Week 2: "The Last Days of Brother Ray"





In the reading by David Ritz, he tells the story of Ray Charles in a honest voice. Ritz learned about Charles while spending a lot of  time around him. Ritz concentrates mainly on Charles' deepest feelings not much about what he accomplished. The text focuses on the deep side of Charles. It starts with Charles' view on death. He has been looking deeply into "death" since he was a kid. Ritz goes on with the fact Charles is a brave, fearless man. Yet, he became sick, perhaps some kind of cancer. Ritz talks about the very end of Charles' life.

I admire him for being confident about himself. I see his personal life as somewhat messed up life. To me having 12 children by 10 mothers is just impossible to believe. However, as Ritz says "God will not dare touch Ray"(115 Ritz) in his book. Charles is an impressive man. He dared to dive into the world of revolutionary music that most of the elder generation at the time disliked. He dared to do what other would not do. Also it is interesting to see how Charles changed after the disease. his body weakens day after day. At the end he started to believe in a religion. I do not think that he believed in the god. But rather he believed in the idea of religion. This is almost like a mentally training so he could think he is better. However, until the very end, he kept his "routine". I like the fact that he is really determined till the very end of his life.

Here is a song in his last album, Genius Loves Company,

Sweet Potatoe Pie