If I Think Of The Audience Too Much, Then I'm Going To Start Catering To Them...and It Turns Into Entertainment. And I've Got Time For Entertainment; I'm Just Not At All That Interested In Doing It Myself. I'd Rather Go For Some Pretty Raw Expression.

-Henry Rollins

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If I Think Of

Henry Rollins

Topic

Thinking

Expression

Too Much

More From Henry Rollins

When You Have To Work With And Exist Amongst Cynical, Burned-out Personnel On A Set, It Doesn't Matter What You're Shooting Or How Much You're Being Paid - It's Not Worth It.

Cynical

Shooting

Matter

Here You Can Be A Billionaire, Like Mark Zuckerberg Rich, But You Are Going To Die And You Are Here For A While And Ultimately All Of Your Stuff Is Kind Of Like A Rental.

Zuckerberg

Stuff

Kind

I See Violence In Myself; I've Done Some Pretty Violent Things In My Lifetime And I've Been Around Some Pretty Severe Violence All The Way Up To Homicide.

Done

Way

Violence

My Mother Taught Me How To Read Very Early On And At School I Was Ahead Of Everyone In Class... Reading Was Always Something That I Liked Because I Could Do It Alone And I Was Alone A Lot Of The Time With My Mother Working The Hours She Did. Books Became My Friends Very Early On.

Mother

Book

Reading

The Ones Who Don't Do Anything Are Always The Ones Who Try To Pull You Down.

Trying

I'm A Big Germs Fan; Most People Are.

People

Fans

Germs

Strength Is The Product Of Struggle, You Must Do What Others Don't To Achieve What Others Won't.

Struggle

Bodybuilding

Achieve

Too Sick And Freaked Out Not To Want A Bullet For Every Passer By, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Breathe, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Care, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Think Of Anything But The Annihilation Of My Mind And Denial Of My Life. So Sick And Freaked Out That I Think Everyone Is My Friend.

Thinking

Sick

Mind

There Are Things That Happen So Quickly. A Better Cameraman Can Capture Them, But If The Light Is Not Bright And You Hoist Up Your Camera By The Time You've Dialed In Your Settings. There Are Eye Blink Moments Where You're Like "aaahhhh, I Wish," But Those Are Too Many To Catalogue. Nothing Really Sticks Out.

Eye

Light

Wish

I Think Marriage Is A Boring And Fault-ridden Contractual Obligation.

Thinking

Faults

Boring

This Sounds Really Corny, But I Am A Slave To My Work, A Workaholic, And Glad Of It. I Like What I Do; This Is My Place, My Little Universe, One Of Them.

Sound

Littles

Workaholic

Hating Someone Is Giving Them Too Much, Just Leave Them Alone.

Hate

Giving

Too Much

I Am The Flying Saucer Man From Another World Trapped On Yours Until They Come To Rescue Me. One Day The Saucer Will Land. Jimi Hendrix And John Coltrane Will Open The Hatch And Tell Me To Get In Before Someone Tries To Blow Up The Ship. I'll Just Ask What Took Them So Long. Within Seconds We'll Be Out Of Here.

Blow

Men

Land

I'd Rather Work On My Radio Show, Which No One Hears But I Put About Eight Hours Of Programming And Writing Into It For Those 30 People Who Do Tune In.

Writing

Eight

People

Before Any American Points A Finger At President Putin And Calls Him Nasty Names, They Should Recognize That A Lot Of Americans Agree With Putin On His Stance Against Homosexual And Transgender People.

Names

People

President

And I Laugh At Myself When I Screw Things Up, Which Happens All The Time.

Laughing

Screws

Happens

I Don't Wish To Be Anything More Or Less Than What I Am. If This Is How It Is, Then So Be It.

Wish

Ifs

Nelson Mandela Will Always Be The Face Of South Africa. The Traveler Passing Through The Country Will See Mandela's Face Almost Everywhere He Looks. Truly, The Man Is Omnipresent.

Country

Men

Faces

I Try To Be Well Informed. I Don't Know How Well I Do All The Time, But I Try Nonetheless.

Trying

Wells

Know How

Juan Williams Is A Very Sharp Guy.

Guy

Juan

I'm Just A Guy. I Get Treated Like I'm Famous But I Don't Take It Seriously. I Take The Time People Take Out To Check Me Out Very, Very Seriously.

People

Guy

Checks

There's No Retirement, There's Just A Few Years Of Non-work By The Fire With Someone Bringing You Some Tea And Relative Peace And Playing With The Grandchildren.

Retirement

Grandchildren

Fire

If You Want To Believe That Humans Walked With Dinosaurs And The Planet Is A Few Thousand Years Old, That Is Absolutely Fine With Me. If You Want To Teach This To Your Kids, I Don't Care. If States Want To Teach Creationism In Their Schools, There Is Nothing I Can Do About It, So I Don't Sweat It.

Believe

School

Kids

It's Always Been Impressive To Me When Someone Can Really Do What They Want Onstage. The Audience Has Confidence In The Performer And The Performer Has Confidence In The Crowd.

Crowds

Want

Impressive

Smart People Make Good Choices. They Dig Science And Say 'no' To The Invasion Of Sovereign Nations For The Pleasure Of Corporations.

