Music journalists love Elvis Costello and hate me because they look like Elvis Costello.
My ambition is to further create a signature sound, a signature spirit, that makes some kind of contribution to music in general.
I take my personal upkeep real seriously; my sense of organization and attention to detail; my memory; my business – I love the business.
Van Halen can keep providing the rain and I’ll keep providing the parade.
The world’s a stage, and I want the brightest spot.
The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.
You stick your head above the crowd and attract attention and sometimes somebody will throw a rock at you. That’s the territory. You buy the land, you get the Indians.
The problem with self-improvement is knowing when to quit.
It’s always irritated me that people say, ‘Where’s the action? Oh wow, there’s no action here; let’s go somewhere else.’ These people will never find the action.
Maybe I’m like acts of Congress or your favorite Chinese restaurant – you don’t really want to know what’s going on behind the door. I’m a real study in contrast, I expect, looking from without. But it adds up to what you get on stage.
It’s not who wants to sleep with you; It’s who wants to sleep with you again.
Let’s play with the career, if we can’t find anything else to do.
I just wanted to be in show biz. I wanted to make music and sing and dance, tell jokes and stories, make ya smile, make ya cry – and charge you $ 8.50.
An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.
Radio as we know it is pretty much changing completely.
I think very frequently, musicians become a victim of every song they sing. I like all kinds of recreation. It’s aggressive. I want to be part of everything.
Whether I’m on for a day or whether I’m on for a year, at the end of the day, I sing for my dinner.
Self-tragedy is always a great way to dramatize yourself – ask any teenager.
I’m a natural behind the camera. My attentions are more toward behind the scenes, more toward creating, producing, and directing what’s going on here. When I finally do pop in front of the lens, I’m genuinely glad and relieved to be there.
In front of the camera and in front of the lens, there’s no lawsuits, there’s no agent, and there’s most frequently no time limits. There’s a longevity that’s kind of built into it. I spend most of my time behind the scenes, and when it is time to perform, I’m genuinely delighted to do it.
The travels before and after the tour are what add up to what you’re doing. You are really called into service – and it’s the service industry man, it’s blue collar man, I’m sweating by the second song. It’s construction work from that second song on.