Dear friends,
Have you ever written a fan letter? I don’t think I ever did, but I will soon. Why? Because if someone is shining and doing amazing things, or doing o.k. things in crazy times, well, they ought to be acknowledged.
My fan letters will not be limited to people in the public eye. Since, I don’t remember writing a fan letter, I searched to see what the World Wide Web had to say.
Don’t be creepy: Um, I hope not.
Keep it short: Um… that’s probably not gonna happen.
Don’t ask for anything: I won’t
Don’t get personal: Can’t promise, but with that in mind, keeping the first rule, don’t be creepy, at the forefront.
There are templates. Yes, there is. No thank you. What’s the point, unless you are asking for something.
Have you ever heard of the Red Hand Files? It’s a website, but he has a mailing list sharing the letters. It’s Nick Cave, an Australian singer and musician, I think of the punk era, but he’s still going strong. I never knew him for his music, but he’s a pretty cool dude and has an interesting life and story. He’s a storyteller.
People write him letters and he answers them in the Red Hand Files.
In the about section this is what he says about the letters.
The Red Hand Files began in September of 2018 as a simple idea – a place where I would answer questions from my fans. Over the years, The Red Hand Files has burst the boundaries of its original concept to become a strange exercise in communal vulnerability and transparency. Hundreds of letters come in each week, asking an extraordinarily diverse array of questions, from the playful to the profound, the deeply personal to the flat-out nutty. I read them all and try my best to answer a question each week. The Red Hand Files has no moderator, and it is not monetized, and I am the only one who has access to the questions that sit patiently waiting to be answered. Thank you all for being a part of what has become, at least for me, a life-changing, soul enriching exercise in commonality and togetherness.
Love, Nick
If you go to this link it takes you to the letters. If you like sign up for the mailing list to see them when they come out.
This is the envelope I will use to send in my first fan letter. The man loves Duke Mayo.
The first one I plan to write is, Mason Hereford, author with JJ Goode, of the cookbook, Turkey and Wolf. He also owns the restaurant with the same name in New Orleans. Here’s a link.
P.S. I’m not an influencer, unless of course you are my friend Billie’s mama Jo. She believes I’m a bad influence on her daughter. I’m pretty sure I’m still not allowed to hang out with her. Secretly, she likes me. So click away, I’m just sharing links I find entertaining.
Back to Turkey and Wolf. I do have the cookbook. I seem to be collecting cookbooks not because I like to cook anymore, but ones with stories. Food and people make the best stories.
He talks about his beginnings in rural Virginia. The food in his book is; here's an excerpt.
“In Turkey and the Wolf, Hereford shares lively twists on beloved Southern dishes, like potato chip–loaded fried bologna sandwiches, deviled-egg tostadas with salsa macha, and his mom’s burnt tomato casserole. This cookbook is packed with nostalgic and indulgent recipes, original illustrations, and bad-ass photographs.”
Look, his story is great. The photos in the book are of him, his wife, family, and his employees. I love how he spotlight’s the people who work in the restaurant. I was in food service industry for over thirty years, so it touched my heart.
I relate to that kind of upbringing, only I feel like what he ate was much fancier. If I wrote a cookbook, mine would be called poor people food. We had what I called poor people Bologna. A lot. The kind with the red casing still on it. It was used for many things. A sandwich with chips smashed on it between cheap white bread and mayo. Like I said, this author is a Duke Mayo ambassador, we didn’t have brand name mayo.
The po-people bologna also served as dinner and entertainment. As a family you could stand around the stove watching it fry. It balloons up like Jiffy Pop popcorn. Slap that puppy on a plate with a dollop of mustard. Voila!
Or, this is kind of creepy, but that never stopped me from sharing, you eat, not suck, all the meat off the casing after removing the slice of bolgna, then use have an instant friendship bracelet. You probably won’t make friends if you follow this advice. I’m just trying to illustrate its many purposes.
Don’t take my word, go check out his book. I’ll let you know how it goes when I send the letter. Really the only thing I would want from this particular fan letter is to visit his restaurant when I make it to New Orleans.. Which is very high on my travel bucket list. But that’s on me, so I’m not asking for anything.
I’ll write you soon with my New Orleans bucket list itinerary. If you’ve been let me know what you loved.
If you have a favorite story-telling cook book let me know.
I’m hungry now.
See ya later alligator.
Kelly