{"id":2568,"date":"2017-01-14T03:04:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T03:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2568"},"modified":"2017-01-14T03:10:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T03:10:38","slug":"patsy-vidalia-the-dew-drop-inn-and-take-all-of-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2568","title":{"rendered":"Patsy Vidalia, the Dew Drop Inn and “Take all of me.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

TERRY MOSHER<\/p>\n

\"Patsy<\/a><\/p>\n

PATSY VIDALIA<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you may know by now, I write every day with a background of music provided by American Routes, hosted by Nick Spitzer, who, according to his online bio, is a folklorist and professor of anthropology and American studies at Tulane University.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be introduced to musicians, especially those that play zydeco, creole and swamp pop, by Spitzer. \u00a0My latest find has to do with the Dew Drop Inn that in the 1940s was the center for black music in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

A lot of our current music can be traced to New Orleans, and a lot of that was produced by black musicians who were blackballed from the mainstream music industry that was mostly controlled by whites. That reflects what was a sad time in our history because of the discrimination against people of color. Some broke through that barrier. Louis Armstrong, for example, did. But many didn\u2019t, and nightclubs like the Dew Drop Inn were the only places where people of color could perform, and at these places some of the best music in our history originated.<\/p>\n

The find for me today is not a great musician. But Jack-Patsy Vidalia was an incredible entertainer and character that performed in many places, but made history at the Dew Drop Inn.<\/p>\n

Vidalia was a female impersonator who just happened to sing and was prominent in New Orleans from the 1940s to the \u201860s. His given name was Ale, but he took the Vidalia name from a type of onion. The name was also used, as history tells us, for a man who used prostitutes.<\/p>\n

At the Dew Drop Inn where he started in 1947, Vidalia became the club\u2019s master of ceremonies, singer and bartender. He hosted an annual Halloween Gay Ball and became known as \u201cThe Toast of New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a November, 2016 segment of American Routes, Vidalia is discussed and I find it amusing.<\/p>\n

Deacon John Moore (better known ad Deacon John) was a blues and rock and roll musician and he laughs uncontrollable while discussing Vidalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatsy would come with an evening grown with a big cigarette holder about a foot long and say, \u2018Evening darlings, welcome to the Dew Drop, drink hardy and stick with your party. The show is coming your way,\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Deacon John, still laughing, then said, \u201cThen Patsy would open up and sing a number \u2011All of Me. That was a classic introduction. Why not take all of me, sexy me. Can\u2019t you see I\u2019m no good without you. You took the best so come on and get the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deacon John, who is now 76, cracked up as he related this.<\/p>\n

Patsy Vidalia died in 1982. He left the Dew Drop in the mid 1960s to take care of his ailing mother and died in 1982 in New Orleans at the age of 61.<\/p>\n

Okay, enough, I\u2019m outta here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be well pal.<\/p>\n

Be careful out there.<\/p>\n

Have a good day.<\/p>\n

You are loved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TERRY MOSHER PATSY VIDALIA   As you may know by now, I write every day with a background of music…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-mosher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}