Many times since Margaret passed away I've thought about how all the pieces of our book fell together and the gratitude we had toward so many people throughout the process. For instance, my children had to endure listening to 100's of hours of conversation with Margaret, along with hours of my complaining about how no one in this world seems to do their job adequately...... There are so many friends and strangers who became new friends, that purchased our book and helped promote it; each and every book sale delighted us. It's interesting that my husband, who is only an average music fan, offered terrific input on the book, specifically, creating the title. Margaret & I were struggling with a title for the book & had bland ideas along the lines of "Girls Rock in the Kitchen", etc..... but one evening I was sitting amidst a stack of papers & record albums & I asked Mike if he had any ideas and he casually blurted out "what about "Recipe Records" ... Margaret & I instantly loved it and considered him a super genius rock star for his random title born from thin air. It was also his idea to contact Charlie Daniels, who I had previously interviewed for a magazine article, to see if he would endorse our book. At the time I couldn't figure out how to give Charlie a "sample" of our book without sending less than 30 pages of material. And bless that man for reading it and giving us a great endorsement.
While trying to find another endorsement, Margaret called me one day & said we should contact St. Louis businessman Joe Edwards. Joe owns The Pageant, an outstanding concert venue in "The Loop" area of St. Louis, along with Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and club, the Pin-Up Bowl and the Moonrise Hotel.
Joe is not only an astute businessman, but he is gracious, respectful and generous. There aren't a lot of businessmen these days that can be named alongside all of those adjectives. We found his method of conducting business - by telephone and U.S. mail, to be refreshing and more meaningful than by using a computer. After imposing on Joe with our 30 page book "sample", we received a phone call, along with a letter - a handwritten endorsement and a recipe to use in our follow-up book... Recipe Records, the 60's edition. Months later, we sent him one of the first copies of the book, and Mags & I promptly received phone calls from him with his sincere compliments. I'm going to write more later about Joe Edwards' outstanding businesses in the Loop area of St. Louis; I encourage you to visit this remarkable area.
About a year ago rock & roll legend Chuck Berry was playing at The Pageant to celebrate Joe Edwards' 10th anniversary of opening the venue. Mags and beau, Keith, bought tickets for the sold-out show. Prior to the show date, Mags called Joe and asked if we could give a copy of our book to Chuck and also see if Chuck would autograph our book as a keepsake. Joe called Mags back and explained to her that he could try.... (I remember this so vividly) Joe told Mags that Chuck was "cagy", or moody, unpredictable, and Joe basically gave Mags no hope to expect this minor miracle. Mags delivered books to Joe and attended the fantastic show and the very next day...received a phone call. Joe had given the book to Chuck and Chuck not only totally dug Recipe Records - he autographed a book for each of us. A true keepsake indeed. You can only imagine the squeals we emitted over the telephone line.....
I wanted to share the story and thank Joe for all he did for Margaret and I and Recipe Records. Joe called me awhile back and he expressed his condolences to me and to Margaret's family. He said she was a fantastic girl. Yep... she was....
Lanea Stagg
Recipe Records
1 comment:
Over on wordpress there is a starred "like" button much like FB. I wish there was one here, because your post definitely deserves a star!
Glad to see you posting again, too!
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