[Dixielandjazz] Shakey and Me, Book Review

[Marek Boym]

When was that review published?  IO've been a subscriber since 1982,
and cannot recall it (of course, one cannot remember everything).
Shakey brings to mind the London Pizza Express.  Its "mainstream" all
stars are gone, but it seems that it still features good jazz from
time to time (on my kast visit, it had Ken Peplowski.  I caught him in
a suburban branch, with lots of espresso macine noise (doesn't swing -
I have my recording to prove it!).
Cheers

On 18/11/2007, Robert S. Ringwald <robert at ringwald.com> wrote:
> Listmates,
>
> I came across this book review I wrote for the Mississippi Rag some time
> ago titled "Shakey and Me."   since we have quite a few new members, I
> thought that some of you
> might be interested in a book about the first person who started the Pizza,
> beer and jazz craze.
>
> *****
>
> REVIEW OF "SHAKEY & ME"
> By Bob Ringwald
>
> "When people ask you how I really would like to be remembered, just tell
> them I was
> a friend of Jazz." Those were the words of Sherwood (Shakey) Johnson,
> America's first
> Pizza King, shortly before his passing on October 31, 1998. He was indeed a
> "Friend
> of Jazz" and Jazz musicians.
>
> Burt Wilson, a long-time friend and business associate of Shakey, and whose
> 1955
> band, the Silver Dollar Jazz Band, was the first band to play at the
> original Shakeys
> Pizza Parlor in Sacramento, California has written a marvelous book entitled
> "Shakey
> & Me."
>
> He takes us from Shakey's high school graduation in 1943, through two years
> in the
> Navy (where he acquired the nickname Shakey) to his dismissal from Junior
> College
> and the story of the rise and fall of the Shakey's Pizza Empire. Although
> "pizza
> pie" existed long before, Shakey was the first to explore the inexplicable
> combination
> of German beer, Italian pizza and Ragtime/Jazz Music in an English-style
> pub. The
> combination of food, drink, and an atmosphere of family fun actually changed
> the
> eating habits of most Americans. Soon, the Pizza craze swept Sacramento, the
> United
> States and eventually the rest of the civilized world.
>
> Throughout the book the writer skillfully weaves in humorous anecdotes about
> this
> bona fide American entrepreneur. He recounts how in the early days of
> Shakeys, call-in
> pizza orders were delivered in a hearse and when Shakey tipped a piano
> player $105
> because the biggest tip he had ever received up until then was for $100 from
> Al Capone.
>
> It is pure delight to read about the time in the early 1960s when during a
> San Francisco
> 49ers football game Shakey asked the stadium manager if he could "buy a
> round for
> the house."
>
> Shakey, a jazz aficionado, always featured live music in his
> establishments -- from
> piano/banjo combos to full seven and eight piece jazz bands. At one time he
> had
> over 650 piano/banjo duos playing for him all over the world. Many musicians
> (including
> myself) cut their teeth on Jazz working for Shakey. For innumerable fans,
> Shakeys
> was their first introduction to Jazz.
>
> In 1977 at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, Shakey was honored by being crowned
> the first
> "Emperor of Jazz." Recently, the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society placed
> a bronze
> plaque in the original Shakeys (now a trendy remodeled bar and grill) paying
> honor
> and respect to him for his staunch preservation of America's only true
> original art
> form.
>
> Throughout the 100-page book, the writer not only deftly captures Shakey's
> flamboyant
> personality and marketing genius (he once flew a Mariachi band from Mexico
> to Hawaii
> and taught them to sing, "Let's Remember Pearl Harbor" in Spanish; and flew
> a Hawaiian
> band to Mexico and taught them "La cucuracha" in Hawaiian) he also gives the
> reader
> significant insight into Shakey's love of Jazz and his fierce loyalty to
> friends.
>
> There are fourteen photographs in the book including a gem of Shakey circa
> 1948 performing
> in a two-man vaudeville act. He sits at the piano (in drag) with his
> vaudeville partner
> Jimmy Carroll on drums, dressed in an old tuxedo with wide satin lapels.
> Looking
> at the photo, makes one yearn for an audio recording. For anyone who has
> ever enjoyed
> a slice of pizza with a stein of beer while listening to a Dixieland band,
> this book
> is a must.
> It makes a great stocking stuffer for the pizza lover in your family. It is
> a joy
> for me to know that because of this book such a rare and fascinating man
> will not
> be forgotten.
>
> "Shakey & Me," published by Paloria Press, may be purchased in the
> Sacramento area
> at Borders Books on Fair Oaks Blvd. near Howe Ave.
>
> It may be purchased by mail:
>
> Send check made out to Burt Wilson,
> $10 plus $3.50 = $13.50
>
> Burt Wilson
> 10324 Daniel Way
> Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
>
> -30
>
>
> --Bob Ringwald K6YBV
> 530/642-9551
> 916/806-9551 Cell
> www.ringwald.com
> Fulton Street Jazz Band
>
> "I can resist everything except temptation."  --Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900
>
>
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