Elvis Presley sure knew how to serve up the humble pie. As early as 1957, the young crooner from Tupelo, Miss., was trying to smother the idea that he had personally launched a musical revolution. 'œRock 'n' roll was here a long time before I came along,' he said. 'œLet's face it: I can't sing it like Fats Domino can.' At the time, Elvis' friend, Antoine Domino Jr., was the undisputed king of the R&B charts. More to the point, the 28-year-old New Orleans piano player's string of hits stretched all the way back to the year that Elvis turned 15. 'œThe Fat Man,' Domino's first single, announced in 1949 a new hybrid of boogie-woogie and the Texas shuffle. As for the lyrics, Elvis wasn't fat enough then to even attempt them.
Fats Domino's star has faded so much since 1957 that even many fans were surprised to learn last August that he hadn't died years ago, said David Kirby in the Chicago Tribune. Hurricane Katrina destroyed Domino's Ninth Ward mansion, but the 78-year-old former star has found a new home in New Orleans, and in music writer Rick Coleman, he's found a determined champion. Apparently, Coleman's 'œintimate, affectionate, yet completely honest portrait of this seminal talent' is the first biography of Domino ever published, said Lincoln Cho in January Magazine. But fittingly, it's also 'œa biography of New Orleans rock 'n' roll,' a richly evocative argument that the city itself should be more widely recognized as rock's true birthplace.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why are people microdosing Ozempic?In The Spotlight Tiny doses of the weight-loss drug can sidestep its unpleasant side effects, say influencers. But is customising the dose a good idea?
-
Five festive cocktails for Christmas 2024The Week Recommends Serve seasonal libations for an extra special gathering
-
Octopuses could be the next big species after humansUNDER THE RADAR What has eight arms, a beaked mouth, and is poised to take over the planet when we're all gone?
-
Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
-
Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
-
The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
-
Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
-
Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
-
Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
-
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
-
Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”