{"id":85660,"date":"2025-02-13T11:21:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T11:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-february-13-2025-love-letters-to-the-big-easy-fats-domino\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:21:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T11:21:34","slug":"americanstudies-february-13-2025-love-letters-to-the-big-easy-fats-domino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=85660","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: February 13, 2025: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Fats Domino"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[Last
\nmonth I got to return to my
\nfavorite American city<\/a> for the 2025 MLA Convention<\/a>.
\nSo for this year\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day series I\u2019ll be offering some love letters to
\nwhat makes New Orleans so unique, leading up to a special tribute post this
\nweekend!]<\/p>\n

On a few
\niconic moments in the career of the legendary New Orleans rock \u2018n roller.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cThe Fat Man\u201d: Domino\u2019s first hit under his
\ndebut recording contract with <\/span>Lew Chudd\u2019s Imperial Records<\/span><\/a>,
\nco-written with his frequent producer and collaborator (and an <\/span>influential
\nartist in his own right) Dave Bartholomew<\/span><\/a> and recorded at Cosimo Matassa\u2019s <\/span>J&M
\nRecording Studios on Rampart Street<\/span><\/a>, wasn\u2019t just the first rock record to
\nsell a million copies (although it did <\/span>hit that
\ngroundbreaking number<\/span><\/a> by 1951). It also embodies rock\u2019s profoundly
\ncross-cultural origins, on so many levels: from Domino\u2019s own French Creole
\nheritage (his first language was Louisiana Creole) to Matassa\u2019s
\nmulti-generational Italian American New Orleans legacy, from Chudd\u2019s childhood
\nin Toronto and Harlem as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants to African
\nAmerican artist Bartholomew\u2019s time in the US Army Ground Forces Band (an
\nintegrated band despite the army\u2019s segregation in the era) during WWII. It took
\nall those individuals and all those legacies to make \u201cFat Man\u201d and get American
\nrock music rolling.<\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cThe King\u201d: Over the next couple decades
\nDomino would record many more hit records and albums, with \u201c<\/span>Ain\u2019t That a Shame<\/span><\/a>\u201d (1955)
\nand \u201c<\/span>Blueberry
\nHill<\/span><\/a>\u201d (1956) the two biggest smashes. A <\/span>February
\n1957 Ebony<\/i> magazine<\/span><\/a> feature
\ndubbed him (on the cover no less) the \u201cKing of Rock \u2018n Roll.\u201d But it was an
\noffhand line from another \u201cKing,\u201d more than a decade later, that most potently
\nreflects Domino\u2019s status and influence. <\/span>On July
\n31, 1969<\/span><\/a>, Domino attended Elvis Presley\u2019s first concert at the Las Vegas
\nInternational Hotel; during a post-concert press conference, a reporter
\nreferred to Presley as \u201cThe King,\u201d and he responded by pointing at Domino and
\nnoting, \u201cNo, that\u2019s the real king of rock and roll.\u201d At the same event <\/span>Elvis took
\nan iconic picture<\/span><\/a> with Domino, calling him \u201cone of my
\ninfluences from way back.\u201d I\u2019ll have a bit more to say about Elvis and his
\ninfluence in a couple days; but regardless of any other factors, this
\nrecognition for Domino from one of the most famous American rockers in history
\nillustrates just how iconic Fats was within (and beyond) the industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Katrina: Domino was known to be one of the
\nmost humble and grounded rock stars, and he and his wife Rosemary continued to
\nlive in their <\/span>home in
\nNew Orleans\u2019 Lower Ninth Ward<\/span><\/a> throughout the late 20th<\/sup> century
\nand into the first decade of the 21st<\/sup>. Because of Rosemary\u2019s ailing
\nhealth they did not evacuate in the days before Hurricane Katrina hit the city,
\nand in the storm\u2019s chaotic aftermath their home was flooded and <\/span>Domino and
\nRosemary were feared dead<\/span><\/a> for a couple long days. But it turned out
\nthey had been rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter, and in 2006 and 2007 Domino
\nmade triumphant returns to the city and the music world: first with his <\/span>2006 album
\nAlive and Kickin\u2019<\/i><\/span><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>the proceeds from which benefitted
\nTipitina\u2019s Foundation; and then with his last public performance (and first in
\nmany years), a legendary <\/span>May 19,
\n2007 concert at Tipitina\u2019s<\/span><\/a>. If there had been any doubt that Domino
\nrepresented New Orleans just as much and as well as he does rock \u2018n roll, these
\nculminating iconic moments laid them forever to rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last love
\nletter tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Cities you\u2019d love on? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Last month I got to return to my favorite American city for the 2025 MLA Convention. So for this year\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day series I\u2019ll be offering some love letters to what makes New Orleans so unique, leading up to a special tribute post this weekend!] On a few iconic moments in the career of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[13299,1022,13783,281,42203,3843,9436,465],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-85660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-americanstudies","tag-big","tag-domino","tag-easy","tag-fats","tag-february","tag-letters","tag-love"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericanStudies: February 13, 2025: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Fats Domino - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=85660\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AmericanStudies: February 13, 2025: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Fats Domino - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[Last month I got to return to my favorite American city for the 2025 MLA Convention. 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