I'm sure that all of my blog readers know already that I love music. You all are privy to my past musical obsessions, my current musical hobbies, and the future American citizen that my wife and I are manufacturing who is to be named Lyric. What you may not know is that my family tree has been a'rockin' for quite some time.
His name was John Davenport and although it turns out that he was my mother's step-father and not my mother's biological father and therefore no relation to me, I still count him as my grandfather. After all, I didn't even know that he wasn't my blood until I was in my later teens. And, of course, it made no difference to me anyway. All my Italian came from my biological grandfather, but I never met him because he was a bum. He left my grandmother with my two uncles and my mother when they were still very young. Ironically, I am proud of my Italian heritage. I've never really associated the heritage with the bum that it came from. Go figure.
Well, last night I was talking with my mother and she told me that my aunt had found a picture of John Davenport when she ran a search for Chuck Cabot. Chuck Cabot was a moderately well-known musician who toured the country playing with his orchestra. My grandpa, John Davenport, was his drummer for years. It was actually during this time that my grandpa met my grandma. My grandmother, Margret, was working as a waitress here in Springfield. She was a hard-working single mother of three and he was a semi-famous travelling musician. They met and the rest is history. Anyway, I found the site that my aunt found and copied the picture (which you've already seen at the top of this). My grandpa is the one on the far right. You cannot see the entire building in the photo, but this is the Hollywood Palladium. I searched and came across the official site for the Palladium and came across these other photos. In the collage, showing the history of the Palladium, you can see (near the bottom on the left) a picture of the entire front when it still looked like it did in the picture with my grandfather. You'll probably have to click on these photos to make them bigger to see, though. The bottom photo is a shot of the inside.
There is no fixed seating in the Palladium and has therefore been used for many different venues. It was used in the filming of the movies Almost Famous and Blues Brothers. It has also been used for both Emmy Awards shows and Grammy Awards shows on many occasions. It was also the home of the Lawrence Welk Show.
I also ran across a forum during my searches. A woman had written that she found a box full of "old, old, OLD" records. I'm guessing she must not be very old herself, judging by her accentuation and over-usage of the word 'old'. Anyway, she listed about ten of these albums including "An Evening with Chuck Cabot and His Orchestra." The best part is that it was autographed by everyone in the band including one John Davenport, my grandfather. She listed an e-mail address if anyone was interested in these, but unfortunately the e-mail is no longer an active address. Crap!
Someday, though, I'll find this album. "No matter how long. No matter how far. Stay alive! I will find you. I will find you!" Sorry. I sometimes randomly quote movies. That was Last of the Mohicans in case you were curious.
