 Alan's publishing company was in the Brill Building, and of course, the Brill Building was where all the songwriters hung out because that's where all the publishers were. |
| I'd gone through periods where I didn't work live performances for probably seven or eight months at a time. |
| I think after 1970 or so, after I sold Soul City, I took off for awhile and didn't do too many gigs. |
| I was working at this club in downtown L.A. from four to eight at night, just Eddie Rubin, the drummer, and I. |
| In early '57, I bought a Fender Telecaster. |
| About two months into the Whisky, I borrowed some money and rented a remote recording truck. |
| One of the first groups we signed was the Fifth Dimension. |
| My first really good guitar was a Gibson J-45. |
| I accepted an offer to do a concert for the reopening of the Mall of Memphis. |
| The first time I went to New York, I met Alan Freed. |
| In 1965, Gibson made the red one I use now, and a black one, which was the first black 335 they ever made. |
| But I always loved songs with great lyrics. |
| One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from. |
| I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it. |
| After that initial success, every chance we got we'd hire that remote recording truck and just record stuff at the Whisky because it was so inexpensive. |
| The web site and the Internet are a whole new ball game. |
| When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists. |
| Guys like Otis Blackwell and Bobby Darin, and all the guys who were writing songs for Elvis at the time, just hanging around, writing songs, talking about music. |
| What I really remember is that people camped out everywhere, and the fact everybody expected it might turn into a big nightmare with all sorts of hassles because back in those days everybody was smoking pot and taking acid. |
| Jack and I usually get together and sit around in the afternoons and start throwing ideas around. |
