Quotes about tour
page 2

KatieJane Garside photo

“You know, in a way touring is the most grounding thing you can do.”

KatieJane Garside (1968) English singer

On touring, Drowned in Sound (2002)

Joyce Brothers photo

“If Shakespeare had to go on an author tour to promote Romeo and Juliet, he never would have written Macbeth.”

Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) Joyce Brothers

As quoted in The Shakespeare Book of Lists : The Ultimate Guide to the Bard, His Plays, and How They'Ve Been Interpreted (And Misinterpreted) Through the Ages (2001) by Michael Lomonico

Joanna MacGregor photo
Beck photo
Krist Novoselic photo
Chris Cornell photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Stanley Baldwin photo
Bill Hicks photo
Ben Harper photo

“My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better then it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better then how it’s recorded.”

Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician

The Streets Interview with Ben Harper http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=687, cmj.com (June 20, 2006).

Cassandra Clare photo

“Sure. And Madonna wants me as a backup dancer on her next world tour.”

Magnus to Alec, pg. 145
The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Gino Severini photo

“.. ambition to surpass Impressionism, destroying the subject's unity of time and place.... [to render its relations to] things that apparently had nothing to do with it, but that in reality were linked to it in my imagination, in my memories or by feeling. In the same canvas I brought together the Arc of Triumph, the Tour Eiffel, the Alps, the head of my father, an autobus, the municipal hall of Pienza, the boulevard…”

Gino Severini (1883–1966) Italian painter

Quote from his article 'Processo e difesa di un pittore d'oggi', L'Arte 5, Rome, September – November, 1931; as cited in Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism, by Christine Poggi, Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 25
quote, referring to his painting 'Memories of a Voyage', Severini painted in 1910-1911.

Pat Conroy photo
Maxime Bernier photo

“During the final months of the campaign, as polls indicated that I had a real chance of becoming the next leader, opposition from the supply management lobby gathered speed. Radio-Canada reported on dairy farmers who were busy selling Conservative Party memberships across Quebec. A Facebook page called Les amis de la gestion de l’offre et des régions (Friends of supply management and regions) was set up and had gathered more than 10,500 members by early May. As members started receiving their ballots by mail from the party, its creator, Jacques Roy, asked them to vote for Andrew Scheer.
Andrew, along with several other candidates, was then busy touring Quebec’s agricultural belt, including my own riding of Beauce, to pick up support from these fake Conservatives, only interested in blocking my candidacy and protecting their privileges. Interestingly, one year later, most of them have not renewed their memberships and are not members of the party anymore. During these last months of the campaign, the number of members in Quebec had increased considerably, from about 6,000 to more than 16,000. In April 2018, according to my estimates, we are down to about 6,000 again.
A few days after the vote, Éric Grenier, a political analyst at the CBC, calculated that if only 66 voters in a few key ridings had voted differently, I could have won. The points system, by which every riding in the country represented 100 points regardless of the number of members they had, gave outsized importance in the vote to a handful of ridings with few members. Of course, a lot more than 66 supply management farmers voted, likely thousands of them in Quebec, Ontario, and the other provinces. I even lost my riding of Beauce by 51% to 49%, the same proportion as the national vote.
At the annual press gallery dinner in Ottawa a few days after the vote, a gala where personalities make fun of political events of the past year, Andrew was said to have gotten the most laughs when he declared: “I certainly don’t owe my leadership victory to anybody…”, stopping in mid-sentence to take a swig of 2% milk from the carton. “It’s a high quality drink and it’s affordable too.” Of course, it was so funny because everybody in the room knew that was precisely why he got elected. He did what he thought he had to do to get the most votes, and that is fair game in a democratic system. But this also helps explain why so many people are so cynical about politics, and with good reason.”

