From: "Sal Denaro" To: "NYCGoth" Subject: Who is Sal? Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 02:38:59 -0400 X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal If my life were a game of jeopardy, my categories would be: Cheesy horror and Sci-fi movies Absinthe, Vodka and Wine CDs released on TVT/Waxtrax between 1988 and 1994 Writers of the Beat Generation Risotto! RDBMs design Robert Smith and The Cure Traveling by subway in New York If you're that sick of reading intros, you can safely stop here as that list gives you a fair assessment of my background, interests and personality. You're probably as sick of reading intros as I am, so don't worry... I won't hold it against you. This long rambling rant aside, I normally don't like talking about myself. You're still here? I'll take list intro's for $400. My full name is Salvatore Vincenzo Denaro; but everyone calls me Sal. If you guessed that I am of Italian decent, give yourself a point. If you guessed Sicilian, give yourself two points. I am approaching thirty years old, similar to the way a lion approaches a gazelle. I was born and raised in downtown Brooklyn, in a very Italian neighborhood. Actually, everyone on our side of Court Street was Italian, everyone on the other side was Spanish. It was kind of like West Side Story but without the music and dance numbers. Come to think of it, it was nothing like West Side Story. If you've seen West Side Story, give yourself a point. Though that point is poor compensation for having the "When you're a jet..." song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Growing up, I lived in what might be politely called a _traditional_ Italian household. We were a working class family in that both of my parents worked full time jobs and were members of unions (to this day I refuse to cross picket lines). My brother and I both had part time after school jobs for as long as I can remember. It wasn't like we were dirt poor. We never went hungry, I attended a private Catholic school and I got at least one toy each year for Christmas. I always had at least one nice suit to wear to church for the usual Catholic holiday events; as well as weddings and funerals. It wasn't all that unusual for the family to get dressed in our black suits, with my mother and grandmother in their black dresses and all go to the cemetery together. We would spend the day there, even have picnics by the car. As I got older I was really freaked out that there are people who never go to cemeteries. It's strange to me. I was an altar boy, a Boy Scout and a crossing guard and have pictures to prove it. Somehow I managed to avoid falling into the Guido stereotype despite the fact that while growing up I lost one friend after another to the sinister forces of gold chains, tinted windows and nylon jogging suits. I did go through a brief Miami Vice stage; and for that I am truly and deeply sorry. To date I still have brief but painful flash backs whenever I see pastels. My brother (younger by 14 months, my only sibling, still my best friend and Niles to my Fraiser) and I were expected to be well rounded, cultured young men no matter how piggish we were. We took music lessons, trips to museums, were expected to read _good_ books and learn to speak at least one foreign language (Italian... though I did study Latin in high school) The end results were mixed at best; but for a while it looked like my brother and I would become total Philistines. He still plays music and we both developed appreciation for art and literature. And while I work as a computer geek, I do have some artistic outlets. I'm an amateur photographer who lusts after the Leica range finders and fancy medium format pro equipment with Zeiss lenses ($$$$) but uses a Canon (and occasionally a Holga) instead. Like most troubled teenagers who kept to himself, I became an avid journal keeper and the composer of bad poetry. If I've ever written you a poem consider if a major complement... no matter how bad it might have been. I still keep a journal, though entries can sometimes be days or weeks apart. Some of you might remember me from Byzantium, I was a regular there for the six months it was around. Cliff was even nice enough to put me on the comp list. With all the money I spent at the bar, I'm sure I paid my door several times over each night. Prior to that, I'd been to the old bank (Ward 6, Albion, the downstairs party... Oblivion?) Exedor once or twice, limelight on weeks when my first class was at 2pm, Squeezebox @ Don Hill's, CBGB's, yadda yadda yadda... I've even been to mother a couple dozen times. I'm such and olde fart that I remember when Webster Hall was cool. (Anyone else see NIN on that Friday the 13th show? Back in... 1994!?!) There aren't any nights that draw me out week after week like Byzantium did... though I do hit Bettie @ Raven, Interzone and Downtime every once and a while. These days my musical tastes lean toward bands that some might dismiss as "gothic elevator music". I tend to favor artists that blend influences from many genres over artists that do bad 7th generation rip-offs of Peter Murphy, SoM or NIN. Todd Zino's assessment on the state of music in the scene... too many bands that don't much of anything new, sums up my feelings pretty well. I still have a soft spot for The Cure. The Reagan Era industrial bands like Nitzer Ebb, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Front242 and Skinny Puppy. As well as death-lounge acts like Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Tom Waits. While I'm at it, Velvet Underground, Jane's Addiction, My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone... lettuce, yogurt, tile cleaner... Oops, sorry that's my grocery list. (If you thought that joke was funny, give yourself a point.) Right now my CD changer has the following disc in it: _Mira_ a great new band on Projeckt, _Your Funeral My Trial_ by Nick Cave and _Stardust_ by John Coltrane. Other CDs sitting in a pile on my desk are _How We Quit The Forest_ by Rasputina, _Breath From Another_ by Esthero, _Black Love_ by the Afghan Whigs, _Solutions for a Small Planet_ by Haujobb, Portishead live at Roseland, _Bloodflowers_ and _Disintegration_ by Fat Bob and the Screwtones... err Umm I meant The Cure. And then there's the big pile of CD's sitting on my bookshelves, coffee table and generally all over the place. As shocking as this might sound, I work as a contract programmer spending my days churning out tones of code for client/server database systems for whatever bank or trading house is willing to buy my soul in 8 hour increment. Whoa is me, poor embittered code whore. I've just recently finished a gig at a publishing company that let me run Linux rather than Windows and had no problem with my collection of odd and interesting junk on my desk. And I didn't have to wear a shirt with a collar, let alone a suit and tie. On Monday, August 21st I start my new gig working with a company called Aptegrity. Fortunately, this company has little to nothing to do with commodity and equity trading. Unfortunately, my first assignment will be for a trading house. Right now I'm catching up on my reading. A few years back I started the rather odd habit of reading a few books at once. I've got a cheesy pulp Sci-fi star wars book by my bed, _All Tomorrow's Parties_ by William Gibson in my living room and _Portrait of Hemingway_ in my bag. Generally speaking, if you catch me on the train I'll be either reading or drink coffee. Sometimes both. The last really good books I read were _The Victorian Internet_ a history of the telegraph and how it changed the world, _How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci_ and _Omerta_ by Mario Puzo. (I read almost anything involving organized crime.) As far as I'm concerned, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Alan Ginsberg are the holy trinity of the American counter culture. I'm also preferential to the usual suspects- Poe, Bukowski, Lovecraft, Gibson, P.K. Dick, Poppy Z... I've also been busy constructing hundreds of fiberglass cows and placing them in strategic places over Manhattan. Soon my bovine warriors shall rise and wreak havoc on this unsuspecting city. Moooowwwwwhahahaha. Just kidding. (Give yourself a point for every cow you've seen today) I've recently given up red meat and pork. While I have no intention of going vegan, I do feel a bit healthier. I've tried giving up meat and dairy a few times in the past but after a couple of days I felt perpetually hungry and had all day headaches no matter how much I ate. I've never been one of those hypocritical carnivores that will eat meat but is grossed out at the thought of killing an animal. I'm openly heterosexual and prefer monogamous relationships. Guess this makes me a pervert and a freak. I'm not sure when I realized that I was straight... in some ways I've always known. Let's skip the grizzly details of my sex life (or lack there of). As much as I'm in incurable romantic (possible incorrigible romantic) I've been extremely gun shy... a condition aggravated by a string of horrible failed entanglement with women who have/had serious problems. I have been in love once. I have had my heart broken once. The two are not as related as one might think. My ex tells me that she thinks I seek out women that are not capable of having a meaningful long term relationship with me as a way of avoiding a meaningful long term relationship. She knows me better than just about anyone else on the planet so there might be some truth to that. I have no interest in "doing it like they do it on the Discovery channel". I'd much rather do it like they do it on the Sci-Fi channel. Especially that yummy Bjork video. As cliche as Sci-Fi might be, it's still my preferred form of mind numbing entertainment. I watch the X-Files, Buffy, Angel and just about all of the series on Sci-Fi like Lexx and Farscape and Twin Peaks whenever it's on Bravo. I'll watch any vampire movie, no matter how bad it is. I'll watch most Sci-Fi films, not matter how silly they are. Blade Runner, Star Wars, Lather, Rinse, Repeat. For non-sci fi film I tend to go with foreign and independent films. Fellini, Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire breaks my heart every time I see it) AlmodÛvar, Kevin Smith and a few others. I think I've seen every Hitchcock film. I'm sure that I've seen every Bond film at least once. Likes: Making fun of like/dislike lists. Dislikes: Like/dislike lists. HmmmmÖ all that's left is religion and politics. Politically, consider me a hard-line moderate. If you lean to much on either the right or left wing you tend to go around in circles. It makes a lot more sense to me to balance things out. Both parties disgust me in different ways. And the 3rd party options are equally disgusting. And if you really want to piss me off, blindly quote Rand, Chomsky, Thoreau, Marx or Hitler. I've read them too. I'll call you on it and embarrass you. If you want to impress me (and get me to buy you a round or six) read lots of differing views and make up your own mind without parroting the words of others. Whenever some libertarian/socialist or neo-fascist starts spewing forth his solution to solving the world's problems, I'm reminded of that scene from the life of Brain when the crowd starts chanting "we must all think for ourselves" in unison. Follow the holy shoe! Follow the sacred gourd! About a decade ago I coined a term to describe my religious beliefs: orthodox agnostic. So far this has been an extremely successful belief system in that it has allowed me to avoid any and all discussion of religion with my family. I don't know that God exists. I don't know that he/she/it doesn't. I just don't know. Someone asked me if I thought there was anything higher than a god. I suggested a goddess... with nice boobs. Don't know if that's higher. It's just a suggestion. BTW, if you've been keeping score, give yourself another point. If you haven't been keeping score, give yourself a million points; not that it matters. -- Salvatore "Jeopardy Fanatic" Denaro sal@panix.com ICQ: 38316818 AIM: OysterBoySal Why vote Ficus? Because a vote for Ficus is a vote for growth: in particular, growth of the roots and leaves. Because a potted plant can do no harm. Because not a single member of Congress can perform photosynthesis. Vote Ficcus. http://www.ficus2000.com/