Jolson, Blind Billy and Brick

What tales the old brick streets of downtown Davenport could tell if the asphalt paving were stripped away.
One of the celebrated clubs of the early 1900s was Brick Munro's Pavilion at the south-west corner of Pershing Avenue and Second Street in Bucktown.
Munro, so the memories tell, ran a straight place_no girls, no gambling, just a saloon and good music.
The legend has been handed down so many times that there must be some truth in it.
Once Munro hired a young man by the name of Al Jolson as a singing waiter. In later, more prosperous years, Jolson returned to Davenport to star on the stage at the Burtis Opera House. At intermission, he called out to the audience:
"You paid three bucks to hear me tonight. A couple years ago, you could hear me for the price of a beer at Brick Munro's."
High-salaried performers from theaters around the Tri-Cities regularly would wind up the night singing or playing at Munro's. One of them was a piano player named Blind Billy, who appeared on many vaudeville stages across the nation and made much to-do about his claim that-though blind-that he could play any song called to him from the audience, without music of course.
Billy enjoyed the atmosphere of Munnro's and stayed for nearly a year.
The story goes that one day a bartender called to Munro:
"Hey, Brick, Billy wants to see you."
Munro yelled back: "He'll have a hard time seeing me, he's blind."
Customers in the place laughed , and that became a part of Blind Billy and Brick Munro's nightly routine.