Ryuichi Sakamoto was looking for a guitarist for his next tour of Japan. Derek Sivers stayed up all night long writing guitar parts for his album, recording them in my home studio. He transcribed the hard cello part into perfect bass clef notation to show him that he could read and write music. Ryuichi just smiled and said, I decide, not them.
In 1991 I was 22 years old, and had moved to New York City to be a professional musician.