I understand why Vladimir Putin is very popular in Russia - he's probably the first Russian leader to not apologize for being Russian. People always pin it down to one man, but there's hundreds of millions of Russians of various sorts. Putin does seem to be very popular in Russia, if only because he stands up for Russians wherever they are, which is exactly what Americans do with Americans, of course.

The gap between rich and poor is, in fact, widening enormously. This idea of building up the powers of people who are already powerful and keeping everyone else back is a recipe for endless misery and conflict.

What I like about popular culture is its accessibility, and I've covered popular songs because they are amazing things.

I do think there are deep structural things that are wrong in the world.

I would like to think that the singer is the butterfly, and the drummer was just the little grub in the ground, working to become a caterpillar

The missing links in my life's work, no less!

In theory, I'd like to work in a group. But the group I'd like to work in, all the musicians in them are long since dead.