Miami Beach, FL – November 14, 2016 – In honor of Supermensch Shep Gordon’s book launch, “They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll,” Top Chef star and celebrity chef, Spike Mendelsohn, alongside Miami Beach nightclub owner, David Grutman, and nightlife guru, Tommy Pooch, hosted a Hawaiian luau. The Hall’s Campton Yard was transformed into a Hawaiian oasis. Chill, backyard vibes took over the 1940s Art Deco hotel, as guests engaged in conversations with Gordon about his fascinating career and new book. Guests played games including ping pong, and giant jenga while listening to beats by DJ Sasha Lauzon. There was plenty food with a whole roasted pig and Hawaiian inspired bites including poke bowls, ceviche and fried avocado tacos from Sunny’s, Mendelsohn’s first F&B outlet at The Hall. Specialty cocktails from Casamigos Tequila and TOAST Vodka were served, and guests left the event with books signed by Gordon. Guests included the legendary Shep Gordon, celebrity chef Spike Mendelson, Miami HEAT President, Pat Riley and wife Chris Riley, Miami HEAT owner, Micky Arison and wife Madeleine Arison, renowned magician, James Randi, nightclub owner Dave Grutman and wife Isabela Rangel Grutman, Tommy Pooch, Gabriel Cardallera, Zak Siddons, Trisha McCarthy, Rich Wilkerson Jr., Jim Pulaski, Nick Smith, David Weisser, Brittany Miller, Michael Tuck, and Mo Garcia.

World Red Eye had the honor of speaking to Shep Gordon before the big night, who gave us a closer look into his wild ride through the entertainment industry and who has inspired him most.

WRE: Tell us about your latest book “They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll”?

SG: They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll was published by Anthony Bourdain. I was at a book signing in California and Anthony came up to me, I had never met him and he said “I would really love to do a book with you because if it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t have had the career I had” and I said, “Why is that?” because hadn’t realized I worked with him. He said, “Well you made Emeril Lagasse famous and I made myself famous by beating up Emeril Lagasse, so I owe you a lot.” That was the start of the book.

WRE: Any story behind the coined name, “Supermensch”?

SG: Yes. The name came from a note from Norman Lear. When I was younger my father and I used to watch Leer’s show, All in the Family, and would laugh and bond over it. Later on in life I had the pleasure of having dinner with Norman Lear, and about a week after the dinner he sent me a note and he called me a mensch. I always kept the note thinking how proud my dad would’ve been knowing Norman Lear called me a mensch. When Mike Myers was getting ready to do the movie he asked me what three things I would want to save if a tidal wave hit my house, because I live on the ocean, and one of the things was this note from Norman Lear. That’s where he got the name of the movie from.

WRE: You’re behind some of the biggest names that have ever graced the entertainment industry. How did that begin?

SM: I was out in California working as a probation officer. I lasted one day. In college, I had a second profession, which was a pharmaceutical salesman, not a legal one, but a pharmaceutical salesman nonetheless. When I quit my probation officer job I got some of that product on me, drove to LA, checked into a motel that had a vacancy sign and took some psychedelics. I then heard a girl screaming and could see there were two people sort of jostling on the ground by the pool. I had just come from a jail so I thought of bad stuff like the girl getting raped, assaulted, attacked or robbed, so I ran down like on a white horse with child in the 60’s to save the day. I separated the two of them and she punched me; they were making love, she wasn’t getting raped. When I went down to the pool in the morning I realized it was Janis Joplin. She then introduced me to Jimi Hendrix, The James Brothers, The Doors, who were all around the pool as well, and as a pharmaceutical salesman this was my target audience. I stayed at the motel for a while and after about six weeks Jimi Hendrix said to me and my partner, “What else do you guys do for a living except sell pharmaceuticals?” and we said, “Well, not really anything” and he replied “You know, you better have some story to tell if the police ever ask”. Hendrix continued, “Are you Jewish?” and we said “Yea” and he said “Well you should be a manager” because in those days in the entertainment industry most of the studio heads, agents and managers were Jewish. Jimi Hendrix then introduced me to Alice Cooper and soon after I became Cooper’s manager. Alice says that we met on a lie; he told me he was a singer I told him I was a manager and that started my journey. We’re still together forty-seven years later.

Jimi Hendrix then introduced me to Alice Cooper and soon after I became Cooper’s manager. Alice says that we met on a lie; he told me he was a singer I told him I was a manager and that started my journey. We’re still together forty-seven years later.

Shep Gordon, author of They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll

WRE: As you just mentioned, you’ve had a long-running relationship with Alice Cooper, what was it that made you two work so well together?

SG: I think we both are completely different in almost everything in life except our moral foundation, which is to be compassionate and to treat people how you’d like to be treated. He’s a nice man and never wants to leak blood, we’ve gone through so much together and have had so many failures as well as successes. Alice and I just really meet at a place of human kindness. Everything else we’re completely different in. He’s very Christian, I’m very Jewish. He loves to go shopping in malls, I can’t stand shopping. He watches a movie everyday, I never watch a movie. But, we meet at the way we treat humans and we also have created this character, Alice Cooper, together. We both love the character; he loves performing it and I love helping to create it. It’s almost like body extensions for both of us.

