Really weird... ready? Steely Dan, Nick Drake, Ben Folds, the Eagles, Nirvana, Sublime, James Taylor, the Police, Foo Fighters, Paris coffee house jazz, Amos Lee, Damien Rice, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Tiromancino
Movies
Good Will Hunting, Garden State, Dust to Glory, Crash, Little Miss Sunshine, The Squid and the Whale, The Constant Gardener, most anything by Almodovar...
Television
TiVo has made TV bearable. This American Life (Showtime), The Office, The Daily Show, I Shouldn't Be Alive. Deadliest Catch.
Books
I could fill pages here. Here's an incomprehensive list of top-of-minders right now: The Road (Cormac McCarthy), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), Pastoralia (George Saunders), Church of Dead Girls (Stephen Dobyns). I like Hunter S. Thompson and Don Winslow and Charles Bukowski. Other great reads include: Under the Banner of Heaven (Jon Krakauer), The Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger), Shadow Divers (Robert Kurston), Hot Zone (Richard Preston), The Last Season (Eric Blehm), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien). Add in books by J. Maarten Troost, Ayun Halliday, Edward Marriott, Charles Bowden, Peter Matthiessen, Rory Stewart, Mark Bowden, Allan C. Weisbecker, Tim Cahill. This American Life alumni: Don't Get Too Comfortable (David Rakoff), Take the Cannoli (Sarah Vowell), Beware of God (Shalom Auslander) - and my pal who wrote I Am Not Myself These Days (Josh Kilmer Purcell). Lit-dork shout-out to my writer pals: MoonPies and Movie Stars (Amy Wallen), The Writers Book of Days (and lots more by Judy Reeves), and watch for good stuff coming soon from New York writer Susan Henderson...
Heroes
Joseph Campbell (even posthumously). Ira Glass (a man who follows his vision and doesn't compromise). Al Gore (for resurrecting himself... What! He wasn't dead?)
About me: JAMES R. SPRING: has lived much of his adult life in Latin America. From slumming as a charter boat captain, to running contraband across borders, his careers have taken him to some of the most remote pockets on the planet. He has contributed to This American Life, heard on National Public Radio, and has been featured in radio expeditions for Atlantic Public Media on NPR. His radio assignments have ranged from 'embedding' with the Minutemen at the border, to covering the Baja 1000 off-road race - to motorcycling solo through Mexico's Sierra Madre where he recorded his experiences with Tarahumara drug traffickers. He previously served as a foreign correspondent for Cox Newspapers.
James resides in San Diego and does monthly readings at First Friday Prose - www.FirstFridayProse.com.
(Represented by Sterling Lord Literistic) See - and hear - more at JamesRSpring.com
Who I'd like to meet: Scott Carrier, Dave Eggers, George Saunders, Cormac McCarthy, J.D. Salinger, and a whole lot o' dead people...
Hey dude, I managed to get back on here. I am in Granada now, and gunna head to The capital of Honduras tomorrow. Then up to the ruins and into Guatemala. And head straight for San Pedro, and thats pretty much me sorted for a week or so.
Thanks for the request, I have really enjoyed all your pieces!
random fact, my boyfriend goes to the University Scott Carrier teaches at here in Salt Lake. I just noticed he's on your list of people you'd like to meet.
Automated Myspace Reply: JVV is dead. A note was left for the following: Her Family, Her employer, the guys who cut her grass, George Bush and Jimmy Spring.
If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference. R. Buckminster Fuller
muchas thanks for the support at the festival! Hope you got some good Green Room grub. Writers, free food...I had to elbow Chris Abani off the buffet line... :o
Yes I'll say it again.. YOU ARE AMAZING!.. I know your family is counting their blessings even more now. Happy Birthday late or not.. Happy Feet! Keep being YOU.. this world wouldn't be the same without you. ~Pam
I just caught the end of your story on the news on TV, so I got up to speed and read your blog and followed the links... I'm sorry I didn't check it out sooner.
You rock, James. I strive to be the person you are in more ways than I had originally thought.
Just read the news piece about the little girls. Good man yourself Mr. Spring, it's a rare person that takes on that sort of task. A belated Happy Birthday to you :)
I just wanted to thank you sooooo much for bringing home my cousins. You are a TRUE hero. I still can't believe it only took you a day and a half to find them. Thats amazing.
People who don't wait for trouble to land on their doorstep but rather venture out into the world in search for it, people who think they can make a difference and take the steps to prove it...
Hero.
That's what you are buddy, my favorite hero and a great big inspiration.
you've been reading a ton of short stories for a new, top-secret gig Well heck that was in Feb.. you can't be shuusshing us for ever? Did I miss the gig? Hope you write and fill me in.. ~Pam
Seriously! Trade it in or embrace it. but then again.... I just want you to know I still hate my hair...and no my hair still hasnt grown back ... 8" is going to take a little while..... Is your secrect mission over yet?
'Tis been way too long! What's this about your latest adventures, road trips, breakdowns and breakthroughs? Thanks for the sweet note and thinking of me, and helping ring in a new one... Yes, been way too long -- Catch me up! Mahalo, RR
Well, I'm going to HAVE to read this book now and it's all your fault. Can Elizabeth handle such combative fans?
I'll pick it up after I finish Augusten's Possible Side Effects, Gaskell's North and South, and EM Forster's Howards End. So many books, so little time...
I'm just posting a comment to see if it'll get posted since everyone's always saying, "What's with James, he denies all my comments." I respond with only the truth about you. It's ugly, but it's true. And it's fun to tell.
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