Dear
Lost Souls,
This
week’s Cocktail Hour will be dedicated to the memory of Mr. Ray Charles. I will
not (in hind sight) claim to have been truly dedicated fan . . . like I was . .
. say, Tito Puentes . . . but, I have to say that the world just seems a little
more empty since Mr. Charles has left it. So, in his honor, the Haberdashery is
gonna tip its hat to the Man.
I'm a
firm believer in God himself, but that's as far as I can go. I'm not any
denomination. I'm not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist or Jewish or Muslim. I'm none of those things.
And I'm sure that's just fine with God. (see rest of article below) - Ray
Charles (1930 - 2004)
Yes, my
Merry Mourners, Cocktail Hour is on for this Friday evening. And as part of our
weekly covenant, we will be hoisting our glasses in honor of a dearly departed
champion of peace, love and music. Ray was no angle . . . but you can bet your
patushka that the angles made sure he ended somewhere they can still hear him
doin' his thang. Please bring along CD's you have of Ray's music. In addition
to the eternal music Ray, we will also venture into the wider realm of a little
place called Motown. Also, in special reverence to Mr. Charles, we ask every
Woman and Man and child alike to wear their favorite sport coat or jacket . . .
thinking outside the box is encouraged. The weekend begins at the top of the
stoop.
Your
Cocktails will be served at 7:30pm, when our Blues Brothers will be on hand to
fulfill their mission from God. As
always, please feel free to stop by for a quickie en route to your chose Friday
venue, or to linger indefinitely under the dappled shade and shadow of our
lower expectations.
Yours,
Greg
P.S.It
all sounds so simple when Ray says it: Music is about the only thing left that
people don't fight over. People couldn't understand why my mama would have this
blind kid out doing things like cutting wood for the fire. But her thing was:
He may be blind, but he ain't stupid. I am my own engineer. I remember one
night we did a thing with Duke Ellington. He was on an oxygen tank until they
called him to come out onstage. But he went out there and you'd never have
known there was anything wrong with the man. That's what music can do. If
you're sad, you can go home and play some records and make yourself feel
better. If you're in the hospital and you're sick, music can be soothing. I
know I'm gonna get shot down for this, but I think music is the greatest art
form ever, bar none. I know that people who are into movies or into sculpture
or writing or whatever are gonna say, “Ray, you must done lost your brain.” And
they probably right. But I still think that music is the greatest art form
ever. They say war has a purpose, but I'm not sure I agree. I've always thought
that people want you to be one of two things: They either want you to be a
clone, meaning just like them, or they want you to be their footstool, so they
can control you and tell you what to do. Sighted people sometimes forget that
blind people have a mind. I don't analyze myself. I just do what I do. You
better live every day like it's your last day, 'cause one day you're gonna be
right. I'm a firm believer in God himself, but that's as far as I can go. I'm
not any denomination. I'm not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist
or Jewish or Muslim. I'm none of those things. And I'm sure that's just fine
with God.
I did
drugs because it was my pleasure. Nowadays they say you need to get a special
chip to put in the TV so the kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we
didn't need that. My mom was the chip. End of story. The piano is the
foundation, and that's it. All my kids know me. Addiction can be very, very
bad. But addiction in itself isn't bad; it's a question of what you're addicted
to. That's where the chickens come home to roost. You can be addicted to good
habits, you know what I mean? You can be addicted to your woman. Addiction in
itself is kind of like money. It ain't bad or good. It's what you do with it.
When you write a good song, it will be good even if it's sung by somebody with
a bad voice. We always gonna have racism. With singing, the name of the game is
to make yourself believable. When somebody hears you sing a song and they say, “Oh,
that must have happened to him,” that's when you know you're transmitting. It's
like being a good actor. You make people feel things, emotions and whatnot. But
you gotta start with yourself. You got to feel it yourself. If you don't feel
it, how do you expect someone else to? I don't remember much about what it was
like to see. The main thing I remember is my mom, how she looked. And I
remember colors. I've always been the kind of person who, if there's anything
that can kill me, I want to know something about it. People say: “Ray, you a
genius, Ray, you a cornerstone, Ray, you this and you that.” Those are nice
accolades, and I certainly appreciate it when people think well of my music and
what I've tried to do with it. But in my heart, I mean . . . I don't kid
myself. I know I'm not a genius. A genius is somebody like Art Tatum or Charlie
Parker. I don't come close to those guys. I just happen to be a guy that can do
a lot of little things and do 'em well. It would be a real bitch if I ever lost
my hearing. I know I couldn't be no Helen Keller. That would be worse than
death. Vision is something that you have in your mind. This is a girl's bike,
man. Why would I be riding a girl's bike? You didn't think I was gonna notice
that, right? You guys are trying to sucker a blind man!
- Ray
Charles (1930 - 2004) Esquire Interview; August 2003
