I will link to fantastic musicians, people devoted to living a principle-centred life, and those providing valuable, non-mainstream perspectives on world events.

You can also visit my myspace page, or follow me on twitter.

Musicians

For now, I'm only going to list musicians that I actually know, rather than bands or artists I admire, or am influenced by.  Clearly I do admire, and am therefore influenced by these guys, anyway. 

Greg Holden is a very talented singer/songwriter, who I first met several years ago, and have collaborated with, at least loosely.  We haven't written together, but I arranged a piano version of a lovely song he wrote named "Alright, Sir?".   You can hear a one take recording of it on my myspace page.  He's been picked up on by very high profile producers, and has been making serious headway, not least through his incredibly popular youtube videos, one example of which I've included below.  His first full solo album is now available via itunes and other digital music stores. He's flown out to New York today, to live there, andkeeps going to talk to record companies.  I expect big things. Good luck, Greg! 

Katherine Hewitt is a stunning singer/songwriter with a wonderfully individual style.  She completely blew me away when I first heard her sing, and is the sort that just seems perfectly lovely, and then, as soon as she starts singing, transforms instantly into some form of goddess. 

 

The Morning Orchestra make well-polished, sophisticated, but unashamedly poppy, upbeat music.  They are a fantastically positive contrast to the legions of angst-ridden, self indulgent musicians that seem to be everywhere.  They're playing for me in April.  See the latest page for video and more details.

 

 Thomas Aplin and the thief are a Bristol based band, producing some great, innovative music.  I am gutted that I missed their recent return gig after a six month absence (Tom went to India).  I'll confess I don't know a lot of their stuff, but the song "Memorium" is captivating, and I think truly world class.  As with so many indie (non-pop) songs that are any good, you need to hear it a few times to get to the good stuff, but it's definitely worth it.  I've embedded the video, which is adapted from the film 'Clockworks' by Edward Barrett. (The photo was taken by Natalie Bush, who doesn't ask to be credited as she is "just" a teacher).

 

 

 

Politik

For now, Ill merely (but earnestly) suggest you watch Rob Newman's History of Oil on google video. You could do a lot worse in search of a quick, informative and entertaining primer on global events.

 

Steve Pavlina

deserves his own category, so far in advance of his peers is he in the field of personal development.  From nothing, he's built the most successful personal development blog in the world purely through word of mouth, such is the quality of the content he willingly gives away for free.  Shortly before christmas 2008, he removed all the google ads from his site, which, at a stroke, cost him in excess of $100,000 per year.  He did this because he didn't feel the ads google were serving were congruent with his message.  This is just one example of him doing rather than preaching.  He's written vast amounts on topics ranging from becoming an early-riser to being psychic, yet he manages to never lecture, merely encourage you to experiment with your life, and live consciously, according to your own, self-developed principles and beliefs.  Check him out.