Ray Charles passed away today.
This is very sad because Ray was one of those talents that spanned the decades as well as cultural lines. He was one of the all-time greats of soul, blues, jazz, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll.. you name it.
I was fortunate enough to see Ray play live, even though it was almost purely by accident. I had agreed to see a Dolly Parton-Kenny Rogers concert in 1985, and Dolly backed out (“medical problems”) and was replaced by Ray. I took this as a message from above that I was a good guy for agreeing to attend in the first place, and this was my reward.
Ray was brilliant. Pure and simple.
The problem was the crowd: they were the rudest group I’d ever sat in, and I’ve been to some pretty rough shows. People were talking, laughing, smoking (these were the days when it was allowed), and basically ignoring the genius playing his heart out on the stage. I was transfixed, but most of the overly-hairsprayed-middle-aged crowd couldn’t or wouldn’t appreciate the man; they were anxiously awaiting for the paunchy, blow-dried crooner of “Ruby” to come onstage. The worst part was the fact that they turned the lights up in the stadium before Ray’s set was finished: jeez, even the staff at the venue was unappreciative.
When he was done, I was one of the few on his feet cheering.
To this day, I can’t fathom what these people were thinking, but then again we’re talking about Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton fans. Part of me wanted to light a match and see if I could make the joint explode with all the hairspray floating through the air.
I know there was a movie in production last year about Ray Charles’ life, but I haven’t seen anything about it since. I’ll see if I can find out more. Update: Here’s the info on the movie.
Thanks for everything, Ray.