I write about all manner of things: a guy fighting aliens in the New York State Library, Antarctica, Inca civilization in Peru, the Great Pyramid at Giza, and people often ask me, where do I get these ideas from? They come from reading widely, watching a lot of documentaries, and increasingly ,as I was able to, travelling around the world.
I would dream of going up to the 'New York Times' and asking them if I could please be a copy boy or let me scrub the toilets or something like that. But I couldn't rise to those heights.
New Yorkers stop me on the street all the time to say, 'You're terrific! You're the nuts!'
When I was just a twenty-something, I came to Newark, and I found a connection to the city in a spiritual way. I found a connection here and people here that reminded me so much of my roots and my own family.
I didn't finish college; my parents didn't graduate college - we didn't have a pot to piss in. I'm from Newark, New Jersey. I had to work. I didn't think it would be possible for me to be an artist without having a job.
My job requires me to put on a little dress and run around the streets of New York in heels. But I also had the financial means to hire a yoga teacher to come to my house while my sitter watched the newborn. For 95 percent of the world, that's not realistic.
All the fans that are aware that I'm a family man and I have five kids and the newborn, and they send messages on social media or a sign in the audience, or they just say it to me person-to-person on the street, I appreciate all of that.
I was going to do business studies in Newcastle because there were a lot of nightclubs. My father said if I went that route, he'd never speak to me again: credit where credit's due.
Mum and Dad used to always follow me and support me, taking me to Newcastle on a Sunday morning after getting up at 7 A.M. They have always supported my football but always told me how important school was.
Newcastle was tough - the manager who'd signed me, Bobby Robson, got sacked three games into the season, so a new manager arrived, and I ended up going on loan again, to Aston Villa.
I remember my last game for Newcastle in the pre-season, when their fans were singing that they wanted me to stay, but when the opportunity came to play for a great club like Liverpool with such a great history, I had to take it. I hope they understand why I made that choice to go to Liverpool.
With Sumthin Else Music Works, I wanted to spread the love and give newcomers a chance to make it because something that really helped me were all the people who had given me an opportunity when I was putting my career together.
There is always some criticism. Tell me one thing that Narendra Modi does and you don't criticise. If he gives a chance to newcomers, you say he forgot the old guard; if he gives a chance to an incumbent, you say Modi doesn't give a chance to young leaders.
Many ask me why I work with debutants, but I always tell them that there's space for every one in the industry, and if my music helps him, then I'm glad to be of some help. I will never say no to deserving newcomers.
Honestly, in the music business, it's all about being cool or being the newest thing or being the 'It' person, and I've tried really hard to be what is expected of me or what would be advantageous to my career, and I just reached the point where I said, 'No, I'm an emotional loser. I can't pretend to not care.'
My career has been defined by dominating every opportunity presented to me. I am excited for my newest opportunity representing WWE 2K17 as the franchise's ambassador and honoured to serve as the WWE 2K17 cover Superstar.
Of course, people have tried to stereotype me... But it's very short-lived if you realise that you're only as new as your newest film... You have to look beyond the period of initial reactions and recognise that there's a bigger body of work and an effort to do something bigger.
I think no woman I have had ever gave me so sweet a moment, or at so light a price, as the moment I owe to a newly heard musical phrase.
I'm not a Luddite at all. I love all this stuff. I look at all the gadgets that come out and I think, 'Oh, this fix works for me. But the rest don't.' I'm not genuflecting in front of the God of Newness.
Many people who know me call me 'the hardest working man in the news business' because you're never, ever going to outwork me.
