I was still reeling from the death of Bernie Mac when I heard that Isaac Hayes was pronounced dead.
Two months ago, I saw Hayes in concert in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. He was a little unsteady as he was escorted onto the stage, but by the end of the night, Hayes was dancing and singing a rousing version of "The Blues is Alright."
The image of Black Moses draped in chains at "Wattstax" is indelibly etched in my mind. Memphis musician Michael Toles told the Washington Post:
The first few shows I did with him, he didn't wear the chains," Toles says. Many of the musicians who knew Hayes were aware of how the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel in 1968 affected him. Toles goes on: "But then he started wearing them and I think it represented to him the coming freedom of the black man."
Hayes has gone to his reward. May he rest in peace.
