Music journalist Gianluca Tramontana travels to New Orleans to visit a laundromat that contains a hidden history. Cosimo Matassa who ran a recording studio in the back room guides us through the recording studio's crucial rock and roll history. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint also remember the little back room that made music history.
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Piece Description
Music journalist Gianluca Tramontana travels to New Orleans to visit a laundromat that contains a hidden history. Cosimo Matassa who ran a recording studio in the back room guides us through the recording studio's crucial rock and roll history. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint also remember the little back room that made music history.
Broadcast History
A shorter version of this was broadcast on Studio 360 September 19th 2008.
Transcript
Gianluca Tramontana: “Do you know much about this place?”
Customer at Laundromat: “No..it’s my first time here.”
GT: “So you’re just for the laundry!”
C: “(laughs!) I’m just here for the laundry”
GT: “Anyone would think this place was a laundromat!”
C: “I know it’s got a big old juke box - only in New Orleans!
But Jukeboxes have always played an important role on this corner. In the forties and fifties just about every juke box in the US had singles that were recorded right here.
GT: “I just wondered if you knew the history of the room back there.”
Customer: “No, I don’t”
GT: “This used to be a recording studio.”
C: “Oh, was it? I see...”
Cue Mushy song - “Just Like Old Times”
In 1945 Joe Mancuso and John Matassa opened a record and appliance store with help from Matassa’s son Cosimo. In the small room in the back, Cosimo had an idea of squeezing in a grand piano and thr...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:On April 14th, eighty-six year-old Cosimo Matassa will be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But who is this old man that ran a deli in New Orleans until recently? What is his name doing next to Guns and Roses and the Beastie Boys? And what is the big deal about a sleepy New Orleans laundromat on the edge of the French Quarter? Gianluca Tramontana went to find out
OUTRO:Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seems Like Old Times | Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra | 1940s Pop Hits. | BOFM Ltd. | 1996 | 00:41 |
| Good Rockin' Tonight | Roy Brown | Greatest Hits. | Gusto Records | 1996 | 00:55 |
| The Fat Man | Fats Domino | Greatest Hits: Walking to New Orleans. | Capitol Records | 2007 | 01:07 |
| Tutti Frutti | Little Richard | Greatest Gold Hits. | Master Classics | 2004 | 00:44 |
| Blow Your Top | Rodney Harris | The Genius of Dave Bartholemew. | Legends of Rock and Roll | 1992 | 00:55 |
| Slippin' and Slidin' | Little Richard | Greatest Gold . | Master Classics | 2004 | 01:06 |
| Feelin' Sad | Ray Charles | The Ray Charles Story Volume 3. | Atlantic Records | 2005 | 00:00 |
| Mardi Gras in New Orleans | Professor Longhair | The Very Best of. | Master Classics | 2009 | 00:00 |
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