Todd's self portrait... Mojo Mag.

apparently from Mojo Magazine - the one with Johnny Cash on the cover and a part called Self Portrait.

Todd's self portrait.
I would describe myself as... like a ripening cheese. The older I get, the more complex in flavour and aroma I become. While a new cheese has a certain freshness about it, it doesn't bring out the qualities of its accompaniments as satisfyingly. Pair me with fresh fruit or quince paste and see how well I perform.

Music changed me... It's like asking "How is the oxygen working for ya?" I don't remember a time without music. Take the music away and there would be a change. Music and I have been inseparable since birth.

When I'm not making music... I like to cook. I find mise en place very relaxing. There is something Zen about trying to get all the meat out of a Dungeness crab. The end result is a service to others, as well as yourself, and ideally a transportive experience not unlike a Tony Bennett performance.

My biggest vice... is procrastination. Although at times I find it a useful protective mechanism and often a creative incubator. You can't address every issue immediately or you feel like a slave to the whims of others. Still, things never go away, they just pile up and have to be dealt with eventually. There's actually a little endorphin rush after I finally get current.

The last time I was embarrassed was... I got lost in Osaka a couple months ago. I'm notorious for my sense of direction, but it doesn't work as well underground. I led a couple of friends with great confidence onto a train that took us in the opposite direction from our destination. Mr Smarty Pants had some explaining to do.

My formal qualifications are... Honoraria only. I like to call myself a professor because I made it through 10 days of student interaction at Indiana University under an "endowed professorship". In reality, I barely made it out of high school and for all the good it did me, I may as well have dropped out.

The last time I cried was when... my dog died a few months ago. 'Nuff said.

Vinyl, CD or MP3... What, no AAC? I am format agnostic. I leave it up to the audience to decide how they want to play it and try to adjust. I believe that people always love a good song and could care less about how it gets into their ears. The fact that the majors never understood this is why most of them are gone.

My most treasured possession is... at this moment, my passport. I recently lost a second one in three years and if I don't hang on to this one for at least a year I am in big trouble. I've had a pouch in my skin surgically created as a precaution.

The best book I've read is... Magister Ludi [aka The Glass Bead Game] by Herman Hesse. I always thopught it would make a great film. I even cast Max Von Sydow in my head. Instead we got some mess called Cloud Atlas... rip off.

Is the glass half-full or half-empty?... I've learned to plan ahead so that the glass is maximally full by the time I get there. Believe me, the glass does not remain at the halfway point for long.

My biggest regret is... there are feelings that I do not acknowledge, even as I am tempted to feel them. Amongst these are pride, rage, melancholy, spite and certainly regret. There is no 'greatest' of any of them - I feel regretful indulging any of them.

When we die... we rot, unless we're cremated. Could possibly be a meal for something.

I'd like to be remembered... like The Day The Earth Stood Still, or something like that? All the electricity would go out except on airplanes and in hospitals. I dunno, imagining your own eulogy is really about the most vain thing I can think of - how about, "He was the humblest person I ever met..."