"The best book I ever received as a present was It by Stephen King for my 15th birthday. I was already a fan of Stephen King’s novels and had been anxiously awaiting the release of It. My step-dad had it wrapped and waiting for me the day it came out, with a hand-written note inside. The book was as amazing as I’d anticipated. But it’s the best book I’ve ever received because it marked the beginning of a tradition. Every birthday after that, my step-dad gave me a book. Some years it was Stephen King’s latest, some years it was another author. The tradition continued for a quarter century, until my step-dad passed away a few years ago. I still miss seeing a brightly wrapped book in amongst the other birthday gifts. And I still have that original, hard cover copy of It."

"It’s almost impossible for me to pick a particular favorite Frank Zappa record but when I was younger, this record was like an oasis. I had gone through this beautiful phase where I was introduced – by a friend of mine – to all the progressive rock music of the seventies – like Deep Purple, Queen, Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer and it was all really great because it had distinct compositional elements to it. But when I heard Frank Zappa, it had something that nothing else had: it had comedy, it had these really long visceral solos, and the melodies were richer and more compositional than anything else that I was listening to. How could you compare ‘Inca Roads’ with anything else? So that record was one of those was one of those rare gifts in a person’s life that changes the quality of life forever."