I worked in Licorice Pizza when John Lennon was killed. I had the day off, but I came in anyway because people needed a place to mourn.

I love iTunes as much as anybody. It's very convenient and very easy. But there is nothing like the vibe that you get when you walk into a record store. And I think a lot of people are still thrilled to spend a half hour there and go through the bins and make some purchases.

I definitely love record stores. And worked in many over the years. Having said that, it's not necessarily that I love vinyl per se. I mean, I'm happy to use CDs and MP3s: to me, it's the music that's top priority. I do have a good collection of vinyl, but I rarely actually pull it out.

Iggy Pop, or should I say Iggy's people, had reached out to me saying he was a True Blood fan, and if any opportunities come up, to please keep Iggy in mind. We sent Iggy the demo of 'LB&R'. He loved it and said, 'Sign me up.'

When we talk about novels, we don't often talk about imagination. Why not? Does it seem too first grade? In reviews, you read about limpid prose, about the faithful reproduction of consciousness, about moral heft, but rarely about the power of pure, unadulterated imagination.

I love being a writer-director. I couldn't imagine directing without writing it. You have to write and tell your stories - that's what directing is to me.

But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry.

I don't know if it's a failure of imagination on my part, but I'm not going to be writing about Paris in the 1800s. I feel like it would come off as just ludicrously uninformed, even if I did a lot of research.