Macy Gray: The Six-Pack Q&A

Rolling Stone posed six questions to kooky neo-soul star Macy Gray. She revealed that she's ready to begin a career as a pimp, is a Cold War Kids fan and plays a wicked hand of poker.

What is the most rock star thing that you have ever done?
You either are a rock star or you aren't. If you are a rock star you just are, you don't have rock-star moments.

What was your favorite record when you were fourteen?
It was Purple Rain and Thriller. But Purple Rain was my favorite album until I became an adult. In college Appetite for Destruction was my favorite. I love that album.

What's on your current playlist?
I love Timbaland. My favorite songs right now are "The Way I Are" and "Umbrella" by Rihanna. Those are just hot songs. Also Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Up To Dry." It's not trying to be pop, it's just a real rock song.

How do you think you'll know when it's time to retire?
I don't see myself retiring. I think I'm always going to do something.

Who's the coolest person you have ever met?
The coolest people in my life are my kids.

What other profession can you see yourself doing?
I could see myself pimpin'. I know they say pimpin' ain't easy but it just seems like something I could do. It's just so accessible. I could be Heidi Fleiss. Other than that, I would be a professional poker player. I'm not that good, but I could make money at it. Yesterday I played and I made $600, and today I made $700. So if I did that every day, four days a week -- do I have to report it though?

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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