I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
I have a very conveniently photographic memory of emotions - it's overwhelming, because things don't fade for me.
I was a rebel. I went to Carmel Convent in Delhi where I was a complete rebel. I thought I was 12 going on 18. I wanted to go out with friends older to me, stay out late - my parents were horrified. It was then that we began having our first disagreements.
My mother came from an Irish family of 11 kids and, of course, had a sister who was a nun, so I spent time at a convent and with an aunt and uncle who lived in New York and took me to the theater.
She gave me another piece of information which excited other feelings in me, scarcely less dreadful. Infants were sometimes born in the convent; but they were always baptized and immediately strangled!
If somebody's dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they're going to have to take what they get.
I was terrible in English. I couldn't stand the subject. It seemed to me ridiculous to worry about whether you spelled something wrong or not, because English spelling is just a human convention - it has nothing to do with anything real, anything from nature.
I have friends who are majorly into the cosplay culture and have urged me to go to a convention for no other reason than to meet others like me.
I haven't looked at marriage in the conventional sense, as far as settling down. I look at it as putting faith in another person, which has always been hard for me to do.
I started to itch to do a play again and 'Macbeth' came to the surface in my mind. I never thought I would do it in a conventional way. A sweaty Macbeth with blood on his arms coming in fresh from the battle doesn't interest me.
For me to want to be an actor was an improbable idea. I wasn't beautiful or pretty in any conventional way. I wasn't an ingenue at 22. But I was always certain of it and certain of its power. I felt the power when I went to the theater at 9, 10, 12 and 14.
At 18, I got a publishing deal, so I was like, 'I can do this for real and not go to college.' When I was a teenager, my parents dragged me to a lot of songwriting conventions.
I first heard about 'Stranger Things' from people dressed as the characters coming up to me at conventions saying, 'Hey, you have to see this show. It's 'Goonies.'
People ask me how could I go from country to jazz. It's been a natural convergence for me.
I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know you were supposed to have one.
It has always been a wonder to me where my conversational power has gone: at the present time, I cannot impress the most ordinary men.
Criticism is, for me, like essay writing, a wonderful way of relaxation; it doesn't require a heightened and mediated voice, like prose fiction, but rather a calm, rational, even conversational voice.
I always made my songs very conversational, and if anyone ever has a conversation with me, they know I'm a very open guy, very open and honest.
During holiday parties when people used to ask me what I did for a living, I would tell them I sold resort timeshares. That was an effective conversational nonstarter, until I met someone that actually did sell resort timeshares.
The idea of doing something that I've never done before, that presents a new challenge, that forces me to stretch in some way - that's kind of a perfect project for me, and especially something that has greater social, conversational ramifications. I mean what more could you want?
