The Good Quote
Open menu
Quotes
Authors
Topics
More
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
Home
Authors
Johnny Rivers
American
Musician
About the author
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.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#People
#Fact
#Smoking
In 1965, Gibson made the red one I use now, and a black one, which was the first black 335 they ever made.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Now
#First
In early '57, I bought a Fender Telecaster.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
Jack and I usually get together and sit around in the afternoons and start throwing ideas around.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Ideas
My first really good guitar was a Gibson J-45.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#First
#Guitar
One of the first groups we signed was the Fifth Dimension.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#First
One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Will
The first amp I had back in the '50s was a small Fender.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#First
The web site and the Internet are a whole new ball game.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Internet
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.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Work
#Artists
I've got a Fender Concert amp from the '60s, the one Joe Osborn used. He played his bass through it.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
Even Woodstock turned out to be a disaster. Everybody was stuck in the mud and people got sick.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#People
#Disaster
The first time I went to New York, I met Alan Freed.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Time
#First
I'd gone through periods where I didn't work live performances for probably seven or eight months at a time.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Time
#Work
#Months
I was working at this club in downtown L.A. from four to eight at night, just Eddie Rubin, the drummer, and I.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Night
I think my favorite album was probably Realization.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Favorite
I think after 1970 or so, after I sold Soul City, I took off for awhile and didn't do too many gigs.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Soul
I loved playing and I was actually working two jobs.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Jobs
I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
I got to see all these incredible blues players, like Jimmy Reed.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
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.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Songs
#Time
#Writing
#Music
#Talking
But I always loved songs with great lyrics.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Songs
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.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Building
#Publishing
#Company
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.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Chance
#Success
About two months into the Whisky, I borrowed some money and rented a remote recording truck.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician
#Money
#Months
I accepted an offer to do a concert for the reopening of the Mall of Memphis.
Johnny Rivers,
American
Musician