The Stones were nasty and ugly and doing songs I was familiar with.

I think Blank Generation holds up pretty well. You listen to that with headphones and there's a lot going on there with the guitars- it's the product of a lot of fighting.

It was just like Howlin' Wolf. Once you arrive at the point that you understand it, the emotional factor is darker than some of the saddest blues stuff.

I never really followed grunge.

By many peoples' standards, my playing is very primitive but by punk standards, I'm a virtuoso.

By then I was in Brooklyn and drank my way through that summer. I stopped when I got sick of that and got a job at the Strand bookstore, which was a little better than the tax job.

Reading music is something that's inherently hateful to me. It makes music like mathematics.

Meanwhile after failing the bar twice, I knew some people in New York and moved here in August '71.

I was coerced into taking piano lessons in the early '50s. It was a quite unpleasant experience.

I started off with the really funky stuff like Ramsey Lewis, Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell.

After I exhausted the blues thing, I got into jazz.

Attempt to be creative for the joy it brings . . . select something like music, dance, sculpture, or poetry. Being creative will help you enjoy life. It engenders a spirit of gratitude.

I promise it'll only hurt half as much as I wish it would." The words came out as smooth and sweet as if she'd just told him that mint chocolate chip was the best flavor ice cream ever.

The easiest way to stay awake during an after-dinner speech is to deliver it.

I've handled colour as a man should behave. You may conclude that I consider ethics and aesthetics as one.

Being virtuous is wonderful thing, but feeling virtuous is a shortcut to vice.

Usually based on an economic agenda, white working-class voters don't buy into this whole biology-chemistry-abortion-gender agenda as much as they want more take-home pay. They want affordability.

The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition — thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not.

I never imagined, never imagined I would have the opportunity to be governor of the state that I love.

Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.

The pencil is mightier than the pen.