PICS FROM THE PAST

The Greek Fountains were very well known to Baby Boomers from Plaquemine, Baton Rouge, and throughout South Louisiana in the 1960s.

They were known for their R&B as well as “covering” popular Beatle tunes and psychedelic sounds. They also were known for starting the Madras pants fad in the area.

David Haydel brought the POST SOUTH this handbill found in Plaquemine. It was used to advertise the Greek Fountains appearing at the Teen Club and the American Legion Hall in Plaquemine.

Band members are, clockwise from bottom left to top to bottom right: Danny Cohen, Tommie Miceli, Don Chesson, Duke Bardwell, and Cyril Vetter.

Miceli attended Catholic BR about the time POST SOUTH Editor Tryve Brackin did. He went on to become a well-known ER doctor in BR. Chesson lived for a few years a block away from Brackin’s parents in Southdowns Subdivision and was involved in aviation. Cohen moved to New York City and disappeared.

Bardwell remains the band’s most noted musician. He toured with Elvis Pressley’s band, opened for Loggins & Messina, toured with Gene Clark of the Byrds, and recorded with Emmylou Harris. He still plays and records music.

Vitter, who hails from Donaldsonville, operated Channel 33 in BR for a number of years and co-produced a Deacon John “Jumping Blues” CD recently.

Haydel saw the Greek Fountains in Plaquemine a few times, while Brackin saw them at LSU fraternity and high school parties and at the old Colonel’s Club underneath the Perkins Road Overpass. “I bought a pair of Madras after I saw them at the club. I got them at the old Welsh & Levy Men’s Store on Third Street in Baton Rouge where my father worked. I wore them maybe three times,” commented Brackin.