Johnny Rivers

“I think after 1970 or so, after I sold Soul City, I took off for awhile and didn't do too many gigs.”

“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 accepted an offer to do a concert for the reopening of the Mall of Memphis.”

“I'd gone through periods where I didn't work live performances for probably seven or eight months at a time.”

“The first time I went to New York, I met Alan Freed.”

“My first really good guitar was a Gibson J-45.”

“I got to see all these incredible blues players, like Jimmy Reed.”

“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.”

“I've got a Fender Concert amp from the '60s, the one Joe Osborn used. He played his bass through it.”

“But I always loved songs with great lyrics.”

“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.”

“Jack and I usually get together and sit around in the afternoons and start throwing ideas around.”

“About two months into the Whisky, I borrowed some money and rented a remote recording truck.”

“One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from.”

“I loved playing and I was actually working two jobs.”

“In early '57, I bought a Fender Telecaster.”

“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.”

“I think my favorite album was probably Realization.”

“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.”

“The web site and the Internet are a whole new ball game.”