In threes

Bernie Mac died.

Isaac Hayes died.

Who’s next?

Ocean’s 11 is not a great movie, but Bernie Mac was great in it. He stole every scene he was in, and is one of the many reasons why I like that movie so much. I wasn’t a huge fan of most of his other work, but I’m still sad that he’s gone. He was only 50!

And Isaac Hayes… where to begin? I mean, yeah – he had some issues in these past few years with being pissy and kind of a baby, but I think that’s a standard description of Scientologists, so maybe I’ll give the man a pass on that because Scientology = dude crazy.

If Mr. Hayes had nothing else in his career except write “Theme From Shaft,” it would have been enough. It’s an all-around excellent song that, surprisingly enough, translated pretty well to a marching band chart. I can’t remember if we played it on the field (I’m inclined to think that we did, but marching with the Golden Flashes was more often than not a drunken/hungover, blurry time, so we probably did play it). I know for sure that we played it in basketball band, and what a wonderful wall of sound that thing was.

And then there’s Chef! What a brilliant casting decision in one of the more brilliant TV shows of the last 20 years (possibly of all time). It’s just too bad Mr. Hayes got his panties in a wad over it.

RIP, Bernie Mac.

RIP Isaac Hayes.