I’m back in the music city, where over the weekend I heard Eddie Floyd “Knock on Wood” and Percy Sledge belt out “When a Man Loves a Woman” under the stars at Lincoln Center.
While in Music City, I spent hours at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Now I’m more a “boogie woogie country girl” than country, but the exhibitions and collections still knocked my socks off.
The Ray Charles multi-media tribute alone is worth the price of admission. It's duly noted that Brother Ray introduced the music of the white working class to new audiences and made country music cool.
BTW, when it comes to pimping one’s ride, today’s rap artists don’t have a thing over Elvis Presley or Webb Pierce. You haven’t seen a pimpmobile until you’ve seen Pierce’s 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, which is adorned with 150 silver dollars, among other doodads.
Brother Ray’s influence reaches beyond the grave. At the NCSL policy session on music and the arts and economic development, Louisiana state Rep. Steve Scalise touted the success of the Motion Picture Incentives Act in bringing more than $500 million in new film productions to Louisiana.
Scalise credited “Ray,” which was filmed in Louisiana, with breaking the mold on tax incentives and convincing Hollywood studio executives of their economic value.
