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10A-TKE SEA COAST ECHO?SUNDAY, MAY 11, 1997
Fountain
thought I was crazy.?
?We actually bought two lots.
I	wanted corner property,? said Fountain. ?We took the old house and kept stretching it and pulling it until we got what we wanted.?
The Fountains collaborated on every essential of the house, from the floors to the stained glass windows to the drapes and paneling on some of the walls. The raised home is Acadian in style and contains 10,000 square feet on three levels.
Inside, the home exudes a casual elegance, and Fountain?s? desire to be surrounded by his roots and past and present accomplishments.
A bust of a gorilla wearing a German World War II helmet presides over a bar that is the center piece of the great room on the floor level.
?This is where we have our parties,? said Fountain. ?When the kids were growing up, we?d come here for Thanksgiving, Christmas-all the major holidays, and to some extent, we still do.?
The bar area is decorated with Indian artifacts and assorted memorabalia.
?My great grandmother was a Cherokee. They used to joke she looked like she fell out of a tepee. How can you fall out of a tepee?? he laughs out loud as he remembers.
His French grandfather, Ramon Fountain, was a fishermen and on one wall of the house, Fountain displays a picture of one of the two schooners he captained.
Fountain calls himself a Civil War buff and the adjoining pool room contains Confederate currency displayed in prominent frames, old rifles and other mementos.
Another room is a game room with pinballs machines and other devices. ?The kids love it, but the adults use it too,? he says.
The downstairs is for entertaining, but upstairs is the family quarters. At the top of the winding mahogany staircase, three of Fountain?s gold records are on display.
An oil portrait of Fountain painted by friend Garland Ro-
up when they couldn?t,? Fountain recalls.
Fountain's mother, the former Madeline Letort of Biloxi, lived at the compound for awhile, but she?s now 92, and has gone to live with his sister, Delores (Matherne), in New Orleans.
The large and still-growing family is probably the reason there?s more behind the fenced Fountain compound. He has built two guests apartments on each end of a centered garage (another 2,000 square feet of living space), another game room, and there is a larger garage that houses his party boat and the bus he used to take on the road.
A caretaker is employed to manicure the lawn and property, which boasts large, stately moss-covered oaks, pecan trees and a variety'of azaleas and other plants.
Fountain points to one large flattened area of grass as another project that might be tackled next.
?This is where we play baseball, volleyball and other games. I was thinking about laying down a tennis court, but I haven?t gotten to it yet,? he says.
The tour is now over, but the story wouldn?t be complete without a mention of how a ?skinny kid with bad lungs? became America?s virtuoso clarinetist.
Peter Dewey Fountain Jr., was born July 3, 1930 in New Orleans. His father was a truck driver and salesman for Dixie Brewing Company.
?I called him the old bird,? Fountain said. ?Oh Back Bay (Biloxi) everybody knew him and loved him, but everybody called him Dewey, not Pete.?
Fountain apparently inherited his musical talent from his father. ?He could pick up and play anything--the harmonica, the fiddle, drums,? he recalled.
Fountain said he initially wanted to be a drummer, but after the weak lung diagnosis, the doctor prescribed the clarinet.
?The old bird picked up my clarinet and played it before I did. 1 was so mad because I could hardly get a note out of it,?. said Fountain.
That?s where cupid struck. He met Beverly Lang.
?She wanted to marry a musician, and I wanted to be a musician,? Fountain recalls.
The two have been inseparable for 46 years, and he credits Beverly for having ?the business mind? and snatching him from the jaws of some risky ventures, such as the purchase of the Buena Vista Hotel in Biloxi and an ill-fated Peter?s Wieners chain of hot-dog stands that flopped on an initial tryout in Bay St. Louis.
Fountain?s national and international acclaim skyrocketed shortly after he decided to make the move to California and join the Lawrence Welk Showin 1957. In that showcase beamed each week into millions of American homes, Fountain is credited with beginning the resurgence of the distinct New Orleans jazz sound.
He recalls Welk fondly, but said Welk was adamantly against any musician who drank and performed.
?He liked to kill me? says Fountain. ?For the most part, he kept me sober, but everytime
I	managed to get to a bar, instead of one drink, I?d have a double to catch up.?
After two years in California
-	as the song goes ? Fountain knew how it feels to miss New Orleans, and he decided to move his family back to the Crescent City.
The family settled into a home on the Lakeshore, and Fountain opened his first club at 831 Bourbon, then moved closer to Canal at 231 Bourbon.
Convinced his fans would follow him wherever he went, 20 years ago, Fountain opened the largest jazz club in the city on the third floor of the riverfront Hilton Hotel. There, he and his seven-piece band entertain locals and tourists during one set a night, scheduled at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturdays.
But, over the years, Fountain has continued to maintain an international and national exposure.
He appeared more than 59 times"'on the Johnny Carson Show'^was featured on the old