Maxime Bernier (1963) Canadian politician

page 23 in "Live or die with supply management", chapter 5 previewed April 2018 http://www.maximebernier.com/my_chapter_on_supply_management of "Doing Politics Differently: My Vision for Canada"

Dave Barry photo
Johnny Cash photo
Brandon Flowers photo

“A rental car in Savannah, Georgia. In the middle of touring, we had a week off. I have a problem with flying, so instead of going home, my wife came to me and we rented a car and drove around. Just pulled off on some dirt roads…”

Brandon Flowers (1981) American indie rock singer

When asked the craziest place he's ever had Sex.
Joshua (October 2006), "The Same 5 Questions We Always Ask: Brandon Flowers". JANE. Volume and issue unknown:42

Ron White photo
Jane Goodall photo
Van Morrison photo
John Rabe photo
Chris Cornell photo

“Oddly enough, I was in Paris, the last show of a Soundgarden tour. I didn't know him that well, but I had friends who were trying to talk to him and it wasn't working out. I had this idea that when I got home, I'd try and sit down with him.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

When asked where he was when he learned that Kurt Cobain had killed himself ** Blender Magazine, June 2005 http://chriscornellfanblog.atspace.com/Articles/blender05.htm,
Audioslave Era

Michelle Phillips photo

“We toured in a Lear jet and that's the only way to fly, baby! Success is a bubble, though, and we knew the wonderful time we were having couldn't possibly last.”

Michelle Phillips (1944) Singer, actress

On the success of the Mamas & the Papas, The National http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/michelle-phillips-talks-about-the-mamas-and-the-papas-legacy (January 5, 2011)

Dave Barry photo
Paul Simon photo
Robert Louis Stevenson photo
Bill Hicks photo
Margaret Cho photo
Allen West (politician) photo

“The first thing you’ve got to do is study and understand what we’re up against. You must realize that this is not a religion that you’re fighting against. You’re fighting against a theo-political belief system and construct. You’re fighting against something that’s been doing this thing since 622 AD - 7th century - 1,388 years. You want to dig up Charles Martel and ask him why he was fighting the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732? You want to ask the Venetian fleet at LePonto why they were fighting a Muslim fleet in 1571? You want to ask the Christian – I mean the Germanic and Austrian – knights why they were fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683? You want to ask people what happened at Constantinople and why today it’s called Istanbul? Because they lost that fight in 1453. You need to get into the Qur'an, you need to understand their precepts, you need to read the Sunnah, you need to read the Hadith and then you can really understand this is not a perversion: They are doing exactly what this book says. I want to close by saying this, and I think we’ve said this all through this morning so far: Until we get principled leadership in the United States that is willing to say that, we will continue to chase our tail, because we will never clearly define who this enemy is and then understand their goals and objectives - which is on any jihadist website - and then come up with the right and proper goals and objectives to not only secure our republic, but to secure western civilization.”

Allen West (politician) (1961) American politician; retired United States Army officer

Response to question: Why would [Islamist terrorists] warp a religion to justify attacking the United States. [Hudson Institute, Reclaim American Liberty Conference, January 13, 2010, http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=741, March 22, 2011]
2010s

Chris Cornell photo
Gloria Estefan photo

“Who is Gloria Estefan today? I'm very fulfilled as a woman. I've been able to have a wonderful family life, a fantastic career. I have a lot of good friends around me. My family has been my grounding point, and rooted me deeply to the earth... I'm very happy. I've done everything I ever wanted to do. The key to me was -- I told my husband when we were in our 20s -- I'm going to work really hard, so one day I won't have to work so hard. And to me what that was, was having choices. And I do have choices now -- and I have take full advantage of that. It's important for me now to be here for my little girl [Emily, age 12]. My son is full grown -- and I know have quickly that goes. So, I'm balancing being a mother -- which to me is the most important role I have on this earth -- and still being creative, writing -- which is what I love to do. So, I've been able to branch out into not just writing songs like you have heard through the years -- but writing children's books, writing a screenplay. But at my core that's what I am: a writer. And that's what I enjoy doing behind the scenes: writing the songs for albums, recording it. And that's why you have seen me take more of a back seat to being the center of attention, and being out on tour and doing that kind of thing. I've stepped up a lot of my charity work. This year, the five concerts I did were all for charity: different ones and my own foundation. So, that's becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life -- as I wanted it to be. And [I keep] just growing and evolving.”

Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada

iTunes interview (released June 2, 2007)
2007

John Kenneth Galbraith photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Roger Federer photo

“You gotta be careful about how you phrase that. You don't want to be rude to the other players, because you gotta face them; I don't have to face them. Yeah, I don't ask them stupid questions like that (laughing)…Um, I think there a lot of good players on the tour.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

Press conference at the 2016 Australian Open after semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic, after reporter's suggestion that the victor's dominance may be greater than any other in history due to 'there being no great opponents in the future.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3420985/Cranky-Roger-Federer-loses-reporter-asks-quality-current-players-crushing-defeat-hands-Novak-Djokovic-Australian-Open-semi-final.html

Daniel Johns photo
Burkard Schliessmann photo

“To approach Bach, one has to realize that 100 years after Bach’s death, Bach and his music totally had been forgotten. Even while he was still alive, Bach himself believed in the polyphonic power and the resulting symmetric architectures of well-proportioned music. But this had been an artificial truth - even for him. Other composers, including his sons, already composed in another style, where they found other ideals and brought them to new solutions. The spirit of the time already had changed while Bach was still alive. A hundred years later, it was Mendelssohn who about 1850 discovered Bach anew with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion. Now a new renaissance began, and the world learned to know the greatness of Bach. To become acquainted with Bach, many transcriptions were done. But the endeavors in rediscovering Bach had been - stylistically - in a wrong direction. Among these were the orchestral transcriptions of Leopold Stokowski, and the organ interpretations of the multitalented Albert Schweitzer, who, one has to confess, had a decisive effect on the rediscovery of Bach. All performances had gone in the wrong direction: much too romantic, with a false knowledge of historic style, the wrong sound, the wrong rubato, and so on. The necessity of artists like Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould - again 100 years later - has been understandable: The radicalism of Glenn Gould pointed out the real clarity and the internal explosions of the power-filled polyphony in the best way. This extreme style, called by many of his critics refrigerator interpretations, however really had been necessary to demonstrate the right strength to bring out the architecture in the right manner, which had been lost so much before. I’m convinced that the style Glenn Gould played has been the right answer. But there has been another giant: it was no less than Helmut Walcha who, also beginning in the 1950, started his legendary interpretations for the DG-Archive productions of the complete organ-work cycle on historic organs (Silbermann, Arp Schnitger). Also very classical in strength of speed and architectural proportions, he pointed out the polyphonic structures in an enlightened but moreover especially humanistic way, in a much more smooth and elegant way than Glenn Gould on the piano. Some years later it was Virgil Fox who acquainted the U. S. with tours of the complete Bach cycle, which certainly was effective in its own way, but much more modern than Walcha. The ranges of Bach interpretations had become wide, and there were the defenders of the historical style and those of the much more modern romantic style. Also the performances of the orchestral and cantata Bach had become extreme: on one side, for example, Karl Richter, who used a big and rich-toned orchestra; on the other side Helmut Rilling, whose Bach was much more historically oriented.”

Burkard Schliessmann classical pianist

Talkings on Bach

Sebastian Bach photo
Derren Brown photo
Milo Yiannopoulos photo
David Foster Wallace photo
Dmitry Rogozin photo

“Every former w. who has aged wants to give lectures about morals, especially during tours and gigs abroad…”

Dmitry Rogozin (1963) Russian diplomat

in Twitter, on Madonna's recent statement on behalf of the punk rock group Pussy Riot, using an abbreviated form of the Russian word for whore (Augus 08, 2012)
Rogozin vs. Madonna http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/08/09/rogozin_vs_madonna
Rogozin tweets criticism of Madonna http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Music/2012/08/09/Rogozin-tweets-criticism-of-Madonna/UPI-94801344553635/
Original: Каждая бывшая б. с возрастом стремится читать всем лекции о морали. Особенно во время зарубежных турне и гастролей…

Ausonius photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Heidi Klum photo

“If we don't take that time (to be romantic), then it's karate, then it's ballet, and then there's Christmas, and then my husband is flying off to tour around the world.”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

Discussing staying romantic in a marriage with children. Quoted by Jennifer Weiner in InStyle, February 2010.

