arts & entertainment

food

Behind The Rich & Famous

Film documents life of talent manager Shep Gordon,
whose "Jewish DNA" has guided his celebrity-strewn life.

Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News

A

half-hour doesn't go any fast-
er than time spent listening
to longtime music manager
Shep Gordon's anecdotes.
In an interview coinciding with the
opening of comedian Mike Myers'
briskly entertaining documentary,
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep
Gordon, Gordon offered firsthand
memories of Groucho Marx and
Barbra Streisand, Bill Graham and
Marvin Hamlisch.
And those were just the Jews.
Gordon was 22 and Groucho's co-
manager with Erin Fleming when she
took him to a meeting with a music
executive in 1972. Fleming, the comic
icon's mercurial late-in-life compan-
ion, berated and cursed A&M Records
co-founder Jerry Moss until he asked
Gordon outside for an explanation.
"Groucho can't afford his nurses:'
Gordon said, "and you have an album
coming out with him. I thought maybe
you'd give him an advance because you
have a way to recoup it:'
Moss wrote a large personal check
and handed it to Gordon. "I'm only
going to ask you one thing:' he said.
"Don't bring her back:'
Gordon laughs with pleasure at the
recollection, noting that he and Moss
are friends to this day.
"He's a great Jew:' Gordon says. "I
am proud to be a landsman of his:'
The lively and affectionate
Supermensch, which opens in the-
aters on Friday, June 20, assembles
celebrities Michael Douglas, Sylvester
Stallone, Emeril Lagasse, Detroit-born
Alice Cooper — Gordon's first and
longest-tenured client and friend —
and others to describe the path and
character that led a gangly talent man-
ager to wind up cooking dinner for the
Dalai Lama.
Or, to put it another way: how a nice
guy finished first.
"I give all credit to my DNA and
my cultural background:' says the
New York native. "A lot to my father,
but I think it's much broader than my
father. I think there's a strain in many
Jews of being social liberals, and that's
one of the things I love about being
Jewish: So many people I meet who
are Jewish actually care about other
people:'

48

June 19 • 2014

JN

Gordon says he was very vocal
with prospective clients that other
managers could make them more
money. His particular talent, which
'9011111 1 111PAPMAII
—,_,
he deployed on behalf of Cooper,
Teddy Pendergrass, Anne Murray,
numerous other performers and
countless celebrity chefs (a category
he pioneered), was making people
famous.
"I always felt that my social liber-
alism didn't come from conscious-
ness:' Gordon muses. "By cause and
effect, it came from DNA — it was
Shep Gordon in Maui
beyond me; there was nothing I
could do about it.
"So many times, like with the
chefs, I was not going to do that. I
knew they had this need for some-
body to make them famous. I was
not going to be that guy, and at some
point the consciousness went away
and the DNA took over, and they
needed help and I could help them.
That's Jewish."
He turns serious at the mention of
hard-nosed Holocaust survivor and
promoter Bill Graham, who booked
and ran the Fillmore Auditorium in
San Francisco among other venues.
"I had the utmost respect for
Shep Gordon and Alice Cooper in an
him:' Gordon recalls, "because
archival photo
he had the tattoo [number]. And
because he had the tattoo, I acted
in ways that weren't the smartest, but
"That was difficult:' Gordon sighs.
I'm glad I did them. But they always
"But I was glad I did it. I would do it
backfired on me because he was a very again. I understood the tattoo wasn't
difficult guy:'
just numbers; this was a guy who lived
On one occasion, Graham called
a life for all of us. The scars he had I
to object to Pendergrass playing a
could never in my wildest dreams ever
competing Bay Area venue. Gordon
approach, so God bless him:'
phoned Pendergrass, explaining
As for Streisand, suffice it to say that
Graham's background while making it
a wary Gordon's perception — based
clear that his offer was for less money
on hearsay — that she was tough and
and might provoke a lawsuit from the
demanding was erased by her gracious
original promoter.
behavior as a guest, with her husband,
Pendergrass didn't hesitate for a sec- at Gordon's house in Maui, Hawaii.
ond, nor did he ever bring it up to his
If one needs more evidence that
manager. "If it's important enough for
Gordon is no more than two degrees
you to make the call:' he told Gordon,
of separation from anyone in show
"we're doing his show:'
business: Marvin Hamlisch had rela-
tionships with Erin Fleming as well as
A touching tale, but the capper is
Graham withheld a portion of the
songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, one of
fee because he was dissatisfied with
Gordon's clients.
the sound quality of Pendergrass'
"I moved his piano more times than
show. Gordon was unable to change
I like to think of:' Gordon says.
Graham's mind and made up the dif-
ference — without the late singer ever
Supermensch: The Legend of
finding out — from the safe of Carlos
Shep Gordon is scheduled to open
and Charlie's, a restaurant he owned in
on Friday, June 20.
nearby Tiburon, Calif.

•.

❑

On The

Menu

Welcome summer
with appetizers.

T

he solstice
marks the
day of the
year with the most
hours of sunlight —
until nearly 10 o'clock
at night. With few
Jewish holidays that
require large celebra-
tions during the sum-
mer months, it's also
the time of year we
invite friends and fam-

ily over "just because:'
And nothing's better for summer eating
than easy, savory appetizers to begin the
meal. When happens next — whether it's
simple grilled fare or an elaborate meal — is
almost secondary. With all this daylight, we
want to stand and walk around outside as
long as we possibly can.
The following are great additions to your
favorite hors d'oeuvres repertoire. Some are
uncomplicated versions of more time-con-
suming classics, such as ratatouille, nachos
and green gazpacho.
What they all have in common is that you
get to spend your precious summertime days
enjoying the season instead of spending long
hours cooking.

❑

SMOKED SALMON PATE WITH
WASABI MAYONNAISE
1 Tbsp. prepared wasabi (Japanese horse-
radish)
8 oz. mayonnaise (low-fat is fine)
1 lb. smoked salmon or lox
'/2 cup chopped fresh chives
36 Belgian endive spears, seedless cucum-
ber rounds, gourmet crackers or party
pumpernickel breads cut into circles with a
cookie cutter
freshly ground black pepper
fresh chopped parsley (garnish)

Prepare wasabi mayonnaise: Combine wasabi
with the mayonnaise in a small bowl, and stir
well. Set aside.
Chop the smoked salmon by hand, or pulse a
few times in the bowl of a food processor fitted
with a metal blade. Add the chives, and stir or
pulse to combine.