The crowd can be a little different in some places. For example, in Europe, people tend to be very respectful. They try not to make too much noise at inappropriate times. In other countries, people can be very still. Sometimes I'm not sure if a crowd is into it until the end, when they usually want me to do something crazy for the encore.
A constant goal of mine is to try to put myself back in the place when I wrote something - not just to perform it on a surface level, but to re-enter that headspace, that emotion. That's the point of a live show - for it to feel immediate and present and a little bit unpredictable.
The 8 P.M. hour in the cable news world is currently driven by the indomitable Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Grace, and Keith Olbermann. Shedding my own journalistic skin to try to inhabit the kind of persona that might coexist in that lineup is just impossible for me.
By no means do I want to try to leave country music. That's absolutely where I want to stay.
I'm a dog lover. With the holidays, everything gets a little bit hectic. There's a lot on your mind, and maybe you forget that your animals also feel that stress as well. So try to keep them on the same routine; try to keep the chocolate out of their mouth.
If you feel you have the right key, you try to make some phrase or sound that will fit.
I remember going into a bookshop, and the only book I saw with a black child on the cover was 'A Thief in the Village' by James Berry, and I thought, 'Is this still the state of publishing?' Then I thought, 'Either I can whine about it or try to do something about it.'
I try to avoid saying 'fantastic' too often and 'obviously' is a dangerous word for all broadcasters.
Just to go into a shop without getting stared at would be nice. I mean, I don't walk around like, 'Oh, I'm trying to be famous' - I try to lead as normal a life as possible - but sometimes it's annoying. It's fine; it's not a massive problem, but sometimes it's just a bit uncomfortable.
'After 17' is a song I wrote when my first daughter went to college, so that's kind of where I'm at in that part of my life. If you listen to that song and knew anything about me, you'd say, 'Oh yeah, he wrote that about his daughter,' but I try not to write them that they are so specific that they wouldn't apply to anybody that has a child.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
There's going to be people that try to sway you to do things that you shouldn't do.
I try to make good decisions as decisions come up.
My only job as an actor is to try and understand the character and, to the best of my ability, bring this character to life.
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!
Don't try to run your life through a single straw. Someone, some event, will cut it off.
The rivalry is with ourself. I try to be better than is possible. I fight against myself, not against the other.
I'm an incredibly emotional person, but I always feel bad about that. The work is therapy... I need to emote wildly while I write. I weep. I'll laugh, get excited, and get up and pace. I try to take the emotional journey with the characters.
I know what we do really well - I just try and keep us focused on doing that.
I work on OpenBSD fulltime, as the project leader. I set some directions, increase communication between the developers, and try to be involved in nearly every aspect of the base system.
There are two kinds of companies, those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.
I do not believe in the concept of good and evil in my personal life, in the real world. I just don't believe it. I never try to judge.
Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.
I try to make myself look as normal as possible because I like people to relate to me.
We'll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail.
We should all try to embrace our own quirkiness.
I'm usually pretty good about meeting people. I try to remember they are human, too!
I try to get that across in the work, to try to, if I'm lucky, to make this world a little bit better for all of us before I check out. And that's if I'm lucky, I don't always get to have that privilege but I try always.
Don't listen to what anybody says except the people who encourage you. If it's what you want to do and it's within yourself, then keep going and try to do it for the rest of your life.
I always try to give my songs as gifts.
Work-wise, I try not to repeat myself too often. And I have to love whatever I'm doing.
I make two movies a year to take care of the butcher and the baker and the school fees. Then I try to write, but it's not that easy. Acting is what's easy.
I have to try different things to see what works best. Other people get impatient with that.
But since September 11, we have made every effort to try to work closely with state and local law enforcement.
You know, you go home and you try on a new mascara, and I guess a male CEO can't do that.
One thing I found very interesting about comedians around the world was their knowledge of stuff outside of their own culture and comfort zone. That's not very common in the States. We produce our own soft power, which is pop culture, but we rarely try to absorb and learn information from other cultures and countries.
