I'm trying to mix the cool independent stuff with the big stuff but it's been difficult finding the right roles. It's been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned.

I was trying to break out of the suburbs and when I did break out I don't think I took my whole self with me - I think I played a role of being too cool and hip.

I think a lot of young kids at school are very conscious of trying to keep credibility in case they kind of stand out in a crowd and get bullied by trying to stay cool and stuff. And my whole thing all the way through school was I was just a goof... I didn't care.

Cynicism is kind of like folding your arms and stepping back and commenting on things like the old guys in 'The Muppets ' just throwing out comments all the time whereas there are other people on the ground really trying to affect things and improve their lives and the lives of other people. I think it's noble and I think it's cool.

The pop world is cool but I never really thought of myself as part of it or wanting to be a part of it because I'm on a label that's not really like that. They're not trying to dress me up they're not trying to do things like that. I feel like I'm sort of separate from that actually.

I put on the Hank Williams and the Patsy Cline and the Rosemary Clooney on vinyl - I'm not trying to be some cool indie-rock person I just love the way it sounds - and throw on a T-shirt and jeans. In Texas we practically come out of the womb in jeans.

At first I was queasy I'll never forget the sound of the scalpel cutting a body open. But it was so cool trying to work out how these people died.

I was trying to be this person who is cool eternally rocking.

We've been working now with computers and education for 30 years computers in developing countries for 20 years and trying to make low-cost machines for 10 years. This is not a sudden turn down the road.

Most of the musicians that I know almost to the man everybody uses Apple computers. They've thought of the steps that you're going to think of when you're trying to create your thing. And that's where the tools get invented to make better art.