Music (especially live music), reading, politics, football, writing/blogging, video games, people watching (especially in NYC), working out, playing basketball, Jiu-Jitsu, travel, downhill mountain biking, golf, arguing, playing with my nephew, listening to my 91-year-old grandmother tell stories, being near any kind of water, rugby
Music
Drowning Pool and IAVA, "This Is For The Soldiers" Video
I like music that matters. Specifically, some of the artists that I am passionate about are:
Jimi Hendrix, Tool, The Laura Thomas Band, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bill Withers, Jay-Z, Disturbed, System of a Down, Metallica, James Brown, Wolfmother, A Tribe Called Quest, The Temptations, Eminem, B.I.G, The Jeff Healey Band, Amos Lee, G. Love, Citizen Cope, The Roots, The Doors, Gnarls Barkley, Miles Davis, Nine Inch Nails, EPMD, Gorillaz, Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zepplin, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Jack Johnson, Beethoven, Dead Prez, Mieka Pauley, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, A Perfect Circle, Milo Z, Marilyn Manson, Korn, The Doobie Brothers, 2PAC, Tool, The Dave Mathews Band, Dixie Chicks, Tori Amos, Prince, Beck, Jurassic 5, Mos Def, Soundgarden, Linkin Park, Gang Starr, Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, State Radio, Ben Harper, Hank Williams Jr., Matisyahu, The White Stripes, Marvin Gaye, Michael Franti/Spearhead, Stevie Wonder, Common, Carolyn Wonderland, Beastie Boys, 311, Sublime, Mozart, Godsmack, Nirvanna, Incubus, John Legend, Jill Scott, Living Colour, Ozzy, Public Enemy, Buddy Guy, Queen and much, much more.
Movies
The War Tapes (www.TheWarTapes.com) When I Came Home (www.WhenICameHome.com)
Gladiator, Braveheart, Requiem for a Dream, The Shawshank Redemption, Tombstone, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fight Club, Napolean Dynamite, The Natural, Rudy, Seven, Red Dawn, Pi, The Breakfast Club, A Christmas Story, Falling Down, Murderball, The Game, Good Will Hunting, Full Metal Jacket, American History X, Motorcyle Diaries, Boyz N da Hood, Godfather, Shrek, Born on the Fourth of July, The War Tapes, Toy Story, 13 Tzameti, The Princess Bride, Forrest Gump, The Program, Invincible, Cool Hand Luke, Wall Street, The War Tapes (trailer above), When I Came Home (trailer above), Jerabek, Favela Rising
Television
The Daily Show, Man vs. Wild, The Deadliest Catch, any kind of televised football (college or NFL), Rome, The Wire, Lost, Jeopardy, Rob and Big, Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopoulis, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Battlestar Galactica, Hannity and Colmes (VERY entertaining), Weeds, The Real World, Deadwood, Any UFC shows, Boxing, The L Word, SportsCenter, Inside the NFL, Chappelle Show, T-Minus Rock (or any other music video show on MTV2 or Fuse), Wildboyz, The Colbert Report, The West Wing, Da Ali G Show, Entourage, Heroes
Books
I highly recommend Chasing Ghosts (wink, wink).
All-time favorites include The Magus (Fowles), On The Road (Kerouac), Catch 22 (Heller), The Things They Carried (O'Brien), Post Office, Ham on Rye (Bukowski), Fight Club (Palahniuk), A Prayer for Owen Meany (Irving), For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway), The Alchemist (Coelho), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl), The Iliad (Homer), Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut), American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis), Oh, the Places You'll Go! (Dr. Seuss), The Official Boy Scout Handbook
Heroes
Paul B. Rieckhoff (my grandfather), Elizabeth Eisenger (my nana), Shad Meshad (google him), Senator Chuck Hagel, Joe Galloway, Bob Woodruff, Wesley Autrey (the amazing guy who jumped onto the subway tracks in NYC to save another man's life), Paul Bucha, Michael J. Fox, Robert Acosta, Pat Tillman, Jackie Robinson, Ann Richards, Martin Luther King Jr., Kurt Vonnegut, Senator Max Cleland, Mark Zupan, Kristen Breitweiser, JFK, Tammy Duckworth, Jon Stewart, Geoffrey Canada, Annette McLeod, Madeleine Albright, Emmanuel Jal, Mike Phillips, Senator Jim Webb, the men and women of the armed forces who serve our country worldwide, the wives, husbands and children they leave behind. And I am actively searching for new ones daily.
