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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
Page 10 The Skanner October 25, 2017 News Fats he lost three pianos and dozens of gold and plati- num records, along with other memorabilia. Many wondered if he would ever return to the stage. But in May 2007, he was back, performing at Tip- itina’s music club in New Orleans. Fans cheered — and some cried — as Domino played “I’m Walkin’,” ‘’Ain’t It a Shame,” ‘’Shake, Rattle and Roll,” ‘’Blueberry Hill” and a host of other hits. That performance was a highlight during sev- eral rough years. After losing their home and al- most all their belongings to the floods, his wife of more than 50 years, Rosemary, died in April 2008. Domino moved to the New Orleans suburb of Harvey after the storm but would often visit his publishing house, an ex- tension of his old home in the Lower 9th Ward, inspiring many with his determination to stay in the city he loved. “Fats embodies every- thing good about New Orleans,” his friend Da- vid Lind said in a 2008 interview. “He’s warm, fun-loving, spiritual, creative and humble. You don’t get more New Orle- ans than that.” The son of a violin player, Antoine Domi- PHOTO: HAYDEE ELLIS cont’d from pg 9 Fats Domino at home, 2012. no Jr. was born on Feb. 26, 1928, to a family that grew to include nine children. As a youth, he taught himself popular piano styles — ragtime, blues and boogie-woogie. Fats Waller and Albert Ammons were early in- fluences. He quit school at age 14, and worked days in a factory while playing and singing in local juke joints at night. In 1949, Domino was playing at the Hideaway Club for $3 a week when he was signed by Imperial re- cord company. He recorded his first song, “The Fat Man,” in the back of a tiny French Quarter recording stu- dio. “They call me the Fat Man, because I weigh 200 pounds,” he sang. “All the girls, they love me, ‘cause I know my way around.” In 1955, he broke into the white pop charts with “Ain’t it a Shame,” covered blandly by Pat Boone as “Ain’t That a Shame” and rocked out decades later un- der that title by Cheap Trick and others. Dom- ino enjoyed a parade of successes through the early 1960s, includ- ing “Be My Guest” and “I’m Ready.” Another hit, “I’m Walkin,’” be- came the debut single for Ricky Nelson. Domino appeared in the rock ‘n’ roll film “The Girl Can’t Help It” and was among the first black performers to be featured in popular mu- sic shows, starring with Buddy Holly and the Ev- erly Brothers. He also helped bridge rock ‘n’ roll and other styles — even country/western, recording Hank Wil- liams’ “Jambalaya” and Bobby Charles’ “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” Like many of his peers, Domino’s popularity ta- pered off in the 1960s as British and psychedelic rock held sway. “I refused to change,” he told Ebony magazine. “I had to stick to my own style that I’ve always used or it just wouldn’t be me.” Antoine and Rosemary Domino raised eight chil- dren in the same ram- shackle neighborhood where he grew up, but they did it in style — in a white mansion, trimmed in pink, yellow and lav- ender. In 1988, all of New Orleans seemed to be talking about him after he reportedly paid cash for two Cadillacs and a $130,000 Rolls-Royce. When the salesman asked if he wanted to call his bank about financing, Domino smiled and said, “I am the bank.” In 1998, he became the first purely rock ‘n’ roll musician to be awarded the National Medal for the Arts. But he cited his age and didn’t make the trip to the White House to get the medal from President Clinton. That was typical. Aside from rare appearances in New Orleans, includ- ing a 2012 cameo spot in the HBO series “Treme,” he dodged the spotlight in his later years, refus- ing to appear in public or even to give interviews. Associated Press writer Hillel Italie in New York City contributed to this story. “Fats Domino and The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which premiered in February 2016 on PBS, will re-air Oct. 29. The one-hour doc- umentary traces how Fats Domino’s brand of New Orleans rhythm and blues morphed into rock and roll, ap- pealing to black and white audiences alike. Actor Clarke Peters narrates. The epi- sode is also available streaming at www. pbs.org/wnet/ameri- canmasters/fats-dom- ino-full-episode/6753. Puerto Rico cont’d from pg 8 and castigated Trump for his constant congrat- ulatory comments to first responders, FEMA, and others in his admin- istration. “He’s patting himself on the back. [Trump found time] to put down Black athletes over the weekend and not once did he say anything about Puerto Rico,” she said. We’ve been shunned, pushed to side. We don’t need any more excuses. Puerto Rico needs help right now. You don’t do this to other Americans. We need the federal gov- ernment to come to the rescue. We need com- passion and leadership to come together. We’ve fought for and bled for this country. We’re part of America.” Critics have chided Trump for ignoring the crisis for the first week after Hurricane Maria slammed into the island. He spent more time tweeting to demand that NFL players kneel for the anthem than expressing any compassion or con- cern for Puerto Rico’s plight. And to add insult to injury, Elaine Duke, acting Secretary of the Department of Home- land Security crowed at the end of the first week that the federal efforts on the island as a “good news” story. Trump’s nonchalance has angered Puerto Ri- cans and a raft of other critics, including sing- er Marc Anthony and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. “Mr. President, shut the f *** up about the NFL. Do something about our people in need in #Puer- toRico. We are American citizens, too,” the singer tweeted on September 25. During a recent inter- view on CNN, Yulín Cruz lambasted attempts by the White House to spin the situation in Puerto Rico as a “good news sto- ry.” “When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a ‘good news story.’ When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a ‘good news story,’” she said. “When you have to pull people down from their build- ings because—you know, I’m sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me.” Yulín Cruz continued: “This is—damn it, this is not a ‘good news’ story. This is a ‘people-are-dy- ing’ story. This is a ‘life- or-death’ story. This is a ‘there’s-a-truckload-of- stuff-that-cannot-be-tak- en-to-people’ story. This is a story of a devastation that continues to wors- en.”