I’ve been more humbled than a devil in an egg  by the early response to The Supper Club Book.

We sold out at our 6/6 launch party, so graciously hosted by FitzGerald’s roadhouse in Berwyn. A couple nights later we did brisk business at the Lighthouse Supper Club in Cedar Rapids,  an old Lincoln Highway hideaway featured in my book.

At the Lighthouse, all sorts of jazz cats from the Quad Cities showed up to jam with The Dick Watson Combo. I heard Dick sing “Falling in Love With Love” and I met supper club regulars Wayne and Jayne Wunschel.

 

When a Wayne meets a Jayne you know all is right with the world.

While driving around Illinois and Indiana for these two launch events I wondered about a  bigger meaning.

I didn’t feel any particular euphoria  from releasing a book to which I have devoted three summers of research (thank goodness the Cubs have sucked), but it was more about the warmth I felt in these rooms.

A forward spirit.

A slower pace. The support from a wide circle of friends and colleagues. My editors from the Sun-Times and my book editor. The sudden appearance at FitzGerald’s of an ex-girl friend’s parents. And an ex-girl friend.

The music of The Letter 3 was so perfect for the Berwyn evening, ranging from a knock out cover of Dan Penn’s “I’m Your Puppet” to Harry Nilsson’s “Cuddly Toy,” popularized by the Monkees. I think the band also enjoyed themselves, otherwise they would have not returned to the stage an hour after their final song for an extended version of Ramsey Lewis’s “The In Crowd.”

The Supper Club Beer from Capital Brewery went down easy. And the cheese spreads from Shulllsburg Creamery (established 1934) in Shullsburg, Wis. were a hit.  The most popular  cream cheese-sharp cheddar spread is based on a recipe at the Owl’s Nest Supper Club in Central Wisconsin.

The mellow brats for Tom Cimms outdoor barbecue were procured from Miesfield’s Market in Sheboygan, the same brats used at Madison’s popular Old Fashioned supper club in my book.

So in doing press for the book I’ve been asked what the supper club is all about. I have seemed to reach an even greater understanding.

They are about sense of place. They are about ritual, a gathering for an anniversary, a birthday, a rehearsal dinner. Or supper.

In his book “Standing By Words” Kentucky regionalist Wendell Barry writes, “To know where you are (and whether or not that is where you should be) is as least as important as to know what you are doing, because in the moral sense, you cannot know what you have learned where. Not knowing where you are, you can lose your soul or your soil, your life, or  your way home.”

Supper club events are bookmarks in time.

And I feel very grateful as this next chapter unfolds this summer.