You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.

Having unlimited choices can paralyze you creatively.

Human beings have the incredible capacity for denial. I think they do. And although it's really hard to believe, I have my doubts. But my feeling is that first they have to convince themselves. First they have to justify this stuff to themselves and if they can do that, even for just the moment that it's coming out their mouth, then they can kind of mouth it with kind of believable sincerity, even if some of us.

My favorite term for a new kind of performance is "security theater." In this genre, we watch as ritualized inspections and patdowns create the illusion of security. It's a form that has become common since 9/11, and even the government agencies that participate in this activity acknowledge,off the record, that it is indeed a species of theater.

I knew I wanted to have a doll of myself on the cover. I thought, I wanna see myself as a Ken doll.

The assumption is that your personal life has to be a mess to create, but how much chaos can you allow in before it takes over?

Singing is a trick to get people to listen to music for longer than they would ordinarily.