Smart

People

Choices

Texas Is A Hotbed Of Insanely Good Bands And Musicians.

Texas

Musician

Band

If You Paid Americans A Living Wage, They Would Be Able To Pay For Products Made By Americans In America.

America

Would Be

Pay

For Many Years, I Tried To Make New Year's Resolutions. I Made Lists And Shot For Great Heights: I Would Show Altruism And Exert Moral Strength, Patience And All Those Other Great Attributes.

New Year

Years

Height

I'd Like To Talk To Sean Hannity In A Controlled Environment And Say, 'o.k., You Can't Interrupt And Jump Up And Down Like A Professional Wrestler.'

Environment

Wrestler

Up And Down

If I Was Gay, There’d Be No Closet. You’d Never See The Closet I Came Out Of. Why? I Would Have Burned It For Kindling By The Time I Was Twelve! Because I Know, With All Certainty In My Mind, There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Gay And You Know It! And There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Into Chicks If You’re A Girl. And There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Into All Of It…. How Awesome Would It Be To Be Bisexual? To Just Walk Into A Room And Go ‘mmmm, Alright!!!!’

Girl

Gay

Bisexual

If I Was A Woman These Days, I'd Be Killing Motherfuckers. My Handgun Would Never Cool And My Hands Would Be Covered In Testicular Blood. I Would Have A Horrible Reputation With A Lot Of Men Because I Would Be Calling Them On Their Weak Bullshit Left And Right.

Men

Blood

Hands

I'm Not Much Of An Improv Guy. That's A Talent I Don't Have.

Guy

Talent

I Don't Have Many Friends So The Phone Doesn't Ring And No One's Asking Me To Go Out And Go Dancing With Them.

Phones

Dancing

Asking

I've Always Seen It As The Role Of An Artist To Drag His Inside Out, Give The Audience All You've Got. Writers, Actors, Singers, All Good Artists Do The Same. It Isn't Supposed To Be Easy.

Artist

Giving

Roles

One Of The Nice Things About A Favorite Pop Song Is That It's An Unconditional Truce On Judgment And Musical Snobbery. You Like The Song Because You Just Do, And There Need Not Be Any Further Criticism.

Song

Nice

Musical

When She Comes She Pulls You Close She Breathes In Short Bursts Her Eyes Close Her Head Tilts Back Her Mouth Opens Slightly Her Thighs Turn To Steel, And Then Melt She Is Perfect And You Feel Like You Are Everything.

Eye

Perfect

Steel

I Think Perry Ferrell Put Independent Music On A Very Good Path With Lollapalooza.

Independent

Thinking

Path

I Can Deal With People Who Watch Me On Stage But I Am Not Good In Communicating With People Any Other Way Than Through My Work.

People

Watches

Way

Consumerism Is At Once The Engine Of America And Simultaneously One Of The Most Revealing Indicators Of Our Collective Shallowness.

America

Revealing

Consumerism

I Am A White Guy In America With An Education, Albeit High School, But A Pretty Good One. Another Guy From A Different Demographic Or Different Ethnicity In America Can Look At Me And Say, "you Take A Lot For Granted." Well... Okay. I Just Live In A White Male American Reality, Where I Hear You But I Don't Know If I Necessarily Read You.

School

Reality

Ethnicity

From Those Who Agonize That They May No Longer Be Able To Write Off Their Private Jet To Someone Who Doesn't Feel Like Making The Three Mile Hike To The Well To Get Water And Carry It Back, Everyone Struggles.

Struggle

Writing

Water

I Am Always Interested In An Opportunity To Learn Something.

Opportunity

Opportunities To Learn

If I Had To Live My Life In Anticipation Of What Others Thought Of Me, Little Would Get Done.

Done

Littles

Anticipation

It's Not Lost On Me That Everyone Dies, But Some People Have A Kind Of Immortality About Them, And You Can't Imagine That They Will Ever Be Gone.

People

Gone

Kind

Put Temptation On The Unenjoyment Line.

Temptation

Lines

Politics

The Destructive Power Of A Lie Is Stronger Than The Truth.

Lying

Stronger

Adages

My Feelings For You Shame Me Into Silence.

Silence

Feelings

Shame

I Recycle And Try To Be Nice To The Earth. But Flora And Fauna Have Always Interested Me, And It Is Because Of So Many Years Of Summer Camp And Growing Up In Dc With Rock Creek Park Fairly Near Me, Or Glover Park; I Lived In Glover Park For A While And That Park Was In My Backyard.

Summer

Growing Up

Nice

Everything You Do Makes My Body Scream With Loneliness.

Loneliness

Body

Scream

Nothing Moves Me More Than The History Of The United States.

Moving

United States

States

We Humans Are Hard To Deal With. We Are A Loud, Complex And Demanding Bunch. Often, We Are Best Dealt With From A Safe Distance And For Only Brief Periods Of Time. This Could Be Why A Lot Of Marriages Fail.

Distance

Safe

Failing

I Am Afforded A Bit Of Easy Wonderment In Relative Comfort As To How Humans Have Lasted So Long. Climate- And Geography-wise, The Planet Seems To Have Little Use For Us.

