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Before I had a record deal, I was living in New York and playing anywhere I could, from somebody's house to an open mic to coffeeshops.

Then I went through a whole bunch of crap with my lousy movies and pop records. I had people behind me kind of steering me in that direction, but it wasn't really my bag.

I had a band with a girl in New York, and we would go around and do gigs. And then I happened to start getting work as an actress.

Guitar gigs were everywhere in the '50s, and I started diddling around so I could keep working. Playing honky-tonk, simple stuff. I took a few gigs with an organ band that put me out front.

I had my guitar at the set of 'Lost in Space' every day. I was the only one in the cast who had a stereo in his dressing room. So while I was in school or when I was in there working with Dr. Smith and the robot, half the rest of the cast was in my trailer listening to their records that they would bring.

I had sent out 100 audition tapes within 365 days, and then I got the 'Dope' audition. When I sent that out, two days later my manager called me and said they wanted to fly me out to L.A. to audition.

I took a plane from New York City to Los Angeles for an audition. I met all the people. After that, I was told to have another audition, but I didn't want to go there again.

I had done a fair bit of traveling during the holidays in my school days with my guitar and discovered that I could live on it. Admittedly, I traveled with a sleeping bag but I could always find somewhere to lay my head.