
The Coliseum Ballroom (Contributed photo by Build Benld)
When the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame opened in Cleveland in 1986, five of the original inductees, The Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, and the Godfather of it all, Chuck Berry had all appeared on the Coliseum Ballroom’s big stage.
John Lennon said, “If they didn’t call it Rock ’n’ Roll, they’d have to call it Chuck Berry!” The Coliseum was a nursery for the infant Rock ‘n’ Roll in the fifties and sixties and the list of big names that performed there is the stuff of great legend.
On Saturday, February 20, Build Benld and The Coliseum Documentary Project will present “Memories of the Coliseum,” at the Gillespie Civic Center. This is a onetime only event to remember the famous ballroom and commemorate the 40th anniversary of Joyce Tarro’s death.
Build Benld is a civic philanthropic group comprised of dedicated people who are committed to keeping the town alive and vibrant and is one of the most prolific and active civic organizations in Macoupin County. Build Benld does many events and fund raisers and distributes the money back into their community.
They have supported the Adopt a Pet Shelter, have donated 18 tables to the Benld Civic Center, built Memorial Gazebo Park on Central Avenue, painted playground equipment and added staggered tires for kids to climb, installed Coliseum Ballroom Dancers kiosk, plaque, back fencing and flood light, hosted five senior Christmas dinners, and has donated $1900 to the City of Benld for repairs to be made to the bike trail, among many other community causes.
Lynn Shehorn, the promotions and publicity director for Build Benld, said, “For many, many years the Coliseum Ballroom and Benld were synonymous. When you thought of one, you thought of the other – and we all knew Joyce. We wanted to commemorate that and all the pieces came together at just the right time to make it happen.” She went on to say, “All of us have just about the same memories. Saturday night with whoever could get the car that night and heading out to Tarro’s with our friends. Meeting guys and girls, great bands, dancing, and what was better than that when you were 17? What great memories! We want to try to bring that back and share our memories with everyone again.”
The Ballroom Band will be playing on Saturday, February 20. Musicians from all over including Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago and Southern California are coming together to perform for this special onetime event. Everyone in the impressive line-up for the night has played on the big stage at the Coliseum Ballroom.
Chuck Wilson, along with band members Rick Rayburn and Charlie Wilson, will provide the core group for the night. These loyal Coliseum Ballroom devotees played with most of the great local bands in the late 60s and early 70s, Serra Leigh, Bulls Eye, Sky High and Seadog, to name but just a few. Chuck went on to work with two time Grammy nominated trumpeter Phil Driscoll and with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons for many years.
Musicians for the upcoming event will include former members of Serra Leigh, the Far Cryse, Kaleidoscope, Griffin, Seadog, Lomax, Castle, Sky High, Emerald City, The Bob Kuban Band, The Torquays, The Jay Barry Band, Phil Driscoll, and special guest Gary McClain of The Guild. The band will be playing many of the Top Ten songs from 1959 to 1976. Some surprise guests are being planned as well.
The Coliseum Documentary Project has been in production for well over five years and was started by Jim Marcacci, a retired teacher from Gillespie, who has been active with the Build Benld group since its beginnings.
“When we started we didn’t realize what a monumental task the film would be,” said Marcacci, “We decided early on that we had to tell the whole story from opening night in 1924 to the fire in 2011…and everything in between, for all of its 87 years. We decided to make the complete historical record of The Coliseum Ballroom. In just a very short time, maybe 30, 45 years from now, this will be all that is known about this wonderful, magical place and what happened there. We don’t think it should be forgotten.”
Jim is the director and narrator for the documentary project and has teamed up with writer and Emmy award winning producer John Ubben. They will be showing a special sneak preview of their upcoming documentary “Dance to the Music” set for general release this summer.
The doors will open at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 with the band starting at 7 p.m. and will play until 11 p.m. There will be a cash bar for beer and wine and set ups will be available (bring your own hard liquor). The tickets are $15 per person and are only available at the door that night.
So, dress up in poodle skirts, leather jackets, white tees and cool blue jeans, and get there early for this onetime special event! Come join The Ballroom Band playing the music that was popular when you were, as Build Benld and the Coliseum Documentary Project remember The Coliseum Ballroom and Joyce Tarro.
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