I think maybe it's my personality. People don't like my face.

I don't think anybody does anything anymore without commenting on why they're doing it or making fun of it as they're doing it.

You can write songs about your comic books and the girl or boy you sort of know and your mom and dad and it's all right there in front of you.

The whole exploitation thing is funny, too. Exploitation is the nature of the world, isn't it?

I'm sure we're going to find out one day that the brain is as worthless as the appendix.

There was a lot of tension between my dad and his mother and brothers. Sometimes when I was over there, I remember thinking, "I don't want to get shot."

This [Thelonious Monk: The Life And Times Of An American Original] is another one of those books with the perfect blend of anecdote and analysis. The analysis is built into the anecdote. It has that right feel about it. It's not too scholarly, either.