like your hair is on fire

It's a beautiful December day here in Georgia. The weather will be the death of me yet...I'm telling you. It's the last weekend in fucking April in the deep south--I should be sweating and enjoying a smoke with br'er rabbit, but no, I am bundled up here at work trying to avoid grading and preparing a lecture for tomorrow. Here are the fruits of my procrastination:

Kris Kristofferson on Johnny Cash (thanks Mike):

Johnny Cash was a biblical character. He was like some old preacher, one of those dangerous old wild ones. He was like a hero you'd see in a western. He was a giant. And unlike anyone else I've known, he never lost that stature. I don't think we'll see anyone like him again.

Tom Waits on Marc Ribot (and lots of other good stuff on music and the creative process):

Q: You mentioned developing your own language. Do you mean something along the lines of: "Play like your hair is on fire?"

Waits: I think I said that to (guitarist Mark) Ribot. But you don't have to tell Ribot to play like his hair is on fire because his hair is always on fire. All that means is: "play" (your instrument). Someone like Ribot doesn't draw distinctions between playing a wedding, at a trailer park or playing for the pope.
I guess most of the people I play with are adventurers in one way or another. With Ribot you have to be a little careful, because if you say you want a little feedback, you might get an automobile accident. It's always interesting finding somebody who, you know, they know just as much about pygmy music as they do Big Boy Cruddup or Memphis Slim or Gavin Bryars.
Some people have a rich (frame of musical reference). Like, Ribot was in a soul band in New York called the Real Tones for many years, and they backed up Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett and people like that.