Page 10 The Skanner October 25, 2017
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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.”