Henry Rollins photo
Phil Collins photo

“I can't remember those words (Lyrics) even when we were on tour.”

Phil Collins (1951) English musician, songwriter and actor

From "Telling Stories", when Collins was asked to sing "Home By The Sea", a song by the band Genesis from the album "Genesis"

Ben Gibbard photo
Chris Adler photo
Amy Poehler photo
Al Gore photo
Babe Ruth photo
Maxwell D. Taylor photo
Jeremy Corbyn photo
Vangelis photo
Lance Armstrong photo
Robert Delaunay photo
Peter F. Drucker photo
Gloria Estefan photo

“For 15 years [Miami Sound Machine and I] recorded and toured to establish a fan base. Now it's time for me to enjoy it.”

Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada

People en Espanol (April, 2004)
2007, 2008

Ashley Tisdale photo

“When I was little, I saw the play Les Misérables on Broadway, I thought it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. So I went to my manager and told him I wanted to be in it. He asked me if I could sing, and I said no. I took one lesson and landed the role of Cosette in a national tour of the musical”

Ashley Tisdale (1985) American actress, singer

Tisdale about her early life. People Magazine. "Ashley Tisdale's Biography" http://www.people.com/people/ashley_tisdale. People. August 7 2004. Retrieved August 7 2008.
On her Biography Ashley Tisdale. (2006)

Al Franken photo

“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry.
I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.
But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.
For instance, that picture [when Franken appears to grope the breasts of a sleeping Leeann Tweeden, while simultaneously smiling towards the photographer] I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.”

Al Franken (1951) American comedian and politician

November 2017 statement https://www.wdio.com/news/al-franken-statement-leeann-tweeden/4672510/ in response to allegations of sexual harassment and groping made by Leeann Tweeden against Franken.

Fernand Léger photo
Daniel J. Boorstin photo

“The cities of Italy are now deluged with droves of these creatures [tour groups], for they never separate, and you see them, forty in number, pouring along a street with their director — now in front, now at the rear, circling them like a sheep dog — and really the process is as like herding as may be.”

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American historian

Charles James Lever, Cornelius O'Dowd Upon Men and Women and Other Things in General (Blackwood's Magazine, 1864-1865): "Continental Excursionists" [Adamant Media Corporation, 2001, ISBN 0-543-90729-5</small>], p. 243. Quoted by Boorstin in The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961) [Vintage edition, 1992, <small>ISBN 0-679-74180-1], Ch. 3: From Traveler to Tourist: The Lost Art of Travel, p. 88.
Misattributed

David Spade photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Jonah Goldberg photo
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti photo

“It is from Italy that we are flinging this to the world, our manifesto of burning and overwhelming violence, with which we today establish 'Futurism', for we intend to free this nation from its fetid cancer of professors, archaeologists, tour guides, and antiquarians.”

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944) Italian poet and editor, founder of the Futurist movement

Original Italian text:
È dall'Italia, che noi lanciamo pel mondo questo nostro manifesto di violenza travolgente e incendiaria, col quale fondiamo oggi il «Futurismo», perchè vogliamo liberare questo paese dalla sua fetida cancrena di professori, d’archeologhi, di ciceroni e d’antiquarii.
Source: 1900's, The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism' 1909, p. 52

Stanley A. McChrystal photo
Natalie Merchant photo
Mike Huckabee photo

“It's more likely I'll dye my hair green, get a bunch of tattoos and go on tour with Amy Winehouse.”

