I used to like to make myself sad, so I would listen to Bill Callahan as Smog.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And for some reason, when I'm sad, I do listen to Leonard Cohen, I do listen to Joni Mitchell. I do find myself going to the music that's actually reflecting my mood, as opposed to sticking on Motown, which might actually bring my mood up.
While I shared many of the same emotions Bill describes, in no way did my experience ever degenerate into the grimness I find in his book - I didn't have to live with Don, and I think that made a big big difference.
One of the greatest listeners I know is Bob Tishman. That has probably had the greatest impact on my life than any other thing.
I cried when I heard Johnny Carson died.
I'm a huge fan of Richard Curtis - there's real grief, real compassion in his films as well as cheekiness; it's a wonderful cocktail.
It was sad when Sid Vicious died... I was freaked out when Phil Lynott died from Thin Lizzy. I cried. It was too crazy.
If Michael Steele doesn't make you sad, well, then there's radio host Rush Limbaugh, no longer content with wanting the President to fail, Rush is now calling out Mr. Obama as a girly man.
Plus, I've always felt that, if the worst came to the worst in my career, I could always fall back to doing voices on the radio.
I always turn to Frank O'Hara and David Berman's 'Actual Air,' which came out in 1999. He's a poet I haven't tired of.
Tommy Smothers is a hero of mine.