I was homeless and I was in San Diego and I started singing in a local coffee shop and people started coming to hear me sing.

Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.

My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact. If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it.

I have a sneaking suspicion that all religions lead to the same place, a very unified place.

The fashions of the ages vary in this direction and that, but they vary for the most part from a central road which was struck out by the imagination of Greece.

From a very young age, stories fuelled my imagination in the most wonderful way.

Just the type of music that was around at the same time as I was writing. Some of it was wicked, definitely. But there was just one direction which I thought could be pushed that no one was pushing.

The first four and a half years was me in the studio every day, writing songs for other people. I had jobs, too - eleven jobs. I worked at Kinko's, Fatburger, Subway - I was a sandwich artist - and I was a claims processor at Allstate Insurance.