A Quote by Virgil Thomson
The description and explanation is the best part of music reviewing. There is such a thing, and you know it too, as a gift for judgment. If you have it, you can say anything you like. If you haven't got it, you don't know you haven't got it.
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Speaking as somebody who's been in the drug scene, it's not something you can go on and on doing, you know. It's like drink, or anything, you've got to come to terms with it. You know, like too much food, or too much anything. You've got to get out of it. You're left with yourself all the time, whatever you do--you know, meditation, drugs or anything. But you've got to get down to your own god and your own temple in your head.
Through a lot of conversations with the Minister [Louis Farrakhan] you've got to know when to say something. But if you are forever going to be afraid to say anything, then you become irrelevant - as a force. I mean, so the God-given gift that you got, you're not a relevant player in the game - you're just a dude whose got money, got a big house and some cars.
Every time I sit down and write I got to put something conscious in there. It's like I got a job now. They say that for those that know you got to deal in equality. If you know and you don't speak on it and don't apply it, it's like you're the worst hypocrite. I feel I got a job to do, being that I study so much and I believe in Allah like I do, I feel like I got to spread the word.
Girls like dudes that are overweight. I know too many women who say, "I like you now that you've got a little thicker," and I don't really know any woman that says, "I like you now that you've got bald."
Do anything you wanna do—but from [the heart]. Music is a thing from the heart, from the soul, just like anything else you do, man. And you can be the best, you can be what you wanna be. That’s right! You can do what you wanna do. I believe—I’m a blues player. I never been a millionaire, but let me tell you something—I think I am. Cause I got this. I’ve got what it take. And I don’t care if you don’t believe me, man, but I know you do. Because this is what it’s all about. Anything you do, if you wanna do it and you love it, you rich. You a millionaire, man.
Family is the best. I can honestly say, it's a gift that is beyond making art. I didn't know that when I got into it.
I knew about the music. I got that part but I wanted to know the business, I wanted to know about royalties, how people got paid, producers and stuff like that so I read all those books like twice.
Nobody knows I'm different. Or they may know, but they don't know how different and they don't know what this thing is that's driving me because I can't... this is... these are charges ... which I understand having got two children of my own and having had these mad thoughts myself that you know, I've got to get out there and do something. I don't know what it is, but it's got to be interesting.
You've got to be happy, you have to do this thing [music] for the love. It's not like you go into music because it's going to make a lot of money. It's something you do... that's the thing. You got to accept all that hard work with it, too. And enjoy it, and love it.
When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say." "Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise." "What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?" "You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another." In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.
I've got a few reasons why I've got to maintain stability. I've got into wanting people to hear my music. I've got something I want people to hear because I know they'll like it. They've gotta like it! The songs I've been writing are the sort of things you have to like.
I've been all over the world. I love New York, I love Paris, San Francisco, so many places. But there's no place like New Orleans. It's got the best food. It's got the best music. It's got the best people. It's got the most fun stuff to do.
You don't achieve anything by stopping at the first sign of difficulty. If we'd stopped after Dieppe in World War II, where would we be right now as a nation? If we'd stopped before Vimy Ridge, we wouldn't have been a nation at all. Yes, you've got to know when to say "stop" as a leader, you sure do, but you've also got to know when to push for the final thing that's going to give you the full benefit.
We know people by their stories: their history, their habits, their secrets, their triumphs and failures. We know them by what they do. We want to know mountains too, but they’ve got no story. So we do the next best thing. We throw ourselves onto them and make the stories happen.
I don't have anything to say about the guy [Muddy Waters], you know. Treat me all right. But I can this: they are jealous hearted, you know. Are jealous hearted musicians, you know. See, if you can't do like your songs, get kinda jealous of you. Like you, like they think you better than them and all that, but I don't fool with those kind of peoples, you know. I ain't got the time.
I'm not an L.A. guy. I don't take meetings - you know what I mean? I don't really know how to interact very well with people in L.A. because everybody's got an agenda and everybody's like, "What do you do?" "Where are you going?" Or it's like, "What do you know?" And I'm not on a grind - I was there to make music and to meet people but I wasn't hustling for anything.
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