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[bblackwood]

Ray Charles has died at age 73. Read the story here.

Truly a sad day for music.

[bblackwood]

http://www.raycharles.com/godblessamerica.swf

[Level]

I will honor him with a toast to a great life of overcoming obsticles (both racially based and that of losing his sight) with a toast and a full night of listening to his music in the honored emotion that it brings. A few tears being shed is of order. Tears of happiness for his most enthusiastic display of life and the art he brought to us all.

Ray always had a way of doing that to me.

[JPRisus]

Level wrote on Thu, 10 June 2004 20:58

I will honor him with a toast to a great life of overcoming obsticles (both racially based and that of losing his sight)

Don't forget drug addiction as well... he truly lived through it all.

I remember shedding a tear when he performed "God Bless America" during the World Series a couple years back... hard to imagine anyone not being moved by it. He'll be sorely missed in this house, that's for sure.

[lucey]

Level wrote on Thu, 10 June 2004 19:58

I will honor him with a toast to a great life of overcoming obsticles (both racially based and that of losing his sight)...

I was reading somewhere that Ray never felt sorry for himself for being black or blind, because of his mom.  She made him do house work with his siblings and treated him as if he was normal from day one. And their family made nothing of black-ness ... they were secure, they were Family.

Ray was thus confident, never in self-pity ...  in that sense he never had to 'overcome' anything.  Good parenting took care of that for him.


That's another gift he gave us ... to be who we are without Fear or Favor.





And Doug McClement was saying that Ray was the only one to not lip-sync on a small time Canadian comedy show.  Brittney did, EVERYONE did ... but Ray was real, and he sang for his supper.