Nothing perked up our business school class like the visit of a famous “madame” who was auditing our classes to see if Columbia University Graduate School of Business would help her in her trade.
The “madame” was Jo Maeder, the “Rock and Roll Madame” of NYC classic rock radio, K-Rock (WXRK). Starting at a very young age, she was one of the first female Top 40 DJs in America at South Florida’s Y100, in the late 1970s. As she puts it, “I was an unlikely candidate to be a DJ in any era. I wasn’t just a square peg in school, I was an octagonal one. But I loved listening to the radio. It was my salvation. By becoming a DJ and using an alias (”The Madame”), I magically transformed into someone who could talk to anyone with confidence and ease — as long as I had a microphone in my hand.”
While still DJ’ing, Jo went on to attain her MBA, and put her skills to work with her own business – doing “voice-overs” on TV and radio commercials, and writing, including essays in the New York Times and More magazine, and in 2001 a lusty novel, written in German, entitled “Venusbluten” which means “Flowers of Venus.”
Jo ended her DJ career in 2003 at Z100, America’s most listened-to music radio station (and the audience must have included my kids and all of their friends, because they were sure impress whenever I imposed upon Jo to do a shout-out). Jo made a big change that spring.
The quintessential cosmopolitan bought a house near Greensboro, North Carolina where her brother (who recently had become a born-again Baptist) lived. The reason for the move was to have her mother, who was no longer able to care for herself, join Jo in the new house. Jo’s mama and her massive doll collection moved down from Richmond and that story is the subject of Jo’s latest book, When I Married My Mother: A Daughter’s Search For What Really Matters - And How She Found It Caring For Mama Jo.
Our Greenwich will be fortunate enough to hear Jo speak about her book, at our own Just Books (28 Arcadia Road, Old Greenwich, Connecticut) – in my view, one of the best book stores in the country!
As it says on the Just Books website, “Jo’s memoir is an unexpectedly wonderful journey of caring for Maeder’s estranged mother at the end of her life.”
The reading will start promptly at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, followed by Q&A, and book-signing. Like all Just Books events, this is free and open to the public.
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 7 PM
JO MAEDER
WHEN I MARRIED MY MOTHER: A DAUGHTER’S SEARCH FOR WHAT REALLY MATTERS - AND HOW SHE FOUND IT CARING FOR MAMA JO
Just Books
28 Arcadia Road, Old Greenwich, CT
Free and Open to the Public
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
“in my view, one of the best book stores in the country”
Frank, now we can say there are TWO things we agree on
on Jun 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
[...] It Caring For Mama Jo, this event, too, is free and open to the public. For more information see prior blog-post “Madame Comes to Old [...]