On 'Lost,' little is known about Michael Emerson's sphinxlike character, Benjamin Linus. Once simply the ruthless and manipulative leader of the island's Others, viewers now aren't sure what to think of the man who warns against this season's impending rescue. Villian? Hero? Victim? Prophet? Only time will tell.

What we do know about Emerson is that he is an urbane, music-loving New Yorker who prefers the crossword to the surfboard while he's on location in Hawaii. "I'm like Woody Allen in the jungle," he told Jimmy Kimmel.

Spinner's spies have spotted him at a few rock shows around town including last summer's Television reunion at Central Park. Most recently, we spotted him at Town Hall, enjoying the lovely melodies and stage banter from the Magnetic Fields alongside wife and fellow actress Carrie Preston, who also played his mother on 'Lost' -- a situation he called a "Freudian nightmare."

Emerson, who won an Emmy for his role as a serial killer on 'The Practice' and previously held illustrating jobs for such high-brow publications as the New York Times, also discussed his musical tastes with Blender. He cited Bach, the Beatles, the Stooges, Radiohead and Bob Dylan as favorites, but expressed an amusing disdain for Elton John's 'Bennie and the Jets.'