James Edward Olliges Jr. Quotes
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I think reading is one of the greatest forms of magic available to us on the planet. Reading is so important.
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The whole Jacket thing is so much about us playing together and creating this circle of power.
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Love is love. Let's take it any way we can get it.
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The gospel funk soul era, that's what I'm obsessed with - pretty much all the '70s through early '80s.
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I love hearing old Bob Marley recordings that he did before he made the versions everybody knows.
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I feel like the sky in my mind is bigger when I meditate. It helps you fight the classic battles we're all fighting: trying to find love, trying to find satisfaction in your career.
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I was talking to my publisher, Jamie Ceretta, who's one of my closest confidants and allies when I'm working on new music. I feel like I can always count on his judgement because he'll tell me if he doesn't like something. It's sometimes hard to get people to tell you if they don't like something.
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That's why you put out records: hoping that people will connect with them. I mean, I play music for myself, for sure, and I would still play music even if people didn't like it. But it means a lot when it connects to people and they enjoy it. But it's funny: you get criticism as much as you get praise. It kind of evens out after awhile.
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'The Muppet Show' was huge. I watched it all the time as a kid, and I really loved the way they used music on that. I also remember hearing the radio in the car as a kid, like Stevie Wonder and Simon and Garfunkel.
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It's a joy, the process itself, even instrumentally, playing and constructing music. It's just so beautiful to me.
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For me, 'Evil Urges' was like a video game. If you play 'Super Mario Brothers,' there's a level where it's like a snowscape, and then there's a level where it's a desert and a level that's like a jungle.
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I went to college for, like, a year and a half with the intention of doing some kind of art therapy or some kind of teaching of art, because I feel like art is a more free area in school than music is. I feel like music is too mathematic for me. Music school's so hard. It's math.
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Lou Reed's spirit and the way he did things was so important. Him and his music mean so much to me as the years go by.
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The thing I take great comfort in and what I think is cool about the process is that I know in my heart that I gave it everything I had back then. That helps me sleep at night. I still feel proud and happy.
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Once all the power goes out, there will still be human beings standing together around a campfire, playing acoustic guitars.
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There's these things we do that take us into the zone - and we go in that place that I feel like is the place of love that you reach when you're in love or making love, or you're having a good conversation. I feel like that is God.
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I think maybe the vehicle for me was 'Sam Cooke's Greatest Hits.' It has a song called, 'Touch the Hem of His Garment.' Do you know that song? I kind of got obsessed with that song and started exploring and getting more of his old recordings with the Soul Stirrers and really getting into that super, super deeply.
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Our first two records are a lot quieter and more studio-based. We kind of had this feeling like we wanted to make a more quote-unquote 'rock' record. Then Patrick joined and really brought a new Herculean power to the band.
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I heard the Abbey Lincoln song 'The World is Falling Down,' and it just resonated with me so deeply.
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When I was maybe three years old, I was obsessed with this song 'Leader of the Band' by Dan Fogelberg. My mom took me to the mall and bought me a 45 of it. We would listen to that song all the time.
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I've just had this idea pop in my head of trying to learn a new song every da, and try and play it that night. That's been fun for me because it's a little bit of a scary adventure, playing a song for the first time in front of people and letting it just be what it is.
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While I'm working on something, every single part of me is in it. But then, once it's done, I leave that place behind. I usually don't like to revisit it. So it's almost like listening to a different person.
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When you think about climate change, that means that we won't have an Earth to be lonely on.
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I don't think about taking risks anymore because there aren't any risks to take.