Robbie Hi Sr. Esquivel!

ESQUIVEL Thank you very much for coming!

Michael I, for one, am honored, truly. I've been planning on this all week. Where are you?

ESQUIVEL I am at home in Mexico.

Robbie How are you at the moment -- I heard that you were ill recently?

ESQUIVEL I am fine. I am in rehabilitation... therapy, trying to see if I can walk. It has been painful for year due to a broken hip. I have been in bed for practically 4 months. I am writing my next album, and hopefully I will be okay in a couple of months.

Robbie I'm sure I can speak for us all in saying that we wish you all the best in your recovery!

ESQUIVEL I guess that everyone who knows me is wanting me to get well. I am so busy writing my new material. It is very interesting because I made an arrangement off of the Mozart wedding march. I did it my way.

Michael Do you have a Web page?

ESQUIVEL Yes I do. It is on the record company site. I think that the Internet is fabulous. It makes information fantastic. I found a lot of information about myself, I like it very much.

I write with no vocals. That is my style, the chorus just sings syllables, and this time it is the same. You have to listen to the arrangement to see how it is.

"Guacamole" is an original of mine -- a new piece. It is being presented as the bed. It is very interpretive in many ways, and on how the bed is used.

The next record -- not my Christmas album -- will be out in the Summer. There will be 12 numbers. The titles will all be interesting, and I am taking some well known songs like "As Time Goes By" and changing them.

SonicMod Esquivel, what is your favorite cocktail?

ESQUIVEL My favorite cocktail is a Martini, with vodka.

Robbie Sr. Esquivel, I am the co-ordinator of "Spaced Out", the Enoch Light website. He is regarded by many as the pioneer of stereo recording but of course you were releasing stereo records a good year or two before his huge smash "Persuasive Percussion". Did you ever meet and/or work with Enoch Light? What do you think of his work and was he any influence? Or would you say you were more of an influence on him?!

ESQUIVEL I have heard of him, but I never had the chance of meeting him. I understand that he is very good. I heard from him, I never had the chance to listen to any of his recordings.

Robbie I believe that on your Xmas CD and on the new CD you have been working with members of Combustible Edison and other bands. Are you surprised at how this music is becoming so popular among the younger generation again?

ESQUIVEL I know the youngsters are listening to my music very much lately. My arrangements that they have been hearing through the radio have been written 35 years ago. This surprised me very much. In 1994-95 this man from RCA made a compilation of all my recordings. They were then were released by Bar None, which is a label.

Robbie The whole genre is really taking off again with all sorts of music from the 50s and 60s coming out on CD -- it's become "hip" all over again!

SonicMod What makes you the king of cocktails?

ESQUIVEL I was in Las Vegas and stayed there for 14 years with a group that I named The Sights and Sounds Of Esquivel. We were very successful... Four girls who were very pretty and talented and 6 musicians. Each girl was a different nationality, they sang... The girls were all jealous of each other. They were all soloists...

Robbie When was the last time you played on stage? And do you think you will be well enough to do this again when the new CD comes out?

ESQUIVEL The last time I performed was in Las Vegas in 1974. After that I came to Mexico City to make an album for children which in Spanish meant "Bubbles." It was the first time I wrote music for children. It sold over 2 million copies. Then I couldn't return to the states, because of a fall. I have an injury in my spine so it is hard for me. I am at my piano in a wheel chair. I write for 6-7 hours. It's so

painful I have to wear a special bandage around my spine. It is quite difficult for me. The only thing I hope is that I do not have to wait another 35 years to see the result of the music that I am writing now.

I do not think that I will play out again, I am still rehabilitating my hip. In my new arrangements I am using 5 girls in a different style. I like my new style. I think that people will be very happy.

Robbie I'm sure they will!

SonicMod Where did you work before all of this lounge stuff?

ESQUIVEL I stayed for 14 years in Vegas at the Stardust Hotel. I wrote music themes for Universal Studios. I wrote over 300 themes: Bionic Woman, Kojak, 6 Million Dollar Man, Simon and Simon, Alfred Hitchcock Presents... It is a large list. I even wrote some music for the show Baywatch. I have to go now I do not feel well. Thank you for coming.

Robbie Thanks very much for letting us chat with you!

SonicMod Thanks everyone for chatting w/ Esquivel. He has left the building.