Daniel de Visé > Quotes

“On Valentine’s Day, John let himself into Steven Spielberg’s home, raided his refrigerator, and left a note. He partied into the night with the Pretenders, who had played at UCLA. After midnight, he telephoned Judy from Chateau Marmont. “Chrissie Hynde has passed out,” he said. “What should I do?” Call her road manager, Judy instructed coolly.”
― Daniel de Visé, The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic

“MONEY, MUSIC, and lust inspired Riley in equal measure.”
― Daniel de Visé, King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King

“Andy and his manager, Dick Linke, set up a meeting with Abe Lastfogel at William Morris. Andy told him, “Mr. Lastfogel, I’ve struck out in movies and now on Broadway, and I don’t want to go back to nightclubs, so maybe I’d better try television.” Lastfogel went to see Sheldon Leonard, the powerful producer of television’s Danny Thomas Show. He asked if Sheldon knew of Andy. Sheldon replied, “Yeah, he did a record, a funny record.” Lastfogel said, “He’d like to do television. Can you think of something for him?”
― Daniel de Visé, Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American

“The funereal black suits were “straight from Lenny Bruce, who said, ‘You’ve always got to wear a suit and tie, man, to fool the straights,’” Dan said.”
― Daniel de Visé, The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic

“Hendrix was twenty-one and unknown. He sought an audience with B.B., who told him “about entirely new approaches to the guitar, and the powerful effect the Hawaiian and country and western pedal-steel guitars had had on him,” and how he had “achieved a cry that sounded human, that had emotion, that sang,” David Henderson writes in his Hendrix biography. B.B. pointed to his fat hands, and he explained how Jimi could use his long, supple fingers to make his guitar sound “like a woman singer’s vibrato,” like Lucille. That little chat “put enough in Jimmy’s ears to keep him occupied for months, years.”
― Daniel de Visé, King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King

“The Andy Griffith Show was anachronistic. The denizens of Mayberry wore clothing of uncertain vintage and hair of indeterminate style and drove cars of unspecified age. Scant mention was made of current affairs or changing times. Telephone calls were placed through a human operator, and no one seemed to own a television set.”
― Daniel de Visé, Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American