Life of Magic Castle piano man celebrated





Like Mark Twain’s characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, David E. Bourne would have gotten a hoot out of attending his own memorial service at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills on March 15. 

The Agoura Hills resident and 48-year career saloon piano player at the Magic Castle in Hollywood would have been pleased to witness the hundreds of people who traveled from across the state and the nation to celebrate Bourne’s life and times as a cowboy, musician, actor, friend–and magic piano man.

He died at home in January with cancer at age 75. His family was by his side.

Bourne performed over 3,000 songs in every genre and style over the decades. In addition to playing piano, he was a band leader, guitarist, singer, actor, author, historian, teacher and horseman, according to his website, saloonpiano.com.

The celebration at Paramount Ranch began with a marching band. David E. Bourne’s Magnificent Ensemble performed, as did myriad musicians with Dixieland, cowboy, Irish, Hawaiian, reggae, ragtime and other musical styles.

Nile Jones of Madera, Calif., said he met Bourne at an event where Bourne performed on piano.

“Oh, he was a wonderful person,” Jones said. “He was so friendly. Everybody liked him.”

Candy Chapman, who’d known Bourne for decades, traveled from Oregon to pay tribute to him. She said they first met at Shakey’s Pizza when she was 17 years old. Later she would go to hear him play at the Hock Shop, a bar in Hollywood where his reputation as a piano player started to take hold.

“You’ve got to admire a guy who got to do what he loved for his entire life,” Chapman said

Bourne was born in the Santa Maria area, and his family later moved to Anaheim, where his father, Ted, became the instrumental music instructor for the Anaheim City School District.

David Bourne began taking piano lessons at age 6. His father also taught him to play trombone, baritone and string bass.

Bourne attended USC on a full scholarship, graduating in 1961 with a degree in music. During his college years, he played piano in the Calico Saloon at Knott’s Berry Farm and continued to work at Knott’s after graduation, playing string bass with the Wagonmasters, a country group that entertained in the park’s Wagon Camp from 1955 to 1968.

His family said Bourne’s love of Knott’s Berry Farm led him to publish the book “Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town: A Pictorial Retrospective 1940-1968.”

Not long after graduating from college, Bourne served in the U.S. Marines, where he worked in recruiting at Los Alamitos.

Later he formed a folk singing group, The Californians. One of the band members became his wife—David and Patty Bourne were married in 1964.

Bourne formed the Maple Leaf Club, a group dedicated to the preservation of classic ragtime piano, in 1967, when he was performing at the Hock Shop. At the same time, he launched his 48-year, behind-the-scenes career at the Magic Castle. He performed there until December 2014.

In addition to his long-standing career at the Magic Castle, Bourne performed with about three or four bands each year and led the Resurrection Brass Band, a 20-piece New Orleans marching ensemble. He also formed the Dawn of the Century Ragtime Orchestra and entertained at Casey’s Bar in Los Angeles for 17 years.

Bourne made his mark in television and film, performing in HBO’s “Deadwood” and the History Channel’s “Wild West Tech” and “The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth.”

Bourne performed saloon piano in the movie “Jonah Hex” and played a wolf hunter in the independent film “Wolf Town.”

Bourne is survived by his wife, Patty; son, Jason; daughter, Rachel; and son-in-law, Jason Bold.


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