How did it feel to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
TC: Once, at a party in Berkeley, someone said to me, “I knew you were somebody, but I didn’t know you were anybody.” I remember when, many years ago, I ceased to worry about being a “nobody.” Because if I became a “somebody,” whatever that means, I figured there where were too many people around who could say, “I knew him when.” I have what my friend Peter Coyote calls “a comfortable level of fame.” Too much can be a nuisance. But it should be remembered that fame, for a creative artist, is part of your stock in trade. It has a direct effect on your bottom line. It’s gratifying, how kind people can be sometimes, but it’s not like that “hey look at me, I’m on stage!” thing you may imagine from afar. That’s a shallow distraction, and fortunately burns away in the spotlight pretty quick. What’s left is the age old imperative: if you’re on the bright side of the footlights, you’d better be able to prove you belong there. When you get on top of that issue, you’re glad to be alive, let alon
