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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 15 June 2019

‘Dr. John,’ funky New Orleans ‘night-tripper’ musician, dies

By KEVIN McGILL the JFK conspiracy theo-
CAIN BURDEAU rist and a tough-on-crime
Associated Press New Orleans district attor-
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Dr. ney, for driving him out of
John, the New Orleans his beloved city in the early
singer and piano player 1960s. Garrison went after
who blended black and prostitutes, bars and all-
white musical styles with a night music venues.
hoodoo-infused stage per- The underworld sweep
sona and gravelly bayou put Rebennack in prison.
drawl, died last Thursday, At that time, he was a re-
his family said. He was 77. spected session musician
In a statement released who had played on classic
through his publicist, the recordings by R&B main-
family said Dr. John, who stays like Professor Longhair
was born Mac Rebennack, and Irma Thomas, but he
died “toward the break was also a heroin addict.
of day” of a heart attack. After his release from feder-
They did not say where he al prison in Fort Worth, Tex-
died or give other details. as, at age 24, Rebennack
He had not been seen in joined friend and mentor
public much since late Harold Battiste who had left
2017, when he canceled New Orleans to make mu-
several gigs. He had been In this Nov. 20, 2015. file photo, Dr. John performs during a funeral tribute to Allen Toussaint in New sic in Los Angeles.
resting at his New Orleans Orleans. Rebennack, who’d long
area home, publicist Karen Associated Press had a fascination with oc-
Beninato said last year in “God bless Dr. John peace other-worldly magic, em- and keyboards in a string of cult mysticism and voodoo,
an interview. Memorial ar- and love to all his family I ploying a piano style both bands and made the leg- told Battiste about creating
rangements were being love the doctor peace and rollicking and haunting. He endary studio of Cosimo a musical personality out
planned. “The family thanks love,” the Beatles legend later had a Top 10 hit with Matassa his second home, of Dr. John, a male version
all whom have shared his tweeted. “Right Place, Wrong Time,” Rebennack said in his 1994 of Marie Laveau, the voo-
unique musical journey, Fellow New Orleans singer collaborated with numer- memoir, “Under a Hoodoo doo queen. In his memoir,
and requests privacy at this Irma Thomas said he was ous top-tier rockers, won Moon.” He got into music Rebennack said, he drew
time,” the statement said. loved around the world. multiple Grammy awards full-time after dropping out inspiration from New Or-
“Dr. John was a true Loui- “He was just a mystical per- and was inducted into the of high school, became leans folklore about a root
siana legend,” Louisiana son,” Thomas told WVUE Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. acquainted with drugs doctor who flourished in
Gov. John Bel Edwards said television when asked what A white man who found a and petty crime and lived the mid-1800s. Battiste, in
in a statement. “He showed made his music special. home among black New a fast-paced life. His gigs a 2005 interview, recalled,
the world Louisiana’s rich “He did what he liked best Orleans musicians, he first ranged from strip clubs to “It was really done sort of
musical heritage, and his and was very unique with entered the music scene auditoriums, roadhouses tongue-in-cheek.”
passion for music has left a his style.” when he accompanied and chicken shacks. The But Dr. John was born and
mark on the industry unlike His spooky 1968 debut “Gris- his father, who ran a re- ring finger of Rebennack’s Rebennack got his first per-
any other.” Gris” combined rhythm ‘n cord shop and also fixed left hand was blown off in a sonal recordings done in
Drummer Ringo Starr was blues with psychedelic rock the P.A. systems at New Or- shooting incident in 1961 in what became “Gris-Gris,”
among the first musicians and startled listeners with leans bars. As a teenager in Jacksonville, Florida. a 1968 classic of under-
to weigh in on Twitter. its sinister implications of the 1950s, he played guitar He blamed Jim Garrison, ground American music.q

Painting attributed to Caravaggio on

display before auction

By ALEX TURNBULL to have been painted in we would pronounce the
Associated Press Rome around 1604-05. name of Caravaggio, there
PARIS (AP) — Visitors on Art expert Eric Turquin, would be controversy,” Tur-
Friday were given one who retrieved the painting quin said in an interview.
last chance to admire two years ago, said it was “We knew that because
a 400-year-old painting found, unframed, by auc- every single Caravaggio
found in an attic in southern tioneer Marc Labarbe while that was discovered since
France and attributed to emptying a client’s house. 1951, every single picture
Italian master Caravaggio, He estimated its value at has been the object of a
or raise questions about the between 120 and 150 mil- debate and fights.”
work, before it goes on the lion euros ($140 and $175 Such controversy is “part of The Caravaggio’ painting entitled “Judith Beheading
auction block. million) — while acknowl- the artist,” he added. “This Holofernes”, is presented to the press, at the Drouot auction
Paris auction house Drouot edging that experts dis- is a non-consensus artist. If house in Paris, Friday, June 14, 2019.
invited visitors to see “Ju- agree about its authentic- there were a consensus, Associated Press
dith Beheading Holofernes” ity. The piece is being auc- it would be highly suspi- was familiar with Caravag- Turquin said at the time, the
five years after it was found tioned on June 27 in Tou- cious.” gio, Turquin said two years third expert told him it was,
in a Toulouse home. It de- louse. “When we discov- Two Caravaggio experts ago. Finson possessed a indeed, a Caravaggio and
picts the biblical heroine ered the picture, when we attributed the painting number of works from the “also a masterpiece.”
Judith beheading an As- discovered the attribution, to Louis Finson, a Flemish Italian master and made For Turquin, “the face of Ju-
syrian general. It’s thought we knew that as soon as painter and art dealer who copies of his picture. But, dith is a signature.”q