novel and possibly his best. It's funny, insightful and has a subtle depth to it. It's the best commentary I have read about race in America in a long time. Plus, it's hilarious.

=O

Recommended by: Jason Adams

*) Where There Walks a Logger, There Walks a Man - Buzz Martin
I don't know how I came across this but when I did, I was so hyped. Johnny Cash-style folky country songs... every single one of them is about logging, written and sung by a logger.

**) I Lived To Tell It All - George Jones
I read this autobiography years ago... it's fucking Insane! George Jones is a country music legend for more than just singing, I will tell you that! Motley Crue has nothing on this guy!

***) Filmage - Descendents/All
Probably my favorite punk band of all-time. This is so much more than the story and facts of a great band. So inspirational! Bill Stevens fucking rules so hard!

=O



Recommended by: Jason Lee

*) City Lights / Charlie Chaplin
An incredible film that was done as a silent film (with only sound effects) about 5 years after 'talkies' were introduced. People thought it would not be successful because of the absence of recorded dialogue but it was a huge success. A testament to Chaplin's ability to tell a moving and funny story without words.

**) On Reading / André Kertész
My favorite photo book and one that still gets me every time. It spans decades, with all the photos having something to do with reading in common.

***) Desire / Bob Dylan
An album I've listened to a lot on various photo road trips. First time I think I really heard Dylan was from Mark Gonzales when we lived together during the Blind days, so there's a good connection with Dylan there, too.

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Recommended by: Sean Cliver

*) Animals / Pink Floyd
Tone deaf and dumb that I am, music might as well be a magnet: how does it work? I have no fucking clue. It’s a miracle! That said, this could have gone 50 different ways, but for now and the illusion of brevity I’ll have to settle on Pink Floyd’s “Animals.” The album is just five tracks and 23 minutes in all, but it’s my equivalent of the Boy Scout Handbook. I’d leave a copy in the drawer of every hotel room if I had the tenacity of a Gideons loon.

**) Sombrero Fallout / Richard Brautigan
Although this isn’t considered a critical high-water mark for Brautigan, you always remember your first and Sombrero Fallout was mine. The master of the metaphor, Brautigan’s impressionistic word formations were a real sock to the gut—albeit one sensitively swung by the likes of Elliot Smith, not Ernest Hemingway—and probably my greatest inspiration in terms of writing, the absurd, and other affinities best not gotten into here.

***) Pink Flamingos / John Waters
It’s easy to be jaded in the Age of the Internet, but this seminal Waters film from 1972 still goes. Pink Flamingos was a truly soul-sullying experience when I first viewed it at the age of 18, because until you’ve seen an elasticated anus lip-syncing to “Surfin’ Bird” you can’t fully comprehend the definition of fucked-up. I don’t know… some people look for enlightenment at the top of a mountain, but mine always comes from the bottom of a barrel. So it goes.

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Recommended by: Jeremy Fish

*) Lice Two / Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman
Rap duos are coming back in popular music and these dudes are the best of the genre. Not the most famous, or the richest, just a couple of very clever verbal beasts teaming up with both their original styles. They are like the Arnold Palmer beverage of rap music. A perfect blend of two ill flavors.
**) The Kindness Diaries / Leon Legothetis

This documentary series warms the human spirit and reminds us how important good intention and a big smile can be. Highly suggested. Good travel mojo for all of us.

***) Bury Me With The Lo On / Thirstin Howl the 3rd
Because the Ralph Lauren story, in relation to hip hop culture is an amazing story. New York rappers explain the obsession of Polo in a fancy-ass, artsy coffee table book. Two thumbs up, best book in print in 2016.

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Recommended by: Max Schaaf

*) Blue Highways / William Least Heat-Moon
I'm a sucker for books about travel. Escapism is a tool that, when used correctly, will give you a new set of eyes. I know this firsthand. This is an autobiography from a man that needed a break from his day-to-day life and set out a very untraditional voyage. He equipped his small panel van for travel and wandered out chasing the "blue highways", the small forgotten roads connecting towns that had become almost even more forgotten. 13,000 miles of random hitchhikers, towns with peculiar names and random conversations with folks the average human would never come in contact with.
**) Indian Runner / Sean Penn

Sean Penn wrote and directed this movie based on the Bruce Springsteen song Highway Patrolman....pretty cool approach for writing a movie to base it on a single five-minute song. Personally, I have a brother that has his problems with being a law-abiding citizen and fitting into mainstream society so the movie hits close to home. On a side note, I really dig Vigo Mortensen's dress code in this film.

