I want to be taken seriously as the type of musician that plays stuff like an electric rake. I mean how seriously do you take someone like Spike Jones? They take him pretty seriously - a really good musician who made a great contribution in terms of humor which is part of what I try to do too.
In terms of individuals who actually inspired me very few of the academic people that I had access to had that power over me. Maybe it's simply because I wasn't that committed to geometry.