Mike Huckabee (1955) Arkansas politician

[Quotes of note, 2008-02-16, Boston.com, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/02/16/quotes_of_note/, 2011-03-01]
On the possibility of him running for the Senate seat after losing the White House run.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff photo
James Hudson Taylor photo
Moby photo

“Ozzy Osbourne used to snort ants. Led Zeppelin had sex with hookers on private planes. And I start an on-tour book club. Because one can only snort so many ants and have so much sex before one starts to long for the comfort and companionship of a good book.”

Moby (1965) Activist, American musician, DJ and photographer

"to Copenhagen. bumpy roads & ant colonies http://www.moby.com/taxonomy/term/1048/0," journal entry (7 October 2002) at moby.com

Roger Manganelli photo
Henry M. Leland photo

“On the train I was going over the problem of Sixes versus Fours and the disturbing periodic vibrations with which the 'six-cylinder manufacturers were contending. I realized the emphasis our competitors were placing on the fact that six smaller cylinders, producing the same maximum power as four larger ones, would result in smaller individual impulses, and consequent smoother action.
I knew that we were having good results with well-balanced four-cylinder motors. I first reasoned that if six light cylinders gave the same maximum power and lighter impulses than the tour, then eight still smaller cylinders would give still lighter impulses than the six cylinders. I also reasoned that, because of the lighter weight, those eight cylinder pistons could be run at higher speeds than either sixes or fours. Furthermore I did not like the six crankshaft. If made small enough to be in proportion with those light pistons, the extra length might introduce those undesirable vibrations; if made heavy enough to avoid; if made heavy enough to avoid these periodic vibrations there was the wight problem contend with.
As I lay awake pondering these factors, the idea came to me that we were having good success with four-cylinder motors; we would surely have equally good results with blocks of lighter four cylinders and pistons. Why not make up those smaller blocks of lighter four cylinders and pistons, and put two of the blocks together at an angle and avoid that troublesome long crankshaft. The more I thought of this idea on that trip, the more convinced I became that it could be worked out.”

Henry M. Leland (1843–1932) American businessman

Source: Master of Precision: Henry M. Leland, 1966, p. 147; Leland talking about his idea for a V8 engine around 1913-14. Partly cited in: Alexander Richard Crabb (1969), Birth of a giant: the men and incidents that gave America the motorcar. p. 315

Kathy Griffin photo
Joe Strummer photo
Juicy J photo
Roger Manganelli photo
Stanley A. McChrystal photo
Warren Farrell photo
Jay Leno photo

“Welcome back! If you're wondering where our good friend -- Kevin Eubanks couldn't be here. Kevin is on tour. He's in France right now. He called me today and he's over there and he wouldn't be back until next week. So if you're wondering where Kevin Eubanks is, he's with us in spirit certainly.
Okay. Boy, this is the hard part. I want to thank you, the audience. You folks have been just incredibly loyal. (emotionally) This is tricky. (laughs) We wouldn't be on the air without you people. Secondly, this has been the greatest 22 years of my life. (applause)
I am the luckiest guy in the world. I got to meet presidents, astronauts, movie stars, it's just been incredible. I got to work with lighting people who made me look better than I really am. I got to work with audio people who made me sound better than I really do. (voice breaking) And I got to work with producers! And writers! (choked pause) And just all kinds of talented people who make me look a lot smarter than I really am.
I'll tell you something. First year of this show, I lost my mom. Second year, I lost my dad. Then my brother died. And after that, I was pretty much out of family. And the folks here became my family. Consequently, when they went through rough times, I tried to be there for them. The last time we left the show, you might remember we had the 64 children that were born among all our staffers that married. That was a great moment.
And when people say to me, hey why don't you go to ABC? Why don't you go to FOX? Why don't you go…? I didn't know anybody over there. These are the only people I have ever known. I'm also proud to say this is a a union show. And I have never worked (applause) -- I have never worked with a more professional group of people in my life. They get paid good money and they do a good job.
And when the guys and women on this show would show me the new car they bought or the house up the street here in Burbank that one of the guys got, I felt I played a bigger role in their success as they played in mine. That was just a great feeling.
And I'm really excited for Jimmy Fallon. You know, it's fun to kind of be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution, and it really is. It's been a great institution for 60 years. I am so glad I got to be a part of it, but it really is time to go, hand it off to the next guy; it really is.
And in closing, I want to quote Johnny Carson, who was the greatest guy to ever do this job. And he said, I bid you all a heartfelt good night. Now that I brought the room down, hey, Garth, have you got anything to liven this party up? Give it a shot! Garth Brooks!”

