anyone who's lost in love
is always welcome at the door
nobody is turned away


Patrick Allen, Recess, 2009

* From a short article/interview of Roberta Flack:

I was at home with a toothache when 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' won the Grammy Award [in 1973]. The people at my record company had told me not to bother going because no one thought I'd win. It was nominated against Harry Nilsson's 'Without You' and Don McLean's 'American Pie' - they were big songs!

When they said my name, I passed out. I was watching it on TV with my mom and had taken medication for my tooth. I couldn't believe I'd won. I look back on those years - when 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' and 'Where is the Love?' were hits - with fondness. What was my life like then? It was pretty darn good. When today's artists sample or cover my songs, I feel very proud.

In the '70s, I lived across the hall from John Lennon and Yoko Ono. We all lived in The Dakota building in New York [before that, Flack lived with husband Stephen Novosel, until they divorced in 1972]. When he wrote 'Imagine', I could hear him playing bits and pieces of it through the walls. I didn't know him in the sense I could call up and say, "Hey, John. Can I come over?" but when he was recording Double Fantasy - his last album - he invited me to the studio to hear what he was doing. He didn't ask me to play or sing anything, but I would have. I recorded an album of Beatles covers because I'm a fan. Pure and simple.

* "Pop music is about saying 'fuck me.' Rock and roll is about saying 'fuck you'." -- Chrissie Hynde