And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records (36 page)

First, let me thank my cowriters, Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs, for all their help in researching various aspects of this book and keeping the story accurate. They found me by accident while they were consulting on another book. I told them about the manuscript, which I had written years ago, and they were immediately interested in working with me and finding a publisher. Thanks also to Mike Edison at Backbeat Books, who realized the potential of my story about one of the most fabled record companies in history.

My thanks for help in jogging my memory about stories I had completely forgotten or did not know at the time to: Karmen Beck (a fountain of knowledge), Dick Sherman, Sherrie Levy, Nancy Lewis, Cecil Holmes, Dick Clark, Robert Klein, Gregg Giuffria, Brett Hudson, Joyce Bogart-Trabulus, Bill Aucoin, Peter Lake, Felix Robinson, Don Wasley, Ruben Rodriguez, T.J. Lambert, Barb Amesbury, Soozin Kazick, and Bill Schereck.

Thanks to Paula Manzanero for coming up with a title for this tale.

Most of all, I want to thank my partner and true soul mate for thirty-five years: Mary Candice Hill Harris (the unidentified woman). You lived through my Casablanca years, which was not always the smoothest of rides, stood by me, and believed in me and my crazy ideas. You’ve made my life richer and certainly more interesting than it would have been without you.

Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs would like to thank Steve Clark of Superior Graphix for his time and effort, Ken Sharp, and Jeff Falk. They would also like to thank Marc Scallatino for photo editing, Mary Williams for copyediting, and Joe Fields for timeline research.