KSDK -- It's true you can't judge a book by it's cover but you might be surprised by just how much stuff Steve Schankman can cram inside his cover both literally and figuratively.
His story begins with an innate passion for music, something passed down from his father.
"He spent over 30 years in the St. Louis Symphony. He was a classically trained musician but he really wanted to play jazz," Schankman remembers.
Like dear old dad, he too wanted to play jazz so at 11 he picked up a trumpet and he still plays about 100 nights a year. But it's another part of the music business that really struck a chord with him and allowed him to do business with people like Bruce Springsteen and Bono and U2.
"Here's the U2 contract, $750," Schankman points out.
He also has stories about Joni Mitchell.
"She would always have stage fright, so she would take a lot of time to walk out," Schankman recalls.
When you think of the most successful business men and women you assume there was a master plan or at the very least one really great idea, but not in this case.
"I never thought we'd build a big company we were just booking bands," Schankman says in a way that you believe him.
Little bands led to bigger bands and basically Steve and his bearded business partners just kept parlaying their success.
"And then Irv and I said why are we just booking these acts, why don't we buy the acts and charge tickets and that's how we really began," Schankman says.
Eventually Contemporary Productions became one of the biggest concert promoters in the country but it didn't stop there.
"In our business to have your own house is big because if you're doing a show at Scottrade or the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, it's not yours. So you rent a place and you pay all the costs and you try to make money off ticket sales," Schankman explains.
"When you have your own place you make money off the sponsorship, parking, off concessions. So the day in June of 1991, when we opened Riverport Amphitheatre was a pretty special day. Naturally, two and half weeks later we had Axel Rose there and that was a different kind of night," he added.
That's when the rock star leaped into the crowd. There are of course too many memories to recall, to many milestones and pages to flip through but it's worth a mention that this jewish man also produced the Pope's visit to St. Louis in 1999,
"When people ask what was my favorite event, that was it," Schankman says.
It's a life that so far only spans 30 chapters but you can bet there's more to come.
You can find the book, Produced By Contemporary, at most local bookstores and you can see some of your favorite concert moments and some of Steve's personal collection of pictures, contracts and memorabilia at The Sheldon Art Galleries through February 7, 2009.
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