Arcada owner hosts Davy Jones tribute
By Annie Alleman For Sun-Times Media
March 22, 2012 11:48AM
The first time Ron Onesti met Davy Jones, he was so excited his Chicago accent became more pronounced than usual.
“He jumped onto my Chicago-ese accent and said, ‘Hey, how you doin’? Are you from Chi-CAH-go?’” he said. “We laughed at that. Plus the whole thing of us being able to look at him eye-to-eye was cool, too. We’re both kind of the same height. He treated everyone like they owned a theater. He was just a real warm guy.”
Onesti was hit hard with the loss of his friend, the man affectionately known as the Manchester Cowboy. Jones died of a heart attack at his home in Florida on Feb. 29.
Jones was a member of the 1960s band-within-a-show, The Monkees. “The Monkees” was a ratings hit for NBC, even winning an Emmy award for Best Comedy. The band rode the wave of success to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the singles “I’m a Believer” and “Daydream Believer.”
When the group disbanded, Jones continued with a solo career and popped up on television shows like “The Brady Bunch,” “Love, American Style” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
A new generation was exposed to The Monkees when MTV and Nickelodeon began airing the series. Suddenly, they were stars again with album sales that reached platinum status and national tours.
Onesti will host A Tribute to Davy Jones at his Arcada Theatre in St. Charles March 30, before the Bill Medley and the Righteous Brothers concert.
“He was a very good friend,” Onesti said. “He loved St. Charles. When I first brought him in, he thought it was a very lovely, welcoming town. He literally walked the streets and people couldn’t believe it. He was just a really, really good guy and once you became his friend, you had a friend for life.”
The tribute show will include the band The Pondhawks performing Monkees songs, and some common and rare video footage from the “The Monkees” TV show, as well as footage of Jones performing.
“It’s classic Monkees video footage and a live music retrospective … Then I’ll come out and tell some stories we’ve shared together,” he said. “We’ll have a gentleman named Michael Bush who was a photographer and also Davy’s road manager on the comeback tour. He’ll have some stories as well.”
The tribute will last about 40 minutes, and then the audience will be invited to sign a condolence card for his late wife, Jessica.
Onesti has a lot of Davy Jones stories that he will share, including the time Jones arrived early for a show and the hotel didn’t have a room for him. The hotel was sold out.
“They’re scrambling to find a room, and anybody else would have been screaming and yelling. He said, ‘I tell you what. Try to work it out, here’s my cell number.’
“He gave his cell phone number to the girl at the front desk and walked around St. Charles and had coffee for two or three hours,” he said. “That just doesn’t happen.”
Another time, Davy Jones stayed after a show for more than four hours signing autographs and posing for pictures and never stopped smiling.
Onesti was dropping his daughter off at school when he heard about Jones’ passing.
“I broke down a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell her. She knew him; he loved her. She knew his music. It hit me hard.
“I’d love for people to join us to say a final goodbye to a very good friend,” he said. “It would be nice for anyone who’s enjoyed anything at the Arcada to say goodbye to Davy Jones one last time.”
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March 22, 2012 11:48AM
The first time Ron Onesti met Davy Jones, he was so excited his Chicago accent became more pronounced than usual.
“He jumped onto my Chicago-ese accent and said, ‘Hey, how you doin’? Are you from Chi-CAH-go?’” he said. “We laughed at that. Plus the whole thing of us being able to look at him eye-to-eye was cool, too. We’re both kind of the same height. He treated everyone like they owned a theater. He was just a real warm guy.”
Onesti was hit hard with the loss of his friend, the man affectionately known as the Manchester Cowboy. Jones died of a heart attack at his home in Florida on Feb. 29.
Jones was a member of the 1960s band-within-a-show, The Monkees. “The Monkees” was a ratings hit for NBC, even winning an Emmy award for Best Comedy. The band rode the wave of success to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the singles “I’m a Believer” and “Daydream Believer.”
When the group disbanded, Jones continued with a solo career and popped up on television shows like “The Brady Bunch,” “Love, American Style” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
A new generation was exposed to The Monkees when MTV and Nickelodeon began airing the series. Suddenly, they were stars again with album sales that reached platinum status and national tours.
Onesti will host A Tribute to Davy Jones at his Arcada Theatre in St. Charles March 30, before the Bill Medley and the Righteous Brothers concert.
“He was a very good friend,” Onesti said. “He loved St. Charles. When I first brought him in, he thought it was a very lovely, welcoming town. He literally walked the streets and people couldn’t believe it. He was just a really, really good guy and once you became his friend, you had a friend for life.”
The tribute show will include the band The Pondhawks performing Monkees songs, and some common and rare video footage from the “The Monkees” TV show, as well as footage of Jones performing.
“It’s classic Monkees video footage and a live music retrospective … Then I’ll come out and tell some stories we’ve shared together,” he said. “We’ll have a gentleman named Michael Bush who was a photographer and also Davy’s road manager on the comeback tour. He’ll have some stories as well.”
The tribute will last about 40 minutes, and then the audience will be invited to sign a condolence card for his late wife, Jessica.
Onesti has a lot of Davy Jones stories that he will share, including the time Jones arrived early for a show and the hotel didn’t have a room for him. The hotel was sold out.
“They’re scrambling to find a room, and anybody else would have been screaming and yelling. He said, ‘I tell you what. Try to work it out, here’s my cell number.’
“He gave his cell phone number to the girl at the front desk and walked around St. Charles and had coffee for two or three hours,” he said. “That just doesn’t happen.”
Another time, Davy Jones stayed after a show for more than four hours signing autographs and posing for pictures and never stopped smiling.
Onesti was dropping his daughter off at school when he heard about Jones’ passing.
“I broke down a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell her. She knew him; he loved her. She knew his music. It hit me hard.
“I’d love for people to join us to say a final goodbye to a very good friend,” he said. “It would be nice for anyone who’s enjoyed anything at the Arcada to say goodbye to Davy Jones one last time.”
Read More