Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes died yesterday. I first was exposed to him, when I went to see the movie "Shaft", while I was a student at Anderson College. I fell in love with the music, and the soundtrack album was one of my favorites. It was a mixture of R&B, Jazz and Funk. Then, I got two 8-track tapes of an album called "Live at Tahoe". The music was wonderful, and his connection with the audience really showed. With the advent of video, I got a couple of concerts he did. He was a genius with his arrangements of songs and bringing as much out of his orchestra as he could. He wasn't the best singer, but that didn't matter. Last May, as I was sending out requests for autographed pictures, I found out how approachable Isaac Hayes was. I wrote a note to him about how much I loved his music. He was very gracious by sending a personally signed picture, as well as a booklet on happiness that he was sponsoring. The booklet was put together by Scientologists, but I could see that Isaac Hayes had come to a mellow place. When he died yesterday, it was unexpected. But, I knew that he had become a part of the Heavenly choir. He had more music in him. He was planning a new album. I would have loved to hear it, and I will one day.