The Pride Of New Orleans
Tragically, the legendary Antoine "Fats" Domino
lost his sprawling yellow-and-white house in Hurricane Katrina, and with it the keepsakes of an extraordinary career that took him from a New Orleans honky-tonk performer to a worldwide hitmaker.
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When Katrina swamped his Lower 9th Ward neighborhood and 80 percent of his hometown with floodwater, Domino lost his home, three pianos, dozens of gold and platinum records and other memorabilia.
So, when the 80-year-old singer took the stage at a popular New Orleans club for the first time after the 2005 storm, fans cheered and cried as he bopped the upbeat strains of "I'm Walkin"' and crooned "Ain't That a Shame," along with a host of other hits.
Footage from that May 2007 appearance, his first and last since Katrina, is the basis of a new documentary, "Fats Domino: Walkin' Back to New Orleans," that will air on public television stations beginning this month.
Songs from the performance are interwoven with interviews from Domino's friends and fellow musicians, including Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Randy Newman and Allen Toussaint. The roughly hour-long film is narrated by actor John Goodman, who has strong connections to the city.
"It turned out real nice, and I'm real grateful they did that for me," Domino said during an invitation-only showing of the film in New Orleans recently.
Domino's return to the stage in 2007 is a highlight in what otherwise has been a rough few years. Besides losing his home and almost all of his belongings, he also lost his wife, Rosemary, who died in April. The couple had been married for more than 50 years.
For many, Domino's performance was a hopeful sign in the city's painstaking recovery.
"Fats embodies everything good about New Orleans," said friend David Lind. "He's warm, fun-loving, spiritual, creative and humble. You don't get more New Orleans than that."
You can find more Fats Domino performances and bios right
here at oldiestelevision.com on the Classic Oldies Video Juke Box.
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