It was a ragtag street ensemble, ... Literally, we'd pass the hat. I learned how to breathe fire. I learned to play the trombone. I was a street musician for years.

So I've learned in the past, if a company approaches me and they want something like this, or something like that that I've done and I turn them down, they're going to do it anyhow.

The breaking point was to stand outside on 116th Street and have five cabs pass me up.

I don't have the time to tell you all the things I've learned from this cast. It's an extraordinary ensemble because we all support each other so well.

I can't get that live and I don't have the time to take the tape, after I've finished recording it, into a little studio somewhere else where I can get a different kind of percussion sound.

I like creating these rhythmic patterns. These interlocking rhythmic things are really fun.