[Dixielandjazz] Fats Domino - Alive & Kickin at the N.O. Jazz & Heritage Festival, April 28

[Steve barbone]

Fats Domino Sets an Example for New Orleans

NY TIMES By JON PARELES - February 28, 2006

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 27 ‹ Fats Domino starts his first album since 1993 by
singing, "All over the country, people want to know/ whatever happened to
Fats Domino." It continues, "I'm alive and kicking and I'm where I wanna
be."  Fats Domino is donating proceeds of a new album to a relief foundation
for musicians. 

That's the way he still feels about New Orleans, although his house in the
Lower Ninth Ward was severely damaged by the flooding after Hurricane
Katrina. "As long as I'm in New Orleans, I'm not away from home," he said in
a rare interview at the uptown club Tipitina's. He's living in a
suburban-style housing development in Harvey, La., but he intends to rebuild
his house and return to the Ninth Ward as soon as he can. Asked about the
prospects for his city, the perpetually optimistic Mr. Domino said,
"Everything's gonna be all right, I think."

"Alive and Kickin'," the title track of his new album, may remind listeners
of the image of Mr. Domino being rescued by helicopter from his flooded
house on Sept. 1. But like the rest of the album, which includes 11 songs
Mr. Domino had never recorded, it was actually made in 2000. (The studio
where it was recorded, Ultrasonic, is gone since the flood.) After the
hurricane, he said, "everybody got interested in it."

The album is being released as a benefit for the Tipitina's Foundation,
which has aided New Orleans musicians with everything from Internet service
to new eyeglasses to more than $300,000 worth of new instruments. It is
available from www.tipitinasfoundation.org.

"I think it's a pretty good song, and it fits what's happening now," Mr.
Domino said of the title track. Mr. Domino, who is 78, lost three pianos and
most of his other possessions in the flood; afterward, looters took most of
the gold records he earned in the 1950's, when he was the
second-best-selling singer after Elvis Presley. But when he was awaiting
rescue, he said, "I wasn't too nervous." He added, "I had my little wine and
a couple of beers with me; I'm all right."

The album mingles Mr. Domino's rolling New Orleans rhythm-and-blues piano
and horns with touches of synthesizer or slide guitar. His genial croon can
sound close to country music, a style he likes, he says, because "it tells a
wonderful story, true stories."

Some of the new songs now sound prophetic for Mr. Domino and the people of
his city, proclaiming "I'll Be All Right" or announcing, in "One Step at a
Time," that "My baby's coming home today" and adding, "Please don't change
your mind, it's been such a long time." In "Home USA," he sings, "I'm going
home tomorrow/ Can't go on this way," continuing, "I'm headed for New
Orleans, La." 

There can be a painstaking process behind the straightforward songs, Mr.
Domino said. "I have a hard time pleasing myself with my songs," he said. "I
have to do them over and over until I think I got them right. I'm always
finding fault, but the people seem to like them. I always figure I can do
something different that I wouldn't have already. I may not be right, but I
don't want to be too far wrong."

He has an electric keyboard by his bed, in case he wakes up with an idea.
"You try to dig for it, you'll never find it sometimes," he said. "Sometimes
you could do it in an hour, sometimes in three weeks, a month, sometimes it
just comes to you like that. I get the spirit, and whatever happens, let
that happen."

Mr. Domino hasn't performed since the hurricane, but he is to be one of the
headliners at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which begins April
28. As far as he is concerned, New Orleans is still home. "I know I'm not
leavin'," he said with a smile. "I ain't going nowhere."