Because of the changes in the Padres team I played with last year, I felt like a veteran recently when I worked out with Jason Kendall and he told me he's liked listening to my records since he was a kid!

If you want to know how important Portland is to me, there's no Saturday night gigs here. They weren't available. So our whole thing coming into Portland, which is going to be different from anybody else, any other city, is every night is Saturday night.

It's the ropes and the reins, and the joy and the pain. And they call the thing rodeo.

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself.

I'd much rather have the honesty than not. Because if you will say what's on your mind and get it off your chest, then the sooner I can prove you wrong!

Doing new stuff live is tough just simply because I pay my money, I stand in my seats, and I see the guys I love. And if I paid that ticket, there's a good chance that I'm there to hear the stuff that made me fall in love with 'em - we call it the "old stuff." And if an artist comes in town and dumps his entire new album on me, as a listener in a concert venue, it happens to miss out on the old stuff that I came there for. That doesn't work too well for me as a listener. Most of the time for concerts, it's the old stuff.

I've been taking batting practice in my barn where nobody can see me, so I may be better than anyone thinks.