Timothy J. Huff

TJ Huff was the first friend I made at JMU when we both started college in 1999. We played in jazz band together, he on guitar and myself on bass, so we were in very close proximity. His feet smelled terrible. He claimed this was because he went all summer without wearing socks in the same sandles, I think it must have been some sort of foot problem. At the time he also claimed to be a transfer student from another college, which I recently found out was a blatant lie. Since 1999 he has been one of my very best friends, and a frequent recommender of great things for me to check out. He is a fantastic artist and his creations can be viewed and heard at www.huffart.com He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY with his great lady friend Fiamma and two fun cats who have seven legs between the two of them. Pictured here is self portrait of the man himself, printed from a woodcut in which he gave himself a not-at-all-exagerrated beard. And on to our first batch of recommends:

Music:

Moondog
Fred Frith--Cheap at Half the Price
Shugo Tokumaru--Night Piece, Exit
Ground Zero--Grande Pikenese Opera
Aram Khachaturian--Cello Concerto
John Coltrane--One Down, One Up, solo on Walkin' from Miles Davis in Stockholm 1960

Books:

Any Haruki Murakami (especially Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore)
Vonnegut--Welcome to the Monkeyhouse (short stories)
Jonathan Safran Foer--Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Ernest Hemingway--Old Man and the Sea
Nicholson Baker--Box of Matches

Film:

Jan Svankmejer shorts
The Big Snit Animation

Art:

Manet--Execution of Emperor Maximilian (Boston MFA Version)
Degas--David and Goliath
Piero Manzoni--Artist Feces
Jacques Hnizdovsky prints
Leonard Baskin
Euan Uglow paintings

Miscellaneous:

Food/Drink:
Dalessandro's cheesesteak (Philadelphia)
Grimaldi's pepperoni and extra basil pizza (Brooklyn)
Dumont cheeseburger (Brooklyn)
Old Speckled Hen English Ale
Black Boss Porter
Don Fulano Tequila (Mexico)


And starting Monday you will get my take on some of these recommendations from TJ. Exciting!