Whether I'm playing right now or not, I still have an opportunity to get better in practice. It's like sharpening my blade.
I'd actually say that every musician is a human being, and that not everybody likes being social. But with music, there are all these ingredients to the business that have nothing to do with writing songs or playing an instrument.
When we are out on the road, running up and down the road playing shows, you have to be not only a member of a band but, especially with Lynyrd Skynyrd, you have to be a part of the Skynyrd nation. You have to be a part of the family.
I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.
I got my Actors' Equity card officially by playing Nana the dog in 'Peter Pan' at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. That was the first show I did as a full-fledged, dues-paying member; I earned points in my MFA program, then went into the company after I graduated.
When I started playing, I played in R&B bands. I played James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and all that.
I just can't stomach playing poorly. More than anything, I hate not getting the most out of my game.
'Jack & Diane' was originally about race. I was playing nightclubs, and I was seeing new American couples, mixed-race couples. I thought it was cool. The song was my effort to make a song about that, but of course the record-company guy didn't like it.
Playing music is the best thing in the world. It makes show business almost bearable.
There are always some surprises in the draw when people are playing pretty well.
When I'm on family road trips, there is always Ranchera playing.
Wins and losses just blur into one as you move around the world playing matches.
Acting is just playing the violin in an orchestra. Directing is being the conductor.
I miss being able to play my instruments - I'm too much of a physical wreck these days. Playing the vibraphone gives me backache, leg ache, and everything-else ache, and the asthma means I no longer have enough puff to play harmonica.
My entire style of playing was built around somebody else playing guitar with me, a story that, on its own, sounds unfinished.
It's a joy, the process itself, even instrumentally, playing and constructing music. It's just so beautiful to me.
I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual... and yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.
I think the best comedic actors don't play it for comedy, they play it for reality. Then you find it funny because it's real. Playing the genre is the worst thing you can do - it's embarrassing.
I want to bring magic back to where it started, which is not about the props, and it's not about me as a magician: it's about the audience and playing with their minds and playing with their perception of magic and having fun with it.
When your kids are 5 or 6, they already start playing with makeup. And I was the only mother in freakin' elementary school getting called in to deal with makeup on her daughter.
If I think about music in the future, I imagine it often as not involving electricity, in some dystopian, post-apocalyptic future. And that's what I get from Penderecki: people making music by taking these instruments out of boxes and playing them. That's a very bizarre and modern thing.
I remember once when I told Lindsay Anderson at a party that acting was just a sophisticated way of playing cowboys and Indians he almost had a fit.
My dad taught me everything. It's been fun walking in his footsteps. He played for his whole life and traveled the country and had a great career. He taught me everything about life and playing golf and how to act. Just everything. I learned so much from him and those days hanging around the driving range.
Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.
I think it all comes from the same source, really, the writing of music, the writing of words, the playing of music. It's what drives anyone to be interested in the arts. I think it's a poetic gene; it's a wanting to go beyond.
I have six brothers and one sister. I grew up playing ice hockey, a total tomboy, and that's what I thought I was going to do - be an ice-hockey player.
It was fun playing a horrible, snotty kid in 'Harry Potter', and then playing Prince Charming where I was also singing and playing guitar, and then playing a completely different character.
I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.
Even if you're playing the most well-known repertoire under the sun, I still believe you have a responsibility as an artist to tell the audience why you're playing it, what are the key aspects to it, and then throw in a bit about its historical context.
House, rap, R&B, disco rock, they are all part of hip-hop culture. Why you ain't playing Kraftwerk along with Jay-Z? That's hip-hop.
My pops and my mom started playing Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers and all these people, but at the same time, they always had Snoop on right behind it in the same mix.
Most of the cricketers are doing side businesses apart from playing the sport, so why should I be left behind. I feel there is a lot of money in making films, and since Punjabi cinema is doing good, this is a lucrative option for me.
As an actor, it's a very strange adjustment to start playing the father. I was used to playing a kid my whole life, and then all of a sudden, it's like, boom. I guess when I let my hair go grey, things changed.
When I was younger, the red carpet used to terrify me because it's not about playing a part: you're not in a film pretending to be someone - you are yourself. It's intimidating.
What I want is for people to really grab hold of language and not be nervous about it. 'The Word Spy' is all about diving in and playing with words.
I started playing baseball and soccer. Those were my sports on the streets and in school when I was growing up. I didn't even start playing basketball until I was 14.
