The following is a listing of web sites for people, groups and organizations whose existence is approved by Kevin Loy (in no particular order):

Kevin Loy on Facebook.

Kevin Loy on MySpace.

The Friction Brothers are a Portland-based band that I've known since they formed. In fact, I've known their lead vocalist, Nathaniel James, for many years now. I even made an appearance on their first (and to date, only) album, and both Nathaniel and the group's lead guitarist "Hurricane" made appearances on "Throw Money".

Whatever his ultimate standing as a person may be, Charles Mingus was a true musical giant. This link will take you to the official Mingus website, where you can find out about all of the latest projects and releases from his estate.

Albert Ayler was a composer/musician who was one of the major figures in developing what is usually referred to nowadays as "free jazz". He was an important influence on John Coltrane's final works (though most writers like to gloss over that fact), but more importantly, he had his own singular style.

Masters of Cinema is a division of Eureka Entertainment that releases films which are generally overlooked. Their releases are probably better than Criterion these days, notwithstanding the fact that they dip more extensively into silent films than Criterion. Especially noteworthy: their special editions of films by Carl Theodor Dreyer and F.W. Murnau.

Considering the recent plummet into insubstantiality that the Criterion Collection has taken (despite a legacy of releasing many fine films...can anybody actually justify the recent induction of films like Monsoon Wedding into the Criterion Collection?), their Eclipse series is proving to be a breath of fresh air. Although the DVDs they release are skeletal, with no real restoration work *or* added features, the fact that they've already devoted two box sets to films by Yasujiro Ozu says more about Eclipse than it does about their parent organization these days (which, once again, is releasing Monsoon Wedding on DVD. I feel the need to mention this despite their legacy of excellent releases of films by Dreyer, Ozu, Bresson and Cassavetes [amongst others] because, well...they're releasing Monsoon Wedding on DVD. What's next, a box set of the crappy Matrix films?)

Kevin's friend Joe Orlando (who is also a good guitarist) operates Fenwick Street Used Books & Music, an excellent little book store with a good selection and great service.

Sun Ra was perhaps the greatest composer to emerge during the latter half of the 20th century, and the various permutations of his Arkestra boasted some incredible talent. This link will take you to El Ra Records, where the current Arkestra (led by Ra's long-time alto sax player Marshall Allen) resides. This site also contains a "links" page which features many extremely useful links to other sites dedicated to Sun Ra's output.

Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart, is what I would call a "natural artist". Boasting incredible gifts and talents as a composer, poet, and painter, his best musical works easily rank alongside the greatest works from the 20th century.

Wikipedia is both a wonderful and frustrating resource. It is wonderful because anybody can contribute to it, and it is frustrating for the very same reason. Still, I must admit that I like the extensive cross-indexing, and I've spent many hours reading about things that might not have otherwise piqued my interest if I had not been on Wikipedia.