What he taught us was something I carried through with all the bands I played after that. I would sum it up as this: There are a lot of musicians out there, and most are always looking for work. Of those musicians, only a few are entertainers, and they will never have a problem finding work.

He would tell me to connect with the audience. I remember one day saying to him, "How do I do that?"

He said, "Find someone in the audience you find interesting and look them in the eyes and smile." Find a cuter girl, a guy who''s really getting into the music, or anyone who will look back at you.

I tried it, and it worked great. I was soon connecting with many people on the same night of playing. So many that they would be coming up to me on the breaks and wanting to talk.

Later, I added my own additional rules for the band memebrs such as during breaks, you cannot go sit in the dressing room. You must mingle with the crowd for at least 5 minutes. Let people know you''re there. Ask them if there''s something they''d like to hear. And no one can have more than one drink per hour. i.e., Don''t get drunk while trying to play and sing. It never works out well.

I lived by these rules throughout my music career, and they served me well. Most musicians don''t understand that there''s always a lot of musicians looking for work but very few entertainers.