My experience of what a loving relationship is like rings true with a lot of people I meet. I have a theory that the people you meet, one way you choose them, is their suitability for you in that particular matter. Attitudes toward friendship and marriage are in many cases closely aligned.

The Village Voice gave me an outlet. They encouraged writers to publish idiosyncratic, intellectually ambitious journalism in voices that ranged from demonic to highfalutin. And they paid me well once the magazine was unionized. Getting paid is motivational.

In the worst of times, music is a promise that times are meant to be better.

Anyway, you know, when Richard Meltzer said rock and roll died in '68, what he means is Jefferson Airplane were no longer his buddies, that's what he really means. He means it in a political way: that was when the artists and the audience found themselves on different levels.

I am one of the barbarians - I love rock and roll.

Rock & roll fan that I am, Thelonious Monk is probably my favorite musical artist.

I envy guys who can write funny.

Our future is ours to write.

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

I write in longhand on yellow legal pads.

Life is God's novel. Let him write it.

For after my marriage I had made various attempts to write fiction. They were clearly failures.