New Orleans Doll

You know how you start out surfing the web with a particular goal and with in no time you're totally sidetracked and end up god knows where. This is exactly what happened to me last night. I was looking for a large but still handsome and stylish rucksack (quite a quest I can tell you) when I found some very strange and somewhat disturbing pictures on some sort of 'life style' blog...

The pictures were of New Orleans singer Ernie K-Doe. Now Ernie made some great tunes in the early '60s, with and without the legendary artist/producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint. His biggest hit was Mother In Law. Probably lots of people could relate to the lyrics "The worst person I know / Mother-in law, mother-in law... Satan should be her name / Mother-in law, mother-in law...". Other songs, like Here Come The Girls and Certain Girl are absolute stompers! I never knew much about Ernie besides the fact that he was a great singer and I absolutely loved these songs. But after seeing these pictures I became curious. Turns out this guy was quite a character!

☝ Ernie at the beginning of his career (please note this is not one of THE pictures I was talking about).

After his success in the '60s and some flops in the early '70s Ernie developed an alcohol problem. But he managed to turn his life around in the '80s when he got a radio show. It was pretty popular, thanks to his "explosively energetic announcements and frequent self promotion", calling himself "Emperor of The World" and “the Greatest Boy-Child ever conceived at Charity Hospital in New Orleans”.

In the '90s he and his wife opened up a bar in New Orleans and called it the Mother In Law Lounge. Ernie sang his greatest hits on Mondays and his wife Antoinette would serve soul food. Sadly Ernie died in 2001 of liver and kidney failure. Antoinette continued running the Lounge and she turned it into a shrine for her late husband. She even had a MANNEQUIN of Ernie made! It would sit in the bar somewhere and it would regularly change outfits. So here come the slightly weird pictures I was referring to:





☝ Ernie the doll. On the last two picture with his wife.. euh widow Antoinette. And Usher.

The doll even ran for mayor of New Orleans in 2006!

During Mardi Gras 2009 Antoinette passed away. Their daughter kept the bar going for some time, but she closed it in June last year after a car drove in and crashed the place.. What a pity!! From what I read it must have been a great place! She sold a lot of the paraphernalia and fixtures of the bar at a garage sale. I sure hope she kept the mannequin!

"The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!"



Ernie K-Doe - Here Come The Girls. Get it here (YSI).


Ernie K-Doe - Certain Girl. Get it here (YSI).