Goldmine: Did you find your voice--your "sound", if you will--on Long Island?

Kenny Dino: Oh no, man, Long Island was a place to leave. At one point, I knew that if I stayed here, I would probably die quick...I was born in Astoria, Queens and I moved out to Hicksville in 1955. I was in junior high school. You see, my grandfather built a house in Center Moriches and my parents wanted to be closer to him. I spent seven summers with him on his farm out there. We were raising corn, potatoes...I was a country boy...the people out on The East End even spoke with a sort of southern accent. I was very countrified. That's what I related to...I hated the city...in fact, to this day, I still do. I love it out here in Great River. You know, last year, at the Great River Post Office Centennial, they asked me to sing The Star Spangled Banner. Johnny Farina backed me up. You know, Johnny from Santo and Johnny... "Sleepwalk"? It was nice. I have a tape of it around here somewhere...

Goldmine: Tell me about Hicksville...

Kenny Dino: I grew up in Hicksville. It was a tough place then. I remember...this must be '54 or '55...driving down Hempstead Turnpike at ten o'clock at night with the top down on a '51 Ford...listening to Elvis Presley singing...with the neck out looking for the girls...then deciding that we couldn't find nothing there so we gonna go to Coney Island or Rockaway. You had a better chance to pick up something...

Goldmine: What kind of music were you into?

Kenny Dino: I really wasn't into any kind of music then. I liked Sam Cooke , Jimmy Reed, Bobby Bland . I wasn't into Elvis then. I was part of that doo-wop thing in the bathroom. Really, I just tried to stay out of the gangs and the tough guys. In those days, you had gangs coming out from the city looking for fights...usually with the kids from East Meadow. On Hempstead Turnpike, across from the roller rink and the Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor, there was a candy store. All the fights were in the parking lot. I mean, we're talking right out of Central Casting: the leather jackets, the chains...and the zip guns. I just looked to get the hell out and stay alive. That's when I decided to join the Navy.

Goldmine: So how did you get into music?

Kenny Dino: Well, I ran away from home and came back and then enlisted in the Navy in 1957. For the first few months, I was stationed in Iceland. I entered a music contest and I came in second doing an old Elvis song. That started it. We got out of there and went to Bangor, Maine, then Florida and then Texas, where it all came together. It was Blues, R&B and the Tex-Mex thing. I met these guys in Nagadoches, five Mexican-American singers, all civilians, and me. We looked like Zapata's army without the moustaches. We were doing Chuck Berry , Little Richard ...blues, heavy blues-blues up the kazotzka...Johnny Ace . We toured all around Texas, Texarkana and Louisiana for about three years, playing all these roadhouses. It was great. Then I started hanging out in the San Antonio blues clubs. That was a great town for blues. I did my first recordings down there for Arrow Records. I don't remember what the song was...I think it was "On My Mind". All I remember is the red label with a picture of an indian headress. I wonder if that record still exists. I'd love to hear it! I met this kid who was playing guitar at afternoon jam sessions and I used to sit in with him. He was Doug Sahm and we started to work together. We were real close. I don't know what happened. I was in the Navy at the time and it was illegal to sign a contract while you're in the service...It didn't matter. I was having a good time. I was running with Roy Head and Ray Peterson. We were all playing and working together. We played the Jack Ruby clubs. Doug and I...Let me say this: Doug Sahm was...and is one hell of a guitar player.

Goldmine: Why did you leave Texas?

Kenny Dino: Because nothing was happening and everybody was telling me to go back to New York. That's where the power was. Nothing was happening in Texas. I tried to get Doug... I begged Doug to come with me but he wanted to stay, he wasn't ready yet. He didn't come up until '64, '65...