But when I came out of the Marine Corps, I realized that I played differently. You know, either I matured in my playing or because I didn’t play for a long time, just listening to music as you gradually, you know, came around…
my classmate, there was a classmate that went to St Lucy, he's gone already but, name was [Gailin Cam ?], you know, a local Chinese boy, really a exaggerating person, but he's a really happy guy and makes you feel happy, and he told me, "Herb, you played the ukulele all your life, all through school, you used to play for assemblies and all that, you know. Why don't you make a record?" And that's how it started.
So I said, "Who do I see?" He said, "Don't worry, I going to introduce you." You know. So he introduced me to [Dom McDermott?] (Hula Records) who's also the rep for Capitol Records at that time, and I played for him, and he said, "Okay. Any time. You tell me when you're ready and I'll record you."
Date: August 2012
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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