Egyptian drumming happens to be a favorite of mine. It's a really simple instrument, but it's really difficult to play. You can take it anywhere with you - you can play it in your room, in an airport. It's very quiet, so you explore the quiet side.

When I heard Grateful Dead music, I knew that it was the most powerful force on the planet.

What is the best music is impossible to define. Just because it's played by a virtuoso player, doesn't mean it's great music. It might not reflect the soul of a people, which is really my criteria for great music.

Art in the classroom not only spurs creativity, it also inspires learning.

The point is that the arts are important enough to have influenced the greatest minds and talents we know. Albert Einstein said that if he were not a physicist, he would probably be a musician.

The voice of the drum is a spirit thing.

Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that’s what we are.