Contino maintains a breathless schedule of concerts and club gigs. At 67, he continues to parlay the adulation that first came his way some 50 years ago. "I hate that old cliche, 'Well, it's a state of mind.' Yeah, but it is. It's where you are in consciousness. Where you are in awareness," he says. An upcoming tour with singer Julius LaRosa includes stops in "Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Rochester, Utica, N.Y. In December there's a thing planned for me in Chicago to celebrate my 50th year as a professional in the business since I first introduced "Lady of Spain," y'know, on the Horace Heidt Show. I'm looking forward to that. It's a nice ride, y'know."

The ride began on bandleader Horace Heidt's radio program in the late forties. In a Heidt-sponsored talent search, Contino smoked the competition week after week with a blistering rendition of "Lady of Spain," a song that went on to become as closely identified with the accordion as mustard is with hot dogs. Overnight, a squealing brigade of bobby-soxers realized that the accordion was cool. Contino made it cool. 500 Dick Contino fan clubs covered the nation and Dick was pulling down $4,000 a week for club dates and radio appearances.