How you sound. How you look. Are you fat? Those are things that could be really irritating.

I had very literal parents and I wanted to survive with metaphor and art, and there was a real sense of shame around it.

When you trust people to help you, they often do.

Bands like Nirvana had theatrical sensibilities, playing with image, challenging assumptions people were making about them, the apex being Kurt Cobain in a dress to make a point.

If I were a guy, it would be, you know, just a different set of problems I have to carry along.

I want to live in a world where Miley (or any female musician) can twerk wildly at 20, wear a full-cover floral hippie mumu at 37, show up at 47 in see-through latex, and pose semi-naked, like Keith & co, on the cover of Rolling Stone at 57 and be APPLAUDED for being so comfortable with her body.

The challenge is to just focus on what's actually happening, focus on the people who get it, and focus on the people who are listening.