I'd been studying philosophy at the University of Chicago. I hadn't been doing well, because I was sitting in with jazz musicians at night - it's hard to read Heidegger, but it's especially hard if you're half asleep.

While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed.

I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close.

Music is a physical expression that has a physical impact upon the listener. Sound travels in waves through the air. This is not abstract. This is scientific fact. And it makes physical contact with the eardrum... and with the heart... and with the rest of the body.

Chess has given me a lot more than I could ask for. I have been able to feel special, travel the world and do what I truly enjoy. Moreover, chess players love being their own boss and hate having to wake up early!

It's a tad embarrassing, but there's this show called 'The Dead Files' on the Travel Channel, and I'm completely obsessed with it!

Although by 1851 tales of adventure had begun to seem antiquated, they had rendered a large service to the course of literature: they had removed the stigma, for the most part, from the word novel.

I'm not a nervous flier. I realize it's still the safest form of travel.