Amherst College
Amherst, MA
Graduated: 1998
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Political Science
Clubs: Football, Rugby, Student Government, College Radio Station
1994 to 1998
James I. O'neill Hs
Fort Montgomery, NY
Graduated: 1993
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Clubs: Football, Baseball
Co-Producer,
WHEN I CAME HOME, (www.WhenICameHome.com), Associate Producer, RESERVED TO FIGHT, (www.ReservedToFight.com), Associate Producer, JERABEK, (www.jerabekmovie.com)
Paul Rieckhoff's Companies
JP Morgan New York, New York US White Collar Slave Equity Capital Markets
About me:
I am a veteran's advocate, writer and social entrepreneur. As a younger man, I worked on Wall Street, coached high school football, and sold hot dogs in a roadside truck.
Now, I am the Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (the nation's first and largest non-partisan, non-profit Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group) and the author of Chasing Ghosts. I am also a blogger for Military.com and The HuffingtonPost, and occasionally appear TV and radio to run my mouth.
Some consider me an authority on the war in Iraq and issues affecting troops, military families and veterans. Others just consider me a big pain in the ass. I am a staunch political independent and live in New York City's historic East Village.
(In stores everywhere--click the cover now and get it on Amazon for only $10!)
Add the banner above to your MySpace profile and spread the word about Chasing Ghosts! Copy the text in the box below into the 'About Me' section of your profile.
Who I'd like to meet: Rick Rubin, Warren Buffett, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Colin Powell, Dave Chappelle, Banksy, Yao Ming, Jay-Z, Dr. Cornell West, Chuck Palahnuik, Richard Branson, Fareed Zakaria, Marilyn Manson, Studds Turkle, Jon Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, President Jimmy Carter, Senator John McCain, Osama Bin Laden (in a dark alley), Prince, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Rock, Eminem, Jack White, Michael J. Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, President Bill Clinton, President George Bush, Wladimir Klitschko, Willie Nelson, The Rock, Stephen Hawking, Rob and Big, Barry Diller, Bear Grylls, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Madeleine Albright, Anderson Sá, Emmanuel Jal, Mike Phillips
You were so adorable on Rachel Maddow's show the other night when she flirted and you blushed;).
Thanks for all the great work.. It's so wonderful to see you doing great things and bringing people together. I'm so over the Palin and McCain hate rhetoric.
Our country needs more people like you who are indeed uniters for good causes like taking care of our service people.
Hi Paul, Just wanted to wish you best of luck with the IAVA event in NY in November. I am sure you will knock it out of the park. Wish I could be there for it! Gina www. PinUpsForVets. com
I got supper jealous when Rachael Maddow flirted with you on her show today. I want to see your "pretty bald face" too! lol. Like always, thank you for spreading the truth. I always enjoy when you are on tv.
Hey Paul, Its chuck luther here from FT HOOD texas.....I was the guy on PBS that was fruadently discharged with personality disorder and am fighting the army and other branches now to have this fixed and protect our other soldier heros that this does not happen to them, I would like to talk to you sometime to get some advice on joing the national guard and how to proceed with my orginization? disposablewarriors. com. V/R
I just watched your appearance on the Keith Olbermann show with Rachael Meadows. Thank you for all the work you doing trying to get our veterans the help they deserve. I am appalled at the lack of attention these issues have received in this election. I am especially disturbed at how veterans and soldiers can be exploited to get votes in lavish video presentations, but can't get health care and other basic services.
Every time I see you on TV, you make me proud to be a vet! Always clear, concise, and speaking the truth. I am glad that you are out there speaking out for all of us who some consider only "ground noise and static!"
