I put out a recording of me singing mostly jazz because I wanted people to know I'm coming from a jazz background.

I always felt like my future was at stake every time I stepped on stage and that was kind of hair-raising. At some point I just went, don't be frightened, you can't do anything wrong, it's your show.

You never know when you're making a memory.

I had a terrible manager once who described my career as 'spiraling downward.'

I really don't have a lot of interest in national politics, and it's because I'm a skeptic. I think you can accomplish a lot more locally. I don't want to spin the wheels and not get anything done.

Imagine a progressive president fighting to fix the insane economic inequality in the country or to end the senseless drug war or, best of all, battling to get money out of politics. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

There's no question that any of us who are doing an honest job in government could do a lot better in private industry. During the years I was practicing law as an individual, my salary was a great deal more than it is now.

Politics has come to resemble a cynical team game played by politicians, while the public has been pushed aside as if sitting on the seats of a stadium in which passion for politics is gradually making room for blindness and desperation.