[StBernard] Katrina took most of a 40-year rock 'n' roll collection, but a few pieces find new purpose

[Westley Annis]

HARD KNOCKS
Katrina took most of a 40-year rock 'n' roll collection, but a few pieces
find new purpose 
Thursday, July 06, 2006
By Lynne Jensen
Staff writer 

It's usually a solo act when Gabriel Puccio picks apart his ruined rock 'n'
roll collection, now a moldy mess tossed throughout his Chalmette home by
Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters. 

On Friday, Puccio was thrilled to be part of a trio scoring black-and-white
photographs, record albums and music posters from his collection that could
be included in an 8,000-square-foot exhibit portraying the aftermath of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana. 

The as-yet-untitled exhibit of "artifacts from the storm" is being assembled
by the Louisiana State Museum. Greg Lambousy, the museum's director of
collections, said music will be "a big part of it because it's a big part of
the city." 

Puccio, 58, invited Lambousy and museum registrar Ann Woodruff to his house
last week to search for items that represent musicians from Louisiana, such
as a black and white photograph of Fats Domino and Elvis Presley, sitting
together at a Las Vegas casino where Domino was performing, Puccio said.
"Elvis went to see him," Puccio said about the photo, autographed by Domino.


Puccio also is donating autographed photos of Baton Rouge native and singer
Jimmy Clanton and Ferriday legend Jerry Lee Lewis, and a photo of New
Orleans clarinet player Pete Fountain "before the goatee," Puccio said. "As
a matter of fact, he even had hair on his head." 

The large exhibit will be costly, since conserving damaged items is
expensive, Lambousy said. It also is time-consuming; most likely it will
open in 2008, he said. 

Along with flood-damaged items of musical interest, such as Fats Domino's
flood-ravaged Steinway, the display will include a menorah donated by the
Beth Israel Congregation in Lakeview, a water-marked public library drop
box, a pirogue used for rescue in the Lower 9th Ward and a garage door
marked with spray-painted X's "that you see all around," Lambousy said. 

The museum is searching for items such as "a hatchet used to break through a
roof and a sandbag used to block the breaches," he said. 

Before Katrina ruined his music collection, Puccio was working with Kenner
officials to create a rock 'n' roll museum in the Rivertown neighborhood.
Katrina washed away that dream, but being part of the state museum exhibit
is consolation, he said. 

"I just wish I could have shown it when it was in mint condition," Puccio
said. "Oh gee, it was beautiful." 

The main entrance of Puccio's house was a shrine to Elvis Presley. A 1956
brass buckle embossed with a Sun record label and "Best Wishes, Elvis
Presley" is among the items Puccio has not found in the muck that fills his
house. 

"It's hard to go back and know in my mind what I had," he said. "It's
heartbreaking to remember things like my old Victrolas that fell apart, and
the little record player from 1956 with the Elvis autograph stamped on the
Naugahyde." 

Puccio barely escaped from his house as floodwater quickly rose to the
ceiling. He survived by standing tiptoe on the kitchen window ledge and
clinging to the roof gutter for hours before being rescued by boat. 

A chef before Katrina, Puccio is working as a courier for Durr Heavy
Construction and living with a friend in Metairie. 

He will continue his pilgrimage to Chalmette "to get out what I can and put
it in storage," Puccio said. "I've been working on my collection for 40
years." 

For information or to donate items to the exhibit, call the state museum at
(504) 568-6968. 

. . . . . . . 

Lynne Jensen can be reached at ljensen at timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3310.