Dick Latvala

Born :

July 26, 1943

Died :

August 6, 1999

I'm the proverbial kid in the candy store. I'm a guy who is lucky enough to have been chosen to turn his compulsive hobby into a profession. If I didn't have my job, I'd be doing almost the same thing for free.

guy jobs kids

I am amazed and thrilled and unbelievably proud about my team's performance.

amazed proud team

You can really do some clever editing even within the limited two-track format.

editing clever two

Everyone has his own agenda, and it can overshadow the important thing, which is to capture a great performance. They listen to it and think, "Oh, I'm not mixed loud enough...I missed a note there...I'm a half-step off on the turnaround."

important steps thinking

The mindset of the people who put the shows on and those who go buy a ticket is so fundamentally different. The band themselves don't have a sense of things, and I found this out after a lot of years of pain and frustration.

frustration pain years

I don't have an agenda. I don't have things I want to get to or something. I have like a broad, slim grasp of certain periods and certain shows within that period, an awareness of them, but they demand re-listening. I have a flimsy grasp of all the eras and ideas within each period of what would be a good show to think of.

listening ideas thinking

It's kind of hard to find something that will get your juices flowing if you're somewhat critical. I have a hard time finding great things for myself in '94 and certainly in '95.

juice hard-times kind

I'm swamped with input. I want input, but I am so far behind on what I got here that I can't keep up with what people are sending me.

input want people

I want everyone to be able to have the same experience through the music as me. It's important to get it out.

able important want

I'm in a state of learning, and I don't have any set-in-stone ideas about what shows or even what eras I want to pursue.

stones want ideas

There are enough painful experiences that go along with this trip that it keeps me in reality. It ain't all gems and roses.

painful-experiences rose reality