14th Los Angeles Music Awards, November 18, 2004, Henry Fonda Theater, Hollywood
Trevor Rabin, Al Bowman, Deborah Bishop, Pete Escovido, The G-Man, Jennifer Applequist, Kelly Cox
written and photographed by: Female Guitarist Shredmistress Rynata
I went to 2 preliminary showcases for this ongoing competition and it’s only befitting that I checked out the main event culminating at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood. The HFT is a beautiful theater with an elaborate history.
Here’s something from their website:
One of Hollywood’s first legitimate theatres, the Henry Fonda Theatre experienced a variety of incarnations during the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s as part of an entertainment district of exceptional quality and diversity.
The theatre first opened its doors as the Carter DeHaven Music Box Theatre on October 18, 1926 as a place where performers such as Fannie Brice appeared in elaborate musical revues designed to rival the Ziegfield Follies. Upstairs, above the theatre in this beautiful Spanish Colonial style building, theatre-goers could enjoy dancing and cabaret acts after the show.
Within a year, however, revues were replaced by legitimate stage shows like Chicago with Clark Gable and Dracula with Bela Lugosi, which coincided with a burgeoning of live theatre across the city.
In 1936, as radio became the dominant force in entertainment, the Hollywood Music Box (as it was then called) became the home of the popular weekly series, The Lux Radio Theatre. At one time or another, luminaries like Marlene Dietrich, Al Jolson, Joan Crawford, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow and others all graced the Music Box stage performing in these live radio dramas. The Music Box returned to legitimate shows briefly in the 1940s, highlighted by an extensive run of Life With Father in 1942. By 1945, its name was changed, once again, to The Guild (and later to The Fox) when live entertainment gave way to the movies. One of Hollywood’s foremost movie houses, it was most recently known as The Pix and, in its final format, featured Spanish-language films.
In an effort to redevelop Hollywood as a legitimate Entertainment District, the new owners; Thad Smith, Marco Roy and Burt Nelson, decided to recapture the magic of the Music Box by restoring it to a grander showplace for Events and live stage presentations.
The newly refurbished Henry Fonda Theatre has been the home to many Broadway productions, including Driving Miss Daisy, My Children, My Africa, Glengary Glen Ross, Don Juan in Hell, Lend Me a Tenor, Nunsense, Tru, Family Secrets, Kathy and Mo, and Party. The legendary Henry Fonda Theatre has also been home to some of the preeminent names of the concert stage, including Tori Amos, Adam Ant, Sandra Bernhard, Marianne Faithful, Jane’s Addiction, Cyndi Lauper, Denis Leary, Charlie Watts Quintet, Ray Davies, and the Spin Doctors
Okay..Groovy stuff… Check out the pix I took of Al Bowman, sort of “throning” in this amazingly ornate balcony above the audience, having a “pensive moment”. Al Bowman is the organizer of this event that has been going on for 14 years. He’s a funny dude. Always a plastic smile ready when he knows the cameras are going, he nevertheless works hard to keep order in the house.
This was a sold out event. I was invited, courtesy of Female Singer and FemMuser Ms. Deborah Bishop who was nominated for an award that night and is a member of FemMuse. The place was packed… upstairs and downstairs. Great to run into more women musicians who are part of FemMuse like Dina Garthe and Gilli Moon (pictured above during a cozy Kodak moment) and Toni Koch… and Denise Vasquez who were hanging out having a great time.
Was chatting with the G-Man as we were discussing our Minarik Inferno Guitars. (G-man won an award for best Electronica album)
Pete Escovido was there and took one..
Evidently there was chaos backstage and some scheduling problems occurred. Acts were running late and many of the winners announced weren’t to be found. Al Bowman rushed about 20 or so nominees thru the announcements and half of them weren’t ready to hit the stage. Female Singer and FemMuser Jennifer Applequist was there however, took her award, thanked everyone and was super cool as always. I like that cute face she makes as I shot that pix.
And geez.. did those tequilas wreck my brain I downed with Toni Koch… my otherwise “pure” system didn’t like them so I had to leave earlier than I wanted to… But I think I left “gracefully” LOL .. at least until otherwise proven.
Kelly Cox from KLOS was presenting the Shep Gordon award to Trevor Rabin, who has scored many a motion picture. Kelly and I hung out afterwards and bonded. She knew all about FemMuse
The bands were slamming, the crowd was jumping, the drinks were strong and I gotta say that this was a cool night. When I walked in they showed a video of our very own Kathryn Grimm when she was in some sort of metal phase….singing and being a Female Metal Guitarist. Very nice surprise.
Congratulations to all the winners. Remember: “everyone’s a winner babe.. that’s no lie”.. old disco song from the ’70….you all won, even if you didn’t walk away with a trophy.
FemMuse.com – A Female Musicians Network and Organization – writes about all things musical, with a strong emphasis on Women Musicians, Female Bands, Female Guitarist and Singer Songwriter events.