I saw 'Dracula,' 'Frankenstein,' 'The Wolf Man,' 'The Invisible Man.' I saw all those guys on the big screen at RKO in the Bronx. I just always loved that stuff. I loved other stuff, too. That's the thing. That wasn't all I wanted to be.
There was a child went forth everyday, And the first object he looked upon and received with wonder or pity or dread, that object he became, And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day... or for many years or stretching cycles of years.
I grew up influenced by different cultures, sounds, feelings, emotions, and I want Premiere Classe to be a representation of that.
I have said many times-if I hadn't been exposed to music as a child I don't think I would have been president.
My earliest musical memory was getting to watch my dad play drums in a local band. He's a banker by trade, but a drummer at heart. I remember seeing the guitar player do the solo from "Werewolves of London" with his teeth, and that was the moment that had me hooked.
A lot of my building blocks - who I am kind of as an artist - all came from being in L.A.
If I were asked to name the chief event in my life, I should say my father's library.
The Larry Sanders Show сhanged my life. I am so thankful that - I mean, go figure. Most people are lucky to get one good series, but I got two ground-breakers. I just knew when I read that "Hey Now" script that something was afoot. Those were seven of the greatest years of my life. I learned so much, and it affirmed everything I thought comedy was. It was really a tremendous experience.
When I was 12, I thought I wanted to be a witch.
I've been able to have broad kind of education and all sorts of different music and a lot of kind of films and also different styles and genres. And so, all of these things have influenced me along the way and I take a little bit from everything I do. I've been lucky to work with a lot of great people and learn from them.
I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
Both of us have forged our careers in London, but a lot of my comedy influences come from my family and my childhood.
Semi-facetiously, when people ask me why I write these kinds of stories, I simply say that I was warped as a child. And, there is some truth to that.
I've had the thought that a person's 'artistic vision' is really just the cumulative combination of whatever particular stances he has sincerely occupied during his creative life - even if some of those might appear contradictory.
