Soulsville, Wattstax, Harlem, South Park, And Beyond


Isaac Hayes was the emperor of all these places, some real, some just a state of mind.

One of my favorite Isaac Hayes moments has to be this one, filmed during the 1972 Wattstax Concert at Los Angeles Coliseum, in which Hayes’ supreme royalty is so matter of fact that even his mere silence overshadows the introduction he receives from Jesse Jackson, who had already opened the event with his famous “I Am Somebody” speech.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZV2myICts

Speaking of Wattstax, the film coverage of this concert was made into a movie that played in theaters around the country, mostly in urban settings. It’s one of the most off the hook live concert movies you’ll ever see, featuring everyone, and I mean everyone!

You can buy the Wattstax DVD, which is way better than these YouTube clips. But in the meantime, look at this next clip — the opening sequence for the Wattstax film — for a great idea of what fashions and attitudes were like that year:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9OH8Gofj-g

Isaac Hayes vibrated at a frequency and energy that resonated so completely with where an entire generation was at, that he became part of our D.N.A. He’ll continue to live inside each of us for all time.

Stax Museum Souvenir Cup

By the way, few people realize that Hayes once owned a pro basketball team. In 1974 he was one of a group of new owners that took over the Memphis Tams of the American Basketball Association (A.B.A.).

They renamed the team the Memphis Sounds. But the Sounds struggled financially and its owners, under pressure from the league, were eventually forced to relinquish the team.

Visit the Stax Museum of American Soul in Memphis, which features Hayes’ peacock blue, gold trimmed, two door, sun-roof topped, 1972 Eldorado Cadillac as well as great souvenirs like my coffee mug.

Isaac Hayes. Brotha Man #1.

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15 years ago

Ike and Bernie Mac in the same weekend. The afterlife community just increased its cool quotient exponentially.

15 years ago

RIP neighbor, used to cut through his yard everyday in memphis

15 years ago

Nick, no doubt, I mean I agree with you, and if you polled 1,000 people my age or even 10,000 people, you’d probably get only a slightly different but still low % which is that most people would only be able to name Theme from Shaft. That’s OK, because those that know, know! :-) Thanks!

PS – I’m happy that the Stax Museum project has been so successful, and that Hayes had a rebound with South Park and other projects he got involved with … so he didn’t just fade away. He was doin’ it, and seemed to be enjoying his life, so that’s a great thing.

Nick Renkoski
15 years ago

Oh, I know, I certainly wasn’t saying that he was a fringe artist. He has Grammys and gold albums galore. I guess I’m speaking from a perspective of people my age (I’m 23). Not to sell out my generation but if you polled 1000 people my age and asked them to name a Isaac Hayes song, “My Chocolate Balls” from South Park would be a commen answer, sadly. My point wasn’t to take away anything from Isaac, just simply to note that he deserves more.

Nick Renkoski
15 years ago

The Cadillac at the Stax museum has a sensor around it and if you get too close to the car, Isaac’s voice come on through speakers and says “Get away from my car,” or “Whatcha doin’ near my car?”

I live across the street from the Los Angeles Coliseum and a year ago the California African-American Musuem (also across the street, in the same park as the coliseum) did an exhibit on Wattstax. I had seen the film many times but was stilled awed by the power and majesty Hayes was able to command in that performance. In a concert full of heavy hitters Isaac hit the hardest that night. The second greatest act Stax ever produced (when you’re on a label with Otis Redding, how can if be insulting to be second best?). Unfortunately, I never felt that Black Moses took off in the mainstream the way other soul acts did. Mostly famous as Chef from “South Park” or as “the Shaft guy,” its a shame that some of his greatest work goes unlistened to. I’m putting on “Walk on By” as we speak. RIP.