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** Image ID #2010042 Unavailable ** SONG: "Soul Man" ARTIST: Isaac Hayes (writer) STATUS: Deceased (stroke, 8/10/2008) ALBUM: [single] (1967, performed by Sam and Dave) As tempted as I was to select something Isaac Hayes actually performed, like the "Theme From Shaft" or the unforgettable "Chocolate Salty Balls" from the South Park soundtrack, I decided instead to go with a song he wrote and produced, even though it was originally performed by a different artist (Sam and Dave). Hayes has described his inspiration for the song as coming from watching media coverage of the 12 Street Riot in Detroit in 1967 and wanting to write "a story about one's struggle to rise above his present conditions." It ended up being the most successful single to date for the label (Stax, a sub-distributor of Atlantic Records), peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top 100 (#1 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart), and won a Grammy. The song has also been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame (Hayes was inducted in 2002) as one of the most influential songs of the past fifty years. I was never really exposed to much soul music growing up, so the first experience with Isaac Hayes (other than vaguely knowing he was the guy who did the "Shaft" theme song) was his appearances as the character Chef on South Park. It wasn't until much later that I learned about all of his accomplishments and music, including the work he'd written for other artists. By the end of his career, Hayes had one of the most diverse trophy cases in entertainment, including an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Grammy. Maybe not quite the elusive E.G.O.T. (any 30 Rock fans out there?  ), but still pretty damned impressive. Hayes' health started to decline in 2006 when he suffered a minor stroke, although he eventually recovered and went on to live for another two years before succumbing to a second stroke.   PROMPT: The book I've read the most number of times is... Today's prompt is an easy one:
It's easy because this is the only book I've ever read more than once.  Children's picture books excepted of course, 'cause I've totally read Where The Wild Things Are like a bazillion times.  I know, I know. My wife is one of those people who will re-read a book she loves over and over and over again, sometimes entirely and sometimes just her favorite passages. And while I will go back and re-read some of my favorite passages over again, or refer back to something when I need to, as a rule I try not to read the same book twice. It's not that I don't like anything enough to read it twice... far from it! But there are just so many books I haven't read yet, I couldn't imagine investing a great deal of time in reading something that I've already read as opposed to something I haven't read that's been on my "to read" list for months or even years in some cases. I re-read Gatsby in anticipation of the movie coming out last year. Ironically, I didn't even particularly care for the book the first time I read it (and the second time around I could appreciate a little more but still wouldn't put it on my list of life-changing reads), but I barely remembered it from my high school English class and I wanted to refresh my memory before I went to see Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of the classic novel. So, ironically, the only book I've read more than once is one I didn't really love all that much in the first place.  I sometimes think about going back and re-reading some of the books I've really loved over the years... but I think before I can do that, I'd really have to get my current reading list down to a manageable size. I honestly can't envision ever going back to re-read while I've got over a hundred books that I still want to read for the first time.  |
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