p. 84 I always felt that a favorite song has a mind of its own. It arrives just when you need it, and that arrival memory remains for the rest of time. Every time you hear the song, you can remember the feeling, like you're reading a diary entry. It's one of music's greatest gifts.
p. 106 Sometimes the story isn't the one you came to write but the one that finds you instead.
p. 126 "It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is in reality just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness." – Jerry Garcia
p. 200 "The best writing – the best music – is personal, and it takes a stand. Did you take a stand?"
p. 218 "I've learned to flow with myself. I honestly don't know where the real David Jones is. It's like playing the pea game. I've got so many shells I've forgotten what the pea looks like. I wouldn't know what it looked like if I found it. Being famous helps put off the problems of discovering myself. That's the main reason why I've always been so keen on being accepted and why I've strived so hard to put my brain to artistic use. In any other profession I don't think I'd survive very long in an established society. I'm gonna have terrific problems one day ... I get that feeling." – David Bowie
p. 256 "Here's the thing," she said forcefully. "You have two options. You can stay the same and protect the formula that gave you your initial success. They're going to crucify you for staying the same. If you change, they're going to crucify you for changing. But staying the same is boring. And change is interesting. So, of the two options," she concluded, "I'd rather be crucified for changing." – Joni Mitchell
p. 274 As I looked at the photo now in [Gregg Allman's] weathered and tattooed hands, it occurred to me that the entire goal of Almost Famous had always been simple – to capture that moment of promise.
p. 285 "I've outlived everybody's desire to be around me," [Cameron Crowe's mom Alice] said softly. Without self pity. Just a student of human behavior.
p. 289 I heard myself sound different [in the hospital, talking with the doctor about his mom's imminent death]. A strange nobility can take over in situations like this. Suddenly, you are the righteous hero of your own movie. You take a little bit from Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, or a lot from a hundred different television shows, and you combine it with the best version of yourself. I figured out a name for it. Hero adrenaline.
p. 299 Standing in the courtyard, I learned that over time the details fade. What lasts is the way someone made you feel.
