I think touring is an important part of the life of an orchestra. Not only sharing with other audiences, but bringing that sense of family that you get back home. The sense of growing deeper into the music, of making it all sound like chamber music - that comes from being together on tour.
I was growing up in the 50's and 60's. Back then they didn't even know what dyslexia was.
When I went off to college in 1997, I didn't go back and watch 'Conan.' I was out partying and dating women.
I wanted to be involved in TV and film in some capacity, so a compromise, because acting seemed unrealistic, and so risky, was to get into the production side. And it was a really fortunate, smart move looking back on it, because it gave me perspective on another side of the business.
I like to be with my back against the wall in dangerous situations.
But I was very disappointed that I didn't get a chance to go overseas with that group, might not have gotten back but I wanted very much to go because there's not much of a record of the exploits of the first Negro fighter group.
I started out doing something little. I went to Africa to spend five weeks putting roofs on a building. I seen the small child that stepped on a land mine. Three months later, I'm back helping pull the land mines out. Little things just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
There is a heated debate in Turkey these days over whether the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is furthering democracy or rolling it back.
My dad has done a bit of research on our family tree, and we can trace it quite far back. My dad believes he has traced us back to being a great-great-great-great-great-great cousin of Wellington.
John Carter was also one of our first recognizable superhumans and there is little doubt that his extraordinary physical feats inspired Superman's creators. Remember: before Superman could fly or turn back time, he was nothing less than an earthbound crime-fighting John Carter in tights.
I'm always interested in talented or odd people, and my whole life I've written about geniuses who society has treated badly and they strike back - or not.
I had a ridiculously idyllic childhood. I think back and am like, 'Wow. I was so naive, in the best way.'
I started as kind of an outsider - freelancer working from home, building contacts from the ground up etc. - so I didn't have too many relationships holding me back.
If you sit back and simply allow your country to be, it is highly unlikely to be the kind of country you want. You have to be active.
My parents were divorced when I was three, and both my father and mother moved back into the homes of their parents. I spent the school year with my mother, and the summers with my dad.
Both Springsteen and Michael Jackson, who had these huge productions, could always scale them back down to just a song and a melody. All of that influences me. I also try to be a fictional writer, and sometimes I get close, but the things that resonate the most with me - and with everyone else - is what's real.
Fame is something that is tough when it comes. It's a weird thing to take on in real life. I was a little bit afraid and, as a result, kind of turned my back on it. You should embrace it because it's going to be a part of who you are, and it's going to be a part of what this business is about.
We need bold leadership to bring America back to its first principles of diversity inclusion and opportunity for everyone in every ZIP Code, and music is that vehicle to summon our better angels. Music is that vehicle and always has been a vehicle to challenge us to build a better America.
I put out records to this day that are not necessarily in a sequence of anything. Some could be written a while back, some not. There is no set pattern.
I never wanted to return to Hollywood because Hollywood people and the fakeness - very artificial and not dear to my heart. After I lived in the Midwest, and I learned what sincere, real people were all about, I never wanted to go back.
Nobody strikes a medal for the Royal Military Canal campaign any more, but a pint in the back bar of the ancient Mermaid Inn, perched in front of one of the biggest and oldest inglenooks you're ever likely to see, is its own reward.
I don't really buy the death-drive thing too literally; it feels overly neat and convenient. But I am suspicious of fighting back being the dominant model for cinematic conflict and personal conflict and political conflict.
The art of acting is to pitch good. You do the pitching and hope that the other person catches the ball and does some good pitching back to you.
When you have kids, there's a tendency to put the marriage stew on the back burner and give it a quick stir now and then. But it's important to remember why you had children with this person.
I was born in Swindon... a place that always looked west. I found that wherever I go I love to have a room with a view of the western sky. My late brother and I, when we were small, had a room at the back of the house that overlooked the sunset; and both for he and I it was kind of magical.
I've loved music always, and my music fire was lit by Elvis Presley, really, and all that was happening back then.
Back in the days of the Smiths, when we first started touring England - this is, like, 1984 - there were these two girls. They were literally vicar's daughters, and they used to follow us to every gig, no matter where we went.
I've got a great relationship with my dad, but I can imagine how annoying it would be if I had to move back into his house.
It's fun being a princess, but it's not very practical! You're trudging through the forest and the mud and all of the elements. You kind of think, 'How did they do this back then?' Thank God I can put on my Nike trainers and walk around the rest of the day!
Back in 1968, when I was 30, my entire life blew up. I had a life plan, and it collapsed for no rational reason.
You want to prevent war, you talk, talk, but you also have to back it up with actions.
If we pulled out of Iraq tomorrow, Islamic jihadism is on the rise. And they continue, as we see in Lebanon, to seek to destroy the State of Israel and seek to drive America back and bring us to our knees. We must stand tall and straight.
I've had chronic back pain since I was a preteen - like, 12. I have really funny posture. I developed this funny posture where I hunch my back a little bit when I'm playing, and I overuse my back muscles instead of my abs. My posture has put a lot of strain on my lower back.
Reflecting back, we all make mistakes; we all go through our stuff - relationships, financial, all kinds of stuff - and if you can grow from that and pass that message on, it's a pretty cool thing.
My mother did play classical piano, not that well. And actually, my father sang with the big bands - he sang with Bob Crosby's band - but he had to give up show business when his father died. He had to come back to Montgomery and take over the furniture store.
There was a kind of infiniteness to fiction that I found sort of... disconcerting. I remember having these really panicky thoughts, like, 'I can make this person say anything. I could make him do anything! I could put a jetpack onto his back and shoot him into space!' I don't like this feeling of having no rules.
