At the beginning of each job, I always said "If anyone has a special song they wish me to perform, just write it down on the back of a $20 bill and send it up - I'll be glad to do it for you." I figured that would slow them down. Well, when I was performing in the Florida Keys, and in Baltimore's Little Italy, you would be amazed at the number of $20s that came to me with songs written on them, mostly in lipstick. I loved that part - but Carol was a bit upset.

Most of the time, the songs requested were ones I already knew and had no trouble performing, so it was really never a problem. The part I always hated was when some wise-ass drunk would ask for something really stupid that no one would perform. I just ignored them, which usually worked out OK. Sometimes, though I would take a 2 minute break and have a serious talk with either the bouncer or manager and they would have a serious talk with the customer.

Early on, when I first began doing nite clubs and bars in my early 20s, I would create a list on a yellow notepad, one that I had my wife, and some friends write song titles upon using pen, pencil, left handed, right handed, etc..., to make it look as if lots of people had already made requests. When they asked for a song, I would tell them to put it on the list and I would be more than happy to perform the song as soon as I did the others. That worked great for a decade or more until someone stole my note pad.

All the best,

Gary