I think that most people who hire me to do a remix just want it to work in a nightclub, whereas when I'm writing my own album, I don't have to worry so much about 2 A.M.
I hate nightclubs, and I get fed up very quickly in crowded rooms. I enjoy being around people I know.
I love that drag is a way for people to vacation in the gay nightlife, but... it's quite a different experience to perform for a gay audience than a straight audience.
People make fun of Utah nightlife, but it's actually dope. I love it.
L.A., it's nice, but I think of sunshine and people on rollerblades eating sushi. New York, I think of nighttime, I think of Times Square and Broadway and nightlife and the city that never sleeps.
Some nightlife places, people aren't there for the music, and it's depressing. I'm not just a club DJ; I am a producer, and I'll only DJ when the crowd is there to enjoy the music.
The nightlife in Baltimore is very mixed. Any gay people I know go to the hipster bars; they don't go to the gay bars. Start your night at the Club Charles, and then you can meet people to go other places. The Charles has been Baltimore's favourite cool hipster bar forever.
Vancouver is more laid-back, pretty much what you would expect from a West Coast city. Miami is definitely livelier - the nightlife, the people, everything. It's basically a little slice of Latin America.
I'm shocked at how early everything closes here. But people start earlier. I miss the late nightlife in NYC, but then again I sing and burn so much energy in the show that it's probably good - I get to go home and sleep.
Sometimes, reading my own media, the negativity can upset me, but I just deal with things on a positive basis. I mean, I have up to 20,000 people singing my words back to me on a nightly basis - they share my hopes and fears, and they relate to my own life experiences. Life can be pretty isolating, but that connection is always amazing.
Some nights it was a melee, literally, where I'd be standing trying to defend myself for what I was doing. People would be screaming at me to do my old act, and getting actually violent and angry at me.
My nighttime look is exactly like my daytime look - like I'm going to a super fancy funeral. I guess it would be considered extreme to most people, but I like it that way. The idea of conventional beauty isn't attractive to me... that's why, when I was growing up, I felt kind of torn about makeup.
There is a difference in what people are willing to consider, daytime versus nighttime.
IBM has research and development; so do Microsoft and Nike and even Jose Andres. But there hasn't been enough R&D on feeding people in the Third World. This has to be part of the process; if not, we'll keep throwing money at the problem instead of investing in true solutions.
I've always done drama, but I suppose 'Tyrannosaur' was a bit of a watershed moment for me. It was like when Kathy Burke did 'Nil By Mouth' - suddenly, people were saying, 'Oh, she can do that, too.'
At that time, the people that were in the animated film business were mostly guys who were unsuccessful newspaper cartoonists. In other words, their ability to draw living things was practically nil.
I could have worked with great people like Nile Rodgers, which I regret. I don't have many regrets, but I remember he'd shown some interest, and I was just in my own world, man.
Let's set things straight... there are 300 million people living in countries within the Nile basin in horrific economic and security conditions. The $500 that they earn in Israel every month is an annual salary in their countries of origin.
We're dumber and less cognitively nimble if we're not around other people - and, now, other machines.
We must prepare people to be nimble enough to adapt to an ever-evolving marketplace. And we must help them develop skills that will be valued no matter what tomorrow's jobs are - skills like creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.
