Rei Carol

      This is more for my own record keeping than for anyone else, but I'm trying to keep track of some of the obituary material gathered on Ray Charles in the past couple couple of days. (What can I say-- not only did I love the man's music, but he became both a kind of personal hero and a part of my academic research, to the point that my MA thesis featured Ray prominently enough to warrant quoting in the title.) Jools Holland's tribute in the Telegraph is telling enough. MTV's collection of material is truly bizarre in telation to its subject but typical in terms of its intended audience, rhyming off Justin Timberlake's description of RC as an "idol" and Wyclef Jean's association of RC with Martin Luther King. Here is Chris Heard's discussion for the BBC, and here is Glen Gamboa for Newsday simplistically reducing RC to "a single trick" performer. A surprisingly decent article from the Helena Independent Record is here. And a rather good piece on the coverage of Ray's death from Editor and Publisher can be found here. According to this article, RC's clearest "heir apparent," Van Morrison, heard of the news while performing in London-- and immediately launched into a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You" in tribute. Slate's piece by Stanley Crouch is almost entirely touchy-feely, and pretty bloody worthless; one would expect more from Crouch.

      All in all, though, it's pretty dismal coverage, and pretty uninsightful stuff so far. I'm impressed, however, by the number of suggestions in the blogosphere and more-traditional media to commemorate RC with some truly substantial memorial, from suggestions of putting him on a coin or a bill (yeah, right, like that's gonna happen-- just ask Susan B. Anthony!) to even putting him on Mount Rushmore (even more ridiculous, but amusing nonetheless). The curious imbalance in coverage-- between those lauding him as one of the most important figures in the last half-century and those desribing him as an award-winning crooner-- seems more the result of laziness and distraction (mainly with the Reagan mournathon) than anything else. Oh, our wonderfully nuanced and attentive media.