Jay Leno (1950) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, voice actor and television host

Farewell speech, February 6, 2014
The Tonight Show

Roger Manganelli photo
Luise Rainer photo
Natalie Merchant photo
Don DeLillo photo

“We drove 22 miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. Soon the sign started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were 40 cars and a tour bus in the makeshift lot. We walked along a cowpath to the slightly elevated spot set aside for viewing and photographing. All the people had cameras; some had tripods, telephoto lenses, filter kits. A man in a booth sold postcards and slides -- pictures of the barn taken from the elevated spot. We stood near a grove of trees and watched the photographers. Murray maintained a prolonged silence, occasionally scrawling some notes in a little book. "No one sees the barn," he said finally. A long silence followed. "Once you've seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn." He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced by others. We're not here to capture an image, we're here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumulation of nameless energies." There was an extended silence. The man in the booth sold postcards and slides. "Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see. The thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We've agreed to be part of a collective perception. It literally colors our vision. A religious experience in a way, like all tourism."”

Another silence ensued. "They are taking pictures of taking pictures," he said.”
White Noise (1984)

Daniel Drezner photo
Lance Armstrong photo

“I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. So Vive le Tour forever!”

Lance Armstrong (1971) professional cyclist from the USA

Farewell speech at the Champs-Élysées podium, after winning his seventh Tour de France, quoted in "Paris salutes its American hero" by Caroline Wyatt in BBC News (24 July 2005) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/4713283.stm
Context: Finally, the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics: I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. But this is one hell of a race. This is a great sporting event and you should stand around and believe it. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. So Vive le Tour forever!

Alan Watts photo
Kate Bush photo
Rod McKuen photo

“As friends and as musical collaborators we had traveled, toured and written — together and apart — the events of our lives as if they were songs, and I guess they were. When news of Jacques’ death came I stayed locked in my bedroom and drank for a week.”

Rod McKuen (1933–2015) American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer

On Jacques Brel, in liner notes for Greatest Hits - Without a Worry in the World (August 1992)
Context: As friends and as musical collaborators we had traveled, toured and written — together and apart — the events of our lives as if they were songs, and I guess they were. When news of Jacques’ death came I stayed locked in my bedroom and drank for a week. That kind of self pity was something he wouldn’t have approved of, but all I could do was replay our songs (our children) and ruminate over our unfinished life together.

Leslie Feist photo

“On tour I'm so invisible to myself, it's just one task after another.”

Leslie Feist (1976) Canadian musician

Interview with Seth Berkman in Stylus (20 December 2005) http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=2047
Context: On tour I'm so invisible to myself, it's just one task after another.
In a way as much as I love reading autobiographies, I'm fascinated with them partially because I would have no sense of how to talk about my own life with any perspective. Like half of what I like about autobiographies isn't what happen in their lives, it's... I'm so curious on how they remember things that happened. Then I think, oh maybe it's not accurate, maybe it's just the way they need to couch an event, they need to remember something that happened 30 years ago as a certain way in the present to make it, you know bearable, and so then half the adventure of reading an autobiography is thinking like, "oh, what does it say about them in the present that they need to think about the past like that," if they sound really altruistic or if they sound really benevolent and kind. Very seldom do you see someone say, "yeah, I was a real asshole," or if they do it's a charming asshole, it's not the mean spirited person, you know?