Fuselier e-mailed the seller of the accordion, but never received
a reply. He then expressed his bewilderment in his weekly "Bayou Boogie" column
for Lafayette's The Daily Advertiser: "It's like finding 'Lucille,' B.B.
King's guitar, in a pawn shop or Louis Armstrong's trumpet with the lawn tools
at a garage sale."
Chenier, widely regarded as the "King of Zydeco," blended the
popular rhythm and blues of his day with the traditional Creole music of his
upbringing. He passed away in 1987; for his funeral, his trademark red velvet
crown was placed in the casket near his head. For the last 15 years, the whereabouts
of this crown have been uncertain; Chenier's widow, Margaret, has declined to
answer questions about its current status.
In August, at the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival
in Plaisance, Chenier's crown, accordion, and other historic memorabilia surfaced,
all with price tags attached. A Houston woman named Deidre Davis had rented
a booth to display photos of Chenier's possessions available for auction. Chenier's
1984 Grammy Award had a starting bid of $5,000. His crown started at $4,500
and his accordion had been marked down from the eBay price to $7,500.
Also up for bid: Chenier's suit, tuxedo shirts, suspenders,
money clip, personal travel photos and various awards and honors. Among the
stranger items are Chenier's wooden crutches and his prosthetic leg (in his
later years, Chenier had lost a portion of his leg due to complications from
diabetes).
Davis says she is Clifton Chenier's second cousin. Margaret
Chenier, Davis says, "just decided that she could part with [the items]. For
a while we didn't ever see any of it. When she decided to give it to the family,
I decided to take it to the next level, to get him the recognition he deserves."
Margaret Chenier confirms that she gave the items to Davis
to sell. "I just wanted to auction them off," she says. "Do you want to buy
them?" She then declined to discuss the auction further without receiving compensation
for the interview. "They won't buy it here in Lafayette anyway," she says. "Not
in Louisiana, I'm sure."
Not all family members are behind the auction. Musician C.J.
Chenier is the son of Clifton Chenier, but not of Margaret Chenier. He says
it was news to him that his father's possessions were up for grabs. "That's
not cool," he says. "That's a shame they're trying to sell all that. It should
be in a museum and open to the public."
Officials in Lafayette and Opelousas have expressed interest
in the Chenier memorabilia. Steve Teeter, curator of jazz for the Louisiana
State Museum in New Orleans, says he's flown to Houston to see the items and
is negotiating with Davis for the collection. "We would very much like to have
them on display," he says. "Basically, there's some really great stuff there.
Our rules require that we get an outside appraisal and they're having a hard
time getting an appraisal. It's a question of working with our procedures to
make it a fair deal for all parties."
Teeter and Davis may reach an impasse when it comes to the
Grammy Award, however. "It is the policy of the Recording Academy that the recipient
of a Grammy Award cannot sell or transfer the award," says Ron Roecker, the
director of communications for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
(NARAS). It's less clear how NARAS enforces its policy or who retains ownership
of a Grammy after a recipient dies.
Among the harshest critics of the Chenier auction is State
Sen. Don Cravins of Arnaudville, who before entering politics was a well-known
zydeco promoter and broadcaster. Cravins says he doesn't buy Davis' claim that
the auction is a fitting homage to Chenier's memory. "A fitting way to pay tribute
to him would be to display his items, not to start auctioning off his very intimate
and personal items to line someone else's pockets," Cravins says. "It's horrible."
Cravins says he doesn't dispute the family's right to sell
whatever it pleases. "The line is drawn when you start selling the man's artificial
leg and foot," he says. "I believe he and his family deserve much more dignity
than that. If I bought the leg, what would I do with it? It's degrading to Clifton's
great memory. You need to draw the line somewhere. You don't sell a prosthetic
leg. Give me a break. It ain't that damn bad.