Wise

Long

Comfort

I Have Found The Iron To Be My Greatest Friend. It Never Freaks Out On Me, Never Runs. Friends May Come And Go. But Two Hundred Pounds Is Always Two Hundred Pounds

Strength

Running

Workout

All I Have Is Me. Over-worked, Under-appreciated, Middle-aged, And Shriveled Up.

Appreciated

Middle

Middle Aged

Some Music Really Does Suck!

Doe

Thank You For Touching Me. Some Of The Only Moments Worth Living Were Spent With You. Not You Especially, The Collective You.

Touching

Moments

Collectives

As So Much Music Is Listened To Via Mp3 Download, Many Will Never Experience The Joy Of Analog Playback, And For Them, I Feel Sorry. They Are Missing Out.

Sorry

Mp3

Joy

I Slept In Uday Hussein's Bed - That Was Just So Strange. Went To Saddam's Palace, Was In A Mortar Attack - Crazy Stuff. And Like Three Days Later You're Back In Traffic On Sunset Boulevard. It's All Kind Of Behind You, Which Is Kind Of Perfect For A Guy Like Me Because I Can Take That And Turn It Into Quite The Tale.

Crazy

Sunset

Perfect

I Just Write What I Think Is Good And Keep It At A Thousand Words.

Writing

Thinking

Thousand

People Look At Things Differently. Imagine Going To A Village In Southern Sudan And Try To Explain To Someone There The Concept Of Life Insurance Or Retirement. Go To Vietnam And Say Retirement. Retirement In Another Country Is Your Body Is Too Racked With Pain And Your Hands Are Too Arthritic From The Life In The Rice Patty Fields, So You Can't Work Anymore. So You Move In With Your Son And His New Wife Takes Care Of You Because That's How Families Work There.

Country

Retirement

Pain

I've Made Some Great Mistakes In My Life, But, You Know, They Were Honest Mistakes.

Mistake

Honest

Made

Just Understand That The End Began Long Ago We Got Here Just In Time Look All The Squares In The Sidewalks Were Already There All These Strangers Have More Money Than You Do All The Good Riffs Have Been Taken And Everyone Is So Scared Murder Is Commonplace I Don't Even Flinch At The Gunshots Outside My Window I Feel Lonely Without Them

Lonely

Taken

Squares

We Californians Can Watch The Weather Channel For Images Of Winter's Brutality Unleashed Upon Our Fellow Americans And Thank Our Lucky Stars We Don't Have To Contend With It.

Stars

Winter

Weather

Collecting Records Is, For Many, Beyond A Hobby.

Hobbies

Records

Collecting

Motivation Has Always Been A Fascinating Factor When Considering A Touring Artist, Especially When The Years Stack Up. What Keeps One Out There Year After Year?

Motivation

Artist

Years

Rarely Do I Do Film Press Because I'm So Low On The Food Chain Of The Movie, And For Me It's Just This Thing I Did For Four Weeks Before The Next Tour Started.

Four

Film

That's Where The Economy Is Going. It Went Somewhere. Just Not To America. And The Money Made? That Went To The Cayman Islands And Switzerland. Not Back Here. Never To Be Taxed.

America

Islands

Switzerland

I Don't Need To Have My Convictions Confirmed By A Show Of Numbers. However, Being Among People In Front Of A Band Leads Me To Believe That All Is Not Lost, That Humans, Now And Then, Can Communicate On A Higher Level Than The Political And The Practical.

Believe

Numbers

People

Think About It: No Matter Who You Are, The Past Plays A Large Part In Your Life. I Am All About Living In The Present As Best As I Can. Try As I Might, There Is Only So Much I Am Able To Achieve On This Front.

Thinking

Past

Play

I Have Been Restless For As Long As I Can Remember.

Long

Remember

Restless

As Far As What People Think Of Me, Maybe My Stuff Should Just Be Put Online For Free Downloads When I'm Gone.

Thinking

People

Gone

More And More, Journalism Seems To Have Hopped Out Of Truth's Pocket And Crept Into Another.

Pockets

Journalism

Seems

I Am An Employment Hyena. I Am Happy To Make A Meal Of What The Lions Leave Behind.

Meals

Employment

Lions

I Want You Bad Like A Natural Disaster. You Are All I See. You Are The Only One I Want To Know.

Want

Natural

Disaster

Airports In Major Cities, Like Lax, Are Trippy Environments. It Is At Once A National And International Gathering Of Those In Transition: The Euphoric, Emerging From Planes, Their Journey At An End, And The Determined, About To Depart.

Journey

Cities

Airports

The Internet, The Camera Cellphone And The Like Have Not Only Sped Up The World's Information Uptake, But They Have Cheapened That Which They Capture.

Cameras

World

Information

When You Start Thinking As Far As What's A Good Photo, Unfortunately Everything Starts Looking Like A Good Photo.

Thinking

Good Photo

The Public Library System Of The United States Is Worth Preserving.

Library

United States

States

As Far As I Have Been Able To Understand, The Japanese Seem To Keep Things Close To The Vest. Friendly But Remote And Polite To The Point Of Being Invisible. It Is In The Music, Literature, Film And Art That The Japanese Really Seem To Express Themselves.

Art

Friendly

Literature

I Don't Hate The Government. I Don't Think The Second Amendment Is Being Infringed Upon.

