Lynn Johnston: When you’re very young, you often find yourself completely devoted to something, whether it’s Elvis Presley or a father figure or whatever.
Wayne Shorter: Yes, but does the water take the shape that the fish makes, or does the fish make the shape that the water takes?
Johnston: [laughter] I had about six to eight months.
Shorter: The footsteps disappeared, and I went and got my taxi.
Johnston: It’s like Ann Landers telling people to watch their babies around toilets, because they can drown.
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Shorter: That night we went to a restaurant and all these little soldiers, walking around with machine guns, they knew who we were, but knew we were Americans.
Johnston: They wanted to take me out to lunch, but I went back to the hotel and—swear to God—got physically ill.
Shorter: So they seem to think it’s a doorway into something. [gruff-voiced Miles impression] No, this is another hallway, unvisited.
Johnston: Then they would look around and think, “Well, it’s got a leaky faucet, a mother who yells at you, crumbs on the floor,” and the magic was gone.
Shorter: Oh, yeah, sold out.
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Johnston: I think you bring unhappiness on yourself, because if you don’t like yourself very much, you allow yourself to be influenced by people who reinforce that.
Shorter: Optimistic chaos is a term Frank Gehry came up with.
Johnston: He never leaves the property, but he does have free roam of the bush, and who knows?
Shorter: He’d been standing against the wall unnoticed.
Johnston: That’s something new people aren’t prepared for.