Not sure if I should post this here, but we're all adults right? Anyway Frank R asked for a report so...

I liked the movie very much. It was hard to watch at times because they didn't sugar coat anything and his life wasn't very pretty for awhile. The drugs, women, etc. made him a not-very-nice person for part of his life. I think they kept it pretty realistic. But underneath all the difficulties he was a good human being and an incredible talent. I didn't know he and Quincy Jones started out together in Seattle, so that was interesting. It was well-acted, great music (only Baldwin pianos or old PSO's in bars) and well-scripted. It did leave a few unanswered questions. Overall I would give it an A-.

I tried to go last night and it was sold out....Is that a good sign?

Teach,

Thanks for the review. Very well put. I know he seemed very selfish for a good part of his life but with all of the stuff he had to deal with I can understand how he did what he did to take care of himself. When he was hurting people that truly cared about him, I think his need to be independent wouldn't allow him to consider how what he did effected other people, especially after so many people had used him for their own enrichment.

I wonder if Baldwin was his piano of choice. He sure did make those other POS pianos sound good.

Frank - I would die to be able to play like him! I'm glad he was able to straighten out his life for 40 years. That's a pretty good run. I really wonder about the blindness thing - they didn't tell you what made him go blind - guess I'll have to research it. Do you have Genius Loves Company CD? It's fabulous!

Night all!

It was an excellent film.

I like the way they showed all aspects of how brilliant he truely was from music to business.

I also like the way they showed him having good and bad characteristics. I hate films about people's lifes that make them seem as if they had no real problems and they were just this perfect great person, with a perfect marriage, perfect kids, blah blah blah...nobody is like that, no matter how much they lie and say they are.

And for the record they did say how he became blind, it was from glaucoma. His mother mentioned it when she had a heart to heart with him when she was applying that cream on his eyes that she got from the doctor.

Teachum,

No, I don't have that CD but I'll look for it. Thanks for the suggestion. I do have the soundtrack from the movie.

One thing that was funny to me was when the old man showed Ray how to play a few notes and a few minutes later he's going crazy on the piano. I think something got left out there. Ain't Hollywood great? Fast forward to greatness!!!

Tis a fine CD from a great artist.. what a talent. I can't wait to see the movie.

Teachum, Ray Charles went blind from Glaucoma at age seven.
Jon

Regarding the glaucoma, guess I missed her mentioning that when she was doctoring his eyes. I just heard her say he was going blind. I figured it was either glaucoma, macular degeneration or something called histoplasmosis which is a parasite which occurs in farm-type environments. I agree about not presenting his life as a fairy-tale - it was just painful to watch. He was truly amazing. I also wanted to know more about his musical education. I am assuming it must have occured at the school for the blind he went to.

I think there is a great autobiography on his website. Ray Charles
Jon