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Dressed in a snappy white jacket, the 79-year-old New Orleans icon was crisp and energetic as he sang and played the piano. The crowd jumped and screamed when he belted out "Blueberry Hill." Domino was accompanied by his longtime friend and musical partner saxophonist Herbert Hardesty. The pair have been playing together since the mid-1940s.
Fans who for years longed to see Domino perform such hits as "Blueberry Hill," "Blue Monday," "Ain't That a Shame" and "Walkin' to New Orleans" finally got their wish.
Domino, whose real name is Antoine, lost his home, his pianos, his gold and platinum records, and much of the city he loves during Katrina. He was rescued by boat from his flooded 9th Ward home after the storm struck on Aug. 29, 2005.
Domino last performed in public on Memorial Day 2005 at a casino on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, said Haydee Ellis, a close friend of Domino.
The Tipitina's Foundation, which put on Saturday night's show, is working with such artists as Elton John, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, B.B. King and others to record a tribute album of Domino's songs.
Proceeds will benefit the foundation, a non-profit dedicated to providing the city's public schools with musical instruments and helping artists recover from the hurricane. Roughly 25% of the proceeds will go toward the restoration of Domino's home, said Bill Taylor, the foundation's executive director.
So far, the house's interior studs and beams have been rid of mold, and workers have begun installing new drywall. The back end of a pink 1959 Cadillac that for years sat in the living area and served as a couch is being restored. The room's walls will be painted to match their pre-storm pink color.
Domino's house is still surrounded by blocks of abandoned homes — many untouched since Katrina. For more than a year, he has been living in a gated community in a New Orleans suburb.
Domino is expected to move back into his 9th Ward home later this year — a sign of hope for many in the heavily devastated neighborhood, which some have said shouldn't be rebuilt.
(CNN) -- Rock 'n' roll pioneer Fats Domino was among the thousands of New Orleans residents plucked from rising floodwaters, his daughter said Thursday.
Karen Domino White, who lives in New Jersey, identified her father in a picture taken Monday night by a New Orleans Times-Picayune photographer.
The photograph shows Domino -- the singer behind the 1950s hits "Ain't That a Shame" and "Blueberry Hill" -- being helped off a boat near his home in the city's Lower 9th Ward.
His whereabouts since the rescue were not immediately known. Nor was there any information about his wife, Rosemary, friends said.
The neighborhood was heavily flooded when a levee failed as Katrina slammed into southeastern Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Thousands are feared dead in the storm, Louisiana's governor and the mayor of New Orleans have said, though no official tally has been compiled.
White said she last heard from her father August 23, four days before the storm hit, and was unable to contact him Sunday.
"I didn't have any information. I was just praying," she said.
Writer Charles Amann said he last spoke to Domino on Sunday, and the singer refused to join the evacuation that was then under way.
"He said to me, in that wonderful Southern accent of his, that no, he was staying on -- that he had gone through the last one and he could go through this one," said Amann, who is working on a book on the early days of the "American Bandstand" television program.
Many of those evacuated from the Lower 9th Ward were taken to the Louisiana Superdome and are being transferred to the Astrodome sports stadium in Houston, Texas.
Alan Warner, an EMI Music executive, also saw the photograph of Domino's rescue. But he said he did not know where the 77-year-old singer, born Antoine Domino, was taken afterward.
"But the fact that he actually was rescued is just so gratifying," Warner said.
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