I had tremendous fun fooling around with the way people talked about songs, just the way that became another way of understanding the world.

I think criticism, or a critical engagement with history, has a good deal to do with a willingness to be fooled.

It's very lucky when you have an artist - whether it's a novelist or a filmmaker or a singer - whose career you can follow from the beginning and feel that you are in some way part of it, or part of the same world that it comes out of.

When I'm struck by things, I want to hear more and find out more. I remember when Lana Del Rey was on 'SNL,' this supposedly disastrous performance. She's doing this pretentious torch song, and I thought, 'I don't know what she's doing, but it's really moving me.'

My grandfather did a lot of things in his life. What he was most proud of was raising his family.

As a child, I lived with being punier than other boys in class. The only consolation was my parents' empathy - they encouraged constant trips to the local drugstore for chocolate milk shakes to fatten me up. The shakes made me happy, but still, all through grammar school, other kids shoved me around.

The Jewish community is all about love and family, which is the most important thing in my life, too.

I chose the Congress for its thoughts, its acceptance of people of all opinions, and its wide perspective. Another reason for joining the party was my family, which is attached to the Congress for a long period of time.