Hate

Thinking

Government

I'm Not A Conservative Or A Republican But I Know That There's Conservative Republicans Who I Probably Vigorously Disagree With But I Also Am Smart Enough, Or Something Enough, To Understand That They Really Think That They're Right, And They're Looking At Me Like I'm Crazy.

Crazy

Smart

Thinking

If You Watch A Stretch Of Tv For A Few Hours, There Is A Good Chance You'll Hear Me On Some Commercial Or In Some Documentary Or On A Cartoon As Some Voice Of A Character.

Character

Voice

Cartoon

August, The Summer's Last Messenger Of Misery, Is A Hollow Actor.

Summer

August

Actors

August Used To Be A Sad Month For Me. As The Days Went On, The Thought Of School Starting Weighed Heavily Upon My Young Frame. That, Coupled With The Oppressive Heat And Humidity Of My Native Washington, D.c., Only Seemed To Heighten The Misery.

School

August

Heat And Humidity

Change Is Hard, But Change Is Good.

Change Is Good

Change Is Hard

Hard

I'm Constantly Around People That Talk A Lot But Say Nothing. A Sad Case.

People

Cases

I Cling To My Memories Of Glorious Desperation.

Memories

Desperation

Glorious

I Don't Consider Myself An Actor, For Me It's Employment. Like The Actor Who's A Waiter A Lot, I'm An Actor When I'm Not On Tour, In That That's A Job I Can Do.

Jobs

Employment

Actors

I Get Along With Australians Really Well. Everyone's Usually Really Cool, And It's Always A Drag To Leave.

Really Cool

Drag

Wells

You Could Split Hairs And Bring Up Words Like 'doo-wop' And Terms Like 'soul' Or 'r&b', But I Think Pop Music Is What You Want It To Be - That's Why It's Pop.

Thinking

Hair

Soul

In The Theory Of Evolution There Is No Talk Of God And No Bibles Are Used. They're Not Looking For Higher Powers, Extraterrestrials, Or Anything Else That Could Be Found In The Science Fiction Section, Because They Are Not Dealing With Fiction.

Theory Of Evolution

Fiction

Used

Probably Over Half Of America Does Not Have A Passport. If Young People Could Spend Two Weeks Of Their Life In India Or Pick An African Country To Go To For 2-3 Weeks And Really See How Life Can Be. That Might Be A Real Good Thing Because I Think They Would See Things Even If The Trip Was A Nightmare. I Think They Might Understand More Of The Mechanics Of The World.

Country

Real

Thinking

I Urge You To Read The Occupy Manifesto, Written By The New York City General Assembly. It Is Unavoidably Clear. This Is Not Directionless Action. If It Were, The Media Would Have Moved On.

New York

Media

Cities

War Is Very Sad And Small Life Is Pathetically Fragile At Times.

War

Life Is

Very Sad

The First Several Years Of My Life Were Used To Upload Incredible Amounts Of Fear, And I Just Became Afraid Of Everything. I Was Afraid Of My Parents, Afraid Of My Classmates, Afraid Of The Streets Of Washington, D.c. I Would Flinch At Every Gesture.

Years

Parent

Gestures

Enough Americans Saw Fit To Give President Obama A Second Term. I Don't Think There Will Be Many People Keeping Their Romney/ryan Bumper Stickers On Their Cars.

Thinking

People

Giving

I Like The Idea Of Someone Else’s Love Safely Sealed In A Song Or A Book.

Song

Book

Ideas

I Don't Believe In Fate Or Destiny. I Believe In Various Degrees Of Hatred, Paranoia, And Abandonment. However Much Of That Gets Heaped Upon You Doesn't Matter - It's Only A Matter Of How Much You Can Take And What It Does To You.

Hate

Believe

Fate

I Once Asked Ozzy Osbourne, Truly One Of My Favorite People In The World, If He Was Cool With Singing Black Sabbath Songs Year After Year, Whether He Was Performing With Black Sabbath Or Out On A Solo Tour. He Said It Was Great.

Song

Years

People

I Try To Get Myself Up And Moving As Early As Possible. Optimum Is To Be On The Treadmill While It Is Still Dark Outside.

Moving

Dark

Trying

Everything I Do, Writing, Touring, Travelling, It All Comes From The Punk And Hardcore Attitude, From That Expression - From Being Open To Try Things But Relying On Yourself, Taking What You Have Into The Battle And Making Of It What You Will, Hoping You Can Figure It Out As You Go. Make Some Sense Of It.

Attitude

Writing

Expression

It's So Painful To Be Next To Someone You Feel Strongly About And Know You Can't Say The Things You Want To.

Want

Painful

The Ruts Were A Great Punk Rock Band From England Whose Songs Were As Excellent As Their Time Together Was Short.

Song

Rocks

Together

Every Year, August Lashes Out In Volcanic Fury, Rising With The Din Of Morning Traffic, Its Great Metallic Wings Smashing Against The Ground, Heating The Air With Ever-increasing Intensity.

Morning

Air

August

I'm Most Comfortable On Stage.

Stage

Comfortable

The Tasks I Set Out For Myself Are What I Do To Beat The Perfect Pointlessness Of Life.

Perfect

Tasks

Beats

I Don't Get A Lot Of Choices In Movies. It's Not Like I'm Brad Pitt And I Can Walk In And Go Here's The Film I Want To Do And Everyone Runs Around... I Don't Have That. I Stand In Line And Do Auditions. I'm There With 80 Other Guys Trying To Be That Guy. Every Once In Awhile I Luck Out.

