After visiting Mt. Hope Cemetery (Rochester, NY) to
clean my parent's headstone, we headed for Henderberg Park, bounded by Sycamore
Street, Fountain Street and Avon Place. Why? To pay homage to Cab
Calloway and view his memorial plaque. Cab was born at 14 Sycamore, in
case you had forgotten. So I rushed over to the first plaque I saw to
find it wasn't for Cab but for his older sister, Blanche, along with a wire
sculpture of her.
The memorial to Cab was a few
feet away.
You might remember “Minnie
the Moocher” or “Calloway Boogie” as feature tunes from his vast repertoire.
The house has been long gone
from the neighborhood, but the memories of the good old days linger on.
After the photo stop, we
headed for the corner of East Avenue and Westminster Road, the location of a
memorial to Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder, another familiar name from the
music world. You may remember him as
Alec Wilder, the composer of “I’ll Be Around” or “It’s So Peaceful in the
Country” or even “Jazz Waltz for a Friend’ written for Marian McPartland. We found the park, we found the massive
stone, but the metal plaque had disappeared.
Hopefully, it’s out for cleaning or restoration and not to result of
vandalism.
We’ll keep watch for news of
the plaque. Time allowing, we will visit
Mr. Wilder’s grave in Avon, NY. If so,
we’ll post a photo.
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