"Opening lines, over the sound of ticking The sound you are hearing is not a technical problem. It is not a musical cu…"

"In one week I’ll be thirty. Three-zero. Older than my Dad was when I was born. Older than Napoleon was when he ... di…"

"So that’s where we are. It’s a Saturday night in January, 1990, in my apartment on the edge of SoHo; I’m trying to wo…"

"It's no big deal. What's thirty? Just, you know, the end of youth."

"I realize I've forgotten how to play the piano completely. Holy shit, have I forgotten how to play the piano because …"

"Michael's moving out. He's making so much money he bought an apartment with the bathtub in the bathroom."

"And if there's enough buzz the show might be produced and if the show is produced it might be a hit -- and if it is I…"

"The lights from the prison barge flicker in her eyes."

"6 AM. The sky glows. Somewhere a bird chirps. I want to shoot it."

"I want to write music. I want to sit down right now at my piano and write a song that people will listen to and remem…"