1957: Remembering Fats Domino’s year in Spokane

In 1957, the Spokane Daily Chronicle was available for 40 cents per week by home delivery.

In 1957, Clark Gable and Yvonne DeCarlo’s “Band of Angels” opened at the Garland, and you could get a Chef’s Special Dinner Steak with all the fixings for $1.75 from the Desert Hotel Oasis, which was torn down in 1961. The Davenport Hotel Tower now stands in its place.

And in 1957, “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill” singer Fats Domino performed in Spokane three times.

On March 3, 1957, he performed at the Spokane Coliseum as part of “The Biggest Show of Stars for 1957,” which also featured Chuck Berry, Bill Doggett, LaVern Baker, Clyde McPhatter, the 5 Keys, the 5 Satins, Ann Cole, Charles Brown, the Schoolboys, the Moon Glows and Paul Williams and his orchestra.

A review posted in The Spokesman-Review the following day noted that the crowd of about 4,000 “seemed to enjoy the talent-laden production to the hilt” as each musician or group “played and sang the same songs that put them on the juke-box map.”

The Spokesman-Review writer, identified only as “B.C.,” noted that “Doggett and Domino brought down the house when they cut loose.”

Domino returned to Spokane in the summer, performing a show at Natatorium Park on July 12. Admission was $2.50.

In the fall, Domino Williams, Baker and McPhatter were back in Spokane for another performance at the Coliseum, this time for a crowd of more than 4,600. He was joined by up-and-coming acts like Frankie Lymon, Paul Anka and the Everly Brothers.

The day after the Oct. 27 show, a Spokane Daily Chronicle writer, “B.E.,” called the show “a varied and extensive musical show … featuring some of the nation’s top stars of blues and hot rhythm music.”

B.E. spent more time writing about the younger performers but called Domino and his orchestra “old-time showmen.”

The legendary rock ’n’ roll musician died Tuesday. He was 89.