New Year's Eve was always a big occasion at home with the family. Every year we would get the karaoke machine out and I'd entertain everyone, even as a young kid.
I had 13 weeks off and I would pack up the family and drive to some mountain retreat where we could be together and fish all day. I loved it. I needed it.
People just don't laugh when their family is violated, and you don't shrug it off. You band together and you defend together. It's a funny, primitive instinct.
There's a lot of things that go on when you're on tour that cannot be controlled. I'm not even talking about myself, but of course there's sexual activity and drugs, fighting and language; it is certainly not a place to raise a family.
I came from an intellectual family. Most were doctors, preachers, teachers, businessmen. My grandfather was a small businessman. His father was an abolitionist doctor, and his father was an immigrant from Germany.
As a child I sometimes used to travel to the West Bank to visit my family, so I know what the checkpoints felt like. I knew what it was like to live under occupation.
My mother's family came from the British West Indies. And my father's family came from, well, my father's father came from the Montana/South Dakota area. They were Blackfoot Indian.
I come from a family who prided themselves, both sides, on memory. And I was told growing up, constantly, that I was born with a really good memory.
It's a big deal to bring your family on the road, you know? I'd love to do it sometime, but you have to work out schools and all that.
I was never forced to go to church, and there is a lot of beauty in Christianity that I take in my life as a gift, and there is a lot of beauty in other religions. I'm kind of a spiritual mutt.
I think beauty comes from within. If you're happy and look at life in the best way you can, even when there are problems, it can make you beautiful on the outside.
I have to take time occasionally to get away from the pressures of this business. If I don't, I think I would get stale, and that would show in my music.
I grew up in a show business family, so we've always had a great sense of balance, being so close to my parents. I've always known what is and isn't reality.
Everyone in show business has had the experience of the fan who is so excited at recognizing their favorite star, they say, 'Oh my gosh, you're my biggest fan!'
It's all about trying to be very careful about what your next role or what your next move is gonna be. It's all about trying to have longevity in this business and make smart choices.
I don't like the fashion world. It's too nasty, too rip-off, too hard. And now it's all Gucci and Prada; it's very difficult to make your own business.
There is a real diversity of talent and background on the A list so as to better reflect our society in all walks. There are people who have been candidates before, Councillors, Doctors, business leaders, charity campaigners.
I have a saying, which is, 'Crazy is good for business.' I think rock and roll really is about being a bit crazy.
Catfish is not playing guitar no more, he's doing like a home-front thing. He had been in the business around ten years before I got in it, so I guess he's had enough of it.
There are peaks and valleys in anything and that is especially true for the music business. It is very inconsistent. But if you are wise, you can let those downs really bring you to another level of your personality.
They're talking about a movie I don't want to hold to that because in this business you can talk about things for years before they get done - god knows if the financing would happen.
