Quotes from John Densmore

Most of what is said by candidates on the right is half-baked truths and fabrications coated in 'patriotism or family values.'

First of all, Turtle Island is the name of this continent we live on... that's right, not 'America... as in North America,' but the name given by the first peoples of this land.

If I had been the drummer for the Grassroots, it probably wouldn't have cut me to the core when I heard John Lennon's 'Revolution' selling tennis shoes... and Nikes, to boot! That song was the soundtrack to part of my youth, when the streets were filled with passionate citizens expressing their First Amendment right to free speech.

Ulcers come from not dealing with something.

I grew up listening to my parents' albums. Many of them were either classical - Bach, Beethoven and Brahms - or easy listening, like Mantovani. I loved the spectrum of emotions in classical music, from fortissimo to pianissimo. My early passion for classical made my drumming more musical later on.

Everything Bernie Sanders says in his speeches is based on facts and is about empowering people, not making them angry.

My mom, Peggy, was a free spirit. She loved music and liked to paint. She had received her degree from Chouinard Art Institute in L.A.

In my old age, I've learned that if I put the right cymbal crash in the very right spot, exactly, it can be as powerful as all my showoff drum rolls in my 20s.

In the end, I have a nice house and groovy cars, and so do my bandmates. It's not like they're starving.

I had the first XJ6 and then they became real popular with lawyers so I had to move on. The only problem with Jaguar is that you have to go to the gas station every couple blocks, and a mechanic once told me that if you don't have the right attitude when you walk up to a Jag, it won't start.

I'm not the fastest drummer in the world, but I'm very into dynamics and knowing that there's space in between the notes and you got to breathe.

Money is like fertiliser. When spread around, things grow; when it's hoarded, it stinks.

You know, another jazz drummer, Ed Thigpen, who played with Oscar Peterson way back - it was the first time I ever heard rivets in a cymbal. And then I heard that Chico Hamilton had them too, and I went, 'Oh, that's it. I'm taking that for my sound.' And it worked well on 'Riders On The Storm,' so that's one thing.

I mean, take 'Chariots Of Fire.' That opening scene, the long shot of the runners along the beach, and then you hear that music... I think that was one of the first times synthesizers were really used in movie music. I just flipped! I didn't even care what the story was going to be. Give me a nice marriage of sound and music.

In the 1950s, my family first lived in West Los Angeles. Dad was studying architecture at USC and we didn't have a lot of money. He'd buy crumbling fixer-uppers, make repairs and sell them for a small profit. Then we'd move on. My early childhood image of him is standing on a ladder and sanding the front door.

Robby had a flamenco and folk music background. I was so enamored with watching Robby's fingers crawl across the flamenco guitar strings like a crab.

When Dudamel is up on the podium, he truly is 'inside' the music. It courses in his veins, mixing with his blood.

I am of the Vietnam generation; therefore, I feel mistrustful of the military.

I'm from the Vietnam generation.

Anyone can play Doors songs, unless it's for an ad for some product.

If somebody makes a really wonderful, ecological car, I'm down, no matter where it comes from.

Eddie Vedder? My God, there's a singer.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

Ghost Riders in the Sky" meets Vince Guaraldi!