It's a sad day. Unfortunately, with flags already flying at half mast for President Reagan, Georgia will not have any way to honor one of it's favorite sons.

Have no fear. I'm sure Georgia will have a celebration worthy of an artist of Ray's calibre.

My friend took a still photo of Ray from "The Blues Brothers", when he pulled out the pistol and shot at the wall to scare the kid, put it on a shirt, and added the slogan, "Ray's Security Services". Gets laughs every time.

Go easy, Ray.

Counting every one of your posts and opinions I've ever cared about on the cellar, that's still zero.

Save some pity for me, because (for once) I agree with every word Radar wrote, apart from the phrasing that makes it sound as if Ray witnessing his brother's death -> Ray going blind was a cause-effect relationship.

My previous post in this thread said the same thing with less descriptive phrasing, that's all.

As far as the cause-effect relationship of his blindness and his brother's drowning death, Ray himself said it was the last thing he ever saw. I don't know if there was any physical trauma that might have caused it.

he had congenital glaucoma

Originally posted by vsp No, it really didn't. You let it be known that you do not wish to participate in mourning Reagan - you let everyone know where you stand without expressing a detailed opinion.

What Radar did that many of us find incredibly rude and undeniably self-important was to (attempt to) invalidate the respect we were paying. It is an individual's decision to pay or not pay respect. It is beyond uncalled for and entirely unacceptable to directly challence someone's choice in that matter during the "mourning - pay respect" period.

You and Radar are free to despise Reagan. I might be interested in having that debate sometime. But now is clearly not the time. And I establish a clear separation between you and Radar in as much as you have the good sense to know that being disrespecful to the dead is really about being disrespectful to those who respect the dead. A subtley completely lost on the self-appointed would-be ruler of the universe.

Well said and true.

Enough!
This thread is about Ray, Sweet Brother Ray, who was and still is of great importance to me. His music flows through my life.

As a kid I can remember sleeping over for the first time at my friend Robin's house. You know, the sleepover is like discovering a whole new world. The siblings, how the parents are, the smell of their house, the way they eat dinner....I remember in the morning it was her dad, a Navy officer, that made us scrambled eggs. We helped in the kitchen. He was cool and funny. No TV on, he was playing Ray Charles, singing along. It was perfect. I wanted to live there.

Ray played jazz, blues, gospel, country, pop. It was all his music. He created soul by laying it open. His music was joy.

I remember Discovering Ray's early 50s recordings in the late 80s and opened a whole new appreciation for his genius. If you dont own it I would highly recommend the terrific 3 cd box set "The Birth of Soul". It is simply essential music. Ray, the amazing band, the Rayettes. Go buy it now.

I am so lucky to have the music of Ray Charles floating through my life and lifting me up. He gave such a loving gift. He was a genius. Thank you Ray. You be my baby....Don't give me no maybe!

Yes, it really did. I chose my words carefully. How you choose to interpret them is another matter.

Back to Ray... one thing I loved about him was that he was capable of laughing at himself, which is a rare but welcome trait.

I remember an episode of Saturday Night Live where Ray was the musical guest. Michael O'Donoghue came out to give Ray an award -- a painting, to be precise, to be placed in the headquarters of a foundation dedicated to finding a cure for blindness. O'Donoghue did his best to describe the rich colors, the fine detail, etc., and summed it up with "I guess you really kinda have to see it," hoping that someday Ray would be able to do so.

O'Donoghue then rips the protective paper cover off the painting... and it's nothing but a picture frame with the words "PLEASE DON'T TELL HIM" written on the backing.

Ray thanks O'Donoghue profusely for the gracious gift, and O'Donoghue leaves. At that point, Ray turns to the audience and explains that there are a bunch of big black guys waiting to jump O'Donoghue in the parking lot and beat the hell out of him, but since it's meant to be a surprise, "...please don't tell him."

Priceless.

I've been listening to that the last couple of days...awesome stuff.

Blues in not my thing, never really has been (does that mean I have no soul?) but Ray's music seemed to cross that divide on the back of a wave of...

No, wait, I have it!

He's a muse! The Archangel of Music. The Archtype of Arai.

Beestie, I think you're over reacting, but this thread is not the place to debate it.:)

I heard part of a 1998 interview with Ray Charles on NPR this evening. They played a clip of "Georgia on My Mind".

While I didn't quite cry, I do confess that I got a little misty eyed.

While they certainly have their faults, some of the most decent human being were musicians.

In the last 12 months we've lost Johnny Cash and now Ray Charles.

We were talking about Ray and his brilliance tonight.

One thing we couldn't figure out though ... one of our guys had heard an interview with him some years ago in which he talked about some of the demons which had plagued his life, including drug addiction.

Now, you can't just go down to the corner grocery and cop some heroin. Who was buying for him?