ABOUT ME

After bailing on law school I ended up becoming a freelance writer for LA Weekly originally, then a host of music mags-SPIN, Filter, NME, Paste. After paying some dues as a freelancer, I got a job as the first LA city editor of The Onion's AV Club then landed a gig as a writer at the LA Times, where I wrote the tongue-in-cheek recreation and adventure column, Action Man. Following the biggest layoff in newspaper history (or so I've been told), I turned one of my columns into a screenplay and set about recording an album of my own music playing all the instruments. Just finished!

PHILOSOPHY

Engage your world. Be nice to its inhabitants and leave it in at least as good shape as you found it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have a funky little two-bedroom house and sometimes i gave the spare bedroom away to couchsurfers who just want to visit LA for a few days. Couchsurfed myself a bit back in the day so I figure it's karmically correct ;)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have surfed couches in Barcelona, Amsterdam and Oslo in Europe and with friends all over the U.S. of A. For my part, I've had quite a few friends surf my couch, a couple of them practically took up residence there while looking for new digs for themselves.

Interests

I sing and play a bunch of instruments (guitar, bass, keys and drums) and enjoy swimming, hiking, biking, sailing, motorcycle riding and lots of adventure. And travel, of course.

• writing
• singing
• clubbing
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• drums
• cycling
• hiking
• sailing
• swimming
• freelancing
• history
• law

Music, Movies, and Books

Fave books: A Fan's Notes, Tropic of Capricorn, Naked Lunch, Siddhartha, the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 100 Years of Solitude, Cat's Cradle, Of Human Bondage, War and Peace, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Freedom at Midnight plus most everything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King.

Films: Buffalo 66, Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, Meeting People Is Easy, Withnail and I, Time Bandits, Dr. Strangelove, Brazil, Pulp Fiction, American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, Head, The Battle of Algiers, The Big Lebowski, John Carpenter's The Thing, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Poltergeist, A Clockwork Orange, Yellow Submarine.

Music: The Beatles, Radiohead, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, Elliott Smith, MGMT, The Beach Boys, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Split Enz, Nirvana, Buzzcocks, Squeeze, The White Stripes, Blur, Queens Of The Stone Age, Doves, The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Spoon, Duran Duran, The Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Honeycut, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Self, Silversun Pickups, Autolux, The Soft Pack, Moving Units, Giant Drag, Cold War Kids, Komeda, Bloc Party, Jenny Lewis, James Brown, The Black Keys, Jellyfish, Depeche Mode, Yes, Swervedriver, Spindrift, Nina Simone, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Met the Dalai Lama once when I was in India. Big shocker, he's really nice.

Teach, Learn, Share

Generous ones with couches? I'll come to this...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Knowledge of travel across four continents, music, good vibes

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Mexico