Those of us with a microphone who are blessed with the gift of being in the public eye have a special opportunity to give voice to all those groups whose activism is sometimes ignored or put on the back pages with the the dumbing down of television and the tabloidization of journalism. As Ralph Nader called it, "sound barks," not even sound bites.

I finally learned to accept that I can't make radio play blues any more than I could get Reagan out of the White House.

It's very personal in California to live within hours, and sometimes just a few miles, of earthquake faults when nuclear plants were being built.

You don't have to look a certain way to have a hit record.

I don't know if I'm a heroine; I'm just somebody that can cheer the troops by singing to folks, and have receptions after the show, and tithe a dollar of every ticket sale for all kinds of different great charities and social action groups.

Really important issues are getting lost, so I can say I'm glad to be a citizen of the planet and do my part.

There are so many people out there working with great grassroots and global and national organizations that are unsung heroes to me.