Kelsey Grammer at 69: What I Know Now

Inner harmony

I have a bunch of old rock ’n’ roller friends, including Jon Anderson, the former lead singer for Yes. He and I are about to go into production on a musical. He wrote some amazing songs about the life of the artist Marc Chagall, whom Jon met in France through Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones near the end of Chagall’s life. It’s really a story of never giving up. Chagall always felt dismissed by critics as a “popular” painter. It wasn’t until late in life that he created the monumental works, like the murals at the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera House ceiling, that made Chagall Chagall. That resonated.

Wealth is relative

I’m OK with money, but I did get divorced a few times. I pay those debts because, honestly, even if it was twice as much, it would still be cheap. I’m alive and happy, right? But it does have consequences. A lot of people depend on me. I’m still working. I sometimes shop at Costco. Had I never been divorced, it would be “the sky’s the limit.” It’d be a ridiculous number.

Cancel cancel culture

Cancel culture is ridiculous. It’s about giving a platform for hatred — singling people out to take them down. I think we can all do better toward one another. We focus so much on differences in this country — red state, blue state; conservative, liberal — but I think we should celebrate how much we all share. Maybe that could move us toward community again, rather than silos. We can have different opinions, but we all want to be happy, we all want health, we care about our children. The world my granddad introduced me to — a world of service, a world of kindness — that still holds value.

The urgency of time

I’m not sad about getting older. I feel better now than ever, honestly. Sometimes, though, that line comes to me from the poem “To His Coy Mistress”: “At my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near.” There are things I haven’t quite done yet. I do face that ticking clock. Of course, time is not really God’s issue; it’s our issue.