Running

Choices

Guy

Most Of The Time When I Have Met Artists Who Have Meant A Lot To Me, The Experience Has Been Well Above Expectation. People Like Iggy, Lou Reed, Jerry Lee Lewis, Black Sabbath, Nick Cave, Hubert Selby Jr, Billy Gibbons, Al Pacino, John Lee Hooker, James Brown, Johnny Cash Etc. Have Been Really Great To Me. What Strikes Me Is Most Of The Time, The Bigger The Celeb/legend, The More Polite And Cool They Are. It's The Insecure Ones Who Treat You Like They're Doing You A Favor By Shaking Your Hand.

Insecure

Artist

Hands

Loneliness Adds Beauty To Life. It Puts A Special Burn On Sunsets And Makes Night Air Smell Better.

Life

Lonely

Depressing

Sometimes You Can Get So Far In Yourself That You Don't Know Who You Are.

Self

Sometimes

Knows

I Read A Bit Of Ray Bradbury When I Was A Younger Man. I Don't Read A Lot Of Fiction Anymore... Like, None.

Men

Rays

Fiction

The Only Difference Between Me And Others Is That They Think They Can Change Something With Cute Little Poems, Nice Cards Or Embracing Trees And Being Nice To Little Lapdogs.

Cute

Nice

Thinking

I'm Not A Young Man, And I Can Find Intensity In A Lot Of Different Ways, Sometimes Without Even Raising My Voice. When I Was Younger, It Was All About How I Need Three Extra Sets Of Lungs To Get Enough Wind To Get Out The Thing At The Screaming Level I Need To, Because That's The Way It Needs To Be. Now, I See That There's A Whole Lot Of Other Colors On The Palette.

Men

Color

Wind

I Don't Really Write For Fun; It's Not An Enjoyable Experience. For Me, Art, Or Whatever The Hell It Is I Do, Has Always Been A Refuge From That Which Makes Me Want To Tear My Lungs Out. That's Why I Play Like I Play; I'm Not Into Entertainment.

Art

Fun

Writing

Will Punk Rock Ever Die? Pal, If You Have To Ask It's Dead To You.

Rocks

Pals

Punk

I Have Had A Number Of Less-than-enviable Moments In My Life When Dealing With Other People. I Won't Attempt To Blunt That By Saying I Am Not The Only One.

Numbers

People

Moments

For Me, Music Was An Age/time/place Thing. One Day I Woke Up And Realized I Was Done. That Was Many Years Ago.

Years

Age

One Day

Rock Is Ironic In That, Up To A Certain Point, You Can Get Better And Better At It If You Don't Mind Possibly Looking More And More Ridiculous.

Rocks

Ironic

Mind

I Work Pretty Much Every Day. I Can't Really Separate It From Life, So I Guess The Work Is My Life.

I Can

I've Never Been In A Situation Where I Had To Run For My Life, But I've Been Bitten By A Lot Of Poisonous Snakes Where It Was Fairly Painful. Pythons Of Size Have A Lot Of Teeth In That Mouth, It's A Painful Bite And Those Wounds Get Infected Fairly Easily. I've Got Snake Wounds From These Animals That Have Lasted Quite A While Where It'll Ache For Several Days. Having Said That, I've Been Lucky; It's Not Like I'm Looking For Trouble With These Animals Either. It's Not An Envelope I'm Willing To Push.

Running

Animal

Python

I Think In Rural Settings, People Have A Different Appreciation For Animals Than Might The City Dweller. In Parts Of India Where Poisonous Snake Bite Is Common, People Have A Much Different Value System. I Live In A City. I'm Not Thinking About Wolves, Lions, Etc.

Appreciation

Thinking

Animal

I Have Been An Xl Fan Of Devo Since I Was In High School In The 1970s. Their Records Only Sound Better With Time.

School

Sound

Fans

There's Something About Being Under-rested And Knowing That The Situation Is Going To Remain That Way For Quite Some Time That Makes Things More Meaningful.

Meaningful

Knowing

Way

I Wonder What It's Like To Be From A State That Is Spread Across A Few Islands Way Out In The Pacific Ocean, Only Added To The United States In 1959. Not Only That But To Be The Birthplace Of America's First Black President? Pretty Cool, I Bet.

Ocean

Birth Place

America

I Have Healthy Disagreements With Political Parties I'm Not Aligned With, But I Don't Think It Should Be To The Point Where We're Cursing And Trying To Strangle Each Other.

Party

Thinking

Political

Most Americans Are Very Cool People.

People

Cool People

Very Cool

I'm Most In My Element On Tour, With A Gig That Day, Like Today. I'm On The Road Where I Am Supposed To Be. I Will Be Where I'm Supposed To Be At Nighttime, On Stage, In Front Of People, Doing My Thing.

People

Elements

Gigs

I Don't Believe It Mattered To Timothy Mcveigh Who Was President Or Who His Congressional Representative Was When He Blew Up The Murrah Building In 1995.

Believe

President

Building

I Beg Young People To Travel.

