I came from the Philippines and Filipinos are incredibly musical. I mean the best cover bands in the world come from Manila!

We had to be our own mothers of invention, in many senses of the word.

There was a lot of camaraderie among the bands. I remember a lot of times when I'd be driving up Laurel Canyon and pass by the house where Frank Zappa was living and I'd just see people out on the porch playing guitars.

I don't think I came to music. I think music came to me - or was already embedded when I came into this sphere, this realm, this Earth.

You can't have an all-girl band! They'll get pregnant, and they'll never stay together.

Music saved my life. I mean, music is life. It is everything to me. It's why I can meet people - I was so shy as a kid, and when I started to write songs and perform them with my sister in front of the public, people started to talk to me, and that made me feel really good. Everything about it has always been positive.

I rented a summer home in the winter on Long Island, I took long walks, and then I ended up moving to Woodstock. It was a fertile musical area and time, and I played with a lot of different musicians there, including getting into women's music, and I ended up playing with Cris Williamson.

If you can give people happiness, you're in their hearts. Now you can just start having conversations with people that you would not have had under other circumstances.