The Genius of Ray Charles + A Fond Memory

Watch for the reflection in Ray Charles’ glasses. That was directed by John Landis with Stephen Katz as cinematographer. I’m sure that subtle homage was no accident.

I’ll never forget my whole family sitting together and watching this movie one night in a hotel room when I was 10. We spent the night in Montgomery because my dad was attending a DECA convention. He was a teacher for over 20 years at Ensley High School. The next morning we were making our way to Panama City Beach for summer vacation and were all laughing so hard recounting the scenes from the night before… Sister Mary’s ‘Filthy Mouths and Bad Attitudes‘… the mall chase ‘Will there be anything else?—Yes, do you have a Miss Piggy?‘… the ‘I hate Illinois Nazis‘… and what seemed to me as a kid to be the entire city of Chicago dancing together in the streets for Ray Charles. Complete joy. My mom was doing the driving, laughing and not paying attention. We got pulled over for speeding which pretty much killed the joy for everyone in the car.