People

Young

I Think There Will Always Be Great New Music And Bands. As Long As There's People Around, There's Going To Be Great Music. I Think There's Bands Like Wolf Eyes, Q & Not U, The Evens And Many Others That Are Doing Great Stuff. The Music That Doesn't Please You, You Just Don't Listen. No One Makes Me Listen To Nickelback, So Long May They Wave.

Eye

Thinking

Long

Don’t Think About It. Do It. Don’t Talk About It. Do It.

Thinking

So I'm More At Home With My Backpack, Sleeping In A Hotel Room Or On A Bus Or On An Airplane, Than I Am Necessarily On A Bed. It's Weird Being Here. It Feels Like I'm Standing Next To My Real Life.

Real

Home

Airplane

Horror Jolts Me When I Look At One Of You And See A Pair Of Beautiful Eyes That Make Me Think Your Mind Might Contain A World That Could Hold Me As The Bolts Shake Loose And Fly From My Frame.

Beautiful

Eye

Thinking

People Who Keep A Large Snake In Their Apartment Building, Which Happens Quite A Bit, All Of A Sudden, Within Two Summers, Have A 14-foot Animal That's Eating Adult Rabbits, And Needs Quite A Bit Of Room And Quite A Bit Of Heat. That's The Animal That Gets Put In The Back Of A Pick-up Truck And Dumped Into The Florida Everglades Or The City Lake, Or Just Left On A Doorstep - Again, It's Quite Often The Animal That Suffers.

Summer

Animal

Feet

It's Easy For Me To Play Bad Guys Because It's A Very Linear Acting. Bad Guys Aren't Empathetic. Being A Bad Guy Is Great Because You're Not Friendly And You Don't Have To Do Much With Your Face.

Play

Guy

Friendly

We Should Treat Each Other Better. Why In The Hell Would You Still Have Racism? This Ancient, Moronic Hatred? Why Does Our Foreign Policy Have To Always Involve So Much Death And So Much Death Of Innocent People As A Matter Of Course, To The Point To Where No One Bothers To Say Anything. I Guess A Lot Of People Don't Want To Move Forward. It's Frustrating At Times.

Moving

Racism

People

Everyone Who Knows Me Knows That I'm A Hopeless Romantic Who Listens To Love Ballads And Doo-wop Songs All The Time.

Romantic

Song

Hopeless

Now And Then, Someone Is Able To Look At An Empty Space, Conclude It Would Be A Great Place To Start A Revolution, And Bravely Go Forward.

Space

Would Be

Looks

Retirement In Another Country Is Your Body Is Too Racked With Pain And Your Hands Are Too Arthritic From The Life In The Rice Patty Fields, So You Can't Work Anymore.

Country

Retirement

Pain

All I Can Do Is Just Do Stuff While I Am Alive And Hopefully That Track Record Will Speak For Itself.

Track

Records

Alive

I Would Like To Become A Better Photographer. I'm Working On That.

Photographer

That Newt Gingrich Or Any Mainstream Republican Has The Nerve To Look Down From What They Perceive As Their Moral Mountaintop At Anyone Is Laughable.

Nerves

Looks

Moral

We Know That In September, We Will Wander Through The Warm Winds Of Summer's Wreckage. We Will Welcome Summer's Ghost.

Summer

Wind

Wreckage

In My World There Would Be As Many Public Libraries As There Are Starbucks.

Library

Would Be

World

It's Difficult For Me To Be Around Anyone For Longer Than An Hour. Love, Death, Elation, Sorrow, I Just Don't Care All That Much About Any Of It. I Am At This Point, More Of An Observer/journalist.

Sorrow

Elation

Care

Of Course Same Sex Marriage Is Constitutional! The Right To Be Yourself, To Pursue Life, Liberty, And Property, Is Protected Several Ways Over Several Amendments. John Boehner Should Know This.

Being Yourself

Sex

Liberty

I Have Watched Independent Record Stores Evaporate All Over America And Europe. That's Why I Go Into As Many As I Can And Buy Records Whenever Possible. If We Lose The Independent Record Store, We Lose Big. Every Time You Buy Your Records At One Of These Places, It's A Blow To The Empire.

Independent

Blow

Europe

Quite Often Governments Are One Way And The People Are Another.

Government

People

Way

Maybe I'm Ego-tripping, But I Don't Find Myself A Particularly Horrible Person, So I Don't Think I Need To Hold Back Anything I Think Or Feel.

Thinking

Ego

Needs

I'm A Professional Food Eater.

Fish Is The Only Kind Of Respirating Thing That I Consume. Everything Else I Don't Want Any Part Of.

Want

Kind

Fishes

I Remain Hopeful That Science, Innovation And Kindness Will Come To The Fore As Things Become More And More Tense In Parts Of The World. I Think What You Are Seeing In The World Right Now Is Kind Of A Leveling Or An Attempt To Level The Playing Field.

Kindness

Thinking

Hopeful

I Have Always Identified With Joan Didion's Depiction Of Los Angeles And Southern California, Ever Since Reading 'play It As It Lays,' 'slouching Towards Bethlehem' And 'the White Album.'

Reading

Play

California

When I Think Of Mick Jagger Still Singing That He Can't Get Any Satisfaction In Over Forty Years Of Being In The Rolling Stones, I Have To Conclude That He's Either Lying Or Not All That Bright.

