Cedric Bixler-Zavala Quotes

The ultimate sin of any performer is contempt for the audience.

I only record songs that I really like and believe in and can sing with conviction.

We never understood the concept of people going onstage and giving anything less than 100 percent. Maybe that's a blue-collar work ethic, but I call it just ethics.

That artists are called to be more responsible and 'true' is a tip of hat to their power.

I would rather die than be a serious artist, or a fake artist.

You can't trust an artist that just makes good records.

Here's the mark that a lot of people miss nowadays. Producers missed. They leave out the heart and soul. And that's what I learned from Sammy Davis, Jr., from Frank Sinatra, is when you went to go see those shows, you got to know them.

In art, the only one who really knows whether what you've done is honest is the artist.

The production must be faithful to the line. If the production fails, my work fails.

Mainly, I don't like it when music is made solely to impress people or in order to please business people; it doesn't sound good to me. If you're making music in order to become famous or loved by the masses... that's not what I'm about. When somebody's making music for the wrong reasons, I hear it right away.

Real acting is realistic no matter what the medium.

I'm not going to put out a Christmas CD until it's coming out of me naturally.

An artist is his own fault.

I need to let people know who I am and instead of just trying to make great records, just be honest and make it more personal and make it more passionate, to make records with emotion and not be afraid to express that.

If you try to go beyond your interests just for the sake of pretensions or wealth, your art becomes less legitimate.

I'm not just painting for painting's sake. I want to be truthful.

Fantasy isn't something I put into the pictures; I don't try and inject them with a sense of play. But it's about being an honest photographer; a photograph is as much of a mirror of the photographer as it is the subject.

It's important for me to put out things that I think are good - I want to be a fan of my own stuff. I also want my live shows to be really awesome, and dance is such an important element for me and my performances.

I've worked on shows where the lead actor doesn't know their lines, doesn't care, and it affects everybody - the crew, the director, the other actors. It's definitely a responsibility.

You can tell an honest artist from one who's just given all their songs.

As frustrating as it is to not have a record come out, I have to make sure that it's worth putting out. I have to be trying to say something, for one. I have to not oversell what I'm trying to say. I can't 'Bono' it.

Intelligent analysis of the composer's intention and strict adherence to it automatically ensures sincerity.

I sense people respond more to the honest approach to making music instead of the manufactured approach.

I don't want to sound like an aesthete, but one has to be true to the art. And that means being true to the tradition of the art but also being true to your own artistic vision.

When I make movies, I have a lot of respect for my audience. I think my audience is smart. If there's a way to be entertained and get things out - real things, not stupid moral crap - that's the best.