Brian Hyland just happened to be playing in our town and that song [ "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini"] was really big. And I got to go back by the stage door, and he autographed a piece of paper for me and I just, I went crazy.

People come up to me at conventions and say, 'I was such an outcast, I felt like such a geek, and when I saw you, you made me feel like such a normal person.' It's my favorite thing to hear, because that's how I felt when I was a kid. If Goth would've been around, I would've definitely been Goth. But there wasn't such a thing, so I was just weird.

People think, "Oh my god, you've been doing this job for so many years, it must get boring." It's like, "No, hell no," because I get to sing, I get to dance, I get to be on TV and in films, I get to do merchandising, licensing, show up at conventions, write, or take photographs for my book. There are so many different things going on for me that it never gets boring. It's always fun and interesting.

I think, cumulatively, I probably have done more photo sessions than just about everyone. Maybe as much as a supermodel. I know they model all the time, but have they done it for 35 years? I don't think so.

Horror, for me, has to involve some sort of fantasy. Horror is something that is in your dreams or your nightmares.

[Vincent Price] was the funniest damn guy I ever met.

One of the things that's kind of persistent is that I am the model on the cover of Tom Waits' album, Small Change.