I have lived in this city my whole life and have seen the way gentrification has changed it. I'm not necessarily against transplants, as 75 percent of my good friends, roommate, and boyfriend are not native New Yorkers.

I'm not infatuated with frivolousness. We're just good friends.

I go off into Dublin and two days later I'm spotted walking by the Liffey with a whole bunch of new friends.

I was always singing but didn't plan on pursuing it seriously. When I got to New York City when I was 18, I started playing in clubs in Brooklyn - I have good friends and devoted fans on the underground scene, but we were playing for each other at that point - and that was it.

I'm good friends with Jay Leno, good friends with Ed O'Neill, Melanie Fiona and Russell Simmons.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.