Monday, May 29, 2006

Just finished reading Rick Coleman's excellent biography, Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock’n’Roll, which hopefully will lead to greater recognition of his substantial contributions to the emergence of rock'n'roll and music in general. Fats is a shy, private man, devoted to his wife Rosemary, but whose ebullient music with its beat helped launch the rock and rooll revolution and played no small part in helping break down barriers between the races. One surprising fact was that his performances were often marked by violence, but the cause of this violence was not his music, but rather the racism of those who did not like seeing Blacks and Whites mingling together. Perhaps because he was not a wild man or extravagan showmant in the manner of many highly regarded but lesser artists, that his own contributions have been so undervalued. What a great pianist and singer. If you want to hear some terrific blues and R&B, you won't go wrong with The Fat Man. Here is a link to the Louisiana Music Factory's description of the book (I assume you can fine amazon.com on your own). http://www.louisianamusicfactory.com/showonemerch.asp?TypeID=74&ProductID=30136

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