Pop stardom is not very compelling. I'm much more interested in a relationship between performer and audience that is of equals. I came up through folk music and there's no pomp and circumstance to the performance. There's no like 'I'll be the rock star you be the adulating fan.'

Music never dies. Do we really need another Madonna tour? Does she have to compete with women performers 25 years her junior?

I think what made it difficult for people to get and still makes it difficult for people to get is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that my music doesn't exist without the performance-art element.

Why do musicians give so much time to charitable causes? The most humanitarian cause that we can give our time to is the creation and performance of music itself.

No matter how many times people say it - 'Oh I'm just writing this for myself' 'Oh I'm just doing this for myself' - nobody's doing it for themselves! You're doing it for an audience. So whether I'm performing or writing a book or playing music it's definitely to be put out there and to be received in some way definitely.

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

Music in performance is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

If your movies don't perform they just stop calling you.

I think movies are a director's medium in the end. Theater is the actor's medium. Theater is fast and enjoyable and truly rewarding. I believe in great live performance.

I've done performances in movies that I was immensely proud of and the movies didn't take off like a rocket at Cape Canaveral it didn't take off.