[Dixielandjazz] Good News For OKOM

[Steve barbone]

Jazz musician who lost treasures in hurricane plans comeback

Monday, November 7, 2005 By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN  Associated Press


Pete Fountain's home in nearby Bay St. Louis, Miss., told his life
story -- gold albums, pictures posing with four presidents, thank-you
notes from Frank Sinatra and beloved clarinets and other vintage
instruments.

But Hurricane Katrina wiped away virtually all the treasures,
destroying his plantation-style home and about 10 instruments -- even
a grand piano. Fountain and wife Beverly survived after multiple
evacuations that took them from Cajun Country to Cotton Country when
Katrina and Hurricane Rita struck.

Still, at 75, Fountain is intent on performing again.

"Those two ladies, especially Katrina, really got me," Fountain said
recently in his newly rented home in Hammond, La., about 50 miles
northwest of New Orleans. "But I have two of my best clarinets so I'm
OK. I can still toot."

The hurricanes took a heavy toll on the many legendary musicians of
New Orleans. Fats Domino, who was rescued from rising floodwaters in a
boat, found his piano overturned among mud and debris and his house in
ruins. Aaron Neville lost four Grammys when his home was flooded.

Despite the losses, the musicians who brought fame to New Orleans are
not giving up on the city where jazz was born.

"I'm not running from New Orleans," said Lucien Barbarin, who plays
trombone with Harry Connick Jr. and suffered severe damage to his
home. "I'm going to stay because I was born and raised there and I'm
going to pass away there. We name drinks after hurricanes. We should
be used to this."

Fountain, renowned for leading his Half-Fast Walking Club on Fat
Tuesday down St. Charles Avenue to the French Quarter, said that
tradition will continue. A prominent member in recent years has been
actor John Goodman.

"We might walk in our drawers, but we're going to walk," Fountain said.

Among Fountain's losses were photos of Louis Armstrong, with whom he
performed, his collection of vintage guns, a Porsche and his part-time
gig at Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis because of severe hurricane damage.

He found one of his gold records covered with mud and one of the two
clarinets was recovered by a neighbor a few blocks from his house.

But Fountain, who planned to give his memorabilia to his
grandchildren, said he and his wife consider themselves fortunate to
have survived. They still have a home in New Orleans and recently
celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.

"My world was going one way, now it's going the other," he said. "I
just hope we can come back. I know the French Quarter is going to make
it. Besides the Quarter, everybody has to get it together and get it
going."