Art That (had or does) Matter(s)
…to me, obviously
In no particular order:
Music: Solsbury Hill & Big Time (Gabriel), Small Town Saturday Night (Ketchum), Losing my Religion (REM), One (U2), I Want Your Sex (Michael), Safety Dance (Men Without Hats), Africa (Toto), Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov), Annabelle Lee (Jarosz), Jolene (Parton), Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues (John), Me and Bobby McGee (Joplin), Diva – Album (Lennox), Call Me (Harry), You Better Think (Franklin).
Books: Dune 1-6 (Herbert), The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas), Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit (Tolkien), Ender’s Game (Card), Ballet Shoes (Streitfield), Thus Was Adonis Murdered (Caudwell), “Masters of Rome” Series (McCullough), The Blue Flower (Fitzgerald), The Persian Boy (Renault), Harry Potter/Eve Dallas/Dresden/Gamache/Fadorin/Pendergast/Gordianus the Finder serieses,
Art: The Kiss (Rodin), The Pieta (Michelangelo), Judith Slaying Holofernes (Gentileschi), Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch), the Rembrandts of the Hermitage.
Plays: Man of La Mancha (Wasserman), A Lie of the Mind (Shepard), Peer Gynt (Ibsen), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare), Making up for Lost Time (Razavi), Equus (Shaffer), Julie (Strindberg & Razavi), Antigone (Anouilh), The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (Weiss), Master Harold and the Boys (Fugard), Love Story in Three Phases (Adler), And Then There Were Some and Witness for the Prosecution (Christie), What the Butler Saw (Orton), Various “Cirque du Soleil” shows.
Movies: The Piano, Training Day, Raising Arizona, Star Wars 1-3, Indiana Jones and the Ark of the Covenant, Serenity, Shakespeare in Love, Henry V (Branagh), Red 1 & 2, Beauty & The Beast (animated), Muppet Christmas Carol and Treasure Island, Three Colors: Blue, White, and Red, Dead Again, Shrek 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl, Pitch Black, 13th Warrior, Galaxy Quest.
Actors: Viola Davis, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ken Watanabe, Denzel Washington, Brian Cox, Helen Mirren, Cush Jumbo, Jodie Comer, Sandra Oh, Judi Dench, Holly Hunter, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Helen McCrory, Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Zoe Saldana, Jared Harris, Chow Yun Fat, Willem Dafoe, Thandiwe Newton, Michael K. Williams, Stellan Skarsgard, Michelle Yeoh, Ralph Fiennes.
TV: Longmire (also the books), Angel, Battlestar Galactica (reboot), Firefly, Fleabag, Twin Peaks, Killing Eve, Dexter (also the books), True Detective (1 & 3), Stranger Things, Deadwood, Rome, Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful, Lovecraft Country.
Restaurants: Briar Rose Chophouse & Saloon, Breckinridge, CO; Il Molino, Peking Duck House, Burrito Loco, Virgil’s Real BBQ, NYC; Johnnie’s, The Charcoal Oven, and Braum’s, OKC; Hog Penny Pub, Hamilton, Bermuda; Victoria & Albert’s, Grand Floridian, WDW; James Joyce Pub and The Knight’s of Malta Restaurant, Prague, CZ; Picasso, Las Vegas; Café Pasqual’s, Inn of the Anasazi, Coyote Café, Sante Fe, NM; Kennebec Café, Original Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Seasons of Durango, Tequila’s, Durano, CO; Clay Pot Eatery, Texas Chili Parlor, Amy’s Ice Cream, Kirby Lane, Magnolia Café, Maudi’s, Manuel’s, Guero’s, Fonda San Miguel, Austin, TX; Biga, Tchlan, Liberty Bar, Candlelight Café, Cappyccino’s, Blanco Café, Chris Madrid’s, John the Greek, Boiler House, 18 Oaks, Fratello’s Deli, Tokyo Inn, San Antonio, TX.