The first rule of rock and roll is it's all about live. Then you have to learn a second craft, which is making records. It should go in that order.

The British invasion was the most important event of my life. I was in New Jersey and the night I saw the Beatles changed everything. I had seen Elvis before and he had done nothing for me, but these guys were in a band.

I have a bigger mission than any kind of specific politics, which is trying to restore the accessibility of rock 'n' roll.

I'm not pretending to be an academic, or to have this down to a science. It's strictly my taste. But there is a connection between everything I play and the sets I put together.

As most of the population suffers through life, barely surviving, disappointed and confused day after day, hopeless, wondering what happened to their strong and beautiful country, it is in the medias power to restore, if not some of our quality of life, at least a bit of our peace of mind.

The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist.

The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist. It's a different world without Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Jones and the rest.