But, when I was about thirteen, I began to sort of sing in my neighborhood.

So that when I came to New York again, it was, I'm not too sure right now, but it was '74 or '75. I went to Miami in '74 and then I came to New York, I think, at the end of '74.

People are a lot smarter than anyone gives them credit for being.

So I went to Miami in '74 with my family and while I was there it became obvious that we needed money and we needed to do something, because my family, we left without anything really, and we didn't have any money to begin with.

I was the first person to come into New York with a Latin American point of view which was also very much influenced by political happenings in Latin America.

There was a lot of stuff happening in Havana that was being heard and appreciated by New Orleans musicians because of this situation. And vice versa.

We had something to say. Whenever we played, people didn't dance, they listened.