I had left the music business and became a conflict journalist. The conflict journalism started for me in the Gulf and the oil spill. When Skynyrd needed a new bass player, they knew me from the Black Crowes.
In a lot of ways, Nauru is something like a canary in a coal mine: It's a tiny place with more than its share of troubles, most of them the kind that might have been prevented.
Oil's in everything we have, from anesthetics to aspirations to aspirins to most parts of the cell phone contain oil. We interface with oil in every part of our life.
My journalistic heroes are all the guys like Peter Arnett of Vietnam, and my style in journalism is you got to stand there, and you got to see it with your own eyes.
I had a deal with CNN and had no intention of going back to the music business, but you know, it's Lynyrd Skynyrd.
When you grow up in Atlanta, joining Lynyrd Skynyrd is like joining the Rolling Stones.
Some Lynyrd Skynyrd songs are literally the backdrop of America. Songs like 'Simple Man' and 'Free Bird' and 'Alabama.' I wasn't prepared for how emotional the crowd gets during the songs.
What else do you say to Medlocke, Rossington and Van Zant? We're talking Southern rock royalty. We're talking Lynyrd Skynyrd. The only thing out of my mouth was when and where!
I was 8 years old when I started listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company and Led Zeppelin.
The news of Mubarak stepping down came as I was sitting in my Jordanian home away from home.
Seriously, American pop culture must be the most predominant force on the planet, next to pollution and poverty.
