The way that this lecture begins ties in to Isaac is my Karmic relationship to Isaac. We were at Barry's house checking out Harold on the guitar on the Dionne Warwick Song “Walk on by.” When Isaac Hayes won an Emmy and an Oscar for the “Theme of Shaft” it was Harold Bean on the guitar with the Wah Wah. Some said that it was Skip that played the Wah Wah. Whether Skip or Harold I had a Karmic relationship with the guitar player. When I was a young man skip use to date my sister. A story was told that and I do not know how true but it was rumored that classical Music composer Henry Mancini did a remake of Shaft he called Isaac and asked him how did he get that Wah Wah sound. Wah Wah is that “Funk Sound” A few years ago I was at an Isaac Hayes concert at the casino in Tunica, Mississippi and I saw Harold Bean. A few months ago I was at Walgreens drug store in my neighborhood and Harold and I spoke. At Isaac's memorial celebration Harold and I took a picture together.
If you travel down McClemore Avenue in Memphis at the corner of McClemore and College Avenue you will see the Stax Music Academy and a building that look just the way Stax use to look like. In my mind I remember when they tore Stax down and it was just a parking lot. Just across the street from my store where I am writing this lecture is a Country Club that in its history has had only one African/American member in its history. The neighborhood is called Chicasaw Gardens where to this day I do not believe any African/American live. When Isaac Hayes was racking in the millions there was a homeowner by the name of Horne who was a car dealer who had sold his home and despite in the early 70's of Isaac Hayes winning an a Grammy Award and an Oscar he could not purchase a home in Chicasaw Gardens.
Not only could Isaac Hayes not purchase a home in Chicasaw Gardens the Powers to be in Memphis, Tennessee sent in Bill Matthews from Union Planters Bank to destroy Stax music because too many African/Americans were becoming multi-millionaires and the racist destroyed an over 500 million dollars enterprise and they broke the backs of STAX music Company. On April 4, 1968 Stax was sold and on the same day Dr. Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis. Not only did Memphis loose a great Martin Luther King but we lost the greatest economic entity and interest and entity developed in Memphis before FedX.
The “Hot Buttered Soul Album came out after the sale of STAX on its subsidiary label Enterprise. I remember Isaac Hayes been broken after filing for bankruptcy in 1976 and later and him leaving Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1982 I had the opportunity to fight for the world Karate/Kickboxing championship. I understand that the owner of Coke Cola in Memphis lived in Chicasaw Gardens just across the street from my store on the other side of the railroad tracks. I was fighting on E.S. P.N. and I asked Coke Cola in Memphis to support the event and they told me that they had no money. I told them that they should come to the fight and I would give them tickets to my championship bout, however they refused to even show up at the event. This too is a Karmic relationship.
My friend Cliff Dates who now owns a large security firm in Memphis was Isaac Hayes security chief during his hey day and we took cars to Atlanta to plead with Isaac Hayes to appear on E.S. P.N. to sing the National Anthem at my championship bout. On May 29, 1982 Isaac Hayes was in the ring singing the National Anthem at my big fight. What a great joy and honor to have a living legend to do a favor for you and support your efforts.
Over the years my karma or life touched the life of Isaac Hayes again. During the early days of the Kwanzaa Celebration I remember going to Kwanzaa and Isaac Hayes speaking at the Kwanzaa celebration and he telling how Africa had changed his life. Isaac along with other entertainers visited Ghana and I remember Isaac telling about how he an other dignitaries cried during a visit to slave castles in Ghana. Isaac later became a King and Ghana and his life was forever affected by Ghana as my life too was affected by traveling to Ghana. The same year that Isaac traveled to Ghana I traveled to Kenya and Africa affected both of our lives.
Stax was torn down years ago and later an effort was made to turn the area into a museum and music teaching academy and they rebuilt Stax to look like the building of old. Although Stax was once a 500 million dollar industry in Memphis, Tennessee racism forced the close and sale of Stax on April 4, 1968 the same day Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis. Today the neighborhood is reaped with poverty. Racism, poverty both poverty can be explained with the Buddhist term Karma. Racism is a Karmic relationship for a past life.
Just across the street from Stax is an abandon building boarded up. There was a shopping center that was recently torn down where I got my hair cut for years. What a karma that allowed such great music to emerge from Stax. The shopping center that was torn down is where music writer David Porter use to work at. Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism explains Karma and relationships. The current Karma of the Neighboorhood is poverty.
How swiftly the days pass! It makes us realize how few are the years we have left. Friends enjoy the cherry blossoms together on spring mornings, and then they are gone, carried away like the blossoms by the winds of impermanence, leaving nothing but their names. Although the blossoms have scattered, the cherry trees will bloom again with the coming of spring, but when will those people be reborn? The companions with whom we enjoyed composing poems praising the moon on autumn evenings have vanished with the moon behind the shifting clouds. Only their mute images remain in our hearts. Though the moon has set behind the western mountains, we will compose poetry under it again next autumn. But where are our companions who have passed away? Even when the approaching tiger of death
The Lotus Flower Blooms in the swamp and gets its nourishment from the dirt. Just a few hundred yards from the Stax Billboard that reads “In Memory of Isaac Hayes” You find in the picture Rev. Shingi Iwaki of the over 750 year old Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist sect conducting a Buddhist meeting at the home of Gerald and Gail Hopskins both who are Nichiren Shoshu members and Lemoyne College graduates. Buddhist teaching can change the Karma of a nation. Gerald is pictured in the front seat in the white outfit.
Harold Bean went to school with my brothers and he was just a neighborhood boy like the rest of us. However when you look back at Karma and history I would say the most fascinating musician on Isaac Hayes recording 'Hot Buttered Soul" was my neighborhood boy Harold Bean. Harold Bean was the band director for Stax recording studio singer Mr. William Bell who was the M.C. at Issac Hayes memorial service. I do not know if Whites who read this lecture can understand the impact of Harold Bean on Isaac's Hot Buttered Soul Album. I must take that back because it was White Guitar Player Steve Cropper and White Bass Guitar Player that was on most of the Stax recordings.