It's a perfect testament to what Aspen is. If all concerts can be like that ...

His stamp is on so many things about the festival. He was a great personality. I see it as a great positive, to have someone like that in the history of the organization. He was a great leader, but greatness is not intimidating. It's exciting.

We talked a lot about the mission, the link between the artists who come here and the students, and that this is an unbreakable link. That's what became most intriguing to me. Aspen can do what even great conservatories don't do. It can play a role for young musicians that their conservatory doesn't play. Not more important, but complementary to it.

No, I’m not choosing him or you. I’m choosing me.

Now I know what happens at a gig, I will be ready for it, next time--I will come in just a T-shirt and shorts and books, and fight my way to the front, like a quietly determined soldier, and then let the band take my head off. I want to walk into rooms like that every night, with a sense of something happening.

Living as Wild Child, I could no longer be Debby Parker comfortably — this name that I’d been given at birth that defined me before I’d had the chance to define myself.