***) Then Play On / Fleetwood Mac
It's impossible to pick a favorite album when your equipped with drastic mood swings on a daily basis, but Then Play On is really good Sunday morning dancing in the kitchen while frying eggs with a piss stain on the front of your boxer shorts music. 1969, pre-Stevie Nicks but still with Peter Grenn, this album can get a little jammy but it has some really unexpected breakdowns to break most of them up. I really dig the song One Sunny Day. You can most likely find this album in the 99-cent bin. Go into it with low expectations like I did and maybe it'll surprise you. Maybe it's "dad music"... shit i don't know, I'm not a dad.

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Recommended by: Bill Strobeck

*) Niandra Ladies and Usually a T-Shirt (cassette) / John Frusciante
A good friend of mine, Goose, used to listen to this in his car all the time while we drove around skating Syracuse. On a trip to NYC, I once asked him to dub me a copy. He dubbed one side of the tape for me and I went back to Philly and I listened to it over and over. I never really got into drugs cause I was scared of them but I felt like I was on drugs everytime I listened to this album. I just felt alive when I listened to it. This album is poetic and original and speaks to me like no other album. The cassette also has 2 extra tracks: Ants (my favorite track of all-time) and Untitled 0 (soul removal)... eerie album. Thanks Goose.

**) The Perfect Childhood / Larry Clark
All Larry's books are great... he's inspired me and a ton of people from my generation, photo and film-wise. But this book sticks out to me. All the cut-out newspaper clippings about satanism kids and court cases with teachers fucking their students are wild cause I'd seen all that on tv in the 80's. Teen Beat posters of Matt Dillon... skateboarders in the 90's in NY mixed in with teenagers getting there dicks sucked by hookers is just a heavy portfolio. All of his photos and visuals are just put together proper. True damage... from the champ.

***) Streetwise / Martin Bell and Mary Ellen Mark
The greatest american documentary about a group of runaway kids in Seattle. I love runaways and fucked up shit, always have and always will. The runaways in this are perfect for a film. Sad but beautiful. Kids named Rat and Shadow, livin on the streets at age 15, telling business men to fuck off as they run around the city, trying to survive.
I love Rat's first quote: "I love to fly. It's just... you're alone with peace and quiet. Nothing around you but clear, blue sky. No one to hassle you. No one to tell you where to go or what to do. The only bad part about flying is having to come back down to the fucking world." (then he jumps off a bridge into a river in all his clothes). Very inspiring...watch it.

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Recommended by: Travis Millard.

*) Just Farr a Laugh, Vols 1 and 2 / Earles and Jensen.
Earles & Jensen are so great because there’s a no-cruelty policy to their calls. They bewilder the person on the other line but never leave them too angry.. sometimes even injecting totally confusing joy into their day. E&J are kings of obscure pop culture references, quick as hell, unpredictable and outrageously funny. A double CD set from Matador Records ~ greatest prank phone calls ever, indeed!

**) The Way Things Go / Fischli and Weiss
This short art film is so much fun to watch. Swiss duo Fischli & Weiss created a sprawling Rube Goldberg-style machine out of everyday utility items, fireworks and household chemicals. You’d never imagine what a thrill a spinning trash bag could be as it lightly knicks an old tire that rolls into a 30-minute chain of seemingly impossible artful calculations.

***) My Friend Dahmer / Derf Backderf
Derf is a fantastic cartoonist, I’ve admired his work for years and this book is a masterpiece. It’s the dark, true story of Derf going through high school in Ohio with Jeffrey Dahmer, the young would-be cannibal serial killer. Dahmer was an ignored outcast but Derf & his friends had a rapport with him and shared the lunch table. Beautifully drawn and a completely engrossing story, I heard they just made a movie from it.

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