Washburn's an old American name, but this one was assembled overseas.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Washburn built me the guitar that changed my life.
At the time, there were very few foreign names in the press and they were all factory workers. I thought I'd never get a job at a university with a foreign name.
I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat.
We were taking some photos one day in front of one of these old antebellum homes, and one of us said the word. And we all kind of stopped and said, 'That could be a name!' ... It just feels kind of country and nostalgic.
A lot of the times when I've auditioned for parts in America, the answer is, 'Sorry, we need a bigger name.'
Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's here in the United States.
My father had the same name as me but he was known as Alec. He was a member of the House of Representatives.
Our original name was Wild Country, but when we first went to The Bowery, they had the name of all 50 states around the edge of the club, so we went to the sign that said 'Alabama' and stuck our band name underneath it.
I named it that because more or less each person from the band used to play in other bands and when we left respective bands other members from those bands all sort of changed round. It was a big sort of move thing. I got it from that, I suppose.
All my sons are named George Foreman. They all know where they came from.