Moved to Santa Cruz to escape the Santa Clara Valley; met Brad Hecht with the band "Cool Jerks", who were an R&B corporate band = members of the Chamber of Commerce, and band members got insurance (!); Burnin Vernon played with them for 9 years as lead vocalist, and was able to make a living; went to school with Chris Cain, but decided he would venture beyond the blues; turned down a chance to audition with Brick as their guitarist, and landed a job as house guitarist at Fantasy Records in Berkeley, where a producer, Harvey Fuqua, was Etta James' boyfriend & introduced him; Burnin' Vernon's ultimate guitar hero is Joe Walsh; when Vernon went to a music store in the Bay Area to buy a 1952 Gibson Les Paul, he met Freddy King, who was at the store with a pair of Gibson corporate types; Burnin Vernon plays songs from "A to Z", from Al Green to Led Zeppelin, & he has a vocal range that allows him to hit some of Prince's notes on "Kiss"; Santa Cruzan Ken Brady saw Burnin Vernon at Abbott Square, and introduced Dan to his music, thus the interview ahead of a show at The Crow's Nest; "Stormy Monday", played live, in the studio, with Dangerous Dan shouting out to the longtime KZSC Monday night blues collective; Burnin' Vernon has been able to make a living as a musician, but it's been a struggle.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.