Continued interview ...

You mentioned a record contract. What happened with that and after the Mosquitos?
* We were very close to a record deal several times with my material and the one criticism back then was that it was too many different styles. I even said to the powers that be, I said why don’t you pick one style off the reel that you like (back then it was a reel) and I’ll write ten songs like that, if that’s what you think it takes.

It was a very telling thing, considering back in 1966 that you could have three or four different styles on one record, and now they wanted just one.

It seemed very strange and when I saw that I realized that I probably was no longer relevant in the traditional record deal sense of the word - and then I just said it’s just time to move on, which is why I made my money as a live entertainer. After the Mosquitos my focus was songwriting. I wrote a few songs for other artists and some were used in movies, including one in a John Travolta movie. There's a story about this in Along the Way and the movies are mentioned in V-Gallery. I also performed as a solo artist and with bands in New York City and Long Island clubs.

What do you see for the future?
*Well, who knows! As I said, every day getting up healthy is the biggest gift as a lot of people know. As far as for the future, it would be nice to be able to continue in the music business - be able to pay my bills which I’ve been very fortunate to do. I’ve been fortunate to have a musical career where I can make a living. So it would be nice ... I would love to have more songs placed in movies, or placed with other artists and, if there ever were time, I would certainly love to do some shows of my own.