Dave Zupkovich and His Orchestra Play the Showboat – 1950

I received a nice email from Kelli D’Agnese recently regarding my blog series on the Showboat last month.

If Kelli's name sounds familiar, it might be because her grandfather was Peter D’Agnese, well-known in Lorain for his popular restaurant on Broadway in the 1960s, as well as his sandwich & pizza shop on Root Road in the 1970s.

This time Kelli was writing about her mother’s side of the family – the Serbian side. She wrote,  "I have something you might like to see. My great uncle, (my grandmother’s brother-in-law) Dave Zupkovich, from Youngstown, was a popular Serbian tamburitza musician from the 1940s until his early passing on in 1963. He had several orchestras and they traveled all over.

"I just received these pictures from a friend in Canton, Ohio, whose father also played with Dave. In this photo, Dave and his orchestra play at the Lorain Showboat in 1950.

From left, Joe Marmilich, Joe Matacic, John Krilcic and Dave Zupkovich

The photo had a nice souvenir cover on it too with great artwork, indicating it was taken at the Showboat.

Kelli knew that the back cover of the photo would be of interest to me too. "Note the name of the photographer that was on the back of the photo!” she noted. "Enjoy!!”

I was surprised to see that Katherine and Alex Visci were listed as the photographers.

Of course, longtime blog readers might remember that well-known bandleader Alex Visci was my brother’s and my trumpet teacher back in the late 1960s and early 70s. (I wrote about him here, here, here and here.) 

I remembered that Mr. Visci’s wife was a photographer. With his active career and connections in the local nightclub scene, it makes sense that she would have an opportunity to use her talents shooting candids at the Showboat.

Kelli’s great uncle achieved quite a bit of success in his musical field. Dave Zupkovich and his Balkan Recording Artists made many records on the Balkan Records label.

Courtesy tamburitza78s.blogspot.com

Visit the Tamburitza and more blog to learn more about Dave Zupkovich’s career. And in the meantime, here’s a nice sample of his music.

Thanks for sharing, Kelli!