Opinion: Back from Maui, Rusty recalls Rawls

I am well aware that few readers crave tales of winter adventures under a tropical sun. All I will say is that we spent six wonderful weeks living in a neat little home-away-from-home condo, whose owners are good friends of ours, and probably the only regular SBJ-Rusty Saber readers in the state of Oregon.

Although free of a weekly deadline, my column topic radar continued to scan the news. I took note of stuff I might have written about if I were writing columns.

The death of singer Lou Rawls would have rated a tribute. His talent alone justifies mention here.

Special attention is called for because I attended a Lou Rawls concert just last November at Juanita K. Hammons Hall. What appeared to be a serious illness forced him to leave the stage midway through the concert. A few weeks later the news reported that he was critically ill with brain cancer.

During most of the concert, he sat on a stool near the piano. His voice was still good, but it lacked the compelling power of the great singer he once was. It was obvious that the audience was in the presence of a true professional entertainer carrying the ‘’show must go on’’ commitment beyond its ordinary limit.

As the concert continued, he appeared to grow weaker. Finally, he could go no farther. Finishing a song with his chin resting on his chest, he whispered something to the piano player, arose and walked slowly off the stage. The thought went through my head that this could possibly be the last performance of this great singer.

I have no way to know if it was his last, but from the look of him as he departed, there could not have been many more.

Lou Rawls was a unique talent. I surely would have noted his passing at the time. I am pleased to do it now.

While I was away, an event flickered across the ever-frenzied media galaxy and popped up on my radar screen. It was the much-ballyhooed incident over Oprah Winfrey’s recommendation, then condemnation, of author James Frey’s book, ‘’A Million Little Pieces.” This was a prime example of a pop cultural media furor raised over nothing of consequence.

For reasons I don’t understand, Oprah has the power to simply tell her audience to read a book, and presto, it’s a best seller. Unless Oprah possesses some literary credentials I don’t know about, what makes her the all-knowing guru of publishing?

As the world knows, after being enshrined into literary Nirvana by Oprah, Frey was cast into an abyss when it was learned he had made up a lot of the reportage about his life story.

After praising the book, Oprah later accused Frey of presenting himself as ‘’Mr. Bravado Tough guy.” He apparently lied about a sordid past that included such things as having served a jail term. He apparently went so far as to claim to have undergone dental surgery without Novocain. Now, that would take real bravado!

When another pop culture legend, Larry King, got wind of the possibility that much of the book was untrue, he did his CNN show about it. Oprah called King on the air to defend Frey.

In the end, Frey found out that Oprah had the power to make him a superstar. More importantly, he learned that making a fool of Oprah can be harmful to a promising literary career. She had to apologize to her audience for first recommending the book, and for the phone call to Larry King. She brought Frey on her TV program and fried (pun intended) his hide.

Let’s see if I understand this scenario: Frey was a good guy and bestselling author as long as Oprah and the rest of the world thought he was a bad guy. And not being a bad guy actually made him a bad guy.

Say what?

It is good to be back. I’m working hard at learning to wear shoes again.

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.[[In-content Ad]]