Johnny Ramistella quotes:

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.

All summer long we spent dancin' in the sand, and the jukebox kept on playing Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

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

I was rooming with Jimmy Bowen at the time, doing some gigs, then I went back to New Orleans and played there in '62.

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

Even Woodstock turned out to be a disaster. Everybody was stuck in the mud and people got sick.

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.

Beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind.

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.

That rich guy you've been seeing, must have put you down. Welcome back baby, to the poor side of town.

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

I was working at this club in downtown L.A. from four to eight at night, just Eddie Rubin, the drummer, and I.

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

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

The first amp I had back in the '50s was a small Fender.

I took care of myself. Basically I'm a vegetarian, I run every day, I exercise. I kind of control my living habits. I try to get a good night's sleep every night, I don't stay up all night and do all that stuff.

I think my favorite album was probably Realization.

But I always loved songs with great lyrics.

If you're going to get into music, you've got to learn the 12-bar blues.

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

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