Performers will gather to remember burned ballroom

GILLESPIE -- Organizers of an event next month are trying to re-create the heyday of the Benld Coliseum, a bawdy-but-beloved ballroom that once hosted some of the most iconic big band, jazz and rock 'n roll acts.

"Memories of the Coliseum Ballroom," which will be held at the Gillespie Civic Center, will feature music by former members of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Bob Kuban Band and The Guild, a Collinsville band that once included as its members Michael McDonald (the Doobie Brothers) and Hall of Fame songwriter Tom Kelly ("Like A Virgin," "True Colors").

It also will give the public a sneak preview of the documentary film "Dance to the Music" that tells the history of the Coliseum, which was opened by Dominic Tarro in 1924 and was destroyed by a fire in 2011. The documentary is due out later this summer.

"It will be a walk down memory lane for some folks," said John Ubben, one of the documentary's writers and producers. "The Coliseum Ballroom was a landmark. It was synonymous with Benld."

Some of the biggest and earliest rock and R&B acts, like Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina Turner, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis graced the Coliseum stage. Duke Ellington, Lawrence Welk and Kay Kyser were among its pre-rock acts.

Part of the Coliseum's success, said Jim Marcacci, also a writer on the documentary and its narrator, was geography. After a skating rink, also run by the Tarro family, burned down, they looked at the traffic on old Route 66 as a new opportunity. Then, said Marcacci, it was the only hard road -- it's now Illinois 4 -- between St. Louis and Chicago.

"And it was such a huge venue," said Marcacci, referring to the ballroom's 10,000-foot dance floor. "Booking agents knew what a dream this was."

Gangster Al Capone, who locals maintain hid out in Benld, was tied into the legend of the Coliseum, or "Tarro's," as it was referred to by locals.

According to Marcacci, Elvis Presley was booked to play the Coliseum prior to 1958, though he never did.

Joyce Tarro, the Coliseum's owner and operator, balked at charging $10 admission for the Beatles to play there in 1964, Ubben said.

"She blinked, thought about it, and it was too late," he said.

The Feb. 20 get-together will in part mark the 40th anniversary of Tarro's death. She was murdered in her home after a show at the Coliseum.

"People in the community loved her," said Marcacci, a former high school teacher who grew up in nearby Sawyerville. "She had a heart of gold and a spine of steel."

In its last incarnation, the Coliseum, with its familiar neon sign, had been transformed into an antique mall. An electrical fire is blamed on its demise.

As for Marcacci, the Coliseum was a central part of Ubben's life. Ubben played there with the Bob Kuban Band and with a local band called Seadog.

All of the musicians who are forming the Ballroom Band for next month's event played at the Coliseum, Ubben said. That includes drummer Chuck Wilson, who went on to play with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Gerry Mulligan and Tito Puente, among others, and Gary McClain, keyboardist and vocalist for The Guild.

"Is it painful to see an empty field where the Coliseum used to stand? Yes, of course," Ubben said. "It's a little shot of anguish. I wish it was still there.

"Hopefully we can relive those memories one more time."

— Contact Steven Spearie: spearie@hotmail.com, twitter.com@StevenSpearie, facebook.com/steven.spearie.

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Want to go?

What: Memories of the Coliseum Ballroom, featuring The Ballroom Band

When: Saturday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m.)

Where: Gillespie Civic Center, 115 N. Macoupin St., Gillespie

Tickets: $15 (at the door only)

Features former members of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, the Bob Kuban Band, The Guild, Phil Driscoll, Jay Barry Band, The Far Cryse, Kaleidoscope, Serra Leigh, Seadog, Romeo Destination, Griffin, Sky High and Emerald City. Sneak preview of the documentary "Dance to the Music" will be shown.

For more information, visit facebook.com/Build-Benld.