E-mail from Thom Dombkowski
'When I read your recent 'fire' comments, it struck my memory. Danny Reilly was just the manager of 'Le Snub,' Alfie's and the Brownstone. I cannot recall the name of the principal partner, but there were two (allegedly) straight men who owned these businesses. The secondary partner was Tom Gowenlock, the now ex-husband of socialite Zarada Gowenlock, Chicago's look-alike to Patsy of AbFab fame. (I haven't seen her name in the papers in quite a long time, but she was prominent in the early 1990s, along with Hazel Barr, the Duchess of DuPage County, who was also quite the fag hag. She was one of those women who had a look of 'perpetual surprise' on her face because of the surgery.)
'When I was with the IRS, I had to deal with Danny and he was a handsome cad. He was there to represent Alfie's when I padlocked the place for non-payment of payroll taxes, and then when I held the auction, I had to excuse myself from actually conducting it since I was already a friend or acquaintance of the bar owners who did show up to purchase the furnishings and liquor supply.
'We always referred to Chuck Renslow's 'Zolar's:It's Magic!' with the phrase 'Zolar's: It's Tragic!' I was glad to see the admission that the fire insurance payment had not been made. I have always liked Chuck for his humanitarian efforts and personal assistance for many individuals over the years, but this was an early indication that he's never been the best businessman.'
After a recent article about Gay Choruses and the Gay Marching Band in Chicago, I was contacted by Alfredo Gomez.
'I grew up in Chicago then moved to Texas when my parents divorced. I eventually came back to Chicago because I didn't like Houston. I had majored in musical education. I came back in '75 and I was living with my mom on 26th Street. When I was in Houston, I was pre-occupied with being gay, because it was such a big thing, as the movement was just starting. When I came back to Chicago music was still a big part of me and I brought my trombone with me, but there wasn't anywhere for me to hook up.
'Then I went to my first parade in '75 and it was very political, and it was the same thing in '76 and '77, and then in '78 things changed a bit. I discovered that I really missed playing my instrument. I was working at the Trip on Ohio Street and the Sam Hill Trio used to perform there. The chef working there was a pianist, and Kevin, the chef, would hear me humming some of the pieces. Then from time to time I would run into other people and find out they were also musicians. In the summer of '78 things changed; I started practicing my trombone and it amazed me how quickly it came back to me.
'At the time, my boyfriend, David Martin, was also a trombonist and Mary Peck, his best friend, played the trumpet. I used to tell them about all my successes playing in Houston. So David said, 'Why don't you do something about it?'
'I was working at Shari's then. ... I came to the realization that it would be fabulous to have a marching band in the parade. I didn't know it at the time, but in '78 San Francisco and Los Angeles had already formed bands and had marched in their respective parades. Chicago was the third band that was formed. So I started planning in September of '78
'Then somebody tipped me off to [parade organizer] Richard Pfeiffer. ... He was so excited about it and said he would help me in any way possible. So I put the message out in Gay Life that a band was forming ... .
'I scheduled the meeting for Jan. 10. I remember there was a blizzard. I used to live at 1117 W. Lill and that's where the first meeting took place. It was a very encouraging meeting, about 10 people turned up and Nick Kelley was one of them. I remember Nick calling me. ... He said, 'But I play the piano.' I said, 'Don't worry about it, we'll find something else for you to play, we'll put you on percussion.' His friend Ron Pele, Mary Peck, David, Anthony Parsons, Steve Parnell, and a few others showed up for the first meeting.
'I bought music and we started baby steps toward forming. We needed a place to rehearse, so Chuck Rodocker at Touché was instrumental in that. He gave us the second floor at Touché to rehearse. ... We were playing National Emblem and March Grandioso.
'Tom Blackman was also instrumental in this whole thing. Tom used to be a customer at Shari's and I asked Tom if he heard about this new band that was forming and he said 'I'm a percussionist,' and we needed drummers. Tom was a fabulous percussionist.'
sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com
