issac: all is forgiven my brother

i've got to be honest. issac hayes was not one of my favorite entertainers growing up.

to be clear, it was nothing personal. i wouldn't meet him until later in life and he'd never really done anything to offend me. i had the "black moses" fold-out cross hanging up on my wall right next to my coveted jackson 5 photos.

my beef with hayes was rooted in my mother's obsessive musical tastes. once she liked something she played it to death. and it wasn't just hayes. i feel similarly about roberta flack and marvin gaye.

every morning for about six months she blasted his "black moses" lp while she was getting ready for work downstairs and i was trying to savor those last few zzzzs before getting ready for school upstairs.

it was years before i could listen to anything hayes recorded. i loved "shaft," but i used to pretend it wasn't him. besides the version we played in the wyoming high school marching band sounded more like "we are the champions" than hayes' oscar-winning track with the funky beats.

but today, after learning of hayes' death at his home in memphis, i grabbed my iphone and played "by the time i get to phoenix"--the duet he did with dionne warwick--again and again and again some more on my way to the virgin megastore in hollywood. and before the night's over, i will probably play it a couple more times.

love that track.

mom was understandably shaken when i rang her this afternoon with the news of hayes' death at age 65, but i think that lp is probably too warped by now to be played on the old dusty magnavox in the basement. oh but wait, that album is now in my possession!

oh well.

i only remember meeting hayes a few times. the first time was on the set of "girlfriends." he used to play jill marie jones' father and it was the day they were shooting her wedding out at a rented home in malibu. i was so busy talking to the girlfriends that i barely noticed hayes standing over in a corner by himself just chilling.

"black moses," i whispered to myself. at that point i wasn't really sure whether i wanted to throw him in the pool--redemption for all those years his voice woke me up prematurely--or embrace him for the genius he was. i wisely opted for the latter. he was nice, but kind of on the quiet side.

that old school cool. sexy.

my most vivid memory of him, however, is protesting his nomination for an naacp image award for his portrayal of chef on "south park." i was like, does anyone realize he's voicing a cartoon character and maybe shouldn't be up for best supporting actor in a comedy? well, that's what i wrote and my readers agreed. thankfully, he didn't win and was never nominated in that category again.

crazy.

i also remember that he was bald before it became bold and sexy and that he had a flair for wearing some outrageous stuff on stage. none of that mattered, really. the man could sing and play. the last time i saw him was shortly after his stroke and he had to be wheeled into the banquet room. as luck would have it, he was seated at my table. he was wearing african garb and was really, really friendly.

i think he was just happy to be there--anywhere.

like bernie mac, who reportedly passed away saturday morning (ironically, mac and hayes will appear together on screen in this fall's "soul men"), hayes' legacy will live on in cds, dvds and on whatever new media they come up with next. i'm thankful for that. i have a feeling that too much of hayes in the coming days will surely become a very, very good thing.

maybe i'll sync up my ipod/ihome alarm so that it plays "hot buttered soul" nice and low. that might be nice to wake up to.

so long you bad mutha... i wish you nothing but good mornings up above.