Week 2

The Last Days of Brother Ray by David Ritz

This article talks about Ray Charles and shows him as he was. He was very blunt and didn't care what anyone thought of him. I think that having the disability of being blind might have caused Ray Charles to compensate in another way, by being tough and not caring what he said. This article reminds me of what the image of a "rock star" is. You always hear the stories of rock bands trashing hotel rooms and being outrageous and crazy. Ray Charles was not as extreme as that but during the time period that he was famous, his actions could have been equivalent to those of the rock bands trashing hotel rooms. His vulgar language probably upset a lot of people in that time and the fact that he was performing this new and risque type of music was probably unsettling for most people during that time. This shows me how every time period has their own version of a "rock star." It is so interesting to me to see what was considered scandalous then is nothing to us now. How do people become okay with these things? How do we just change our minds about what is thought to be appropriate. It happens over time but its still amazing to see how different things were and how much a society can change and accept new things.