Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 - (Page 35)

two years later, Pete Fountain was famous. From that point on, he could work for himself, and he became a major tourist attraction in the French Quarter. He bought the French Quarter Inn on Bourbon Street and performed there with a trio starting in 1960. From 1968 until 1977 he had a tenpiece band at Pete’s Place — also on Bourbon Street — and then he moved the operation to the New Orleans Hilton Riverside, where he put in another 20 years to packed houses with a septet. For four decades, Pete Fountain’s music was among the top ten reasons why people came to visit the city of New Orleans. In addition, especially during the ‘50s and ‘60s, his recorded output was huge (92 albums, between 1957 and 1959 that hokey showcase, the Lawrence Welk Show, made Pete Fountain a household name. mostly done for Coral Records, with several gold), and that brought in some cash. He built a comfortable life for himself. Success with tourists was good for the city, but for locals it was the shenanigans of Pete’s “Half-fast Walking Club” every Mardi Gras Day that truly won their hearts. Let me simply say that this is one of the best names EVER for a marching club, and there is some major competition — Lady Buck Jumpers, Buzzards, Jolly Bunch — but “half-fast” is hard to beat. I mean, some place else they might have called it the “Moderately Paced Walking Club.” But in New Orleans, we know something about “half-fast.” After all, it’s the way we live down here, right down to the levee protection and hurricane evacuation plans, the “half-fast” contraflow. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina was very hard on Pete; it took his house in Bay St. Louis and his Mississippi Gulf Coast casino gig, which he recently got back. Then he had heart surgery. I’m glad to report he made out OK and is still playing strong. That’s because he’s a survivor, which is not surprising. In the jazz world, playing with Lawrence Welk makes you tough, like kids whose fathers name them Percy (or Pierre) because they want them to learn how to fight. Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Ph.D., is director of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. Winter 2008-09/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 35 http://www.stirlingprop.com http://www.stirlingprop.com http://www.stirlingprop.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 Contents Friends Editor's Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Prospect.1 New Orleans The Historic New Orleans Collection The Enduring Performance of Michael P. Smith Jazz Notes Louisiana Foodways Birds of a Feather: Windfowl Carvings in Southeast Louisiana Louisiana Association of Museums Louisiana Architecture O. Winston Link in Louisiana The Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Colfax Massacre Louisiana State Museum Unlocking the History of Greek Key Architecture Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

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