Daily News Los Angeles recently spoke with Caetano Veloso, whom the paper calls "one of the most respected Portuguese-language poets in the world," in advance of a rare Southern California appearance last night in Pasadena. He plays tomorrow night in Santa Cruz.

In an interview with writer Michelle J. Mills, Caetano discusses a lifetime of musical influences. Some of his earliest musical memories are of his mother singing him old songs he would then learn to play on the piano. While he eventually moved on to the guitar, his love of bossa nova, and João Gilberto as the "supreme master," would stay with him even as he moved on to incorporate elements of rock into the new sound of Tropicália. And these days, as he performs songs from what has been called his most rock-influenced album to date, Cê, he points out the samba sounds on the record. Clearly, as Mills writes, Caetano "has gleaned grooves from a range of music" over the years and continues to create something magical and new in the process.

For information on the rest of Caetano's US tour, click here.