I promise to stay on topic. That is, discussing the art and my life as how it relates to the art.

When I interviewed Peter Hook, he said the following:

"When I put an Iggy [Pop] record on, it's just me and his music. It enhances my life. I don't want to meet Iggy. I don't want to see him or even hear particularly what he's got to say. It's the music that drives you, and that's the thing that turns you on. It's not about him, not what he fuckin' wears. It's just the music."

In Cold Sweat, page 118.

I've now had two major artistic heroes of mine bite the dust because I made the mistake of reading interviews they gave, and they exposed themselves as repulsive, vicious, hate-filled mental patients. I simply can't enjoy their work anymore.

In a couple of other cases, the artists went into details of their lives that made it impossible for me to think of them in any other way except as the guy who wipes his ass with facial cleansing pads and the guy who mixed up bowls of ice cream, bananas, and granola and put spoonfuls of the mixture in his mouth, swallowing the ice cream while spitting the granola back into the bowl to put it in his mouth again and spit it out again.

Now that it's clear that I'm going to be interviewed, I promise I'm never going to be so self-indulgent that I think my eating and bathroom habits are just fascinating, and I also promise that I'm not going to say things that target any particular belief, political party, race, culture, language, accent, sexual orientation, cuisine, clothing style, hairstyle, pet, music genre, radio show, TV show, movie, car model, neighborhood, city, state, nation, planet, solar system, or galaxy.

I'm completely aware that the only reason people want to talk to me is because of my work. I intend to stick with talking about the concepts I explore in the Ghosts trilogy, which is inching ever closer to completion. Even that plan has pitfalls, because the subject matter of the three books presses peoples' buttons and raises issues that most of us are extremely passionate about.

I'll say in advance that I'm not going to become an advocate for anything. I'm not going to become a poster child for anything. I'm here to entertain. Period. I'll let others carry the banner of advocacy. My personal life will come into play, but whatever I say will be about my life, nobody else's. My personal beliefs are just that: beliefs. I'll tell you what I've experienced and what I think it means, but that won't mean that I'm right.

When Bob Dylan was asked in an early interview if he thought of himself as more of a singer or more of a songwriter, he said, "I think of myself as more of a song-and-dance man."

I'm just a guy who likes to tell stories. That's all. You won't hear me boasting about my disgusting personal habits or putting any of you down because we disagree on something abstract. I can blather all day about almost anything, but in the end, I'm just a song-and-dance man.

I won't forget that.