I didn't grow up wealthy. We couldn't even afford spaghetti sauce when I was first born, but my mom and dad worked really hard and came from the bottom up.
I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the youngest of four girls, including my oldest sister, Lisa, who has special needs. My mom was a special education teacher, and my dad worked on the Army base. We weren't wealthy, but we were determined to succeed.
If I'd had the chance, I'd like to have completed my degree before going full-time, and sports journalism was something that always interested me. Dad used to buy a paper, and I always turned straight to the sports pages.
I'm a bit taller too because I've got Mum's legs and Dad was a bit more squat and well-built than me. My brother Andrew is a bit more like Dad.
My dad liked to boil a squirrel head and suck the brains out the nose. Smaller than a chicken, bigger than a rat.
I've seen 48 Stanley Cups in my life. I was about six or seven when I started going to games with my dad.
I had to put me foot down with the first record company. It was about 1975, when singers were being given names like Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust, so they wanted to call me Benny Santini just because me dad's an Irish-Italian with an ice-cream business!
To stay true to your art is such a complicated journey, and Dad clearly has done it.
I always wanted to be a stay-at-home dad making art, making movies.
My dad is a civil engineer, and my mom is a stay-at-home mom. The fact that my parents weren't really involved in music was kind of good, because it meant that I had something that was private and personal.
My dad was a plumber, and my mom was on and off again, either a stay-at-home mom or working with the disabled as a visiting-nurse assistant.
One thing I hear a lot is, 'Dude, my mom loves your record,' or 'I got it for my dad for Christmas.' I'm essentially doing dad rock. Which is great, because I love Steely Dan, you know? Nothing wrong with dad rock!
Along with being around the 'Roseanne' stuff, I've been following my mom and my dad back to Steppenwolf.
My family always spent the warm months bottling fruit for storage, which Dad said we'd need in the Days of Abomination.
I text with my dad during every 'Scandal' episode. We talk story lines, acting, and fashion.
My dad, as much as I love him, has one of those signs - 'The Isbell's' - on his front door, and he's got the damn apostrophe in there. I haven't strangled him yet.
I'm turning into a stricter dad.
My dad was a very strong man, very stubborn as well.
I try to be a friend to my boys just the way my dad was with me. Subconsciously that reflects in my writing.
I remember very clearly when my dad first subscribed to HBO - 'Fraggle Rock' was a gamechanger.
