A Remembrance: Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Oren Teicher, chief executive officer of the American Booksellers Association, remembers Kathi Kamen Goldmark, author, publishing consultant, and founder of The Rock Bottom Remainders, who died last week at the age of 63 of breast cancer.

In the winter of 1992, I got a call from Kathi Goldmark, whom I did not know. She told me that she had this idea about organizing a rock ‘n’ roll band of famous authors and asked whether the American Booksellers Association would have any interest in having them play at the upcoming ABA Convention, scheduled for Anaheim in late May, as many of the authors in the fledgling band would be at the convention anyway. Kathi explained that in her day job as an author escort in the San Francisco Bay Area she had discovered lots of writers were also talented musicians, and many had a yearning to blow off steam by performing in a rock band.

Kathi’s enthusiasm and energy came pouring through the phone line during that first call, and before I knew it, she and I were in business putting together the first Rock Bottom Remainders appearance at an ABA Convention. I learned then that it was hard to say no to Kathi, and in the years since, I watched with admiration as she grew her idea into a full-blown enterprise and raised millions of dollars for a series of book-related charitable causes. She was indefatigable.

A few years later, as the Remainders got better and better (the first few concert were, shall we say, more fun than musical!), the band’s reputation grew and many more-accomplished musicians clamored for an opportunity to appear on stage with them.

In 1994, as we were preparing for the Remainders’ show at the Hollywood Palladium (the ABA Convention was in Los Angeles that year), Kathi told me that someone in the band knew this guy who had a gig of his own in LA the next night and he wanted to do a cameo appearance during the concluding number at the Remainders’ concert. We couldn’t tell a soul, however, and needed to keep this hush-hush. In fact, Kathi didn’t even tell me until a day or so before, who it was. My job would be to meet him outside and find a quiet place for him to sit backstage before the final number. Of course, in those pre-cell phone days we were not exactly sure when he would arrive, but he did indeed show up at the appointed hour. He was partially disguised with a cap pulled over his head and sunglasses… And I got to spend the next 10 minutes making small-talk with Bruce Springsteen before escorting him on stage. Kathi was always full of surprises!

As the years went on, I would usually only see Kathi at the annual book industry show, now called BookExpo America. But every year she greeted me as a long-lost friend, and we traded stories about those early years with the Remainders. Kathi’s energy and enthusiasm never waned, and seeing her was always one of the highlights of BEA. I followed her career as an author and columnist, and her continuing life as a musician with Los Train Wreck. We exchanged e-mails several times a year as though we had just seen each other the day before. Once you were in Kathi’s life, you were always in her life.

Kathi Goldmark was one of those people who, once met, is impossible to forget. I can still see that twinkle in her eye. And I’m sure wherever she is, the band is playing. —Oren Teicher