I had spent about three months where I couldn't sing at all, so that was anxiety-provoking. But after that, I went back out. I sang for two hours in my garage one day to see if I had a voice.

Because we lived in the presence of the church and the convent and the rectory and the school 24-7. And this was an enormous cornerstone in the lives of my entire family. They were all pretty serious Catholic churchgoers.

I don't want to make a record like in the '50s or the '60s or the '70s. I want to make a record like today, that`s right now.

When it comes to luck, you make your own.

Being an artist is this kind of occupation in which you have to make people care about your obsession.

The question of whether we were misled into the war in Iraq isn't a liberal or conservative or Republican or Democratic question, it's an American one. Protecting the democracy that we ask our sons and daughters to die for is our responsibility and our trust. Demanding accountability from our leaders is our job as citizens. It's the American way. So may the truth win out.

The Jersey Shore is the kind of place where the policeman has a little cottage that might have been in the family for years and many other people call home.