They probably asked Stevie to sing some song in Reagan's honor. He probably responded with something like

"I'm not coming there to croon for somebody who aggressively tried to dismantled all the gains of Civil Rights Movement. I'm sorry he's dead and all but I'm not going to be able to do it... Holla"

or something to that effect.

You know I only have two words to say but since our country is still mourning over reagan...Ill save it until next week.

"whi....People" ...Never mind.

this country scares me more and more every day.

Seriously...

White people.

Just the concept that you would cancel music when mourning the loss of someone is mind boggling.

Why not, "the Stevie Wonder concert isn't cancelled in celebration of the life and times of Ray Charles"?

White people.

Makes me want to scream,"KHHHHAAAANNNN!"

That is so wack - for real! Goddamned Ronald Regan.

He's been dead for 15 years..

There's still a piano at Bryant Park... I work across the street. I sat out there at lunch today, and someone was just playing random standards.

I kept waiting for "I Got Me A Woman." It never came.

What a bunch of bull.

jay did you get my gmail? sorry to be all up in your comments box with this.

I just saw footage of Stevie driving his car in a big empy lot while watching the Oprah show day before yesterday. A lot of sighted people would probably joke about that. He said it was a great feeling to be able to drive his own car.

It would have been a timely and fitting tribute to have him play the day after Mr. Charle's death.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with ABC deciding to show the Reagan funeral coverage all morning and forgo the entertainment. The other two networks were showing it, why bother copying them?

That's b.s. I was watching tv minutes ago and in all the news channels and cable they're showing Reagan's funeral. It's been going on all week. give it a rest already. Hmm which coverage do i want to see, cnn showing the airport or fox showing the same airport.

I bet Stevie probably would have paid nice tribute to Ray Charles. Let's see how many specials and coverage we get on Ray.:(

I don't really involve myself too much in politics, but I find a lot of these comments to be in rather poor taste. I don't think anyone is necessarily shocked at the amount of coverage that Reagan's death is receiving. And I don't think it's necessary to start pitting the importance of one man's death over another's. I have admired Ray Charles both as a man and as a genius in music for as long as I can remember, but I don't think that his death has been ignored to any large degree by the mass media due to Reagan's death. It's unfortunate that the deaths of two important figures would coincide so closely, causing people to make such insensitive remarks. Whether you were supportive of Reagan during his tenure as President or not, people should still show some respect for the dead.

But isn't cancelling a concert that would've probably been a tribute to Ray Charles because of Reagan's death another way to pit one man's death as more important than the other? I thought the respect this nation showed for Reagan's death was just enough after his funeral Friday morning, but then all the cable news channel showed the same procession Friday night! Why didn't they tape the concert and then show that at night since Reagan's funeral was in the morning, wouldn't that pay tribute to both of their deaths?

RE...
Why didn't they tape the concert and then show that at night since Reagan's funeral was in the morning, wouldn't that pay tribute to both of their deaths?

TV wants to divide people.
they want to sell junk using ads, make money
showing polical ads, sports, music, and fake
news that HURTS. this is to cut us up, into
many small peices that spend TIME fighing
each other. i can not talk to people, well,
if you are a lisener to AirAmericaRadio.com
and many of wbai.org shows, they i can talk
to you. but how many people do not read good
news blogs, like

http://www.liberaloasis.com/

http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/

and this hiphopmusic.com blog ???

not many, so the chance of talking to the USA
is getting harder and harder, but it looks
like Bush and Chenny can NOT win in 2004.

oh, there was a good report on www.wnyc.org
aka, NPR, on the show, On The Media, this weekend,
June 12-13, about the African Amer. names that were erashed from the voter database, this was
done in 2001, same as was done in 1999. it looks
like J.E.B. is going to pull a fast one, again.

I can't believe that happened, that was funny though, even in his death, he screws us one more time. Also did you see on TV, they played a performance by Ray Charles, and guess what, that performance was at the Ronald Reagan Inauguaration, these bastards are hitting two dead birds with the same stone. I couldnt' believe they put Ray Charles performance for Reagan, it was sick.

They made such a big deal about Reagan, i didn't see this mourning even after 911, i guess Bush needs some type of help and is using this as campaign material.

I can't believe Ray Charles played for Ray-Gun.
Well, i guess it might figure, they both broke
the boycott that was going on in South Africa.

i wonder if the love fest that most places,
most leftwing places are having now for Ray
is just like the strok fest that went on
in the major and rightwing media for Ray-Gun.

singers and music composers, like Ray and Frank
Sinatra, were good at their art, very hard workers, and hired many backing musicans.

but, i think they were a little fucked up in
the head, or money went to their head and they
acted like asses sometimes, or all the time?
not sure, but in 1981, both Ray and RAY-GUN,
aka, Reagan the dead prez., were assholes.

"When Ray Charles went in 1981 he was forced to cancel his performance in the black township of Soweto because of strong opposition from the community. US performers who have defied the boycott have come home to criticism and picket lines."

"Artists going to Sun City justify themselves by claiming on the one hand that they are not political and on the other that they are not performing in South Africa but in an independent country. They choose to ignore the fact that Bophuthatswana's in- dependence is entirely unrecognized outside South Africa and is rejected by the majority of South Africans."
http://richardknight.homestead.com/bophuthatswana.html

hey "mic", if ray-gun had "showed respect" for the tens upon tens of thousands of lives he killed and/or otherwise helped to destroy in central america, south africa, angola, indonesia, iraq, south korea, the philippines, the world trade center (if you dont know what i mean, you better ask somebody...), iraq, by denying the existance of aids, by dismantling social services, etc... then i would show a little respect for him.

but since he didnt, the piece of shit could rot in piss as far as i'm concerned. good riddance. one less war criminal walking the face of the earth.

O-Dub nailed it with the following quote:

"Love is blind.
God is love.
God is blind.
Ray Charles is God."

word up.

actually Stevie was very close to Ray Charles, so odds are he wasn't up to playing a show.

Remember:
This is a country with a media that sold us a war like they sell Pepsi. Overkill of Reagan's death serves the purposes of the Bush regime. You don't expect a reasonably honerable black man who brought joy to people's lives to be given respect over a white-collar killer. Hell, this is America!

I'm surprised at the number of commenters who seem to think Stevie's performance was planned specifically in preparation for Ray's sad demise. Hello! I'm sure it was planned months in advance- -the performance, not Ray's death. The nearly simultaneous deaths were just a sad coincidence, but many of you seem to think it was the evil white establishment that planned Reagan's death just to take away from observation of the talented Ray Charles' passing. And whether you liked him or not, leading the strongest country in the free world for 8 years is just a little more important than being a musician. That's reality. Deal.

ok i hav 2 get this out of the way.... look at d title...whts wrong w/ rice cakes? i dun get it

but neways....ronald raegans gotten coverage 4 weeks...ray just died...

If anyone wants to hear my new song about Ray Charles, I'm offering it as a free download at my website:
www.drblt.com

It's called "Mr. Charles (A Tribute to Ray)

Bruce
aka Dr. B.L.T.