Lying

Thinking

Years

Being In New York Is An Almost Overwhelming Experience. While Washington, D.c., Is My Favorite American City, I Regard New York City As The Most Amazing City In The World. No Other Comes Close. It Is An Incredible, Inexhaustible Engine.

New York

Cities

World

What You Do For Yourself Is One Thing. What You Do For Others Is Something Else Entirely.

One Thing

In Many Ways, America Is On The Receiving End Of A Pendulum That Has Been Swung With Great Force, And For A Long Time, Outward Into The World. The Impact Is A Wake-up Call On Every Level.

Impact

America

Long

It Wasn't Until My Late Twenties That I Learned That By Working Out I Had Given Myself A Great Gift. I Learned That Nothing Good Comes Without Work And A Certain Amount Of Pain. When I Finish A Set That Leaves Me Shaking, I Know More About Myself. When Something Gets Bad, I Know It Can't Be As Bad As That Workout.

Workout

Pain

Iron Will

I Can Say That American Men And Women In The Military Are Damn Impressive.

Military

Men

Damn

The Most Interesting Place By Far Was Afghanistan. Just Because It Is A Place That I Cannot See Myself Living. The Hardness Of The People And The History Of The Country Is Just So Completely Intense.

Country

People

Interesting

Amy Winehouse Was Not A Person I Ever Met, And I Can't Say That I Am Overly Conversant In All Of Her Music. I Do Have Her Albums, And Years Ago, When I First Heard Her Sing, I Thought She Was Extraordinary. The Tone Of Her Voice, Her Phrasing, Her Raw Appearance - These Qualities Were Extremely Captivating To Me.

Voice

Years

Quality

Barack Obama's Administration Responded To The Haitian Crisis Within 24 Hours. Here Comes The Soldiers, Here Comes The Food, Go Go Go... Rush Limbaugh Told His Multi-millions Of Listeners That Obama Only Did That To Gain Favour With Black People In America. This Is The Kind Of Idiocy That I Have To Deal With In My Country.

Country

America

People

I Never Thought About Getting Any Tattoos Removed.

Tattoo

You Know, We Are One Nation Under A God. Yes, You Were Right. An Angry, Crack Slinging God Who Decorates With Bullets And Spent Condoms.

Cracks

Bullets

Condom

Have You Ever Heard The Expression 'one Hot Mess?' I Think The Term Was Custom-made For The Mayor Of Toronto, Rob Ford.

Thinking

Expression

Hot

I Think That Humans Have A Huge Capacity To Carry Pain And Sadness. There Are Things That Haunt Us Our Entire Lives; We Are Unable To Let Them Go. The Good Times Seem Almost Effervescent And Dreamlike In Comparison With The Times That Didn't Go So Well.

Pain

Sadness

Thinking

Break From Self Rejection, Try Some Introspection.

Inspirational

Self

Rejection

Capitalism Does What It Does And Money Doesn't Belong To Anybody. It Just Stays In Someone's Wallet For A While, Then It Goes Somewhere Else. It Always Goes Somewhere And It Is Always About To Go Somewhere.

Somewhere Else

Doe

Wallets

Best Not To Mix The Past With The Present. The Present Paints The Past With Gold. The Past Paints The Present With Lead.

Past

Gold

Paint

I Feel Pain Everyday Of My Life. When You See Me Perform, It's That Pain You're Seeing Coming Out. I Put All My Emotions, All My Feelings, And My Body On The Line. People Hurt Me, I Hurt Myself - Mentally, Physically

Hurt

Pain

People

What Goes Best With A Cup Of Coffee? Another Cup.

Coffee

Cups

Coffee Cup

I Think I Am The Most Impressed With Writing Styles That Defy Category, Like Kharms Or Selby, Breton Or Jarry, Where You Become As Interested In The Writer As Much As The Writing Itself. It's All These Things That Make Reading So Appealing To Me.

Reading

Writing

Thinking

As A Young Person, I Wanted Everyone To Agree With Me.

Young

Wanted

Agree

Disappointment Always Arrives Before Hope And The Darkness Of Night Comes Before The Dawn. Don't Lose Hope Now Because Things Will Brighter With The New Day.

Good Night

Goodnight

Disappointment

America Is A Country Born From Semi-mythologized Blood, Glory And Acts Of Selfless Patriotic Sacrifice.

Country

Patriotic

Sacrifice

I Don't Want To Go With The Smooth Skin And The Calm Brow. I Hope I End Up A Blithering Idiot Cursing The Sun - Hallucinating, Screaming, Giving Obscene And Inane Lectures On Street Corners And Public Parks.

Giving

Skins

Smooth Skin

Listen To The Stage Manager And Get On Stage When They Tell You To. No One Has Time For The Rock Star Bullshit. None Of The Techs Backstage Care If You're David Bowie Or The Milkman. When You Act Like A Jerk, They Are Completely Unimpressed With The Infantile Display That You Might Think Comes With Your Dubious Status. They Were There Hours Before You Building The Stage, And They Will Be There Hours After You Leave Tearing It Down. They Should Get Your Salary, And You Should Get Theirs.

