Quote

Things aren't much wilder now, I don't think, than they were back then. Of course I just read about all the goings-on now. Ha.

I knew Billy Wilder socially and would have loved to work with him.

I think in the past I think I probably was a little too diverse, probably went from one spectrum to the complete opposite and confusing people.

I used to eat lunch with Billy Wilder when I first came out here.

Whatever happened to the tomboy I used to be, the slightly rebellious rocker?

As I was writing, I realised I wasn't sufficiently extrovert to gather enough interesting souls with tall tales around me. I was no Louis Theroux. But neither was I interested in exploring my inner life in public, in the manner of a Jonathan Raban.

You either evolve or you don't. I don't like old people on a rock n' roll stage. I think they look pathetic, me included. And the fact that I represent an era means I can't just go out there and do all new stuff. They would all say, 'Sing 'White Rabbit,' and I'd say no? That's rude.

So, I was just a young guy, maybe with an idea, and Cecil Taylor, himself a rebel, would take a chance on a guy like me. It turned out to be a very symbiotic partnership. I learned a lot from him.

My family were liberal with a small 'l' but passionately doers. I wanted to be a doer.

I'm still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn't feel like she belonged.