Pastoral Resources

I have often heard the statement made by foreign singers, as a demonstrated fact, that the German artists are artists in feeling indeed, and serious in their devotion, but that their singing is crude.

My songs are the reflection of how I think and how I feel in that moment. But I'm conscious of the fact that artists have a responsibility before the masses and they have to take care with their words.

Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists.

It was my mom and I against the world. We lived in New York in this bohemian lifestyle where an extended group of artists and photographers were like my aunts and uncles.

Labels only confuse people. The smarter people recognize artists who transcend categories. But I always try to entertain. It's in my nature; writers are born to entertain. If that means working ostensibly within a genre, fine.

People might say I'm difficult, but did you ever hear anyone describe a label as 'difficult'? By nature, artists should challenge. When they call you difficult, it is a reflection of the imbalance of power.

I think that most artists are leaning towards fragile idiots.

Artists speak the truth to the public without fear of retribution or damage to their careers.

My experiences have been, from the very beginning, cultural and creative. And my business has been a way of exposing the culture, exposing the artists so that the world could hear and see them.

When I and the other young artists were working in comics, our work carried with it a particularly American slant. After all, we were Americans drawing and writing about things that touched us. As it turned out, the early work was, you might say, a comic book version of Jazz.

I think the great artists, especially in literature, have always thought with the heart.

Artists are very young, and say, Um, ok, to these industry dudes.

The industry is a menace to artists.

The difference between me and the newer artists is that I have the history with the architects, the masters that started the music. I know where the music came from.

Challenge America grants go to the towns and hamlets of this sprawling country, where big touring companies will rarely go, and major actors, actresses, writers and artists may never appear in person.

The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.

An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.

Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.

The notion of making money by popular work, and then retiring to do good work, is the most familiar of all the devil's traps for artists.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.