Stars

Thinking

Rocks

It's Good To Be Able To Deal With It [anger] Somehow Other Than Drinking, Fighting, Crashing Cars, Hitting Your Kid, Your Wife, Your Husband, Your Whatever. Paintbrushes, Pens, Movie Cameras, Guitars, Microphones, Typewriters -- These Are Good Things. Weights. These Are Positive Ways, Good Ways To Deal With Anger, Frustration, Alienation, Rage. 'cause All The Other Ways Do Nothing But Hurt People.

Hurt

Husband

Drinking

How Memories Lie To Us. How Time Coats The Ordinary With Gold. How It Breaks The Heart To Go Back And Attempt To Re-live Them. How Crushed We Are When We Discover That The Gold Was Merely Gold-plating Thinly Coated Over Lead, Chalk And Peeling Paint.

Memories

Lying

Heart

In The Late Summer Of 1986, The Band I Had Been In For Five Years Stopped Playing. Suddenly, I Was On My Own. This New State Of Bandlessness Was, At First, Traumatic. When Your Group Breaks Up, A Lot Of Broken Parts Hit The Ground.

Summer

Years

Broken

Sometimes The Truth Hurts. And Sometimes It Feels Real Good.

Life

Hurt

Real

I Don't Try To Be Angry To Prove Something. I Wouldn't Try To Intimidate You For Any Reason Unless You Were Trying To Intimidate Me, And Then I Would Show You That You Can't Do That To Me.

Trying

Intimidating

Reason

August In Sub-saharan Los Angeles Is One Of The Great And Awful Tests Of One's Endurance, Sanity And Stamina.

August

Endurance

Tests

We Occupy The Planet With A Vengeance. We Seek To Dominate It.

Vengeance

Planets

One Of The Most Prevalent And Undermentioned Genres Of Music Is What Is Known As Noise. You Can Find It All Over The World Happening In Basements, Small Venues And Even Some Festivals. Often Blown Off Or Belittled By Critics, The Form For The Most Part Goes Unheard And Unnoticed.

World

Noise

Festivals

When I Write Lyrics, It's Only When I'm Angry Or Hurt Or Sad. So Lyrically It's Never Really Easy Going. And The Music Is Always Really Intense.

Hurt

Writing

Intense

There's Nothing New About The Government Protecting Corporations And Calling It The Freeing Of The World Or Bringing Democracy To Bereft Nations. Nowadays, The Media Have To Be There For Them, To Keep You From Asking Too Many Questions, From Getting Together With Other People Who Might Want To Do The Jeffersonian Thing And Call Out The Government.

People

Democracy

Together

I Just Get Things Done Instead Of Talking About Getting Them Done. I Don't Go Out And Party. I Don't Smoke, Drink Or Do Drugs And I'm Not Married, That Leaves A Lot Of Time For My Work.

Party

Talking

Drug

The Only Thing About Sanctions Is That, Like A Lot Of Drone Strikes, There Are Countless Unintended Victims. Cutting Off Aid To Uganda Only Increases The Pain There.

Pain

Cutting

Uganda

Luckily For Me, I Genuinely Like My Audience. They Really Are A Good Bunch.

Bunch

Audience

Weakness Is What Brings Ignorance, Cheapness, Racism, Homophobia, Desperation, Cruelty, Brutality, All These Things That Will Keep A Society Chained To The Ground, One Foot Nailed To The Floor.

Ignorance

Feet

Racism

Yes, I Guess You Could Say I Am A Loner, But I Feel More Lonely In A Crowed Room With Boring People Than I Feel On My Own.

Lonely

Being Alone

People

Not That The Writers Weren't Good. I Believe In Those Books And Those Writers Very Much. It's Just That In The Climate It's Really Hard To Keep The Lights On And The Doors Open When You're Selling Poetry And Literature That Appeals To A Fringe Audience.

Believe

Book

Light

Through The Years, I Have Combined Meditation, Action, And The Iron Into A Single Strength. I Believe That When The Body Is Strong, The Mind Thinks Strong Thoughts. Time Spent Away From The Iron Makes My Mind Degenerate. I Wallow In A Thick Depression. My Body Shuts Down My Mind.

Strong

Workout

Believe

To Me, The Real 'state Of The Union' Is Found In How Americans React To Current Events.

Real

Events

Unions

A Country That Has Been Through As Much As Vietnam Has To Have Some Crazy Music Somewhere.

Country

Crazy

Vietnam

I Hate Painting With A Broad Brush, But I Think The Birther Thing, At Its Root, Is Racist. The Guy Was Born In Hawaii. A Black Guy Is President. It's Cool. Get Over It. Just Deal With It. There's Nothing You Could Show These Birther People That Would Shut Them Up.

Hate

Thinking

Roots

The Government Is A Functionary Of The Corporations - And There's Nothing New About That. You Can Find People In The 1930s Talking About The Army Basically Working For Wall Street In All Of These Countries [it Invades].

Country

Wall

Army

I Write What I Can. I Think Being Able To Write Like Michael Connelly And Have A Character That Goes From Novel To Novel, Or To Dramatize History Like Vidal Or Ellroy, Or Have An Explosively Inventive Mind Like Bulgakov, Would Be An Incredible Thing. I Don't Have That. I Only Have What I Have.

Writing

Character

Thinking

If You Really Want To Rebel Against Your Parents: Outearn Them, Outlive Them, And Know More Than They Do.

Parent

Rebel

Want

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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