WRE: Being in the entertainment industry for some time now, what has been the craziest / most outlandish thing you have witnessed thus far?

SG: You know, I think more of it was during the early days of rock and roll when it seemed to be cool to be really out of your mind and reckless. I remember seeing Led Zeppelin throw a television into the pool of the InterContinental Hyatt House. Really weird, crazy things. Luckily nobody got hurt, but I would say those were the craziest days.

WRE: Of all the things you have accomplished in your life, is there one thing that  makes you feel more proud than any other?

SG: I think Alice Cooper getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was really a magical moment for all of us because we had worked so hard and never thought when we started that it would happen. That was a really special moment for both of us. The mere thought that in 1969 that Alice Cooper would get in the hall of fame was just insane.

WRE: Was there anyone who has inspired you to take the course of life you took?

SG: Yes, a few people, not so much the course of a manager but the courses of humans. Chef Roger Vergé was one of the first people I met who was really successful and happy, something I didn’t really see in the entertainment world. There was a lot of success and misery, people dying all around me, so he became a great mentor. When I had the good luck to cook for his holiness, the Dalai Lama, I got to spend some time with him and that was a  huge influence in my life. My father was also a gigantic influence.

WRE: Can you speak briefly on your work relationship with Salvador Dalí?

SG: My relationship with Dalí was focused around Alice Cooper. One of the techniques I had used as a manager was called “guilt by association,” putting my client next to someone famous and have that fame bleed off. Salvador Dalí was a very important part of the Alice Cooper experience. Three of the band members were art students, their hero was Salvador Dalí, including Alice. When you think about the Alice stage shows and you stop frame almost anywhere it’s like a Salvador Dalí painting. It’s weird, think about, you know, the makeup, the guillotine, everything juxtaposed nothing quite makes sense but everything makes sense, so he was a very important influence in our life. One of the things that I like to do for my artists is always put them into the new technology. The hologram had just started to come out and was being used by car companies to display their cars and I said, “Alice we have to figure out how to jump this wave of the hologram” and then we thought “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get Salvador Dalí to do a hologram of you?” So my partner actually got a hold of Salvador Dalí’s manager and set up a meeting. We went to the St. Regis hotel and his wife Gala came down and talked to us first. We were told to address Salvador Dalí as “The Dalí” and never speak about money with him. He later came down wearing an orange smock and didn’t even say hello. He took a jar of honey out of one pocket, walked to the table, opened the jar very slowly, held it up and poured it into the cup of hot water and then out of his other pocket, took out a scissor and cut the honey. Alice and I looked at each other like “Oh my god, here we go!”

WRE: You have referred to chefs being in the same realm as rock stars, can you expand on this?

SG: Being mentored by a chef I felt like I owed him an obligation. I got to see that the culinary arts were very much like the music world. Artists had to make new songs, chefs had to make new recipes. Chefs had to serve the dishes for twenty years, which can get boring for the chef but you have to do it, Alice has to play “School’s Out” for his audience. Alice changes to do a show, the chef changes to do his culinary art. The only difference was they weren’t getting paid and there was no access to them outside of their restaurants whereas someone like Michael Jackson had outlets like records, radio, videos and MTV or he would’ve been a wandering minstrel. That started my journey with the chefs and my goal was to build highways where they could touch their audience outside of their restaurant. The Food Network was very significant getting on the air; pots and pans, spices, all the things that you could touch and feel.

WRE: Whats the best piece of advice you could give to a young person who wants to get into management?

SG: Go for it. I don’t mean this in a morbid way, but everybody’s going to die. Do what you want to do. Try and make yourself happy. If you think being a manager will make you happy, the worst that happens is you fail. Whether you fail or you win you’re going to die so you might as well do what you want to do.

Shep Gordon very much defined the value of chefs and continuously helps to improve it. I very much enjoy being a globally known Chef (although I think thats quite generous to say about me) because its defined my two greatest passions in life which is traveling and cooking.

Chef Spike Mendelsohn

WRE: You’ve accomplished quite a lot thus far, is there anything you haven’t tackled yet that you are hoping to?

SG: I would like to make better stuffed cabbage. Most of my desires now are cooking. I’d also love to be able to cook Chinese food.

WRE: Tell us more about the Hawaiian luau that Spike Mendelsohn, David Grutman and Tommy Pooch are hosting in honor of your book launch?

SG: I’m really excited. I’m excited to see the whole thing come out. It’s being done in a Cuban box, which is really exciting to me and I think a lot of old friends are coming and I’ll hopefully make some new ones. I’m always excited to eat Spike Mendelsohn’s food, anywhere I can find it. He usually leaves some in my freezer when he comes to Maui, so I’m getting the fresher part of it this time.

I always kept the note thinking how proud my dad would’ve been knowing Norman Lear called me a mensch.

Shep Gordon, author of They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll

I’m always excited to eat Spike Mendelsohn’s food, anywhere I can find it. He usually leaves some in my freezer when he comes to Maui, so I’m getting the fresher part of it this time.

Shep Gordon, author of They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ‘n Roll

GALLERY SLIDER